Friday, December 23, 2011

Christnas Eve

People to see, places to go, cards to still send and
millions of presents to wrap, well maybe about twenty!

What more to say oh yes my daughter (Katk) wants me
to do the shopping for her for tomorrow as we are
having TEA with her and her kids at Dons (with his
kids) and neither of them have the money to pay for
the goods!

So that's it for now. Merry Xmas all!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

My PartyLite Stuff Arrives

Sue rang up on Wednesaday and said that the orders from earlier
in the month had arrived. So Kath, Kirsten and I went out to
Churchill to pick it up.

Sue was very apologitic as she hdad said not to spend too much
and moved an order onto my free spending. This reduced my party
from $560 to $543. Turns out there was a special offer for Host
ess's who parties were over $550. They received a free item
worth about $150. So to make up for it she gave me her candle
holder Xmas tree, that had beed broken and repaired, which she
was trying to sell for $35. Better than a kick up the back side.

Monday, December 12, 2011

When are You Living Together?

Was watching an old episode of "Big Bang Theory" which
I had not seen before and Seldon was invoking a clause
in the tenent agreement whereby Leonerd was living
with Dr. Stephanie. The clause says that "If a girl
friend stays every weekend in a month and three other
week days it is deemed that she is living with Leonerd."

That is pretty harsh, given that the average month has
30 days, that is only 11 days in the month, not even 50%!
Even Centrelink is not as bad as that, their ruling is
4 days a week, thus 16 days in the month! or just over
50%. I reckon it should be closer to 60% or 5 days a
week.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Kirsten Breaks a Bone.

We got the results of the X Ray on Thursday and Kirsten
has a greenstick fracture of her little toe(R)foot.

The nurse strapped it to show us what to do. She told
Kirsten that she has to sit and put it up on a chair.

The nurse also said that there was no reason why Kirsten
should NOT go to school. She is not allowed to run on
the foot. But walking and swimming are OK.

The Dr said that Kirsten should go to school, just to
be careful with her foot.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Kirsten Starts at A New School.

Kurni has a program called Headstart, which means that pupils
in Year 7 get to do Year 8 for the last week and a half of school.

This is her second day and so far she is enjoying it.

However, on the night before her first day, she stubbed her toe
walking into the lounge room. It is very badly bruised and I
think she may have broken a small bone as it is still causing
her a great deal of pain. I took her to the Dr, but we won't
get the results till Thursday afternoon. In the meantime she
is hobbling around and can't do P.E. and Sports, which she
thinks is a bonus as these are not her favorite subjects.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Meg Is Engaged!

While Mick was away working in S.A. he rang Donald.
As Meg's closest male relative he asked if he could
have "Meg's hand in marriage". Isn't that quiant.

Later when he returned home when most of the family
was present he once again asked Donald, in person, for
Meg's hand.

Then on Thursday 1st Dec he asked Meg.

Surprise! Surprise! she said YES.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Dayne Turns One.

My youngest grandchild Dayne Cook turned one years old on
Saturday 3rd of December, 2011.

His father dropped the children off at Donald's house. Kath
is now staying there till she finds a place of her own.

Cliff came after work. Gavin was with him. They stayed
till just after 2.30 pm. which was much longer than I had
hoped for as Cliff loves his horse racing on Saturday
afternoon.

Kirsten stayed till Donald dropped her and Sam back to Karen's.
Then they walked around to Poppy Cliff's to ask could Sam
spend the night.

I don't think Dayne cared two hoots about his birthday. He
just liked looking at all the faces around him.

Ryley attracted attention from Elizabeth who gave him a kiss.
He ran as far away from her as he could get in a 15 foot by
12 foot room!

Meg and Mick were coming after 3 p.m. so I did not see them.

A good day was had by all!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Not Dead Yet!

To my many fans and followers. Sorry that I have not
written anything lately but I have been hobbled by a
restraining order.

Kathleen left her husband, who kidnapped the children
and I could not mention any names prior to this.

Even now I am only permitted to mention my grand
children's names and not ny son-in-law's name.
Which is fine by me.

More about this later!

This is just a quick note to let you all know I am
alive and well and will continue with my blog!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Cliff Turns 59.

Oct 2nd saw Cliff celebrate his 59th Birthday.

Very low key, neither his two sons remembered it.
Aud did not ring to say "Happy Birthday" which
surprised me as she always remembers it, but
which mother does not remember a child's birthday?

Grant did not ring, but Andrew did.

I wished him "Happy Birthday" before he went to
the market. So Kirsten and Maddy also did.

But I forgot to bring the card that I had bought
for him in JAN this year, as I had to rush up to
Yallourn Nth and pick up Kirsten as she did not
want to stay after all.

He just drank beer and watched the races, which
is what he does every weekend!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sorry Folks!

To all the wonderful people out there who have commented on
my blog, thank you! I have found that most of your comments
have been put into my SPAM folder!

I now know to check there, so will contact you all shortly.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Bloody Drivers.

Yes another rant about drivers.

Since the Princes Highway by pass through Morwell
has been closed the traffic on the main streets of
Morwell has increased. There are always traffic
delays and of course the number of accidents have
increased. The most frustrating thing for the local
drivers who of course know how to get about Morwell
using back roads thus avoiding the Pricess's Drive
bottleneck, is that the council has gone around
and reduced all these roads to 50 and 80K zones from
the 60 and 100 k zones they were previously.

On the back road from Traralgon last weekend I was
held up by a small truck that was doing 80 K all
the way, even when we reached the 100 zone! On the
back road there is no where to pass and I was stuck
behind him all the way into Morwell. Why didn't he
use the highway which is 80 and is two laned so that
when it is 100 k other veichels can pass! Boo to the
driver of truck licence RMC 685!

Then on Monday when I was driving Kirsten to school
along the highway, we noticed the highway patrol car
hiding in the bushes and catching out the cars speeding
into Morwell.

On the way back from dropping her off as I approached
where the patrol car had been earlier I had to smile
as iI was being overtaken by about six cars that were
speeding as I was doing 110 in the 110 zone. I thought
it's about time I saw some one else speeding and getting
caught as every time I speed and that is not often I
seem to get caught and I see other drivers passing me
ALL the time and I always do the limit and THEY never
get caught!!!and bugger me there was the patrol car not
taking a bit of notice as he was trying to join the
traffic heading towards Moe.

So once again there were six speeding cars gettin away
with it!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Kirsten Covers Herself With Glory.

It seems that there was a fight in the playground
and another girl slapped Kirsten and then punched
her in the face.

Kirsten DID NOT fight back.

The teachers said that was very good as it is usually
her biting back that gets her into trouble.

I had to go to the school and pick her up and drop
her of at mum's as she was very upset about the
incident.

I then went on to see Connor and Maddie's Expo Day,
where parents friends and Grandparents get to see
the work the children are doing.

I said to one teacher that it wa a pity that so many
of the chilhren had put so much time and effort into
their work, only to have spelling and punction mistakes.
She said that with 27 children each having an individual
project made it impossible for her to coreect every ones
work. I said that when i was teaching I had 35 children
in the class and managed to correct each one.

I think the problem is that the teachers only work 9am-
3.30 p.m. and if the work is not done in that time there
is no way they will take it home to do it.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Kirsten's First Weekend Away.

Kirsten went to Leonie and Rob's for the weekend.
However it was a girlie weekend with Kynan's 3
little girls and his sister Sherrie, Leonie and
of course Kirtsen. Rob was away working.

Kirsten said that she had to sleep in Sherrie's
double bed, as they had made her bedroom into a
scrap room. This upset her, but she was pleased
about sleeping in the double bed as she has been
asking for a double bed for over a year now.

I have told her only people over 18 have a double
bed.

I missed her very much and rang just after 8 p.m.
on Saturday night to see how she was going. She
had forgotton to take her tablet though she had
told Leonie who apolizised and said that she too
forgot but it was only ten minutes late.

She wanted to sleep with me Sunday night as she
said she missed me too.

She talks in her sleep a bit but did not get up to
go to the toilet though I did 4 times. It did not
seem to disturb her.

But her talking did wake me.

My jaw was playing up so I took 4 panadol to get
to sleep. Not really a good night as far as a
good night's sleep went.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Kirsten's Friend.

Kirsten has asked that one fo her school friends come
after school for a 'playdate.'

I wonder how many went to her home at Yallourn North?

I told her, this week was a bit soon, as we had not
really settled in yet.

Got a set top box for the lounge room so that when the
friend comes next week they can watch T.V. though I
personnally think that there is not much on T.V.for
kids 10-14 to watch.

Meg came and set it up for us.

Kirsten had her first visit to Yallourn North this
Wednesday.

Nathan was half an hour late bringing her back, from
Sid and Toss's as they had gone to feed the animals.
Kirsten complained that the baling wire, from the hay,
had cut into her hand. She showed me the red mark that
it had left. Thankfully it was not really cut, just
bruised.

She was not happy after her visit as she had got into
trouble with Mum, Nathan and Nanny Toss. Not bad for
a two hour visit.

She was pleased that she and Talhia had not had any
fight during her visit.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Kirsten's First Night.

On the way home from Cliff's we stopped in at Meg and Mick's
but were disappointed to find that they were not home.

However when we got to my house they were there! Still packing
up Meg's belongings. This made tea half an hour later than I
wanted it to be.

I figured to start off as I wanted to go on, so we said grace
before the meal, I told her that all she had to do was say the
word AMEN at the end, that it meant "so may it be."

She had not really feel that she had come to live with me as
we often spent the week end at Cliff's over the years. See
how she feels in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Berry St.

I have no idea who these people are, but they are
involved in Kirsten's placement in my home.

