Back in the saddle

Hello Blog, so neglected that even Mister Fixit was moved to ask if I was ever going to update you again.  Well, yes, now that school holidays are over, now that I have the house to myself (Mister Fixit is working day-shift this week), now that the housework and laundry are mostly in control, now that the mountain of adminny, emaily stuff I had to do for tap and soccer is done, done, done!... yes, yes I will update.  Let me tell you some of what has happened in the 5-or-so weeks (yikes!) since we spoke.



There was a craft camp at Sewjourn with fabulous friends: Suse, Janet, Jenny, Sue, Kate, Amelia, Magda. It was excellent as usual and I made a very nice corduroy dress which I'm exceptionally proud of, some lovely new bunting for my Tap Hall and some pants for the boys.  The best thing about it was having the full four days; I achieved a satisfying amount, I relaxed an extraordinary amount, I ate like a king and slept like a princess (in the princess room, the one with the big double bed!) and had a right royal good time with the girls.  When I got home, Cherub leapt on me to hug me, and didn't physically let go of me for a good hour afterwards.

There were 2 celebrations for my Mother's Significant Birthday:  a Melbourne do, hosted by my aunts, with Mum's extended family...



... (during which Fixit and I spent so much time going soppy about my cousins' various babies that I seriously asked him later if we should go and get his op reversed and see if we could make ourselves another.  Then I did the maths and worked out how old we'd be when the kid was still in high school and remembered all that lack of sleep stuff, and thought better of it.) 



... and a Sydney/ Canberra celebration, hosted by Mum (with my sister and brother and me being Number One Good Helpers.)



We all had a lovely time catching up with friends and family on both occasions.

There were some really excellent school reports and rewards for same.



Notice Climber's haircut?  Sculpted, not shaggy now.  He's been shaggy for so long that a mum from soccer, who has known Climber since he was 5, saw him playing with the new do and completely failed to recognise him, even when the coach addressed him by name.  She thought we had a new boy on the team with the same name.



There were school holidays - we didn't do a great deal, (apart from me jetting off to Sydney for a weekend) but we enjoyed the sleep-ins and a slower pace to life.  We managed some socialising with friends, a trip to see a show at The Magic Festival and an expedition to see the Wallace & Gromit exhibition at Scienceworks.  Man, Scienceworks is insanely busy on a wet day in school holidays!



There was a live rat in the bedroom, deposited there by Basil, who seems well-up on how to catch a vermin and bring it inside and less sure about what you should do with it next.  Fixit spent a very busy half hour trying to catch and destroy the rodent from behind wardrobes and under the bed, while Basil became completely freaked out and did his level best to leave the scene.  Cruelly, we locked him in to 'help' Fixit.  Finish what you start, pussycat. See him 'helping' here, sitting on the window ledge?  Not sure if it was the rat's squeaks or the way Fixit was trying to kill the rat with a big whacking stick that made Basil so insistent on exiting the bedroom.  Cherub and I watched through the windows in fascinated horror until the rat was slain. Fixit Inc, general repairs and rodent slaying.



That's all I can manage now, but more updates soon, I hope!