Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Well, not really. But we are going camping. Like, with tents and everything. Although there will be toilets. Thank goodness.

I haven’t been camping in two years, since we went two Easter’s ago with the in-laws (there was 10 of us!). This time a slightly more sedate trip is planned. For starters it’s a mere 90 minute drive from home, not the 7 hours of the last trip. 5 minutes from civilization,  30 minutes from a city, and across the path from the toilet. I’ve got my priorities right!

But the best part is that the only thing that will be between us and the beach is a few trees. The kids can run around on the beach and at low tide the water is nearly 1km out, so they can do LOTS of running. We’re going with friends, so there will be 4 adults and 3 children - pretty good odds I reckon.

So we’ve spent the last two days digging out all our camping equipment, and picking up what we didn’t have from the shops. But there’s only one minor problem. We’re missing some stuff. To be precise, a sleeping bag, a bed roll, a kettle and some campfire utensils. We have checked every. single. box. in the garage, and they just aren’t there.

To be fair, those things aren’t the most expensive to replace, or we could even borrow them I suppose. But how can you lose things like that in your own home? I mean they’re not exactly small and could be hiding somewhere could they?

So, I guess maybe one of us will be roughing it with a borrowed sleeping bag and straight on the stretcher rather than on a comfy bedroll (shotgun!).

And now for the fun part. Packing. But in reality all I’m thinking about is lounging on the beach, perhaps a spot of fishing, and some late night card games with friends. What better way to spend a weekend?

Today I’m off on a quasi holiday. I’m flying out to Brisbane today (yes, after all my plane dramas just 4 weeks ago I’m getting back on a plane) for 3 nights, and back home on Monday. That’s the holiday part. I’m taking Miss Moo with me, that’s the kinda part.

It’s turned out that a friend of mine who lives in the UK is in town for a couple of weeks, and my step-brother is home for his birthday, so I couple of days catching up with friends seemed like a good idea. Of course I still shudder at the mere thought of stepping foot on another plane. I think I’m going to have to get over it though, it’s just too far to drive on my own.

I’m not entirely sure of my plans, lots of coffee’s and catching up with people will be on the cards. And maybe a spot of shopping while I’m there.

I was planning on hibernating in the study for some, well, study.

Although now it appears I’ll be hibernating in bed. I’ve got the flu. I feel completely rotton. Headache, runny nose, sore throat, aching joints, cough, and a few other choice syptoms I’ll spare you, cause if you’re like me you’re probably eating right now.

But before I get to do that I have to get through today. The Easter Bonet Parade at daycare. I would take photos of the crap spectacular hats I made, but on dial up it’s just not worth uploading pictures. Maybe next week.

After that I’m off for some pampering (cause that’s what I feel like  while suffering from the flu) before picking up the last bits and pieces for Easter. You know, like eggs, milk, hot cross buns etc.

The worst part about this flu is that because I’m breastfeeding? Drugs are non-existant. The only potential up side is that I probably won’t get sick again this winter. The downside is that I won’t get any study done this weekend either.

Hope you all have a special time with your family this weekend.

We’re off today to visit my friend who came up over new years. And I get to show off my new bubba. We’re heading to the Big City this afternoon, and spending tomorrow shopping in Bris-vegas. I have sorted my clothes and have a list of things I “need”, so hopefully I’ll be able to share my purchases when I get home  We are only taking Miss Moo with us. M&M and Kiki are back at Grandma’s and Granddad’s for a few days. Which they are just thrilled about. And just quietly, a few days with only one child is quite appealing to me. Not because I don’t love my children to bits, but just because three adults with two children is FAR better odds than two adults with three children. We might stand half a chance.  We’re back on Saturday, so not a huge amount of time away, but hopefully enough to recharge some batteries, get some retail therapy and catch up with family and friends.

I hope everyone celebrated the new year in style. I had the most wonderful time with my bestest bud who came up for a visit. We spent yesterday out on a cruise.

We went to Hook Island where the non-pregnant among us had a go at snorkelling

Whitsunday Island and Whitehaven Beach for a swim

and then to Daydream Island

for some fish feeding, shopping, ice cream and a quiet relax while the little people played on the brand new playground.

When we got back to town the kids headed off to Grandma’s for a sleepover, and the grown ups got to have a small rest before heading into town for dinner, fireworks and a few hours in the clubs. Being the designated driver I restrained myself, and had a grand old time sitting on the side of the dance floor with my eight month pregnant belly for company (and Hubby of course). We finally got home around 2:30am, and we’re all still feeling it today. I felt for my friend though, who had to get on a plane this afternoon home. It was sad to see her go, but thankfully it’s only about 12 weeks (and counting) until we’ll be living 10 minutes away from her.

She was a wonderful help while she was here, she helped me pack up the office and the spare bedroom, which of course are the two worst rooms in the house, so now I’m feeling quietly confident of making the deadlines we’ve set for getting the packing and everything done.

We’re moving to the in-laws this Friday (eeek!) and the removalists will be coming on Monday. Thankfully we still have a week after that to get the house in a bit more order before settlement.

Having visitors has made it tough to keep up with all my online bizzo, but I’m slowly getting there, returning emails, visiting blogs and new sites, and getting down the over 100 unread blogs in my reader (oops!). I suspect I’ll be needing to rest a fair bit over the next few days - I have a hospital appointment tomorrow and am expecting the usual “slow down, put your feet up” directive I’ve come to expect, and the way I’ve been feeling today, I might have to take their advice a bit more often.

