On Tuesday night I hosted a Linen Party. We regularly have these little party plan things, just to get out and have a bit of a gossip, few laughs, few nibblies and a party thrown in. I didn't expect anyone to buy anything, but managed to get $400 in sales anyway, with a couple more orders to come in as well.

It also makes it a good reason to have to clean up. I went to Mums in the morning to get some flowers, as my garden is dead in this drought, and mum and dad have tank water so can keep their garden going. These are the flowers I got from her.

I wish you could smell them, they are divine.

I will be busy the next couple of days, Dave comes home from camp tomorrow, and the final touches are being put together for our luncheon next week. The Year 11 hospitality students are doing the catering for the day, which has involved, preparing a suitable menu, working out quantities needed, times, preparation, cooking and serving and cleaning. This is their final assessment of the year so they have to do it right. But I have no fears. The food I have tasted has been delicious and I have it on good authority that the desserts they made the other day for a try were to die for.

They are cooking Pocketed Chicken Breast (with Proscuitto, sun dried tomato, camembert cheese) topped with mustard sauce, or Slow Roasted Lamb Shanks, both served with vegies, and dessert will be a choice of Double Choc Mousse Cake or Lemon Cheesecake.

I am looking forward to the day.

Leisa

Well Dave is off to school Leadership Camp today. What a wonderful day to go, it has been raining all night. Hopefully he has enough clothes to last for the 4 days.

They are going to Emu Gully Camp at Helidon. They do extensive team building work, and leadership work. They will also short list those who want to go for School Captains and School Leaders too.

So it should be a quiet week with one down. It is amazing how having just one child out of the mix can make such a difference.

Planning is in the last stages for our Melbourne Cup Day Luncheon next week. We have about 50 people coming so it should be a good day.

Better go take him to school. Leisa

I seriously hate computers sometimes. I have just spent this morning reformatting my computer and now I have to reload EVERYTHING back on. This is a huge time-consuming effort. But I knew that my hard drive was failing a while ago and I should have backed up most of it, but as usual I had better things to do. At least I still have all my pictures and a lot of my files, at least the important ones. I just have to put the programs on to read them all.

But the other plus is that there are no viruses on here, there are no trojans, and Internet Explorer is working again for me without shutting down everything every time I close a window.

Oh well back to proofreading and updating.

Cya Chickies

Leisa

I am going out for dinner with the girls tonight. Should be good. We get together once a month for a birthday dinner for whoever has a birthday around that time. It is good to get out and have some adult company without children around.

Our accommodation has been booked for Melbourne trip next year. It is getting exciting. I can't wait to get my tax cheque back so that I can pay for it all. Luckily my friends realise that I don't have a lot of spare cash, so it has gone on K's credit card and I just have to pay her when I can.

Now we just have to organise what we are going to do when we are there. We did the shopping thing last time, and this time we also want to do some sightseeing. Anyone have any suggestions about what we can do. We will be there the first weekend in March.

Leisa

I have actually been finding time to get on MSN again. Have been talking to Cazza and Winja and it has been really good. I just hadn't had time to do that at all lately.

Today I am helping out with some catering for the High School. We have about 200 teachers coming from around Brissie and some even from interstate. The kids have a student free day so that the teachers can get together for verification. This is where work from students from across the state, have their work looked at and assessed to see whether marking is standardised.

We have to do morning tea and lunch for them. So we will be busy.

Friday is also International Teachers Day, and we always do a breakfast for our teachers. They enjoy it but we also enjoy saying thanks to them. Some teachers are really undervalued.

I finally had Centrelink approve our application for Youth Allowance. Yippee! A bit of money coming in at last. I can pay a few bills now.

HOpefully I will be paid at work as well this week so that the pressure will ease off a bit more. I am still going to be looking for more hours of work somewhere.

Better go. Take care all.
Leisa

Leisa

It's official, our little group is going to Melbourne again in March. Airfares are on sale, so it is cheaper for us to fly. Only $89 each way. Can't wait. Going down for 3 nights this time.

Would love to organise a meet up with a few Minti mums in Melbourne while we are there. If you are interested let me know. We will be there from 29-02-08 to 03-03-08.

Now the money saving is a priority, as is getting a job. I hope everything will work out.

Leisa

Well we are now up to 3 teeth gone for Connor. I tell ya, they all come out at once and the tooth fairy is going broke.



On other fronts, Alex has been selecting subjects for Year 10. He wants to get into Child Care and he will be able to do his Cert III in Senior as one of his subjects. But next year he may still be able to do something at TAFE to help things through.

David helped one of his friends move last night. She has been given a unit through the Youth Housing Project. Lovely little one bedroom unit, and Mon, Aaron and Dave went grocery shopping last night so that she had some food and stuff. Then when I picked up Dave, they were complaining about the price of groceries. She spent $100 and didn't even fill the cupboard fridge and freezer. I told her welcome to my world. So she wants me to take her shopping next time I go so that she knows where to find the bargains.

Brad is working still, and enjoying it. They were talking about sending him to Coomera every day, but he didn't want that. We might have moved if Dave didn't have only one more year to go in school. Still on the cards for further down the track tho.

I have also decided I have to get a job. There is a job going at the local petrol station for overnight shifts, and also Big W is looking for night fillers. I will have to apply for both of these. I am sick of having no money. The phone is cut off at the moment, but at least I still have the mobile. I am thinking of not putting the phone back on as my mobile is a plan, with included calls, and I don't go anywhere near the limit each month. And we do have another phone line connected in the house from when hubby had his business. So might just use that one.

Oh well better get the kids to school.
Take Care
Leisa

Well the latest news is that my youngest Connor has decided he is spiderman. He discovered his legs are now long enough to support him in doorways. Yikes!


He also lost his tooth this week, and is very proud of the fact. It has been so loose for ages as is the other one, which I had hoped would fall out before school starts back on Monday. Never mind.


Other news Alex comes home from camp this afternoon, after being away for 6 days. Ah the peace and quiet will finish about 3pm, so listen out for the fireworks.

I get to babysit my nephew tonight for a few hours, while sis and hubby, and my mum and dad go to a wedding. Should be a good night. He is only 7 months so won't be too hard to look after. And they have cable TV so I will be able to plonk myself on the couch and watch.

Have fun. Leisa

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

http://blogactionday.org/

Today I finally got my finger out, and decided that I would take David to Centrelink so that he could put his form in for youth allowance. Being 16 he was cut off from my family payment. Boo hiss. So was checking through it and had to get out the tax assessment forms from 2005/2006. Ok I have mine, but can't find hubby's. I thought that's ok if I get the form in then I can drop the other over tomorrow. Then while checking through again, I realised that because my hubby was self employed in that financial year, we had to fill out another form. Go to the centrelink site to download the form, thinking just a 1 or 2 page form. NO IT ISN'T. It's frigging 12 pages long for the guide to work it out and 8 pages of the form where the totals go. And do you know what the form is????? Family spending and saving.

Questions like, How much did it cost for petrol for the car - in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. How much did I spend on groceries? AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How the f@$k I am supposed to remember that?

I just get so sick of them sometimes. They make it so hard. They are quick to take away the money. I just hate going in there. Something always goes wrong.

So tomorrow I am going to have to sit down and work out totals of everything we have spent in the last 2 years. And the bad(but maybe good) thing is that I will have to do it all again next year.

Cheers to one and all.
Leisa