We have a new front yard!

After three wonderful (yet long and tiring) weekends we have managed to finish (mostly!) our clearing, turfing and fencing of the front yard!

The aim was for a separate outdoor play area for the kids but I have no doubt that we will get close to or more use from it that they will!

Photo's galore here.

It looks amazing!!!

We were aiming for a 5 ft fence but the timber yard have given us 6ft pailings... We will be cutting them down a little but mainly to even things up... we'll end up with about a 5 1/2 ft fence.. just enough for privacy but not too off-putting! The grass is still bedding in but will be ready for play next week!

On the day care front, I started last week with 2. It's been fun but exhausting. Keeping your eyes on two youngings all the time is full on, but they are good kids.

I have to go into Hospital... AGAIN!!! I had a dodgy pap smear result and they want to... 'scrape' my cervix.. charming, but better than cancer I suppose! I got an appointment quicker than I thought. 10th September! I won't post pics of that one though!!!

We have our 1 year anniversary on Monday.. which is just insane! I can't believe how quickly the last 12 months has gone. It's been full on year! We are going up the coast for the weekend just to relax and remember! I should put my dress back on just for the fun of it! It's been sitting in it's box for a while now!

We have Aaron staying with us this week. I'm helping him with his school work while juggling the kids..

I'll update with more soon!

(Jen, how long does the why stage last??? The 4 year old only seems to have that one word in her vocab and i'm starting to get over it.. and just because isn't cutting it anymore!!)

How the house looks now!!

Wish we had some kiddies of our own to fill it up!!! I get to practise first!!

What a month it's been!

Where has July gone??? Why is it now August...?? Why is it that in 29 days I've been married for 12 months??? It'll be Christmas before we know it! Just insane!

What's happened this month... I've spent far too much money setting the house up for the day care... Let's hope the government want to give me the $1500 start up grant.. cause we need it!!

We've finished painting inside the house... (It's only taken 13 months and a few days!!!) Now our sights are set on the outside.. namely clearing, fencing and turfing the front yard to provide a nice play area for my kids (day care kids silly!!) and to keep them separate from Bundy.... who... has been on vacate at my mum's place as he was threatened to have a bullet lodged in his head cause he doesn't stop barking... We do live in Caboolture people!!! I packed him up at 5 am one morning, drove the hour out to mums, dropped him off, drove back to the other side of town for work, and then drove home... I tell ya.. was SICK of the car after that! We have since purchased a zappy collar for him, which according to stories from mum he doesn't like one bit! He will learn to not bark though... eventually! He'll yelp instead from the shock I fear!

Not having him here has enabled us to do some much needed work out the back yard... and to hide his balls! The grass is also semi recovering too!

Met with some parents yesterday and this morning. Have 5 days a week from one. Good starting point I think... the others will come soon enough. For us to be financial I need another 2 but i'm not concerned. Millie (4) and Takoda (2) very lively but very smart children... I can't wait to work and play with them, to help them develop. It's going to be a challenging journey but exciting none the less.... It all begins on the 18th August... no doubt there will be some wonder stories on here after then!

Getting new couches tomorrow!!! They match.. and they are comfy and they didn't only cost $200 and won't die in 6 months.... can you tell i'm a little excited by this!!!

I'm going to take some photo's once they are in place.... soo sooo excited!!! Will add photo's of the kids area's just so you can see what they look like!

I'm going to go and watch some TV... get ready for bed and snooze I think.... Been a busy day!

Birthday Celebrations!

This weekend just gone saw the celebration of Stu's 30th and my 23rd birthday. Yay for me and WOOOOHOOOOOO for Stuey!! After copping the brunt of our 30 jokes all day and having to blow out 30 candles he still had room to smile... to all those there who are over 30... he's joined ya now... to those who aren't... join me in saying ha..ha... (simpson's style!)




We had a wonderful night which wouldn't have been possible without the help of our wonderful house mate, Anita and the dude from down south, one of Stu's groomsmen Blair!



We had a wonderful BBQ with wonderful company and an all around good time... My evening's photographer (Aaron) must have decided after everyone arrived that it was too hard to go around and take photos anymore.. so I don't have too many.. I was too busy being the 'hostess with the mostest' to take photos... I did manage to get a couple of the cakes.. Ice Cream and Sponge which were very tasty together!! Oh.. and I did put 30 candles on Stu's cake... but was worried about wax vs. icing so forgot to take photo's of that too... he didn't manage one breath... I think that was because of the drinks Kirilly mixed for him... let's say 1 part coke to 5 parts scotch...


Thankyou to all who made an effort to come.. Especially Blair who came up from Sydney for the weekend and was my birthday pressie to Stu.... they spent 46 days together in a tent 4 years ago.. I thought it was a special thing to help organise for my honey!

On the present front... Stu has the pleasure of jumping out of a plane over Caloundra - courtesy of his sister & husband!! Cash from the parents (for both of us) Lots of nick-nac's and alcohol.. I got a lovely silver curb & heart padlock bracelet and 4 seasons of Charmed.. I purchased Stu 3 seasons of one of our fave shows - Outrageous Fortune (very very funny) and a tool belt... cause he's a tool!!! (nah.. i'm sick of him using his short pockets to hold things... like hammers!!!)

