HB wk 9

 So this week there was more of the first fix done and now finished.... then bricks arrived (the light side is the colour the house will be), then the windows and door arrived and by Friday they were all installed, which makes it look quite different. 

Yesterday we met a landscape gardener there to start planning the garden as we need to know how much concrete we need to order from another supplier. 

We also went to some blind companies as again we need to get them ordered as they take 4 weeks to order and I want to get them done before mum & dad arrive in 2 weeks time. Anyway am meeting a guy to measure the windows a week on Monday. 

It feels like its all coming together now and hopefully will be bricked and plaster boarded this week.

So this week has been quite eventful, Josh has been on a school leadership camp. He was interviewed on Monday for house prefect / chapel prefect, which was a total surprise for him as most of the interviews were done last week. the week away was then for the staff to see who has the right skills and then they decide. So he doesn't know what he's got yet. However he did kyacking, mountain biking, abseiling, surfing, team games, cooking etc and did pretty well as lots of his scouting skills proved to be very useful. He came back on Friday happy but totally exhausted. 

Rebecca has done really well and achieved her Gold Academic Award which was her aim at the beginning of the year. There are 140 student in her year and only 5 given out so it's a fantastic achievement and I am one very proud mummy,   she will get it presented in 3 weeks time at the awards evening. 

Ceri's enjoying her job and getting on well, has been out with Matt every night this week and all weekend ... what can I say, young love and all that...:)

As for us, please pray for Marks job hunting, he has just put in an application for a job that is almost identical to the advocacy one he did just before leaving the UK. The closing date was Friday and the interviews are scheduled for Thursday / Friday this week so are really hoping he will hear something for this one. 

Well we got the results of the review this week, it looks like I still have a job for the time being. The whole of community health is going, and we are going to be aligned with the acute services in order to improve integration between primary and secondary care. We are going to be in a 'Medicine and Chronic disease' stream but as to what that will look like nobody knows yet. We could be kept separate within chronic disease or we could be aligned as disease specific groups with the acute service, anyway it will all be done by the end of January, so not long to wait really.

Yesterday was spent shopping and then we went to friends from church in the evening and the kids played in their pool which was fun, and then today was church followed by a very lazy day catching up on stuff. However I did do a 12 km ride yesterday and 21km thismorning, so am not completely lazy.

So that's about it for this week, except I did buy my Christmas cards... and they are so cool, very Australian but you Brits will have to wait to see :)

HB week 8

Walls, roof, insulation, first fix, TV ariel, whirlybirds and solar have all happened this week, it's seen a lot of changes but it's oh so exciting. 

However showing you pictures of cables is decidedly unexciting!!

This week sees some stuff happening (that's code for I don't know what) and the windows go in on Thursday which I do know about :)

View from guest room 

We have now planned to meet a landscape gardener next week as we need to know where the concrete is going as we need to organise that, also we are going to start looking at blinds as lots of them have a delay from ordering before fitting, so we want them as soon as we can after moving in. All exciting stuff :)

So in between the excitement of the house, the week's been a mixture of good and bad. Ceri is still on a high... her job's getting easier and the staff member who was giving her a hard time has been spoken to and she is now much better and more friendly towards her. She's also seen Matt lots so what can I say.... it's good for her and she's happy as larry. 

Josh's big event of the week, but oh so traumatic for him, was having his hair cut, bless him. He so loves his curls, but its was just getting too long. I shouldn't laugh but he is so precious about his curls and getting them just right, it does make us laugh. However apart from that he's had a quiet week.

Rebecca got an award at school for 'most improved player in Touch rugby', however we didn't go to the awards evening as it was a dinner at $40 each including her, so we declined that event, she wasn't too bothered and she can collect her medal on Monday.

As for Mark and I , Mark got told on Wednesday that his child care centre in closing on 28th Jan. It's going out to tender this week to see if anyone will buy them as a going concern, but that still doesn't mean he'll get kept on, so he's not best pleased. However at least it will look better on his CV that he is out of work because the organisation closed rather than he left because he didn't like it. However, he's still applying for other stuff but here you don't hear anything if you haven't got it, not polite!! 

