What a day. My feet are aching, I am tired but so happy.

I came home with a huge amount of drinks, chips, K-time bars, ice blocks, bread rolls, cereal, to name just a few of the goodies. All for nothing!! The best bargain of all. The kids have a field day when I get home from these each year. Next year I will have to make sure that the child care send me along. I have a few things to take down there to show them, and now I have to go through all the paperwork for the relevant bits for them to look at.

I also found a company that does foccacia slabs, and pizza slabs. 28 squares of each, which I can cut each in half to make 56 for the kids for lunch. And at less than $8 a slab, good value. Approx 13 cents each then. So will definately be ordering these from them.

Will do more later, gotta go work out some stuff. CYA

Well Connor had his cross country run today. It was a lovely cool morning (for this read WET), and the Preppies, Year 1, Year 4 and Year 2 all got to do their runs before it was raining too heavily and they had to go inside from the oval until the rain cleared off a bit. Don't know whether they ended up finishing or whether they will do it tomorrow. Preppies to Year 3 only run differing lengths around the oval, and Years 4 to 7 run the oval and the local park next door to the school. This is why the 4's got a chance to run their race.

It was funny watching the littlies do it. The Year 7 kids actually run the course in front of them to make sure they know the way. I feel sorry for the kids, cause they have to do that one and then run in their own year level race.

Connor did well, he came last (if you don't count the kid that deliberately fell over so he didn't have to run it!!). But all kids who cross the finish line get a point for their house team.

Alex and Dave have theirs tomorrow. They have to run round their oval, up through the school round the back, up Sparkes Hill, down the other side, round the streets and back to school. It is a fair way, so hopefully they will do well.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the cook from the other Child Care Centre, to have a look at the things we are gonna need, and to give me a few pointers on quantities etc. Should be interesting. Only a week to go before I start. Which means that the kids are on school holidays in a week. Oh well at least it is only 11 days this time. Brad has holidays (hopefully he took the right week off - he has been giving me dates of the following week, which has stuffed me up royally thinking there was still 2 weeks to go before the kids are off) so he will be looking after the kids during the day. Mum of course will be taking them out as well.

I have a Tuckshop Expo to go to this weekend. This will be my last as a rep from the school. But I might be able to go from the Child care next year. There are a heap of suppliers there that bring all their products for us to sample and  of course at the end of the day it is great cause they give the excess stuff away. Kids always look forward to me getting home that day.

brad has stocktake to do all weekend, so the kids have to go to mums on saturday. She will take them to the beach if it is fine. Only the 2 younger ones go, as my oldest is "too old' for that sort of thing, and gets highly annoyed at my Mother's caring ways. He feels to constrained when with her. But at 16 I don't mind if he goes to a mate's place or even stays here.

Well been a few days or more since I actually sat down and blogged. Easter came and went. Kids on chocolate highs all Sunday. That was fun. I went a little overboard on the choccies this year, but ce la vie.

Work is going well at the Daycare. I am exhausted but a good tired if you know what I mean. I will be starting as Cook in the school holidays. Figured I would give the High School til the end of term before finishing up. Have been working as an Assistant in the rooms, floating for lunch breaks etc, so getting to experience all the age groups. It is interesting to realise how much I had forgotten of how kids act at different ages. Found out all the staff are happy with me, and they are all looking forward to me starting the cooking. It will take a little of the pressure off them at meal times as well.

They haven't started upgrading my kitchen yet, but they have been getting quotes for ovens and dishwashers and microwaves, so I should be set when it is finalised. Until it is, it will be sandwiches and fruit, crackers etc. Anything that is not cooked basically. Am meeting with the cook from the other centre on Friday to have a chat about what she offers there and how she runs things. So that should be worthwhile.

Tomorrow I have to go to the Women's Hospital for my checkup after the D&C and Mirena Insert last year. They told me 3 months ago that if things hadn't settled down they will more than likely do the hysterectomy. Yay!!! This is what I wanted originally, but was convinced to try the other. Well that hasn't worked. I have gone from a week of heavy bleeding and clotting, to 3 - 4 weeks of intermittent heavy and light bleeding, pain, and clots, so I think it will be fairly certain that it will all be coming out. At least that is what I will be pushing for now. And the sooner the better I reckon. Though it will mean having some time off work which I don't really want to do.

Well that's it for now I think.

We had the first of our monthly trivia nights tonight at the high school. It went really well. Our table, the Witches of Everton, won the night! Yippee!! As our prize we each received a camping chair. I also won two of the raffle prizes, a little photo album and a toiletries set. Not bad for $15. $10 each to get in and $5 raffle tickets. We had 39 people attend, which we hope to increase next month.