He's going to wait for Pen to get back to do the plane jump... a little birdie mentioned to me that she may like to do it with him.... and I don't think he wants to do it by himself... and fat chance me going up there!

All in all it was a very tame night.. Stu managed to get through half a bottle of scotch with K's help... I finished off some ruski's and half a bottle of chardy.... The fire and brassiers provided adequate protection from the chill and the food was great after being cooked on our new Beefmaster by my bro and dad...

Bundy some how managed to hurt his tail which saw me at the vet on Sunday morning at 9am and spending $100 for a consult and pills... we are happy though.. he can wag it again now! He must have caught it in the door or something?

Sleepy now... still have sleep to catch up on I think! Thanks for reading!

I have work!!

I finally have work to go to.. albeit a 6 week temporary assignment... it'll give us some cash flow in time for the Birthday's and other important things we are planning...

We are hoping that a certain government department is on the ball and manages to get me my blue card nice and quick so that I can be a home day care mum.. Don't laugh! I love children, helped mum to raise my two little brothers when they were younger... and don't ever want to 'go' to work again.. so work can come to me now! I'm going to be working under a licensee (the easiest way to do it) it will provide me with the support and training that is required under the legislation. Her name is Mary and she's very lovely.

We have to provide a suitable outdoor area for the children to play in... and Bundy would be too difficult to lock up and would bark constantly... so... we are going to clear and fence in the front yard... some nice turf and away we go! If we don't get that done before I start to care for children (0-school age!) my daily outdoor play will be a walk down to the park! Best thing is, any work that we do to the place we can make it a deduction on my tax as it's for the business... almost everything is deductible, power, gas, phone, computer, internet, foxtel..

I'm really looking forward to being a positive influence on others children. Giving them the one-on-one care that they don't get at Child-Care Centres as they are understaffed and over-worked. I will have a maximum of 4 children per day... We can easily survive if I only have two or three and I don't think that will be too difficult to manage.

Bring it on eh!!?

Joycelyn Dell Patrick - 30/8/1933 - 08/6/2006

Today marks 2 years since my grandma passed away.

It makes me sad to think of all the things we have missed having her here for... Stu and my Engagement Party, The Purchase of our First House, Our Wedding... and all the things still to happen, our children.. I don't think she even ever met Bundy....

It's been a hard time, especially for Mum.. I also feel for Grandad, his life partner is no longer here with him.

I am glad that she is in a better place. No longer in pain, no longer having to live with the difficulty of one leg.

She was and will always be my grandma.. I love her and miss her very much.

I am apparently very much like her which is a cool thing. Some more photo's here.

Update on the work front...

There is none!!!

Didn't get the Jetstar job I went for.. got the letter today saying thanks for your time but no thanks... thought as much as neither of my referee's had been contacted.

I went and did some testing for Hallis today for some temping work... I was surprised at the speed of my typing and data entry... 63 words per minute thanks for coming!!! 99% accuracy... almost 10500 for alpha-numeric data entry too... I was pretty pleased with these results.... Ref checks and then I'll be employed again..

I've said that I will do anything... but... work in a call centre again... I told the lady that if it was the only thing available I would.. but just cause I need an income...

It's going to make budgeting quite difficult now... they are going to be weekly pay's based on the hours I have worked and where I have worked them.... we'll see how it works out... i'll probably be hankering for a full time permanent position in no time!!!

I plan on washing and cleaning the house tomorrow.. however.... seeing Sex and the City is out I may go and see that...

Oh... but the car's in for a service so I won't be able to get there... oh deary me! Cleaning it is!

I could just stay in bed though!

What a wonderful couple of days!!!!

I've had a fantastic couple of days... Really really really didn't want to go to work on Friday.. wasn't feeling too well cause of something I had eaten so didn't go in.. All was fine or so I thought.

On the weekend we (mostly) finished painting the interior of the house.. all but some trim and our junk room (which we don't care about) We are both very pleased with the results.


Saturday Night we had a wonderful Pork Roast with Kirrily and Dave. Was really good to see them!! Davie is a builder and has given us some good suggestions for the back patio cover.... we don't think we'll be able to get it done in time for the birthday party.. but a tarp is sure to suffice!

Sunday we continued on the working thing and cleared most of the front garden.. Stu was having fun with his dad's chainsaw and electric hedge trimmer.. is looking wonderful... We got too tired to finish it properly!!

We went to Belmont on Sunday afternoon to Kylie's (one of the twins...) baby shower.. She is due on the 29th June and is having a little girl. She insists that she'll be attending the Birthday Party on the 21st June... We'll leave that to be seen!! I won a teething ring for guessing the right 'parts' from sonograph pictures! Was a fun afternoon and my first Mud Cake in ages.. Was SOOOOO good!

Monday was exciting... in hindsight anyway... I'll preface it by saying I am not stupid and I knew what was happening.. but none the less it was a little shocking and disappointing....