Christine came to have a look at the house on Monday
and brought another young girl who will fill in for
Christine when she is not available.

They had a look at the whole house and yard.

Christine told me that she did not care about the
laundry or my room. She was 'pleased' with the
dinning room and the kitchen, but she wanted to
come back next week and check that Kirsten's room
was finished, as well as her bathroom and the lounge
room, which at the moment has bags and boxes of Megs
stuff piled high in it.

As my study is in the 'front' room when you come in,
Christine mentioned in passing that it was 'crowded'.
What do these people expect from me. I have two
houses of furniture in the one house. I still have
stuff of Donald's and Kath's here as well. I just have
never bothered to really do a big clean up on it all.

It is not as if the place is dirty. It isn't.

But when Christine said that she wanted to come back
next Wednesday I said that the time did not suit as
that would be when I had my afternoon nap.

At lunch on Tuesday Meg said that the chap that had
been at the family conference as the rep for Berry St
had rung her with concerns. Firstly he said that the
girls said that the house was NOT DIRTY but that it
was the most cluttered house that they have ever seen.
Obviously they have not seen many houses then as both
Karen's and Kath's is messy than mine. And Kirsten
is coming from Kath's house to live in mine. Though
via Toss's house and it looked OK when I went up
there for Kirsten's birthday. But then I didn't
see all the rooms.

But another concern is that I was not going to be
available Wednesday because of my afternoon nap.
I will be having a nap EVERY afternoon fron 12.30 p.m.
till 2.30 p.m. from now on. I don't see what business
it is of theirs what time I have my nap when Kirsten
is not here!!!Surely these people are not going to try
to tell me HOW to live my life! Because there will be
big trouble if they are!!!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Double Up.

Came across TWO BOOKs with the same title.

The first is "When The Wind Blows" by John Saul,
Coronet books a division of Hodder and Stoughton,
published in 1981.

The second is "When The Wind Blows" by James
Patterson, Headline books, published in 1988.

I always thought that no two books could have
the same title!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Another Meeting.

Christine from Berry St rang and orgainized another
meeting between Toss and myself. Sid was suppose
to be there but he had already gone to Queensland.

We agreed that I would pick up Kirsten and her goods
and chattels at 5.30 p.m. next Friday.

But the reason for Kirsten no longer being cared for
by her has changed.

Firstly I was informed that she and Sid could no
longer handle Kirsten's behaviour. Then I was told
that it was because of Toss's ill health. Yet she
is still well enough to work full time. Now it seems
that she wanted to care for Kirsten but that Leonie
and I have objected.

The first meeting was called because the DHS had been
contacted by THEM as they wanted Kirsten to be put in
care!

Amazing how the reason keeps changing to case Toss
and Sid in the best possible light!

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Court Case!

I arrived at the court at 9 45 a.m. and the case
was finally called at 4 P.M. I should have known
that as my case involved 'winning' against the
local council that it would be the last on the
docket. They (the council) would not want too
many people to know that you can win against
them.

It was actually just asking for hearing to have
the existing order overturned as the council had
withrawn the fine and the order should never have
been out in their favour, in the first place.

The magistrate granted the application for a
hearing and said that he would hear it now and
that under the circumstances the exsiting order
would be overturned and a new order made out in
my favour!

Hurrah a win for the good guys at last.

Now I just have to get the pool done and there
should be no more trouble with them.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Kirsten Cometh!

The meeting at Berry St went well. Kirsten is
coming to live with me.

At this stage it is for an indefinite time.

No more fun Grandma, now it it the tough guardian
role, of course there will be fun sometimes but
not like when I could spoil her and then send her
back to Mum and Dad.

At this stage it looks like I won't have her for any
weekends, so I will have to see about changing that
as I would like her for at least one a month. There
are a lot of shows I have recorded for her to see
at Cliff's and that won't happen unless she comes
for a weekend.

She is coming about the 1st September, as is Spring.
Is there some significance in that I wonder?

I have a lot of cleaning up to do, as I don't want
the house too messy. I can't believe that Meg keeps
saying that my house could be on that hoarders show.
I may have a lot of clutter but is is not dirty.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Last Minute Change.

For the past couple of months I have been getting
Cliff to drive me home, on his way to the shop on
Saturdays and then again on Sundays, on his way to
the market. I have been getting my e mails done.

By Friday the 12th August I was down to 40 e mails
unopened! I was thinking that by Sunday I would
have done them ALL! But at lunchtime on Friday,
just after Donald poped in to pay me the $15 he
owed me from picking the kids up from school.
Cliff said that "no" he would not be driving me
home on Saturday and when I asked why not, he said
that I had to do the shop on Saturday. He did not
ASK me to do the shop he told he I HAD to do the
shop!

When I asked why he said that he had to go to
Melbourne. When I asked how long he knew about
that he said Thursday night. No, it seems he
thought that ringing me at 8 p.m. on Thursday
was a waste of time as he was seeing me at lunch
time Friday. No thought that I might have some
plans of my own!

As it turned out I bought a crossword puzzle book
and spent the three hours in between customers
doing the puzzles. The take for the day wasn't too
bad and his business in Melbourne went off well too.

But I had to pay for my own meals and drinks and
got nothing from the day. He was the one who made
money.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Talhia Turns Nine!

On Thursday the 11th of August, we had a family dinner
at the Rossmore Hotel at Yallourn North to celebrate
Talhia's 9th Birthday, which was actually on Wednesday
the 10th. But on Thursday's the hotel has a parma and
pot night.

Auntie Meg could not come as she was playing netball and
her team only has three more games before the season
finals.

Donald came late as he had to wait till after Soccer
training.

Cliff was late as he had to wait on the plummer. He was
also the second to leave. Toss and Sid took Kirsten home
at 8 p.m. as her bedtime is 8.30 p.m. and they did not
want her to be tired in the morning. Although Kath and
Nathan were still there at 8.30 p.m. when I left. They
were with Talhia now 9 and Jasmine, 6. So it looked like
Talhia and Jasmine were allowed to stay up one hour past
their bedtime because of Talhia's birthday but not Kirsten
who is 13.

I was the second one there after Misty, Leon and Kids.

Kath, Nathan and Kids, Toss, Sid and Kirsten all walked
in the door at the same time.

Most of us had the $15 parma and pot special.

Not a bad night, but with under tones because of the
meeting next week about Kirsten's future.

I took some photos but this year only of Talhia.

Nanna Player was not there as has has not been well
lately.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Weather (you like it or not)!! (HA,HA)

Last week we had four lovely sunny days in a row.
Thought the temperature was not that great as there
was no heat in the sun. But I did manage to go see
Kath last Wednesday and the girls were having a day
off because of teacher training.

When I was teaching our training took part during
the 'school holidays'. I had to go to the uni to
attend courses and we had to sign in every morning
and sign out each night. Times have really changed.
When I started teaching I earned the princely sum
of $49 (clear)a week!

Any way Talhia took it into her head that it was
100 degrees outside and put on her swimmers and
when out and put the hose on for her Jasmine and
the dog to 'cool' of in. I have the proof in a
photo which I will hopefully add later.

I finally did manage to get all the grass cut, but
not around the edges which are still soaking wet.
Now all I have to do is trim the rose bushes and
I'm all set for spring which is less that three
weeks away. Though this week it is back to cold,
wet weather. Thankfully the wind has died down.

The brollys that I ordered a 2 months ago for Meg
and I because of the wet, windy weather have not
come, though I did receive a letter saying that
there had been an unprecedented demand and thus
I would not receive mine till the end o September,
I doubt if we will need them then, god I hope not!!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

"Drop Dead Diva"

I started watching this on free to air T.V. but never
saw the first episode. Well Austar starting showing
it on T.V.1 and I watched the first episode last night.

I must say that I was disappointed in how Deb died. No
dramatic crash over a cliff top, just a slight fender
bender with a truck carrying grapefruit which "SOMEHOW"
escaped the truck and fell into Deb's car, as she had
the top down. I have seen shows were cars have flipped
umpteen times and the drivers walk away witout a mark
(I have aways thought that impossible! I mean there
should be SOMETHING!.) But the mild crash resulting
in death, really not believeable. Then Jane is shot
in the office and though the nurse and doctor say it
is only a 'flesh wound' she flat lines, perhaps a blood
clot? we are not told but once again a 'mild' "accident"
results in death!

I also noted on the computer screen, that Fred pulls up
of her life, that Deb has a younger sister. But in a
later episode where Deb's parents get divorced. Bobby
(Deb's mother) tells Jane (who we know has Deb's soul)
that she and her husband only kept the marriage together
because Deb had some picture in her head that she had
the perfect family with the perfect parents who had the
perfect marriage.

We see Deb's parents house and there are pageant pictures
and ribbons and photos of Deb all over the place but
nothing of any other girl or young woaman. Deb died at
24 so a younger sister should be in the range 18-22!

I did love the way that Deb came back to earth for
another chance at life. She pushed the RETURN (ENTER
on my computer, though on typewriters it is the return
button) BUTTON on Fred's computer. So she has no-one
else to blame but herself that she is in Jane's 'body.'

Monday, August 1, 2011

Old Shows and "New" Stars.

Have been watching a lot of old "Murder She Wrote"
episodes on TV1 at Cliff's over the last couple of
months.

In the following episode Series 3 "Death Stalks
the Big Top" a very young Courtney Cox plays
Jessica's great niece.

This was a bit eerie as the very next thing I
watched was a CSI Miami Episode 19 Series 3 "And
They're Offed." Where a character called Terrance
Chase, a trainer at the race course, was actually
played by the same bloke that plays Courtney Cox's
ex husband in "Cougar Town." Then it got weirder,
as in the next scene, we see the course vet, Mark,
and the actor playing that role aslo plays
Courtney Cox's boyfriend in "Cougar Town."