We are running these, as there seems to be a fad on Trivia Nights, and we as the P&C are giving the school $20000 this year, so we need to make money. If we raise at least $1000 each month we will be well on the way toward that goal. Hopefully the numbers will increase next month as word gets around.

Tomorrow it is back to work for me for 3 days. The pest control people are coming Thursday morning to do a partial treatment for the termites. Hopefully this will get rid of them. The owner then will have to replace the window trims that they have eaten through. I might also ask him if we can rip up the carpet in the lounge room as it is disintergrating very quickly. It has been in the house since it was built 65 years ago, so a little bit old. (And ugly!) Would also like to get rid of the wallpaper in the lounge and paint it. He might be willing if we are to do this ourselves which I would like to do. We will have to see.

Alex was opening a window in the bedroom and the trim caved in. Dammit termites. So now I have to phone the owner of the house and get him to get the pest man in. It never stops.

Went shopping today for some shorts and shirts for work, cause I didn't have any, and picked up shorts for $10 and shirts and a couple of 3/4 pants for $5 each. Bargain. I love it. So now I have clothes for work. I have been wearing dresses and skirts for a long time and now have to get back into shorts and pants cause they don't wear skirts at the day care which is fully understandable.

Nothing much else happened today. Was rather good to just have a relax. Had a nap this afternoon in the air con cause it is getting hot again. Wish the weather would make up its mind what it is gonna do. I don't wanna get sick.

I talked to the owner of the Centre yesterday and the Managing Director. They happened to be there for the day. My Director introduced me and we had a chat about food experience and a few other things. And they want me to start sandwiches and fruit for the kids on the 1st April.

They are just waiting on Council Approval for the kitchen upgrade, so when that comes through we can have the new oven installed and provide the cooked food as well.

The Director also told me that all the staff we happy with me, and that she would like to keep me on as a floater, doing what I am doing now as well as the Cook's postition.So that when I finish from lunch, I can go in the rooms with the kids. So I could be getting up to 30 hours a week of work.

I can't believe it. It means tho that I will have to give up working at the school, which I didn't want to do, as I love it. And I can't volunteer at the Primary either for Connor. Oh well, we need the money a little bit more. I will finally be able to get ahead with the bills like I would like to be.

I got a message this morning asking if I could start at 11 instead of 12 and work til 5. No problems. But I am not officially stuffed.

I am so tired. But a good tired. And I got the roster for next week and I have 3 days work. Cool as. If this keeps up I will be really happy. The bank balance will too hopefully. Will just have to let Centrelink know and see what effect it has. Hopefully not too much.

Today I was in the Preschool room again for an hour doing lunch break relief, then moved to the Nursery for 2 hours, where I got to play with my nephew, then moved back to the Preschool room after lunch. Had to do a general clean up of the preschool room while they went outside to play, then went to help supervise. Had to look after our little autistic boy as his carer goes home at 3. He got frustrated with me when I took the sand rake off him after he hit me with it a few times, and he face planted himself into my belly and bit me.

I understand how frustrated he must get, but gee whiz, can he bite. He broke skin through my t-shirt, shorts and undies!! Oh well, I will learn to handle him I suppose.

Don't know if I am working tomorrow or Friday, will find out in the morning with a phone call if they ring. But I have done 12 hours so far this week. Not bad. If this keeps up I will have my 15 hours for Centrelink no worries. Especially as I have 3 paid hours at the high school.

This morning I received a phone call from the Day Care Centre where I had applied for a job as a cook. I thought cool, they are finally letting me know what is happening. No.

They asked me, as they couldn't remember off hand, whether I had applied for a position as an assistant or a cook. I said a cook. She then asked me if I would be able to come in and be an assistant for the day.

Seeing as I have no qualifications for this I told her, and she said the only thing I needed was my Blue Card. OK I will take the kids to school and be down then. I got down there at 9 am. I was assigned the Preschool Room for the 3 -6 yr olds. This was interesting. I was just helping out keeping the kids in control etc. It was a fun day. I ended up working until 4.30 this afternoon. Can't complain about that now can I? So a quick ring around to organise kids, and babysitter, and husband, and all was fixed.

The best thing was I was asked to come back tomorrow from 12 to 5. So I will be working again.

Well obviously my youngest has had a very busy day at school today. He has just arrived home with the declaration that "I wish I was an adult."

When I asked him why, he replied, "Cause then I wouldn't have to do work and could work at the Tuckshop!"

Is that what my life is all about??

As I said in my last blog, the plane was late taking off, so that started an eventful weekend. We finallly boarded at 1 pm. One hour late. We were pretty hungry so decided we would buy lunch on the plane. Well they ran out of food didn't they?? Only junk food left when they got to me! My 3 girlfriends all got sandwiches but they got the last ones. Oh well, one shared with me.