As for me, we have a staff broadcast on Thursday morning where we will all find out across the whole district who's staying and who's going and what the restructure will look like, so hopefully we'll be ok but who knows... just be glad to know now.

Well yesterday was a lovely day, went for a 29km bike ride first thing, then spent the morning in the hairdressers getting the grey covered... its so bad it's getting worse :( In the afternoon Mark and I went into Brisbane, took the ferry up to Southbank and started Christmas shopping, got  a few pressies so am very happy. I have two options, 1. try and persuade mum and dad to take stuff back  or 2. post them at the end of November, either way they need doing by the end of November so I need to be organised.  I am struggling looking at Christmas cards with snow on when it's been 25 degrees and getting warmer though, is very disorientating. 

I then went out with some of the ladies from church in the evening for a meal and had a lovely time getting to know them better. Ceri had been out with Matt all day, and I left the other 3 watching Lord of the Rings which of course they were still watching when I got back!

Today Church was great, we started a new creche, announced the appointment of both a lay pastor/elder and an intern, and church was packed. We have 6 people getting baptised in 3 weeks time and night church starting in 2 weeks, so it's all exciting :)

We then went, with Ceri, Matt and Rebecca down to the beach at Southport and had a lovely afternoon, the sea was warm although the surf was rubbish, but it was a good afternoon and we had a fun time. 

So we head into another week and who knows what this week will bring...

HB week 7

well, this is this weeks progress for you, we thought the roof was going on Friday but as you can see it's not there.. not sure why but will investigate tomorrow! So although it's hard to see, it's now got all the roof and ceiling beams and the gutters and fascias up and of course the lovely yellow drainpipes:)

We also had our first notice from Metricon (the builders) of our first delay, which is only 1 day for last weeks bank holiday, which means in theory that we are still on target for 22nd December, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Well I've had a lazy week only working 2 days, on Monday dare I say it started off like an English Bank holiday... dull, rainy and cloudy, only the temperature was warmer, so all original plans were cancelled :( However Ceri was working anyway, so we had a very lazy morning, then went to pick her up and decided to walk to some water falls at Mount Cootha. However plans went awry again, we started walking up the track to find that that path was closed so we carried on a bit until Mark  realised we were heading for the top and then he decided there was no way he was walking all the way up, so the challenge was set.... the girls walked up and the boys went back to drive up and of course up girls won!!! Coffee and cake was had at the top and then home, so the day turned out ok.

Tuesday we went to Movie World down on the Gold Coast, it was a fun day with the kids but dreadful queues and not many rides so the queues were all an hour plus... not sure I'd go again but we had a good deal on tickets to cover unlimited entry for Movie World, Sea World and Wet & Wild until June next yr, so we had to try it. 

So back to work for two days which needless to say were hectic, then I took Friday off to take Josh and Rebecca to Wet & Wild which was definitely better although still long queues but better and more organised. Some amazing slides and we had a great day. Josh also got some driving hours up this week too which was good.  However to get there only takes about 40 mins so at least we could go down for just an afternoon if we want too. 

Yesterday, I did my longest ride yet.. 29km with no coffee stop in the middle and my fastest speed so am well pleased with myself. Then the girls and I went shopping and Josh went off with a mate as our summer wardrobes are looking a bit thin. I realised that probably 60% of my wardrobe I haven't worn since I got here and the amount of summer clothes needed here is somewhat greater than the UK and my wardrobe is very unbalanced. Good reason for shopping me thinks :) Anyway we had fun and got a few bits. Then we settled in with Dominos pizza and a couple of videos for the evening, except we got home and forgot that the DVD had packed up. The next hour was spent trying to sort which DVD worked with which TV and then which DVD would play Ozzie DVDs, all very complicated... we ended up using the laptop on the TV on our bedroom, so all huddled in there..  very entertaining. However throughout the last two days we've been trying to keep Ceri grounded as Matt was back from holiday yesterday and she has been hyper!!! Anyway, he texted her at 7.30 to say he was back albeit later than planned and he would come and pick her up once showered and had tea, by 8.15 he was here... anyway she is now one happy girl and has spent all day today with him, here and at his parents, so all good.