The thing is I reckon I would not have known these
actors if I had not seen "Freinds" or "Cougar Town"
first.

I know that there are a lot of shows that I watch
for a second time and it is 3-7 years after I first
saw them. In the meantime a minor character from
the show has got a major role in some show that I
watch quite regularly so that when I go back and
see the show where they first appeared I now KNOW
them whereas I did not the first time around.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

"Don't Tell" by Karen Rose and "Now You See Her" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.

On Friday the 29th July I read "Don't Tell" a 2003
novel about a woman married to an abusive man, who
is also a policeman.

After he pushes her down the stairs and almost
cripples her she is forced to secretly undergo
physical therpy (she does this herself as he
forbids her to go back to the hospital.) It takes
her two years but when she is capable of running
she takes their nearly 7 year old son and runs.
She sinks the family car in a lake and goes to a
woman's shelter where she takes on a new identity
and raises her son as a single mom. Skip ahead 7
years and she is almost finished her college degree
after which she intends to become a lawyer. She
becomes involved with a college professor just 2
weeks before the car is finally discovered and her
husband realises that she and the child were not
abducted and killed but she ran. Can't say any more
or will ruin the story for others who may want to
read it.

On Saturday I bought the newest James Patterson
novel. The story is about a woman married to a
cop. She finds out after 2 years of 'perfect'
marriage that her husband killed his first wife
when she became pregnant and he wanted her to have
an abortion and she left him instead. Jeanine finds
that she too is pregnant and realises she can't just
leave that he will track her down and most likey
kill her too.

There is a serial killer loose in the area. The
Jump Killer so named as he uses parachute rope to
tie up some of his victims.

She makes it look like she was taken by the Jump
Killer and goes of to New York where she raises
her daughter as a single mom. Skip ahead 17 years,
she is now a lawyer assigned a pro bono case.
The Jump Killer is on death row and will be
executed in ten days. But when she looks at the
picture of the man she is shocked to find that he
is black. On the night she ran away she did
actually come face to face with the Jump Killer
and he was WHITE. She HAS to GO HOME and save
this innoncent man. Will her husband Peter
see her and kill her? Can't say any more
otherwise will ruin the ending.

However, at this stage I was having real feelings
of deja vu. Not only were these two stories
similar but they reminded me of the film
"Sleeping With The Enemy" with Julia Roberts,
which was actually based on the 1987 novel of
the same name by Nancy Price. Where a young woman
secretly learns how to swim in order to fake her
death by drowning, to get away from her abusive
husband. She ends up in another town where she
becomes involved with a college professor.

I am not saying that there is plagiarism involved.
Just that the story lines are very alike. A woman
fakes her death to get away from a deadly spouse.
In two cases there is a child involved. In two
cases a college professor. In two cases the
husband is a cop. In two cases the run away wife
studies law. In two of the cases the wife secretly
undergoes 'training' to effect her escape.

I guess it is true that there are no new stories
only repeated ones with variations.

By the way both stories were good reads otherwise
I would not have finished them in one day!

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Closer

On Wednesday 13th July I watched an episode of "The
Closer" on Gem at 9.30 p.m. to say I was shocked at
the mistakes in the show is putting it nicely.

It is the episode which starts out with two mounted
policemen in skid row finding a young man in a suit
sitting on some boxes smoking a crack pipe.

They dismount and pat him down, one the front and
one the back. The one in front takes the crack pipe
and finds a baggie in his top left hand jacket pocket.
The cop at the back finds a car key on a ring, with a
black leather fob and a half eaten pack of chewing
gum in his right rear trouser pocket.

The cop at the back proceeds to handcuff him then
reaches down and scoops up the key and pack of
gum from the roadway, and wedges them back in the
trouser pocket, then grabs him by the left arm and
drags him to a POLICE CAR THAT MAGICALLY IS
THERE WITH ITS REAR RIGHT DOOR OPEN.

In the interrogation room, the cop who hancuffed
himtells the young man to empty his pockets. He
does,but all he has is the pack of gum. The cop
goes back to the alley where they found him and in
the leaf ridden and paper strewn gutter he finds
the missing car key. He insists that tha young
man must have thrown it away.

Now I want you to put your hands behind your back.
Pretend they are hancuffed. They are in the
middle of your back. Now as someone grabs your
left arm and pulls you, try to reach your right
hand into your rear right hand trouser pocket to
throw away a key. You have less than 5 seconds
to achieve this. IMPOSSIBLE, I have tried and I
have asked three other people to try this and
they all said they couldn't do it. That was the
first big mistake.

The key turns out to belong to a car reported
stolen.The car was being driven by a young lady
who did notcome homee but the father could not
report her missing, just the car.

The young man's story is that at about 11 p.m.
he walked out of a rehab center where he had
been staying for a month to six weeks. He had
scored himself some dope when he was mugged
by a street guy called "The Veteran" who preys
on the crack heads. "The Veteran" held him up
at knife point, wiped his bloody hands on the
young mans' shirt, and took his wallet. When
"The Veteran" had taken the knife out he had
dropped the car key.

The police pick up "The Veteran" and he has
bloody and skined knuckles on his right hand.
He has a knife and the young man's wallet. We
are not shown if he has anything esle in his
possesssion.

The police find the car and there is a young
dead female in the boot. It is the friend of
the owner's daughter, who is still missing.

The police find A.T.M. video surveillance,
showing a man in a blue hoodie forcing the dead
girl to the A.T.M. She manages to push him away
and tries to run for it but the man grabs her
and procees to beat the living crap out of her,
with his right hand. The man then takes a knife
and stabs her repeatedly. The ME's report said
she had both cheek bones broken, a broken nose
and a broken jaw.

I was reading a medical journal last month.
A Dr. said that T.V. has knuckle fighting all
wrong. The hand is the most delicate part of
the human body and the skin on the back of the
hand is very thin. Thus fighters wear all that
bandaging before they put on boxing gloves.

One punch to a human face with the bare knuckle
will at the very least cause scraped knuckles
and bleeding. If in punching a bone is broken
on the other person then is every likehood you
will also break at least one of the small bones
in your hand.

The young man is sitting in the intergation room
and Brenda Lee is holding his hands. Both of
which are lily white and look as soft as a babies
bottom with nary a scrape or mark on them. This
is the next big mistake. If he was guilty of
beating and killing the girl he would have had
some marks on his knuckles.

Yet he goes on to confess that he did indeed kill
the girl. He also gives the location of the
missing girl. The police find her alive, chained
up (with a lock, that they cut off, was it lucky
that they had a tool with them that they could
do that?) WHERE IS THE KEY TO THAT LOCK?
It was not on the young man. The hoodie that
we saw in the surveillance tape is in the
shipping container with the girl. It is soaked
with blood. Why would the young man be wearing
a hoodie when he was wearing a suit jacket?

At this stage I am thinking that the young man
in his drugged stupor has seen "The Vetran"
kill one girl and chain up the other and in
his confusion he thinks he did it and that
when the girl sees him she will exonerate him.
But we learn from another detective that in fact
she has said "He is the ONE"!

At the end of the show there was one thing I
knew for certain that based on the "evidence"
in the show the young man DID NOT do the
beating and killing.

I thought "Well next week we will see that it
hasbeen a mistake." But the next week's episode
was another case!

I can't believe that this episode when through
editing and NOONE picked up all the errors!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Boo Hoo Karen.

Every Friday night the Traralgon R.S.L. has a member
ship draw. It starts at $500 and goes up every week
by $50 if the member called is not present to accept
the money.

I am a "the glass is half full" kind of person so am
positive that one day my name will be called out.

Thus I go every Friday night.

Last Friday the 15th July, Cliff was on the pokies
and I was at the table packing up our stuff waiting
for the last member number of the night. They call
3 numbers each Friday, one at 6.40 p.m. one at 7.10
p.m. and oneat 7.40 p.m. The member whose number is
called has 3 minutes to come and claim the money.
If the prize is claimed no other numbers are drawn
for that night. The man called the number and then
went to check to whom it belonged and announced the
winner to be Karen Roberts.

Karen is my son's ex and the mother of his three
younger children. She lives one block from the R.S.L.
I instantly rang her, but it took her twenty seconds
to answer the phone. I just said "If you want $550
get your butt to the R.S.L. now." I went over to the
man and he was announcing that she was not here. I
said "She still has over 2 minutes, so give her time
she'll be here."

I went out side and waited about a minute then I went
and told Cliff what was happening then headed back
out the front in time to see Karen and her eldest
daughter hurrying into the club. I pointed out the
man she had to speak to and he said that she was too
late. I reckon that it would have been a close thing
as though they say they give you three minutes it is
really more like a minute and a half.

People don't realize just how slow three minutes is!

So Karen missed out and I missed out on getting the
$150+ she owes me.

Friday, July 15, 2011

My Birthday 2011

Monday 11th July, 2011, my 62 birthday. Not one of
the bigies, but still MY BIRTHDAY!

Saw an episode of "Big Bang Theory" last week and
Leonard is having a Birthday and says that he has
never had a birthday party or celebration as his
mother did not think that being pushed out of a
birth canal was any sort of achievement on the
child's part.

So I guess birthdays are in the eye of the beholder!

But if I thought I had a crappy Mother's Day that
was a picnic compared to my birthday.

Firstly Monday morning at9 a.m. I had to contact DHS
as Kath told me on Sunday 10th "That any day now,
they were going to take Kirsten away and put her in
a foster home."