So, I’m slowly getting organised with the photos from our holiday. First up is a veiw from the balcony shortly after sunrise:
This was the view from our balcony showing how close we were to the beach. It was pretty cool!

These are the photos of the planes I promised. They were very close and the girls got very excited every time one went over - which was a LOT

That’s all for now. Nothing exciting. I’ll get around to posting some pictures from Sea World over the next few days.

Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

And hit the ground running. I left this morning to travel home, and while I was incredibly relaxed after a week of six hands for two children, a plane trip home let me down. Then of course I didn’t stop and am now almost as stressed as when I left.

The BIG news is that there is a contract on our house. See what happens when you leave town? Settlement is set down for the 14th of January, so I have a bit of time to organise myself, which is what I’m doing now. Making lists. I may share them with you at some point. Or I might not. They’re quite scary.

What I have decided to do is keep running lists in each “category” of things I have to do, and then work on each of them each day.

For example three of the highest priorities at the moment are: Kiki’s 3rd Birthday Party, Tupperware Xmas Sale and Packing & Delivering the 10 boxes of Tupperware currently adorning my dining room (pics to come).

So tomorrow I will focus on: getting invites out for Kiki’s birthday party, collecting all stock for the xmas sale, and packing the orders and calling hosts to arrange delivery times. See how this works? Once I’ve done all that I’ll look at other lists like: Moving House, and call and book the removalist.

It’s a plan. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

In other news, our holiday was AMAZING, and I’ll be posting pics as soon as I get myself sorted, and a bit more time up my sleeves (at this point probably next week). But by far the most exciting news of the holiday (apart from selling the house) is that M&M can SWIM! And Kiki is not far behind. I’m actually looking forward to swimming lessons this weekend so they can show off their new skills. M&M has been “practicing” all week to show her teacher, and yesterday she and Kiki both let me push them down to touch their hands to the bottom of the pool. Hundreds of times.

I also spent every night playing Jonola with my step-mother and the week actually ended in a draw. She normally beats me convincingly, and repeatedly.

That’s about it from me. I noticed I’ve been tagged for a couple of meme’s in the comments, so I’ll try and get to those as soon as I can. I also have 375 unread posts in my reader, so I’ll be ploughing through those as much as I can over the next few days, and catching up on all my bloggy friends.

And on that note, I’m off to my comfy bed, without Kiki. Ah, it’s good to be home!

cause I literally have 7.5 minutes of internet time on the machine downtairs.

We spent most of the time in the water today, and M&M decided she could swim!! Exciting stuff. She and Berry were having races and they can both nearly swim the full width of the pool (about 10m). A very proud Mummy here - especially considering a week ago she wouldn’t even put her nose in the water. She is also letting me push her down to touch the bottom. And Kiki’s confidence is growing, to the point of jumping a couple of metres to get to the noodle and then kicking herself around the pool.

We’re also in the flight path to Coolangatta airport, so I’ve got some great shots of planes coming in to land. I’ll post those when we get home.

That’ll do, still need to do a few other things in the remaining 5 minutes.

Enjoy what’s left of your weekend!

Well, Dad to the rescue. He’s turned up with not one but two laptops, and we have (very slowww!!!) Internet access in the room.

I just noticed logging in that this was my 150th post - wow! That’s gone rather quick (well, for me it has, I can’t say for any of you).

The flight down was uneventful, and the kids are over excited and over tired and still awake (at 10pm!!! Their cousin Bells arrived tonight so they’re very excited (understandably). We’ve already been for a swim in the pool, and M&M’s confidence is growing - she’s happy to move herself around on her noodle with no assistance. Kiki is getting there.

Tomorrow morning we’re off to the beach, which incidentally I can hear (and see if I turn around) from here. We’re on the 12th floor and have a beautiful view. The beach is literally on the back doorstep of the resort as well.

We also stopped in to see one of my Dad’s cousin’s tonight. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve seen him, so that was nice to catch up, and he was very excited to see the girls.

Best go and actually put the kids to bed now. Thanks for all the comments, they’re very much appreciated. I’ll keep you posted on our holiday (but no pictures til we get home - sorry)

And it’s only going to get worse. The big week finished “officially” yesterday, and while my final sales aren’t yet known, they’re a good way past my unofficial target. Go me!

And in the midst of all that I’ve been organising our trip to the Gold Coast - and we’re leaving this afternoon. So while I will have some internet access while I’m away, I can imagine my parents when I tell them I need to go update my blog. Hmm, that will go down well. I’ll see how things go.

I’m SO looking forward to this holiday, it will be such a change of pace (I hope). Although the weather report is less than favourable. Which is a pity, but I’m sure there will be plenty of things for the kids to do. My brain still hasn’t recovered well from the exam and weekend of Tupperware madness. I’m actually looking forward to a week without seeing any Tuppeware. Is that a bad thing to say? I hope not! Cause I’m going to be seeing a lot of it when I get home. Mother in law doesn’t know it yet, but the day after we get home I will be enlisting her to help me sort the Tupperware. I’m guessing it’s going to take all day.

So that’s where I’m at. I’ll try and get on while I’m away, but if I can’t, I’ll see you all when we get home next Thursday.