But seeing as the plane was late, we missed the connecting shuttle service to the hotel and had to wait another hour before the next one. So that meant that we copped peak hour traffic going to the hotel. While we were waiting for the shuttle service, we realised that not one of us had brought a camera. I had mine next to my handbag ready to grab the recharging batteries and go, but it was still there when I got home. Everyone else figured I would take mine so they wouldn't bother. Big mistake!! Once we got to the hotel, 2 hours after we had originally planned to, we saw the room, which was great. Nice big kitchen, 2 bedrooms, one with a king bed, one with 2 singles, and the lounge room had a sofa bed. Cause I snore (rather loudly) I was relegated to the sofa bed, cause the one I was sharing with apparently didn't sleep at all last time. I don't believe that,but anyhow, I had the sofa bed. Which I must say was very comfortable, but the only problem was that there were only light blinds and sheer curtains at the windows, so I got the morning sun and woke up early every day.

We went to Chinatown, and found the most amazing restaurant, the golden orchid I think, that had the best Chinese food we have had in years. No MSG aftertaste, hot food, and they were very good with swapping dishes in the banquet for us. And at only $23 for the banquet of soup, 2 entrees, 3 mains, rice and coffee, that was a good deal. So good we ordered dessert.

Saturday, we went to Queen Vic Markets, had brekkie down there, and spent the next 5 hours going around. I was a little disappointed this year in the sameness of it all. There needs to be a little more variety. We then caught a cab back to the hotel to drop all our shopping, then hopped on a tram back to the city as we had organised to go on a Yarra River Cruise for 2.5 hours. This was pretty good.

After we got back we decided to catch the tram to St Kilda Beach and have a look down there and where we were to go the next morning for the markets. Got to St Kilda, and thought we would take a walk along the Pier. Of course the wind was blowing and we wre walking almost horizontally!! But it was worth it. I love walking out on the Piers and Jetties around the place. It gives a real sense of freedom. We saw the Spirit of Tasmania going out and I thought of all the Tassie mums that I know on here. We checked out the Palais Theatre and Luna Park and walked down to Acton Street to check out the bakeries as had been recommended.

We ended up having fish and chips for dinner (seeing as we were at the beach). Got some yummies for supper and headed back to the hotel.

Sunday we went to the markets at St Kilda, which are very expensive, so we didn't get much. Good to look at though. We then headed down to Acton Street again to get some lunch, and some bread rolls and sweet treats for when we went to the Zoo. Again went back to the hotel to pick up the esky with the fruit and to make our rolls up. One of the girls went to get some more money out of her bag and discovered someone had stolen the $300. This then led to us calling management and having the police called. As we had to go to the Zoo, and were staying for the Twilights Concert (prepaid) we had to go. Got to the Zoo at 4pm, and had a look around. Were most disappointed that most of the animals, although the zoo exhibits stay open til 7pm, were not there. They were all out the back feeding. We did get to see the lions tho.

went to the Concert and had a good time. Went home and called the Police back to organise them to come and get statements. They would come monday morning. Monday the Police came and took statements, Iwas on the phone as my youngest was sick. Well he was overexcited and gets sick from this, but once he throws up he is fine. Ended up getting sick of the friends phone calls, ended up calling mum and arranging for her to have him for the day, rang hubby to tell him not to pick connor up etc. Get another phone call 20 mins later to say he is fine, should he go to school, what should she do?? Hello I am in Melbourne, 3 states away! Just send him to mums like was organised.

So Monday we had planned to go to Chapel Road to have a look and if we had time to go to Smith Street possibly. Well that was a waste. Could afford nothing. So we went back as it was nearing the time for the shuttle bus to pick us up and on the way we stopped at Fitzroy Gardens to see Cooks Cottage. Going back on the tram to the hotel, there was a holdup at the Domain Interchange and we were going so slowly until they got rid of the backlog. Ended up making it to the tram stop as the shuttle bus was arriving! So then we ran across the road and down to the hotel, grabbed our bags and got on.

Thankfully the trip home was uneventful and we arrived on time and got home absolutely exhausted. I will say that the Public Transport System in Melbourne is First Class. We couldn't fault it, and I think the longest wait we had for a tram or train was 15 mins. And that was with no planning. The trams got us where we wanted to go with a minimum of fuss.

A great weekend was had. And now we can't wait for next year. Hobart. We have decided (I think). So any suggestions for things to do, would be greatly appreciated. I know it is a year away, but we have to get busy!!

Well I am home from Melbourne. Had a really good time. The plane was late going down by an hour, so we missed the connecting shuttle to the hotel, but we got the next one, so it worked out OK. One of the girls had money stolen from the hotel room, but they were the only real dramas we had.

I am so tired. I think we walked the length of Melbourne tho. LOL. Good for the waistline, except for all the food and coffee we consumed. Oh well. Will blog more tomorrow after I am little more awake.