Was relived to find that this was not quite right
and that sometime in the next two weeks there will
be a family conference to decide what is going to
happen with her.

On Sunday 10th Puppy (A.K.A. Shandy, whom is 14
years old) started having trouble voiding her bladder
and was shaking badly and seemed to be disorintated.

So 8.45 a.m. Monday morning, both Cliff and Ross took
her to the vet. Of course I could not go as I had to
wait to make the calll to DHS.

They came home at about 9.30 a.m. and the vet had put
Puppy down. They had both held her and patted her as
she went to sleep. Of course they could not give her
words of comfort as she was deaf. But I'm sure she
understood.

I had tried to organise to have lunch on Sunday the 10th
for my birthday but Kath said that she had Nan Player's
birthday on that day as "REMEMBER, her birthday is the
day before yours!" But her birthday is the day AFTER
mine and she had a dinner at Toss's house on the Tuesday
night with the family.

Donald said that he had Soccer. Cliff said that it
would have to be at 1 p.m. because of the Market.
So then I tried to make it for the Saturday and Meg
said that she would be at netball and Kath said that was
the day she had arranged to have Ryley's birthday party
(his birthday is 27 June!). Cliff said "NO way, I'm not
missing the races."

I suggested at night time and everyone could do that
except Kath who did not want to bring the kids out on a
cold winters night!

So I ended up DOING NOTHING! Cliff said why don't we
just have tea at the club before we play cards so I
went over to book in and found out that on the 11th
the dinning room was going to be closed as they were
putting in new carpet and the slowest day was a Monday!

I saw Meg as she had taken the day off so that we could
go up to Yallourn Nth and see Kirsten. I had stopped in
and seen Karen and Donald's kids before coming home.
They had run up to me and given me lovely hugs and
kisses and wished me Happy Birthday. Sam said that it
had been on Facebook, and as it is school holiday time
they are on Facebook a lot. Of course I had seen Kath
and her kids when Meg and I went to see Kirsten.

Donald had popped into the shop on Friday the 8th and
said that he would ring me for my birthday and I said
"I'm still waiting for my Mother's Day phone call so I
will believe that when it happens." Of course he never
rang! I have not heard from him yet and it is the 16th
today!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Brickbats to Channel 7 and Prime!

On Thursday 30 June after "No Ordinary Family" Channel
7/Prime boasted that NOW they had "No Ordinary Family"
on twice a week, Monday and Thursday at 7.30 p.m. but
on the following Monday, the 4th July, at 7.30 p.m. the
big announcement was that "Border Security" was back
tonight and starting NOW.

I don't know if it was on Thursday night as I was in
Melbourne and had forgot to set the tape to record!

I think it is about time that these channels got their
programing and advertisng of such correct! After all
we live in an age of computers! How hard can it be to
advertise that a show will be shown and then to show
that show!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Grass Cutting, Don't to This In Winter!!

I never cut the grass in April. I usually do it
once about the end of April and then start again
in November. So it was a bit long. Well we have
had a perfect week of lovely sunshine but the
grass really did not dry out though the soil was
not sodden but quite firm. Well I cut half the
back lawn and it was real bitch to do as the
grass was really wet it would not "throw" to the
back of the catcher but just stayed clogged up
at the catcher's mouth and under the mower itself
so that I had to keep stopping it every three
minutes to pull all the wet grass out from under
the mower.

I had barely started on the second half of the
lawn when the mower just stopped dead. I could
not get it started agiain. I checked that I had
oil and petrol that there was no grass clogging
up the blades and still it would not start. So
I never even got to do the front nature strip
that is begining to look rather ragged.

On Saturday when Cliff dropped me off I got him
to try and start the mower but he could not get
it going either, though at least with him it made
the right sounds I had got nothing out of it.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

My Solar Panals Finally Arrive.

I ordered 9 solar panals in April last year and they
finally arrived on June 29 and 30 2011.

The men that put thm on took two days as the panals
would not fit onto the exisitng roof as the support
beams (according to the young man doing the install-
ation were rotted out). So they had to come back
Thursday with a tilt frame.

I thought that there were two elephants on the roof
the amount of noise they were making but what was
worse was at one stage they dropped 'sometging' and
the imoact was so loud on the roof taht the walls of
my bedroom shook and a book fell of the book shelf!

It was not till about 5 p.m. long after they left
that I tried to put my T.V. on only to fine I no
longer have a signal and in case it was just my T.V.
playing uip I tried Meg's T.V. in the lounge room
and it was not receving a signal either so They must
have pulled my cable out while they were up there.
I asked how much damaged they did when they dropped
the panal and they did not dent that it was a panal
that they dropped and they "claimed no damage" but
I doubt that I just hope they have not put a hole
in my roof otherwise when it rains I am going to
have real problems.

I told Meg all thia as I had to go around to her
and Mick's house to watch "Desperate Housewives."

She is going to go up on the roof for me at the week
end and have a good look around to see what happened.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Cone-ing

First there was the "Jackass" antics which were not only
stupid but dangerous. Then came planking that was
thought to be just stupid till someone killed themselves
falling from a balcony after performing a planking stunt
and now comes cone-ing (invented) by a Brisbane man Alki
Stevens which is stupid and a perfect waste of icecream.

In a survey over 16,000 people nearly 12,500 thought the
same as myself.

I'm ashamed that it was invented in Australia. With all
the things that could be invented to help mankind we have
idiots out there dredging the bottom of their intellect
to come up with such crazy ideas as this. If you want
to be know for something for G..d's sake make it some
thing worthwhile.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Ariel Has Had Her First Litter!

Finally after three years of trying, Ariel now four
years old has finally had her first litter. One was
born dead and a further two died durung the first
24 hours. Two survived. They are both girls. They
are now two weeks old so that is looking very good.
But a poor result overall for a first litter.

Cliff has to give one to the owner of the dog, but
wants to keep the other one. When I asked why he
said because Puppy has not long to go. This despite
the fact that I have told him that I want him to move
in with me within four years and I will NOT want any
type of animal in my house!

Bad enough that I have had to put up with cat and dog
dander for the past 15 years every week end but I
WILL NOT have it in my house!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Mail Center Reunion

A couple of months ago, Wilma rang me and asked
would I be interested in coming to the Morwell
Club for a Mail Center Reunion. I assumed she
meant the people that had taken the package in
June 1993, but as it turned out it was for people
who had ever worked at the mail center and then
left, though two of those present stll work there.

It was held on Saturday June 4th, which as I
explained to Cliff was there a double celebration
as it has been 15 years since our first date. I
never even thought about Rob being there until
the next day, it might have been sad seeing him
after all these years. I would have liked to
catch up with Don Thomas and his wife but they
were also not there, nor was Brenda K.

There were people I knew as soon as I saw them,
and remembered their names. There were also
people whom I reconized but could not remember
their names and of course then there were people
whom I had no idea who they were. 18 years makes
a differnece to some people, they go grey or
bald, and of course put on weight.

But it was not a bad night and I did get Urusla's
number, but now have to remember where I put it!!!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Changes

When Cliff and I took Aud to Melbourne airport we noted
there has been a big change in airport security. When
we flew up four years ago that there was security for
interstate flights only, but this time they have changed
everything around and there is security for all flights.

Everyone has to go through the security wands, doorways
and xray machines. Aud had to take off her shoes and
put them through the xray as they had metel in them.

This is to gain acces to the eating areas ect, not just
for the actual passengers taking the flights!

We had something to eat while waiting. Now instead of
going as far to the left as you can go to get the
Mildura flight we had to go as far as possible to the
right. We only had to wait 20 minutes till her flight
was called. We saw he out the door then when back
upstairs and bought some Krispy Kremes.

Cliff said he thought they were very popular and could
not understand why they were going broke in Australia,
then I made him pay for them. He was shocked at the cost!

While Australians can get cininom donuts for about $2
for 6, 6 glazed Krispy Kremes cost $14:95. Simple
economics, they are too expensive. The customer will
only pay so much for a product. Whenever Don Jr, Meg
or myself go to Melbourne we try to get half a dozen
glazed and share them between us. That is about once
every two months, they are a treat, not like we buy
them every week!

The trip to and from the airport was good, not too
much traffic on Sunday.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Grass Cutting Cont:

Well I went down to Legal aid when I received a
notice from the Sheriff's office about the fine
and it turns out that the only way to fix it now
is to go back to court with my paperwork, explain
that the council withrew their case and have the
matter struck out. That will be another wasted
day!!

In the mean time I am to keep my paperwork handy
and if the sheriff comes knocking at the door I
am to show it to them and explain that the order
was a mistake and that Legal Aid is looking into
it for me and that could they wait PLEASE!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Audrey Takes Me Shopping For Clothes For Cliff!

We went into K mart after having a coffee and snack at
Zips, but it is no longer Zips. We ordered a snack and
Aud could not eat it because it was burnt and I order a
busheria but the one they gave me was half the size of
the one on display and when Aud complained she could
not eat her meal the man said he would take the cost
off and charged her $25. That made my snack $15.

I have never paid more than $10 for it at any club,
pub, hotel, even the Ritz only charged $10 and that
was three bits the same size as the two bits I had got!

Aud ended up buying socks, jocks, singlets and hankies
for Cliff. I think it funny that she still buys these
things for him. I guess if she didn't he would not have
any as I don't do that kind of shopping for him. I guess
if we did live together I would buy them as I did fo Don.
I know that Cliff hates clothes shopping and tries to do
as little of it as he can.

She wanted to buy pants for him but that is hard as he
does not wear them correctly as instead of having the
waist at the waist, as is normsal, like many obese men
he pulls it down under his stomach, so that the pants
legs are too long, and they are too tight around the
gut! He would look really snazy if he pulled them up
and wore braces with them but no he has to look like
a daggy ockie!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Meg's Birthday

Meg did not just invite family but some friends from
work and general friends.

