misc

I haven't been on for a while, mainly because I've been extremely busy. I haven't even had a chance to reply to a lot of emails so I apologise to everyone who is still waiting to hear from me !!

The children are now back at school, Tallulah has a brand new teacher to the school and, so far, I am very impressed. She believes in discipline which is always good news and has lots of plans and great ideas so I am expecting a lot from Tallulah in this final year of her primary school. Nakita's teacher isn't quite so impressive as yet but she likes him and time will tell how she gets on. They have both had a week of swimming lessons in the sea which must be good with the temps in the high 30s and they have another week of the same next week. Tallulah is having to complete run, swim, runs with her group too - never easy to run on soft sand ! - so may be ready to try out for the ironman comp soon (in theory, in practice she hates any form of exercise!). The school has brought forward the school start times too so I have to drop them off for 8.15am and pick up at 2.50pm. With the exercises Nakita has to do too, it's proving a killer at getting up in the mornings and I'm already exhausted as are the girls !!!

My friend Debbie is finally back from the UK (she was gone most of the summer hols) and has made the difficult decision to move back there permanently. I will miss her when she's gone but I can understand her reasons and just hope she doesn't regret her decision as it's irreversible. it's quite hard making friends here as some turn out to be more of acquaintances than friends and others head back to the UK and you always seem to be starting over making friends again and it really is quite a lot of effort. Paul doesn't really bother and just chats to my friends' husbands and seems happier that way - maybe I should take a leaf out of his book !

This week has been eventful with a checkup at the dentist. No work was needed this time (phew!) so the cost was only $128. Now we have insurance I can claim $55 back so not too bad as long as all visits to the dentist are like that. I was hoping to have the bridge put into my gap now but we can't afford it so it looks like the gap will be permanent, not nice but that's life.

I've also had my hair cut short. I didn't want anything drastic but it's been so hot and sticky and the long hair (it was half way down my back) made me hotter and sweaty. So now it sits on my shoulders and no longer needs straightening or drying and all the grey is gone, yippee.

So finally it was my 40th yesterday. Paul threw a party on Friday and he and Deb did the catering. It cost him way more than he was expecting so, unfortunately, it's meant that the day trip and meal out in the Swan Valley we'd planned for today has had to be cancelled. I did enjoy the party and tried not to 'analyse' it afterwards but Paul did that for me and pointed out that some people who I thought were friends, probably were more acquaintances after all. The last person left at about 11pm and I was up until 1.30am clearing up. Yesterday, on my actual birthday, Paul spent most of the day cleaning up, the children were horrible in many different ways which has resulted in them losing their pocket money forever and they will have to work very hard if they want a party on their birthdays too. The only really good highlights were all the flowers I recieved from florists delivering (thanks Jo, Kenrina & Sue, Angeli, Deb, Anne & Rob), it's been 10 years since I've received flowers so I was very moved. Also, Paul came up trumps with my gifts - a kayak and a weekend away at the end of March so I'm really looking forward to that. Just wish I could leave the kids at home !!

10:03 - Sun 17 February 2008

Happy Birthday!

Glad you had some fabby presents! I know what you mean about the friends business; I'm really finding it the hardest thing of the whole process. People are so flakey!

Sorry to hear about your kids being naughty, but rest assured, it's universal. There are days I would happily ship my monsters (one in particular) back to Blighty in a rickety boat with holes in :o)

Birthday's are always a little bitter sweet. We can't help but get a little excited, but things usually let us down. We put so much effort into organising things for everyone else, it's sad that us Mums often miss out on this in return.

Chin up though girl. Get out there and swing that new hair!

Take care,

Jules x

julesandco - 02:27 - Sun 17 February 2008

birthday and stuff

Sounds like you had a good time. Sorry about your friend but may be for the best , it doesn't have to be forever. Hope the noisy neighbours got sorted.
all the best

bluejohn - 12:59 - Sun 17 February 2008