So back to normal this week, Mark's back to split shifts, I've to work a full week, and the kids are back to school on Tuesday. The service review results should be known this week so hopefully I'll know if I've still got a job this week....

HB week 6

 Well finally some news to report on the house, woohoo... Tuesday this week it was delivered and looked like a giant jigsaw puzzle.....

 and by Friday it looked like this .....

 Front (looking straight at the garage)

and this.... (back corner - the covered

 unconcreted area is the alfresco area)

It's been amazing watching it go up so quickly, we have now been able to walk around rooms, see the layout for real rather than just on paper, found some things that we weren't quite aware of... but are ok to live with. For example, because we put in an extra bathroom, we decided to convert the 'childrens sitting room' which was on the original plan into a bathroom, however what we didn't change was the size of the window, so its bigger than all the bedroom windows which is a bit odd, but will now cost oodles to change, so we're gonna leave it... it'll be a nice bright light for putting make up on though :) either that or just a quirky story to tell about the process of house building , haha!! Anyway, the roof goes on this week, so will look different again next week. 

 Josh accompanied his friend to her year 12 formal this week at school....

wow what a huge event it is here.

They have pre formals with the parents and official photos with both families, dates, friends and group photos at the hotel, and then the kids all go off for their evening and lots of the parents go out too and then pick them up later. It was a 5 star hotel too, so very grand.

Some have pre pre formals at houses, and many have after formal parties, so a huge big deal. A taste of what's to come next year when it's his actual formal, this yr gave us a dry run. 

He did enjoy the ride in the Ford Mustang though, it belonged to a friend of Evie's dad who took them, very novel anyway. 

But he does scrub up well in his suit, although just as well he'd grown, as Evie had the most stonking high heels on platforms that I've seen for a long time and was almost as tall as him, but she did look lovely. 

So that was the two main events of the week, the kids have been on holiday this week, Rebecca's not done much  although had a friend or two around, and same with Josh although he has done some extra shifts in Woollies too. 

Ceri has made it through the week and they are keeping her on which is good, however they have left her on part time hours as she is finding it so tiring, although I think that's more due to the fact she's had a rotten cold this week as well as getting used to being out for 10 hours a day. At least she's staying which is good and seems to have negotiated most of the buses. Everybody has been very friendly too and she is enjoying it.

Mark has done almost normal hours too this week as they run vacation care so has been doing a 6 hour shift rather than split shifts which works ok but the boss is still really lazy and unprofessional. He did a training health and safety day on Wednesday and met someone else who felt exactly the same about the centre she worked in and was thinking of leaving too, so he was encouraged it wasn't just him complaining about the set up. Anyway another 2 applications have gone in this week, so we keep praying. 

Work has been very busy this week, although my colleague that was going to work with me has been off sick all week... at least that was one way of getting out of working the week with me!!!  shame really as we have the biggest differences, but it'll get rearranged, hee hee :)

So yesterday after I got back from my 26km bike ride, we went into Brisbane as they had fireworks on the river and is a huge event. The Australian Defence force had a open day and we were going to do some Christmas shopping in the market, however the Defence force display was tiny and within 10 minutes Josh had found out all he needed to know, which is basically he cannot join until he is an Aussie citizen, so needs to wait 4 years :(. The markets were then not on, so by 3 pm we had found our spot to watch the fireworks and had 4 hours to kill... Josh had gone off with his friend and Ceri the same, so Rebecca, Mark and I got rather bored for a while and then went to get some food. There was a fly past by two very loud planes and then some helicopters, and by 5.30 it was heaving and the area we were sat in was chock a block. The fireworks were very good but not sure worth the 4 hour wait, but still its another experience to tick off and at least no rain until we queued to get on the train home. 

Today we had more people over after church and have had a great afternoon with the BarB. 