Cliff came and he was looking very good. He even had
a hair cut.

I drove up to Yallourn Nth and picked up Kath. I for
got to put petrol in the car before i left and the
little red man camr on just as we arrived back at my
house.

It was to be at 6 p.m. at first but then she changed
it because Lisa could not get there before 7 p.m. but
I picked Kath up at 5.45 p.m. anyway and we looked
through a scrapbook magazine after I put some petrol
in the car.

We were not the last to arrive in fact we walked in
at the same time as Cliff. who sayed till 8.15 p.m.
before he went to chess.

I stayed till 9.15 p.m. and then left but because it
was a school night Angela left about 8.45 p.m. as she
had bought Lacy along who was the only child, so she
found it a bit boring.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Jessie Turns 18!

It was at Amigoes in Traralgon. When I turned up,
I found that Kim had come down after all, but not
Pam, she is still not well.

Kim had arrived on Thursday and was flying back on
Sunday (the same day that Aud will be leaving).

Angela was there with Rob and Lacey but not Broady.
Sarah and Paul and Amelia came. Melissa was not
there but Jarrod her eldest boy came in her place.
He will be 16 later this year.

Don and Lisa came but not with the kids. Meg and
Mick came. Kath and tribe, including Kirsten.

Brett was there too, he sat opposite Jess and her
boyfriend.

I was looking at the haul that Jess got and asked
who had given her the red lip purse. Pam had sent
it down.

Then Kim started, she said that she had not received
ONE Mother's Day card this year. After all she had
given up and done for her children. She had not even
received ONE card for her 60th Birthday last year.

Kim has never known what it was to "I'll get your
back and next time you get mine" It has always been
about what she can get. I guess that goes back to
her childhood. She does feel very hard done by in
life.

Kim carried on in a negative frame so much so that
Aud got up and went down to the end of the table to
talk to Don Meg and Kath. She even said to them that
it was all the negative talk that had driven her away.

Aud was not impressed that Kim was ordering two drinks
at a time, though Kim said to me that the service was
so slow it was the only way to go. It meant that she
was never without a drink in her hand. She also said
that she had 'drunk up before she came out, so it would
not cost as much when she was out.' Perhaps this was
why she was a bit put out with people.

I had to laugh when Kim brought up the fact that one
time she came to my place and had to serve up a meal
from my kitchen floor as the bench was completely
covered with STUFF. She seemed to equate good house
keeping with being a good mother. I know she always
tried to keep her house spick and span, but house work
was never one of my top prorities. I perferred to
spend the time with my kids. I always said that the
kids are only with you for maybe 20 years but the
housework would always be there. Of course it still
needs doing, because I'm a lazy shit.

Thankfully I sat next to Kim and kept her talking
to me so that Jess was free to enjoy her night.

After the dinner Jess went to her 18th party at
her dad's house with all her own friends.

Some of the others went on to the pub for drinks later.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Saturday 14th May 2011

Picked Aud from her motel. She wanted to go shopping
for a warm coat that could be worn in the rain as well.

As it was nearly l1 a.m. by the time I picked her up
I suggested a cuppa and early lunch. I wanted to go
to Zzip but it was raining and therewas not one car
space out the front. So we ended up going straight
to Center Plaza. Even then I could not believe ghow
many cars were in the center of course they all wanted
to park under neath and I must say I was lucky to
find a spot and it was the furhest I ahve had to park
from the escalator. I dropped Aud off and found the
spot. I told her to wait at the top of the escaltor f
or me. But of course when I got there. ther was no
sight of her and I couldn't ring her as I left my
mobile phone at Cliff's on the charger. I walked
around for nearly ten minutes before I spotted her
in one of the clothing shops.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Audrey Comes For A Visit

I turned up at lunch time at the shop on Friday 13th
to find that Audrey was there. Cliff had vaguely
mentioned that "Mum might be down tomorrow " on
Thursday.

So for once a Friday the 13th did not bring bad
things but something good.

I rang Meg and she came over had had lunch with us.

Audrey was staying at a motel in Traralgon, as she
has trouble getting her leg over the edge of the bath
now to have a shower at Cliff's house. Last time
she had to go around to Sue and Allen's and I think
she felt it put them out too much.

So that night we all had tea at the Traralgon R.S.L.
that is Aud, Cliff, Meg, Mick and my self. So that
was another good thing as we all got to meet Mick.

He does not seem to be too bad.

I drove Aud to the motel as she said she had a long
day and Meg and Mick came around to Cliff's where
Cliff stayed up to 12.30 a.m. playing chess with Mick.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Follow on from Another Day

Donald finally came to see me at the shop on Friday
and he claimed that the reason he had not contacted
me for Mother's Day was that his phone was not working
properly. I wonder why he did not use Lisa's mobile
phone in that case. Even then he did not actually
wish me Happy Mothre's Day or even say that he hoped
my day had been nice.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Just Another Day!

Yes Kath said she had no money on her phone and no
she never got a present or card from Nathan and
they were so busy running around with sports for
the kids and Nathan that they never visited Toss.
Toss dropped off Kirsten on Saturday night and
picked her up Sunday night so they had no need to
go see her. They couldn't even find a public
phone while they were out and make a call on that!

Donald claimed he didn't know what day it was! How
could a man live to be 36 and NOT KNOW that Mother's
Day is the first Sunday of May. I bet he never
forgets when Father's Day is.

Kath said that Meg rang and abused her for not
calling. GO MEG! It was Meg that told me what
Donald said as he has still not contacted me.
Kath and Nathan with Ryley and Dayne came down
to the shop yesterday and saw me and gave me a
lovely card.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

Well what a bust. Meg rang to wish me a Happy Mother's,
Day but I never received a message or phone call from
Don Jr or Kath.

Really there is no excuse. Donald is going out with Lisa
and surely she would have wanted to see her mother for
Mother's Day so Donald must have been aware of the day.

As for Kath surely even Nathan would have bought her at
least a card for the fact that she has had four children
by him!! So she too must have bee aware that Sunday was
Mother's day! Even if she had made a quick call from Toss's
landline when they went up to see her for Mother's day.
But no nothing!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Easter 2011

I rang Kath on Saturday night to tell her that I
was not feeling well and Cliff and I would not be
up for Easter Sunday but we would catch up either
Monday or Tuesday.

It turns out that neither Meg nor Don had told her
they were going with Lisa to visit Uncle Bill. So
it was left to me to tell her they would not be
coming. As Don was not coming neither were his
four kids. Ross had a gig and Keith was seeing
friends.

At the end of the phone call I could hear the tears
in her voice!

Cliff and I went up Tuesday and took the 'toy'
stove that he had bought for the kids as well as ice
cream, rather than heaps of easter eggs as I
figured they would have got tons from Nathan's side,
and I was right, but they rarely have ice cream
especially the fancy sort so I thought that might
go down better.

Kath confirmed that after my phone call she had a cry.
She had been planning this big Easter Egg hunt and
fancy day and it just didn't happen!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

"Hark" by Ed McBain

Once again I think I am right in saying that these
days publishers do not employ proof readers any more.

On page 7 of this book there is-
"Today was Tuesday, the first day of June..."
just four pages later-
"...with his sometimes GQ look-on this bright May
morning..."

I won't bother with all the minor mistakes, there are
just too many.

Nevertheless not a bad read. It would have been a
great read if I wasn't pulled up so much with the
mistakes!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Eureka, Montana.

I have been watching a Sci Fi(or should I put SYFY,
as according to "Big Bang Theory" that is what Sci
Fi is now known as!) show on AUSTAR at Cliff's
called "Eureka". I quite enjoy it.

Turns out there really is a place called "Eureka"
in Montanna, which is strange because that setting
is the one used in the show. I mean a town
surrounded by tall trees and a lake, some remote
town set in a forest. SPOOKY!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Getting It Right!

I stared this post and I had only done the heading
when the computer had a fit. Somehow without even
pushing the publishing button it published the
heading FOUR times!!! Talk about getting it WRONG!

Anyway what I wanted to talk about was a review I
read in Saturday's Sun Herald. It was on Harlan
Coben's latest book. The reviewer describes the
main character Myron Bolitar as an ex basketballer
and now private investigator. This is wrong! He
is a sports agent with his own agency MB Sports.
He just does a little investigation on the side
usually with his friend Win.

Surely if the reviewer really read the book she
would know this as it is in EVERY book! Just in
case that is the first book that the reader has
seen.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fluffy Bunny.

I had the weirdest dream Thursday morning. I was
at some sort of auction to raise money for a
hospital. Meg was one of the people who had donated
items to the auction. But in addition there was a
prepared statement about what the donor thought of
their mother.

The statement about me was read out and it was full
of wonderful things. Then the first item of Meg's
was put up for sale and it was "Fluffy Bunny". The
trouble was that "Fluffy Bunny" was not Meg's to
donate.

I went up to the people who had paid $4 for "Fluffy
Bunny" and told them the stroy pointing out that
therefore it was not Me's to donate! the story is
as follows:-

On Jan 12th 1981, my younger daughter Kathleen was
born. A couple of months later the Woman's Weekly
ran a competition from some company that was giving
away a dishwasher as first prize.

You had to write in 25 words or less why you wanted
to win a dishwasher. I wrote that "The one I have
now, HE doesn't work as well as HE used to." I still
think it is funny even now!

I did not win the dishwasher but I did win second
prize, one of 100 "Fluffy Easter Bunnies." He
arrived just before Easter. I remember reading about
the win, one day when I was waiting outside Meg's
kindergarden to pick her up.

