Time is like the ocean: you can only hold a little in your hands.......

I can't for the life of me, move this pic, so here it stays..... GG and 2 friends at the blonde boy's 21st birthday recently.... it's her profile pic on Facebook... I stole it....shhhhh

Good Morning Bloggers!

My brother said that it's time I updated my blog, and who am I to argue with an edict from my big bro?

My life has been doing it's usual busy thing. Too much to put into 1 post, so I'll give you a condensed version with just some of the highlights... and maybe a few lowlights, just for light & shade, in the interests of reading enjoyment (and a more balanced piece of prose, as it were...). It's over 2 weeks since my last post........

It might be a bit of a short novella...... be warned....... disclaimer here........

• I have been in Sydney: down & back, Wednesday, via Newie.... Sydney: down on Friday.... Newcastle: Saturday and back to Sydney. Home Monday. Newcastle: Saturday, down & back. Maitland: Down & back Sunday..... phew......
  

• VBoy's rugby league team made it to the grand final against Central Charlestown. That was why we had to go to Newie on the Saturday from Sydney. It was a great game, played in good spirit, with all our family in attendance (except for Sboy, who was riding at a show at Rockhampton). Unfortunately, we lost, 22-18. We gave it a good shake, though.

• We were in Sydney at Pacific Park on the Hawkesbury River, for the Aussie MotoTrials Championships. Beloved was supposed to be competing, but missed the 1st day of competition while we were at the football, so for him, Sunday was a day of enjoyment. He finished the competition, so he was happy with that. It's been quite a while since he rode competitively, or at all, really. He really enjoyed himself. And the company over the weekend was marvelous! We are a very small country in the world of trials, with a huge geographic area, so it takes a lot of dedication to be involved. There were West Australians, Queenslanders and even New Zealanders! Most of the time, it is a Gentleman's sport, (even the women are mild mannered, but oh-so-good!) but I have to say, the behaviour of a few of the riders in the "Expert" division leaves a little ( a lot) to be desired.... their mothers should give them a clip behind the ears for their rude attitude & bad sportsmanship (oh hang on: maybe mum was part of the problem....).. damn primadonnas! Methinks it's time that the up-and-comers knocked them off their pedestals....

This is an example of what Sboy does for a living....... shortly afterwards (very), he lands this...

This is Sboy with his bosses (and adopted family), Rhianna Buchanon and Jack Field....... it's a hard life..... they call him "Kavy" to save confusion.

A lot of the time, he does commentary work: at least this time he's not the one on the ground.....

• VBoy celebrated his 15th birthday with a special meal of....... a plate of vegetables, followed by Woolworths caramel mudcake...... at his request. We cut our time in Sydney short so that he could go to school on his birthday (at his request....): it's not that he is an incredibly dedicated student. He just loves the social aspect of his school life. In the end, he wasn't well & didn't go anyway.....

Vboy in his birthday clothes with his mate, Dylan

• I had a job interview at Muswellbrook Hospital for an Endorsed Enrolled Nurse position on Friday. I didn't have to worry about drycleaning The Black Power Suit for the occassion, as I was at work anyway..... I just made sure that I put on a clean shirt & smoothed my hair down as I interviewed in between tasks (& patients). OK, I freshened up my lippy, too. Smoothing my hair down is no mean feat, either: it has attitude, if you know what I mean.

It seemed to go ok, but there were quite a few other girls from work that interviewed, too, as well as others that I don't know. It's a pretty cruel system of employment. A few of the girls who are permant part-timers (who are after full-time work) have interviewed on numerous occassions, but not been successful. You have to be able to sell yourself (and maybe your soul... and perhaps that of your firstborn as well): there's a panel of interviewers who ask questions, and the answers are graded on points that may total up to 100. So even if you've been working well in the position within the hospital for 20years, if you get stage fright on the day, you'll miss out. And this has happened quite a few times, to a few of the nurses. It's a system that doesn't necessarily put the right person in the job. But sometimes it does. We'll have to wait & see now, won't we?

• Sboy tackled his 1st solo drive home from Brisbane on Wednesday night, arriving shorly after 6am on Thursday. He & Beloved then headed down to Pacific Park (PP) for a friend's surprise 80th birthday dinner. Sboy reported that he was so glad not to have missed it! He & his dad then had a great day of riding with the other party goers (they're all MotoTrials nuts, and PP is THE place to do it). After arriving home on just after 7pm Friday, SBoy went out with friends in Mussie, Vboys slept at a mates place, so Beloved & I went to the local bowlo for tea. Crumbed Cutlets: Yay!