So another week starts and we have a bank holiday tomorrow for the Queens birthday, and then we've both taken Tuesday off, unfortunately Ceri has to work though, so not sure what we'll do yet, watch this space....

HB week 5

well here we are again on a Sunday night, ironing done, watching 'The Midwives' and writing my blog. So this week has been relatively unexciting really.

House news equals zero :( although we did go out and start looking at curtains/ panel blinds/ roller blinds/ venetian blinds/ vertical blinds/ slatted blinds/ pleated blinds yesterday.... what a choice, but yet there's a whole house to do and we only bought 1 set of curtains with us, which will fit Ceri's room, and she wants them thank goodness. So something else to sort out. We've finally got a good quote for the solar so that's almost sorted now too. Anyway the frame is due on Wednesday so may have more pictures next week. 

Ceri has finished her first week at work and really enjoyed it although extremely tired, she managed to get the bus there and back ok after the first day. She has been rotated around the toddlers, babies and preschoolers (her favourite) to get the variety. The staff have all been very friendly and she's also met another christian girl who has been very friendly. However she hasn't heard from Matt since Tuesday as he is on holiday out of range of all mobile signals, so that has put a downer on the week, 2 more weeks to go till he's back, thank goodness!!

Josh and Rebecca are now both on holiday for 2 weeks, Josh finished the term doing well in his exams and has the yr 12 formal tomorrow night which he is looking forward to. Rebecca had her theatrix show on Wednesday and did really well with her drama troupe sketch, she also got straight A's in all her exams.

They both went Ice skating with youth group on Friday and fortunately no injuries were had... its a large rink too.. so might have to go there too.  

Mark is still job hunting and now has a number of applications in for all sorts of jobs.. so hopefully something will come right. 

I spent last week working with one of my colleagues and have to do the same with the other this week which will be slightly harder :( but so far its a large discrepancy in educational training that seems to be the biggest issue. I've also been out cycling still and did 26 km yesterday, its beautiful being out in the sun in the mornings, better than paying for a gym and I'm keeping up with the cycling group we go with too! My weekly morning rides are getting faster too :)

well it rained this week!!! but only briefly and today we clocked 31' and for the first time this spring put the air con on this evening :) Am lovin' it.

well other random things that I've noticed this week, firstly McDonalds have a really horrid advert on all the billboards for their new lamb burgers... 'Mary had a little lamb, chips and diet coke'.... how nasty is that!!

also petrol... despite being much cheaper that the UK which is good, its goes up and down all the time even through the day and between two petrol stations of the same company, have noticed it can be up to 15 cents difference which is huge... very confusing and annoying... but hey ho... just odd things about Aussie living, but 'it's all good' as they say :)

HB week 4

So I'm still putting house build weeks but now just so I know how long it finally takes :( Well the latest is that the frame should arrive on the 26th Sept so another week and a half to wait before progress starts again, boo hoo:(

So another week pasts and the shorts are now out again as the weather is really warming up, lovin' it :)

Well we've all had a relatively quiet week except Ceri. Josh finished his exams on Tuesday and spent the week working, out with mates and having another driving lesson. His Woollies shifts have changed which are now much better, 4-9 on Wednesdays and 9-3.30 on Sundays, so he still has some day left and will now be able to go to the evening service at church when it starts :)

Rebecca got another A grade in drama and has had friends over on Friday, and had dress rehearsal for a theatrix show on Wednesday which is a showcase of all the drama groups in school and is apparently very good. 

Mark... well he still continues to apply for other jobs and struggles on with the current one but we're still praying he gets another job soon. He had his first ministry council meeting this week which was run very efficiently compared to previous leadership teams he's been on:) 

I've still got a job which is good, we'll know the results of the review in 4 weeks but our unit manager is driving us all insane, the job cuts are her only topic of conversation, I realise she's the most worried about her job however we'll all be very glad when she goes on holiday next week. I've also been shopping with Mel and bought some proper cycle gear.. didn't realise it was all so complicated, however I'm still out 3 days a week, except the ride I did yesterday must have covered every hill in the area and wow some of them were steep, hey ho, that's the bit that I need to practice.