However babies being babies one day Kath spewed up
on "Fluffy Bunny" and her father being the helpful
person that he always was threw it in the washing
machine, rather that wiping the spew off by hand
and hanging it on the line.

When "Fluffy Bunny" came out of the machine his
beautful blue eyes were badly scratched, his
filling had all bunched up in the middle, and his
lovely fluffy fur was like rat's tails. He never
recovered. He is 30 years old this Easter and now
lives in a gar bag in the attic. I told Kath about
this dream and she said that she had seen him last
year when she did the raid on the attic.

I wonder if this dream was a result of the quarrel
on Tuesday at lunch time!! and if so what is it's
meaning.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Don Jr is 37!

Don was 37 on April 6th. Though there was a complete
mix up with the celebrating of it.

Kath said she couldn't come with the kids as she didn't
get paid till the Friday. So she wanted the party to
be on Saturday. Meg said that she couldn't make Sat
as she was going to Melbourne early to pick up her new
car and then to a late netball match in Wontaggi, (which
her term won). But she said that it would be a full day
and thus she would be too tired to go out on Saturday
night and celebrate then. Cliff also didn't want to
come out on Wed as it would make three late nights in
a row for him and he said he would be too tired.

I wondered if Don Jr wanted to spend the actual Wed of
his birthday alone with Liza, but it turned out she had
planned to celebrate with him and her family on the Sat
night.

So it would have suited Kath and Cliff to have had it
on the Sat but not Meg and Don. I didn't care either
way was okay with me.

So when I had lunch on Tuesday with Meg and Kath joined
us and found out that she had been ONCE MORE LEFT OUT
(according to her) she did her bannana! Screaming at
me that I loved Meg more and she was not considered
part of the family! I have no idea where this idea
about me has come from. I never showed either one of
them to be a favorite over her sister. But I really
worry about how unhappy she seems to be. She seemed
to think that it was I that planned the party, when
in fact it was Meg.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Julie Benz

I was watching "Jawbreaker" (1999)last night on Go. One
of the girls was a character called Marcie Fox. As soon
as I saw her I thought, that's Dexter's wife Rita. The
actress playing the role was Julie Benz and yes she is
the actress that playes Rita. Or should that be PLAYED
Rita considering the end of season 5 saw her become the
last victim of the "Trinity Killer.'

Meg says it can't be, it must be a dream that Dexter is
having. I said I don't think so, I think they have
killed off Rita!

Of course after season 1 the series started to become
radically different from the books. In the books Dexter
did kill the "Ice Truck Killer" (his brother.)

Also in the books he has a daughter not a son. Also in
the books, Rita's two children have turned out to be
like Dexter and he is training them, like his father
did to him, to follow the code! I guess that is a bit
much for T.V. to have psycopathic children!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Kirsten Makes Another Blue!

I can't believe that Kirsten could be so silly.
She could not come last week because of something
silly she did and though she was at camp all
weel it looked like she would not be allowed to
come this weekend as she had taken Emma's IPod
but then she was allowed. Everything seemed to
be alright, but when Kath and Nathan came to pick
her up Sunday at 1 p.m. (which turned out to be
noon as they forgot to put their watches back!)
Kath told me that Kirsten had accessed Facebook
at 1.35 a.m. and up graded her facebook photo with
one of her in her blue PJ's.

The only way she could have done that was by using
my mobile phone that has access to Facebook on it.
Something I have never used so all I have to do is
check with OPTUS to see if it was used on Sunday
morning and she is in trouble again!

Toss is furious about it. Frankly it is something
I have never thought of. I guess I was just not
sneaky enough in my thinking.

But when Kath said that Toss said that from now on
as long as Kirsten is in her care she can not come
and stay with Cliff and I. I was seriously pissed!
How dare she deny me the REAL grandmother assess
to her granddaughter. If she thinks she can get
away with that I will seek legal advice and we will
see!

Perhaps it is time I though about trying to get
custody of Kirsten after all.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

What Is a Cougar?

Well we all know it is a large meat eating member of
the cat family, but what else? Only in America could
they come up with a name for a woman over 40 who has a
boyfriend ten years younger than herself.

There is no equal name for a man who dates women 10
years younger, unless you regard 'lucky bastard' as
such. Though some women refer to such men as 'dirty
old men.' I don't think women in this situation
would like to be called 'dirty old women'. Yes
cougar has a kind of ring to it. Of course we all
know about Demi and Ashton, but she is not the only
one, but I have to protest about an ad I saw during
the week on Go for The Nanny at 7 p.m. 3 days a week.
It referred to Nanny Fine as a cougar. How wrong can
you be!! She was only about mid 30's when she married
Maxwell and he was in his mid 40's, so no cougar there!

Perhaps the announcer should check what he is reading
next time and he might not make such a stupid mistake!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

It's The Thought That Counts.

I checked with Meg and she was only having a
practise match this evening, and she was not going
to Paul's afterwards. So as soon as she left the
house I snuck down to Coles and bought some chicken
breasts for next week and saw that there were parma
rissoles so I thought I would cook those for her
tonight as she is always saying that I never cook
tea for her.

I put it on to cook just before 8 p.m. but I thought
she would be home by 8.45 p.m. so I rang and she said
that she was on her way.

I was waiting almost at the door and when she walked
in she said "I can smell it, you've cooked tea." I
said "I wanted to surprise you." She said "I stopped
and bought KFC as it was late and afetr netball I
didn't feel like cooking tea."

So she is going to have it for lunch tomorrow. I went
into my room and the thought hit me. Where was the
phone call to me to say "Hey mum I'm going to KFC fancy
anything?" I went in to her and asked and she just said
"Next time." Not good enough Louise!!

Anyway I ate tea and I thought it was good!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

LOL

What a day Meg asked me to take her to VIC Roads
as she needed to get a new set of plates to put on
her old car before she traded it in.

It was going to cost about $30 and she wanted me to
put it on my credit card. As she is leaving hers
as blank as she can for the trip to England later
this year.

She then decided that she would order a new plate
for the front of the car as the personalised plate
she has is damaged. She then noticed that the new
plates have Victoria- The Place TO Be while the ones
she has have Victoria - On The Move. She said that
it would look odd to have a different one on the
front from the one on the back. To order a replace-
ment plate is $29:80. So to order the pair is $59.60.
So that doubled her cost! Then she thought she
would have the slim line version and that took the
price to $117! This does not included the cost of
$100 to transfer the number plates to the new car!

Then she decided that she wanted to have a look at
the different colours available! At this point the
woman said that she had an appointment waiting.
Why she took a customer when it was so close to the
appointment time is beyond me!

Meg decided that she would go with the navy blue and
white lettering as her NEXT car was going to be blue!
I pointed out that could be ten years away and she
might need new plates by then anyway!

Of course every time she changed her mind I cracked up
laughting she is just sooooo fussy! The woman was not
impressed as each time Meg changed her mind she had to
cross out the paperwork. In the end Meg decided that
she would wait until she actually got the new car and
then put the plates up against it and chose the colout
then. The woman had by this point mentioned that she
had an appointment 3-4 times. She tore up the paper
work with what I thought was a great deal of enthusiasm.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Autism Awareness

To follow from the Earth Hour, which Cliff had
not seen one ad for, what should he see but the
ad for Autism Awareness and the fact that the
Opera House in Sydney will be lit with blue lights.
"See it's alright when they want to burn electricity,
for a cause. What does a little Global warming mean
then?" Well what could I say to that!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Earth Hour 2011

At 8 p.m. on Saturday night I reminded Cliff about
Earth Hour. He said "What the Hell is that?" I
tried to explain that it was an initiative began
here in Australia to make people aware of Global
Warming and its causes.

Well as he does not believe in Global Warming, it
was like talking to a brick wall. He said that
he paid for his electricity and that he would have
as many lights on as he wanted. I think he even
turned on more lights including the outside ones
as his way of saying "It's all rubbish."

Next time I'll just keep quiet about it!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Kirsten V Talhia

It seems that keith has given Kirsten and Talhia
nicknames. Kirsten being the 'bad one' and
Talhia being the 'good one.'

I was suppose to have Kirsten this week end but
when I rang her mother and tried to make
arrangements to hget her I was told that she had
been sent to Toss's place again. It seems that
noone had told Toss of the arrangements and she
had orgainised a baby sitter for Kirsten on
Friday night as she was going out.

Kath said that I could ring Toss and speak to her
but I am very resentful of that as she is no
relation to Kirsten and I told feel that I her
real grandmother should have to ask 'her
permission' to see my grandchild!

So I picked up Talhia instead. She was waiting
with baited breath at the edge of the driveway
and before I had got out of the car she was
opening the door and fixing the back seat so
that she could get in the car.

She went with poppy Cliff on Saturday morning to
the shop after we did the graage sales and had
bought her a hat a bag and a book. At the shop
she did not help Poopy as she had the week
before but as he put it "she fiddled with things"

Keith bought her a load of rubbish to eat and a
paint set of masks to make if she got bored.
Somehow she found 'a friend' just around the
corner from Cliff's house and played there from
5.50 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. We watche the 'dog' movie
from 6.30 p.m. till 9 p.m. I recored it and we
watched on Auststar so that I could stop it and
explain various things to her.

One of the actresses in it was Jamie Lee Curtis,
and I told her about "True Lies." So Ross
burned that for us and we watched it but at the
end of the dics it keep sticking and we never got
to see the end so I have to see if I have a cop
on tape, so we can finish watching tit next time
she comes!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How Weird Is That?