Thanks to MySpace for this lovely pic of my boys being tools in my nice, but under-utilised bathroom. They know how to impress the ladies... ;0)

• Saturday was spent in the company of my lovely Mother-in-law, Nanny Val. Her helpful sons & grandsons (including SBoy) were giving her place a spring clean. She was the best supervisor..... Then she & I attended the Waratah Girls Choir performance of "Journey; songs of the world" at the Hunter Theatre. My beautiful (and talented) 11yrold niece, Grace, is a member of the choir. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The title & focus of the performance wasn't so much about the physical journeys that we take in life, but rather more about the spiritual & emotional travelling that we do. This quote by Norman Cousins resonated with me:

"Death is not the greatest loss: the greatest loss dies inside us while we live"
hmmmmm.....

While at Garden City in the morning, I also saw my favourite hairdresser, Maxine for a hair reduction, and had a quick chat with a lovely, hobbling-on-crutches-friend, Coralie. I can't feel too sorry for her though: she's on crutches as she tore her AC ligament while skiing in New Zealand.... a few weeks after returning from a sojourn in Europe & the UK....... I really like her parents too.... (they were shopping with her & love a chat too: I'm not that weird.)

• After arriving home, I sat down for an hour or so before going to work.

breathing, breathing... in.... and...... out

• Beloved was Head of Security at friends' eight year old daughter's birthday party....it was a disco *snicker, snort*

• Fathers Day; I finished nightshift, did 2 loads of washing while Beloved cooked bacon, egg, & cheese rolls for breakfast. Then we were off to Greta to watch Vboy's football coach and some of his mates play in the Under 18's Grand Final against Greta-Branxton. Unfortunately, another loss, 22-18, but it was sooo fast, and tough..... lots of testosterone out there...... a Father's Day treat for Beloved was supposed to be a test-drive in a Volkswagon Maxi-caddy van (he's lusting sfter one), but we didn't do our research, and they weren't open on a Sunday... DOH! So we had lunch, and saw "The taking of Pelham 123"... Denzel & John...... it was good for me too <3.>
• Monday saw Beloved drive back to Maitland after works as his wallet had fallen out of his pocket at the movies.... lucky for him, it was still there.... Lucky also that I suggested that he go to the Volkswagon dealership & get some brochures to drool over. Maybe I was just a little tired, suggesting this to him..... Don't encourage him.... I was just drooling (and dribbling, it would seem) after after runing on no sleep from Saturday to Sunday night, then a 6.30am start on Monday....
  

• No wonder it cost us $800 for new tyres when rego was due last week....
  

• In between this I've worked 5 morning shifts, 1 evening (I cancelled 1 the evening before the interview as I had a migraine) & a nightshift. I have a Muswellbrook nightshift tonight, followed by 2 mornings, then an evening shift. After that, things slow down, with only 4 more days of work booked in until the 26th......

• Happily, Sboy has arrived home safe and well in Lismore. Not so lucky was a fellow party attendee at a party that Sboy went to at Morrisset on Saturday night...... the kids had a very subdued gathering/debrief on Sunday after the boy died in a horrific car accident after the party.
  

• GG is tired but happy. She works too many unsociable hours for not enough money. It has made her come to the realisation that "she must start thinking about getting on with her life as she is 21 soon, and will most probably be tired of partying by then...." She is thinking that nursing may be a viable career option for her...... I think that the world is her oyster... she should see it's layers first before it all gets away and life closes on the pearl..... She also might be ...*ahem*... seeing a boy..... Her phone conversations are erratic, amusing and usually at innappropriate times/places with disparate content...... but whatever.... I'm just happy to hear her voice. Her latest call this morning was to tell me that she had lost her only set of car keys & her car was in a metered zone outside her work...... *sigh*..... I can feel a tow from the NRMA coming on........ and completely new lock barrels all round..... She may be without wheels for a while.
  

GG with some luscious & much loved hair extensions that a friend gave her... this was before the party in the 1st pic.... again, with thanks to MySpace... where else can you find pics of your kids? ;0) oh that's right.... facebook. ..

That's enough, no? And I said that it would be short.......
Housework, thy cause is mine!

or not.....

xoxoxoxoxoxox