Ceri has had the most exciting week getting both a job and a fella :)  She had the interview on Tuesday and starts tomorrow. It's a childcare centre attached to one of the private hospitals, so its a 2 week trial with view to a permanent post, with training given as well. It'll take her an hour on the bus to get there so not too bad, no shifts for the next 2 weeks either which is a good start.

As for the fella, he's a lovely lad she met at church, so is one very happy girl, she's seen him 3 times this week but he's now gone on holiday for 3 weeks, so I'm pleased she has a large text allowance on her phone, me thinks it may get well used if the last weeks anything to go by. 

As for the weekend, Mark and I went to a board game bonanza church event last night which was fun, not sure many board games got played though:) This morning church was cancelled as we cleaned up the school grounds, as an act of service to the school we hold church in, was definitely an alternative way of doing church. This afternoon we christened our BBQ with friends and have had a lovely day.Mark, Josh and Rebecca are busy playing Risk, and I'm trying to delay the ironing as usual.  

so overall not a very exciting week for most of us, but still glad to be here and feeling more at home. Am planning all the stuff we're gonna do when Mum and Dad get here in 7 weeks which is exciting. A friend of mine has won a scholarship award to visit Melbourne university next April so hopefully we can meet up, also my cousins are starting to plan their trip out here next July, so lots to look forward too as well. It's weird in that now Josh's birthday is over I should be thinking about Christmas, but its feels really strange with the weather getting warmer rather than colder.. still it adds to the adventure.

HB week 3

Well it might be week 3 of the house build but this week its house non build... surprise surprise the site manager was right and the office wrong..... no steel frame, so we still just have a slab. However we have been down and started to look at the outside space and are now running thoughts around of what to put where and what we can do with the garden. We really need to get a landscaper round to give us some ideas of driveways, retaining walls etc that we will need. Marks also been working on sorting out the solar this week too which needs doing.

So although the house is at a standstill other stuff has kept us entertained this week.

It was Josh' birthday on wednesday, 17!!! where did those years go. The funniest thing was that a friend of his posted a picture of him on fb from about 2 1/2 years ago when he went through his very chubby phase which he was mortified about. Then Rebecca put the following together which we were very impressed with ... just shows she loves her brother really :)

Anyway, although he's been driving we booked him some lessons of which he had the first on his birthday, he was very happy when she said he was almost ready to take his test, although unfortunately he's not allowed to take it until March next year as you have to have your learners licence for 12 months before you can take your test along with 100 hours of practice and he's only up to about 17 hours so far, so lots more to do yet. We then went out for a lovely Thai meal in the evening which was good family time too:)

He is right in the middle of exam block so no party, had English and Maths this week and Legal studies next week, although looking forward to Tuesday when over and not back in school till the following Monday.

Ceri finally got hold of the nursery this week to get a response about her application to be very disappointed - they think her btec is more related to working with the elderly... stupid lot... you can tell they haven't looked at it properly... she did her longest placement in a nursery and the qualification is in health and social care... not specific to ages!!! Anyway she had just put down the phone when she got a phone call from a school asking her to cover a teacher aide post on Monday as casual work. She then sent off some more applications and got a phone call from one in the afternoon wanting her to go for an interview on Tuesday. So God is being good looking after her. She also did some more casual work on Tuesday as a teacher aide which she enjoyed. So we'll see what comes from all this  but she can at least now throw herself back into looking in earnest... if all else fails soon McDonalds up the road are always looking for staff,  good incentive for her to look lots :)

Rebecca, although having had a disaster with her school computer crashing and having to redo the whole of her social science assignment, has had a good week. Had more A's for her results and won her last touch match of the season  :) 

Marks week has been no better, he's not yet heard about any of the applications he has in, and has had awful issues with his boss not reporting incidents which culminated with a more serious issue on Friday, so he's not looking forward to next week either. So hoping he gets another job soon! 