I was doing a quiz out of the Sun Herald with
Meg on Tuesday and one of the questions asked
to whose assassination did the Warren Report
refer to. Well neither of us had heard of it
but being an assassination we assumed an
American president so went to JFK. We were
right.

Then on Wednesday I started reading Lee Child's
"Without Fail" and it deals with the threat to
the life of the Vice President and it mentions
the Warren Report!!! Never heard of it and then
rwo days in a row I read about it!!

I was watching T.V. on Thursday night, waiting
for "Bewitched" to come on and saw the end of "I
Love Lucy" it was about Richard Burton and Eliza-
beth Taylor getting engaged. Never thought
anything more about it, then heard that Elizabeth
Taylor had died on the news! I wondered if they
played that episode because she had died or was
that just another freaky coincidence.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

New Commonwealth Bank Ad

Well it is true everything that is old is new again.

Just after WW2 my father Robert Earnest Henning
started working for the Commonwealth Bank. At first
he was a flight attendent on the VIP plane the bank
run. When that was put out of service he was moved
into head office in Martin Place, Sydney. He had
been the last flight attendent they had in service.
His new postion in Martin place was as a messanger.
His job to fill the inkwells (yes they had ink in
those days!) and of course change the blotters.
He had to make sure there were enough deposit slips
and withrawal forms etc. He also had to make sure
the floor remained neat and tidy and that all the
rubbish bins (where people threw their disregarded
slips were regularly emptied.) He had a name tag and
people would make enquires to him when they wanted to
know where to go in the bank as well as differnt
services around town if new to the area. Rather
like the floor walker on "Are You Being Served."

He eventually transferred to the Hurstville branch
when we moved to our house there, in the mid 1950's.
He still performed the same function.

He worked there as a messanger till they phased them
out completely in the late 1960's. When he was
moved back to the main branch in Martin Place, where
he remained a messanger till his retirement in the
early 1970's. He had been the last messagener to work
for the bank.

But wait the new ad says that the Commonwealth Bank
is now employing concierges a "new concept' in customer
service.

The idea being that customers who hold either a
Platinum MasterCard or Platium American Express card
can ring them on 131662 24/7 and be assisted with
'Lifestyle Services.' They direct the custonmers
on flight information, car rental and limo services,
source, purchase and delivery tickets to events that
they have information on. They have refferal to
restaurants and make reservations. They have
information on major counrty and city events,
festivals etc, and various other services.

This sounds just like an extended service of what my
father use to do, but he was only in a branch and was
available to ALL the customers not just the rich ones.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Weird Dream or Was It A Nightmare?

About 5.30 a.m. yesterday morning I woke up and went
to the toilet.

I think this dream happened between 6 and 6.30 a.m.
as I woke up from it and it was 6.45 a.m.

The dream was a s follows: I was asleep in my bed.
I feel a presence on the other side of the queen
mattress. I ask "What are You doing?" A male
voice answers "Jack was taking up all the bed and he
snores." In my mind's eye I picture the bedroom he
was in and it was my step mothers bedroom from when
I was 13. I then try to figure out what is going on,
as I know Jack was the dog that my fiancee's mother
use to have about 8 years ago. The dog is now dead.

I believe that the presence is my late husband Don,
so I tell him to go away and leave me alone.

The mattress shifts as the presence leaves, but
then it comes around to my side of the bed and leans
right over me as close as it can without touching me
but it was as if it was smothering me. I could not
breathe. He leant right down to my right ear and
said "Insurance" I yelled "Go away Don" and then it
was instantly gone. Then in the dream I wake up and
in real life I woke up too.

My husband has been dead 3 years. Yet this presence
was so real, so I thought it might have actually been
someone who passed just before I had the dream.

I began to think it might have been Cliff and I was
worried that I would get to the shop and find it all
locked up so I would have to go to his house and I
would find him dead in his bed!

I must have fallen asleep again as it was 9.20 a.m.
when I next woke up. I did not ring Cliff as I thought
in the light of day I was being silly. When I got to
the shop it was open and Cliff was perfectly fine!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Talhia Has Her Turn.

Talhia followed poppy Cliff around as if she was a
puppy and he was her loving master!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

St. Pat's Day 2011

Cliff and I went to Flannigan's Bar last night.
Meg was meeting Paul there. So she said that we
were not to go to that pub! But we did. I think
Cliff was more curious than I was what Paul looked
like.

We were lucky enouigh to get a seat as soon as we
ewalked in the door, which was great as we could
see every one who went in or out.

We arrived before Meg but she was not that far
behind us. Cliff and I had barely started our
first drink when she arrived.

Of course she saw us when she came in. She went
up to the bar and bought us a drink, but it turned
out that to get a green furry hat with ST. Patrick's
Day 2011 on it you had to buy a glass of Guiness
and neither Meg nor Cliff like Guiness! But it did
not matter as they were out of hats by then as it
was nearly 10 p.m. and they had been giving them out
from 6 p.m. But the bartender gave Meg a free T
shirt with Guiness on it. It was cream T shirt with
the writing and a harp in gold.

Cliff asked me what Meg drank and I said Jack Daniels
but it was Jim Beam, and she does not drink it with
Cola! So he bought the Jack and took it around to her
so he could get a look at Paul.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

My Boy Comes To Work.

Due to the council's notice that they are coming
to look at my pool safety fencing next week Donald
at last has come around to see what he has to do
to finish building the gate that he started for
the pool about five years ago.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Kirsten Blows Another Chance.

Caught Kirsten out AGAIN. I had asked her yesterday
to go out to my study and pick up scarft off the floor
(had been too lazy to pick it up all week) and while
she was there she noticed the computer on and tried
to acess facebook, but because my computer works at
the pace of a snail she did not have the time to get
on before I started calling to her to HURRY UP. She
then panicked and in trying to get off computer
exited the internet.

Later when I got on the computer the first thing of
course that I noticed was that the internet was shut
down so I said "You have been on the computer." She
denied it. I told her the facts. 1. I had left the
computer on Rewards Central and 2. it was now on screen
saver, thus 3. SOMEONE had exited the internet and as
4. there was only TWO people in the house her and myself
and 5. I had not shut down the internet then 6. it must
have been her. She still denied she had been on the
computer!

I then went into the computer history and showed her
in BLAcK AND WHITE that she had tried to log on to
facebook and I could not believe it that she still
said that she had not done it. Once more pointed to
the writing on the screen and said "The computer says
that you did: and finally she admitted that she had!

Meg had a call Tuesday afternoon to say that her parents
had found makeup in her belongings and wanted to know
if it was hers. It was Avon and some other things so
new it was mine. The only time she was out of my sight
other than the 'five minutes to get the scarf and two
minutes to put towels on Meg's bed,' was when I shut
my bathroom door to give her privacy when she was having
her shower. So that must have been when she got out of
the shower and went through my things to take the make up!

How can any one trust her? She lies all the time and
steals from everyone then wonders why we are cross with
her!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Kirsten Cometh!

Rang on Wednesday and asked if I could have Kirsten
for the week end. Kath said "She would see!" I had
thought she would jump at the chance to get rid of
her as there has been more trouble at home and school.

Even though I had told Kirsten that this year was
a chance to change her act as she was now going into
year 7 at a new school and there was not one kid from
her primary school in her class so that no one would
know how silly she had been the last couple of years.

But no it seems she could not control herself, as she
has started fighting with girls in her class and once
more gone onto facebook and said silly things about
other girls!

She is also still stealing only now it appears that she
is taking things from the homes of girls that are trying
to be her friends. She is totally alienating everyone
that could possible make life easier for her.

So was nicely surprised when Kath rang on Friday about
5 p.m. ans said "You can have her for the week end."

Of course I had to drive up and collect her! and when I
got there Talhia was throwing a tantrum as she wanted to
come too. She was screaming at her mother and father. Of
course adults that they are they were screaming back at
her. She flounced off to her room slaming the door.
When Kirsten did that Nathan took Kirsten's door off its
hinges. I doubt he will do that to Talhia.

I went to her door and knocked before I poked my head
around the door and said " if you behave for Mum nad
Dad over the week then I will take you to Poppy Cliff's
next week end and we will see how you go." She stopped
crying and said O.K. and I hugged and kissed her.

Then went to her parents and told them I would have
Talhia next week if she behaved herself during the week.

So that was smoothed over and Kirsten and I were able
to leave in peace.

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Bewitching Boo Boo

Please someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do
not believe that in the entire history of the world
that there has ever been a black haired baby that
has grown up to be a blonde haired child.

Many babies and children were used in the "Bewitched"
series. So you would think that they would try to be
realistic. Samantha had blonde hair and Darrin had
dark hair so a baby could have had dark hair, which
the first babies did. But Erin Murphy has blonde hair!
and she was the child that played the later Tabitha,
(which was originally spelt Tabatha).

Monday, February 28, 2011

All Quiet On The Western Front

Have not heard from Beryl since her meltdown.

I'm sure if she wants to see me she is capable
of using the phone to ring me.

Friday, February 25, 2011

"The Big Trip"

This country of ours is huge. Yet in the last ten years
I have done very little driving around it. It is for
this reason that the trip I made on Thursday to see Karen
at her new house and visit Janette at 'her little house'
then drive home via Yallourn Nth became the big trip!

A total of 68 kms. The most I have done in the last five
years is about 35, a trip to Yallourn Nth and then down
to Moe , back to Yallourn Nth and then home.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Gavin Cleans Up.

Gavin came over on Monday and started cutting down the
treesaround the pool. He had filled up my bin, before
Meg came home at lunch time and told him that there was
to be a free 'green waste day' this Saturday and Sunday.