My new boss that had been there for maybe a month and I seemed to butt heads alot... I have always been considerate toward her... maybe not always friendly.. but always professional... anyway.. she was being very secretive and on the phone all day with head office. I knew that there was something going on and thought it has to be to do with me.. reason being - every time I went past her desk she minimised what she was working on and kept going out the back to take the phone calls. The question of either myself or our other full-timer going part time was asked a week or so ago... neither of us were open to this.. I have a mortgage people! I knew that my probation was up on Tuesday so I had thought all the conversation was about that as the boss is new and it would have been the first one she'd have done for nib.

Let's just say that when our BIG BOSS came walking around the corner I knew what was going to happen.. I was immediately pulled out the back and was advised by him that he was here on an official capacity and seeing that I was still in my probationary period and that I had some 'behavioural' issues that they wouldn't be continuing in my employment. When I enquired as to what these issues were I was informed that they couldn't and wouldn't give me any examples at the time as they didn't have to because of my probation... I got asked to hand in my keys, gather my belonging and to go home... I would have thought... that if I did have any behavioural issues that they would have been discussed with me on my last monthly review... one week prior... just my silly way of thinking obviously. He did however mention that there had been no issues with my performance... they were looking though cause she was checking all the claims and notes that I had done when that's not their policy!!!!

It's also not part of their policy to pay me 2 weeks notice and my entitlements when one is dismissed under probation... so that says to me that it wasn't because of issues and I expect to see advertisement for a part time position there in next Saturday's paper!

I was watched like a freaking hawk as I was packing things up out the front of the office... (amazingly.. I had forwarded all my personal documents and email addresses home earlier in the day in preparation for that afternoon...) I asked him whether he thought I was going to steal something... he said that that's not why he was watching me... pfft whatever! Bronwyn made the same call a few weeks ago when she had left Ruth's reimbursement on the back table and told me I couldn't go out the back cause it was there... I was fuming that day!!!... I told him that I had been accused of that previously!!

I feel most sorry for Jasmine now... she has to deal with Bronwyn trying to prove that she can be a manager and her stupid idea's for an office that has 4 people in it and will have to be the person there to help train whoever my replacement is.

I really wish I had some form of recourse.. I did love the job and I was good at it... (In the top 9 for all retail for the past two months actually!!!!) I wouldn't work with that woman again no matter what someone was to pay me.. I have the equivalent of 4 weeks to find a new job...

Looks like nib is going to lose me as a customer too.. there are others out there that have better benefits! Here I come hba!!

Oh.. I don't think I'll be out of work too long.. I'm going to meet with recruitment agencies next week and already have an interview to go to on Thursday with Jetstar...

It's going to be an interesting experience returning my uniforms on Friday.. Stu's coming in with me!!!

Bring on the weekend!!!

Camping Camping Camping!!!!

It has been SOOOO long since we had been camping properly... like tent up camping... (remembering back 2 years ago to a special trip to Nambucca Heads!!)


Stu and I were so excited to be getting out and about again and taking Aaron & Andrew (my little bro's) for their first camping adventure.. It was apparently the bestest weekend EVER!!!



We headed out to Boolumba Creek on Saturday morning to find that someone wanted out camp site.. they'd booked another one.. but didn't like it.. We asked them to move on and then did some exploring. We took one of the easy walking tracks (Pfft!!! SO NOT EASY!) which took us up up up and then down down down... On the third part of down we came across some slithering creatures... the boys were not impressed... Aaron was even less impressed when Stu had carried him out of danger to another area... and there was another slithering creature...


You should have heard it.. You've taken me out of harms way and put me straight back into it... Andrew you led us here and now we're lost, we aren't going to be leaving here until I've turned 50...


Because we couldn't walk past the snakes we had to go back.. so it was up up up and down down down again with two scared little boys not leaving our sides!!


We got back to our site and the squatters were gone so we set up tent and got the fire going. The boys helped me prepare the veges for dinner and then went down to the water to play...

We enjoyed out Sausages and Steak and Vege's for dinner.. and our Marshmellows in the fire afterward!

We slept well (apart from the rude wake up from the Possum trying to steal our rubbish) and it wasn't too cold. Bacon sandwiches for Breakfast and we were on our way (After some Dam building in the lake!!)

We did want to get the boys haircuts before taking them back to mums... but... we weren't willing to pay $25 a piece for them!

Mum had a wonderful relaxing Mothers Day weekend without the boys there and then had all of us there on Sunday Afternoon for a visit (which I think is a first!!)

Can't wait to head out again! Anyone want to come? More photos here!

Back at work... Tired as!!

I came back to work yesterday to find that the office had been changed around by relieving managers we had while I was away. Not impressed there....

Our new manager is back from training and is very cluey and competent... much different from others we've had through here. So much easier having someone who can figure it out for themselves than someone who has no idea.

I am however very very tired. Even though I am going to bed early and sleeping all night, I'm still buggered!!!!

Eating is going better.. I have had lamb, and pork and silverside without any problem... Still a little scared about dairy.. Ice cream seems to be going down okay though! Going to go and have some gelati today...

Food food food.. all I can think about!

Stu is at home sick as a Dog and I'm just thinking food!!

Is it 5pm yet?