So then he just kept cutting the trees down and said that
he would come over on either Wednesday or Thursday and
finish them off. But he has not come over and I have not
herad from him. So I will have to chase him up and see
if he will come over on Saturady and cut the trees while
I do the bamboo. I hate to wait till the last moment as
we have had two great days of fine weather and who knows
what it will be like over the week end!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Good Neighbours.

Well I was being a good neighbour by letting the young
girl next door know that her tenents had did a flit.

It was also me that put out the full bins when the days
came around. It was also me that rang the coucil and got
them to come especially and empty the 'recycling' bin
that the tenents had put rubbish in. So what did I want
in return? Just to be able to use the green waste bin
as long as there were no tenents in the house and what
happened? Her father shut the bins up in the garage
so that I could not use them!!!

So I won't be putting myself out for them again, that's
for sure.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Court Case! AGAIN!!!

Received in the mail on Wednesday a letter from the
Magistrate's Court re The Court case with the Council.

Despited the fact that the Council withdrew the case
and I was told to go home. Apparently someone FORGOT
to show the judge the letter when the case was called
and so he judged in favour of the Council!

I spent over an hour yesterday going back and forth
between the Court house and the Council trying to sort
it all out. Finally a young lady at the Courthouse
said that the judge that made the order was a visiting
judge and was situated in Melbourne and she would have
to email him and took my phone number (mobile) and said
she would ring me and let me know that everything is OK.
That was about noon on Thursday and it is Friday noon
and no word yet, I will give them a week and then re
contact them if I haven't heard!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Happy V Day

Well Cliff bought me a kit for doing my nails. I have
no idea what made him buy this. I am not that fussy
about my nails. In fact I have terrible trouble with
them, as they are always splitting and cracking, so
much so that I find that I can't even wear nail polish,
as this only seems to make them worse.

When I went to spend the week end I found that he had
bought heart ice creams, not the big ones, but little
ones. Each consists of one mouthfull of ice cream,
surrounded by chocolate. He said they were for
Valentine's Day.

I don't know if this is really romantic or really stupid!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Thursday, February 10, 2011

A New Out Look

It has been a wek since I did my blog. I have been
thinking about Tracey and her life and of course that
has led me to think about life in general and how we
always neglect to think that one day it will end.
It is a sad fact that we don't have forever, so
really we should start leading our lives accordingly.

By this I mean things like "The Craddle List" all the
things young people should do before they have children,
and then the ever faithful "Bucket List" all the
things that we want to do before we die.

Well we might never know when we are going to die,
for some it just happens. So stop putting of those
things. If they require money to do, then start saving
now, so that "one day" will arrive sooner!

Even if it means giving up a small thing like one
lunch out a week that would be a saving of over $100
a year! I only need about $500 to drive across the
Nullarbor Plain. Meaning that about retiremnet age
I should have the money to do this!

As for seeing my dad's grave, I doubt I would ever
have the $10,00 it would take to go to Ireland and
stay the week to see his grave and met my Irish
relatives. Well some things are not meant to be
and I believe this is one of them.

The other thing I wanted to do was walk along some
of the Great Wall of China, but I am a 61 year old
obese woman, who has trouble walking from my front
door to the car in the driveway about 10 meters away!
so I don't really see that happening.

But the drive across the Nullarbor that I can do!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Friends

B came around on Saturday and watched "Easy A"
with me, but was very quiet the whole time as she
was leaving I asked if she would take the DVD's
back and she was very curt when she said no she
was busy aand going someplace else.

So I grabbed my keys and followed her out to the
car to drive the DVD's back and I asked her if
she wanted to come next week and she went off on
me accussing me of saying things to her that I had
never said, but she then said "You people" are
having a good at me so I think she has confused
me with with someone else that was showing
concern for her.

For years she could talk of no one else but N
even though he had broken up with her in the
early 1990's and of course one can't move on
if you are still in love with a person and
continually think that you will get back
together. I was very happy when in the
beginging of 2009 she stopped talking about N.
I thought good she's ready to move on.

But then she began to go on about P in the same
way she had about N. She talked about what great
friends they were. I was concerned that she had
developed a crush on him. I did not want her to
be hurt if he rejected her. So last week I made
the remark that he was old enough to be one of
our children. I believe he is in his mid 40's.

She said that I had a dirty mind and all I thought
about was sex, and there was nothing wrong about
their being friends that she was friends with a
lot of people like K who is only in her twenties.
I said there was nothing wrong with being friends.
What she has to remember is that she doesn't carry
on about K like she does about P.

She will say things like P sent me this funny text.
P helped me pick out my phone. P didn't get my text
I think there is something wrong with my phone,
perhaps P will know what to do. There is not one
time that we have been together in the past year
that P's name has not been mentioned.

B does not have a deciteful bone in her body. In
fact she is transparent with many of her emotions.
Obviously someone else believes that she has a crush
on P otherwise they would not have spoken to her
about him. She mentioned this other person went on
at her for two hours. I beliveve that this is the
person that said that she was stalking P! and she
needed to se a psychiarist!

She got into her car and drove off in a huff.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Australia Day

I think it is great that this is the one holiday that
we actually celebrate on the correct day.

I was out of groceries, that is frozen meals today, so
I went down to Coles in downtown Morwell. I was the
fourth car to turn into the car park and there were
five cars that turned in after me as I got out of the
car and walked inside. I guess a lot of people did
not have much to do on the day.

I treated myself to $2 worth of donuts, they had yellow
icing with green sprinkles on them, I would say in
celebration of Australia Day.

As I was reaching for them another customer reached for
them, and we both said the same thing, "Why not some
yellow and green donuts?"

The young girl then said "Do you know who I am?" I did
not have any idea~! but did not want to hurt her
feelings, so I said "The face looks familiar." She said
"I'm Sharon's daughter" And pointed and there was Sharon,
who used to live opposite Kim in Thexton Street, whom
I hadn't seen in ten years, no wonder I did not
recognise the daughter, she is a woman now and was only
a child back then.

I told Sharon about Tracey and that the furneral is on
Friday. I have no idea whether she is in contact with
Kim or not.

Sharon does not look a bit different to whenI last saw
her, with the tattooed man!

Monday, January 24, 2011

My Day In Court

The day dawned wet and miserable which under the
circumstances was appropriate.

Finally I went to the local court about the fine the
council levied on me when Nathan could not cut the
grass because he had lost the key to the ride on mower
and the slasher broke.

I had sent a stat dec to the council but they ignored
that and upheld the fine, so I tried the revocation
order people in Melbourne and once again sent a stat
dec and once again it was ignored and they upheld the
fine. So I had no choice but to go to court.

Of course it had been set for months, but how was any
one to know that 24 hours earlier Tracey would die.

I went but I knew that if the delay was too long before
my case was heard then I would lose it.

I booked in and was told that my case would be heard in
court one, but there seemed to be a problem with court
one as within 1 1/2 hours there were two half hours breaks.

At 12.30 p.m. I started to cry, so I went along to the
court networking lady, Stella, and told her about the
case and about Tracey, so she went up and spoke to the
counter staff. There had been a problem in court one
and now the case was to be heard in court two.

She gave me a free coffee, and then I heard my name
called but it was to the counter. When I got there the
young girl said she had looked at the file and the
council had withdrawn the complaint, which meant that
I did not have to pay the fine nor go into court. She
said that I was free to go home. I went back and told
Stella and thanked her for her kindness. She said it
would have been nice of the council if they had also
sent me a letter saying the fine had been withdrawen.
I think it would have been nice too, but I figured
they didn't so I could 'suffer' longer.

I'm sure that Nathan and Kathleen will be relived as he
was worried that they would come after him because the
grass was not cut. As I said to him, he couldn't help
it that the slasher broke. The sad thing is that he
has still not found the key to the ride on mower!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

R.I.P. Tracey McDougall

Darren texted Kim who texted Meg to let us know that
Tracey died early Sunday morning.

Darren had arrived at the hospital with only about a
minute to spare but Tracey was so drugged up by then
she was not aware of who was or was not there.

I hope she realised that she was loved by a great
number of people. Even if at times we acted hard
for her own good.

I think she went a lot quicker than expected because
she had little fight left in her.

Tracey was such a cute little kid when I first met
her, but she did not have a very happy life at all.
I hope she is at peace at last at the right hand of
the Lord where she belongs.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Don Snr's Birthday.

If Don had of still been alive he would have been 73
today. I don't know how Don Jr handled the day but
Meg seemed alright at lunch though a bit blue tonight.

When I saw Kath just after lunch she did not want to
talk about her father, she said it upset her too much.
Still it will be 3 years this April since he died and
I told her that she would actually feel better if she
talked about her father more, especially the good
things.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My Baby Turns 30!

Kathleen turned 30 today. Meg went up and baby sat
the kids while Nathan took her out to tea. They went
to Simon's, as he would give them a good deal.

I said I would go up with Meg to see Kath but she
said no way as I would annoy her (MEG). I sent a
message that read "Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy
30th Birthday. Love Mum."

As I did not wake up till 2 p.m. I did not send that
off till 3.18 p.m. Kath made no mnetion of receivg
it , to Meg, but Meg said that Donald did go up and
visit for 4 hours.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Euchre Starts for 2011

Well tonight was the first night back. Nine people
turned up including 'old' John. So though I had
printed out the Hoyle's Rules for Euchre like Cliff
asked, he said that it would be better if we waited
till next week when more people turned up to see
what they thought.

I handed out the printouts and asked everyone to
look them over and we would talk about it next week.

My thoughts are if we are going to play the game, it
should be done as closely as possible to the correct
rules and not the rubbish that John and others have
said through out the last few years.

I can't believe how wrong we have been playing it.

Billy was the winner, June came 2nd and I was third.