Work for me muddles on with the uncertainty of Queensland health redundancies looming. However I'm sticking to the  ostrich approach, I'll worry about it when /if it happens. Corporate services lost 1200 jobs on Friday and it was announced the districts will lose 1500 jobs but then each area also has to reclaim their deficit and has had a 10% budget cut, so we'll wait and see, and you can imagine the rumour mill is rife!!!

I've finally got all my paperwork together for my nurse practitioner application so that will go in the post tomorrow and we'll just wait and see. 

However the weekend has been good, I did a 27 km bike ride yesterday with the cycling group Mel rides with and I wasn't as the back all the way, just a hill or two at the end, I was pleased with myself anyway. Then we went out and bought a BIG BBQ, well it's big for us but not compared to Aussie standards, some of them are huge!!! So Mark spent this afternoon putting it all together :) We then went to a surprise 40th birthday party last night which was fun.

Ceri had gone out for a meal with some friends and managed to get a whole glass of red wine tipped down her by the waiter, she was not impressed... but at least the stain came out in the wash today :) She had a good time anyway.

Josh worked an extra shift yesterday... all going in his car fund. 

Today we had church which was good and we've now got a proper coffee machine for after service coffee, was lovely having a latte afterwards :) We've then just had a relatively leisurely day which has been nice, not rushing about. 

Well the weather has definitely improved over this week, shorts out this weekend and temps of up to 29 degrees this week, so it's all good, and still no rain. The ice maker is back on again on the fridge and the cold water very welcome :)

HB week 2

Ha ha, I now have new titles... how many weeks of house build, however this could become depressing as it clocks up, I'll be ok up to 18 weeks as that's how long it's s'posed to take, then I'll be miserable, hey ho...  

Anyway on Monday all the rebar went down and then on Tuesday, the slab was poured. It now looks really small when we walk around, but it's quite funny as there are recesses into the concrete where the showers are and as the drainage is in you can tell exactly where the sinks, loos, bath etc are. So the slightly lowered bit at the front is the garage next to the hallway. 

So when the frame comes is anyone's guess. The office say there's no delay, the site manager says there's a 3 week delay... I guess I'm more inclined to believe him, so may be no new piccys for the next 2 weeks :) We're already wondering if we've put the electric in the right place for the spa as we might change it's location now we can see the outside space better, which will also mean the outside gas pipe for the BBQ is in the wrong place too... still we can get it changed I'm sure, at a cost !!

So this week has gone really quickly, I've been out cycling 3 times at  5.30 am, which is a bit of an effort but dare I say enjoyable, although it's so cold at that time of morning... and add to that the wind chill factor and my fingers freeze. I'm trying to hold out not opening my box of winter coats, scarves gloves etc  in the hope the weather is getting warmer. Its the first day of Spring today and it is warming up but not at 5.30 am quite so quickly! Anyway, I've done 11.8km each time :)  What I'm really annoyed about is that I cannot find my cycle helmet anywhere so I guess I left it behind, but where???? I can't remember what I did with it which is almost more annoying, I reckon it must have been with all our outdoor games and the cycle lights etc which we can't find either but were going to bring with us... where did they go? who had them?? Someone enlighten me please!!!

So, works been busy this week, filled my diary too much and not the other's... need to learn to readdress the balance, still, I had a meeting with my boss who feels my aims are on the right track and getting the others to my way of working, although a challenge is the right way to go... not sure if I was pleased to hear that or not, coz that's the hardest part of the job. The good news was that she reckons our service will survive the cuts :)

Mark has had another really hard week and has finally found the energy to restart his job hunt in earnest and applied for another 5/6 jobs this week, so we are really praying he gets something else soon. He had 1 day of respite doing a first aid course which has to be followed up with a 1/2 day on anaphylaxis and a 1/2 day on asthma.... that'll be a waste of a day as I could do that for him, hey ho it's gotta be done and I'll be fascinated to see what they get taught. 

Ceri's still waiting to here about the job.... maybe one day I can tell you she's started! Josh has started exams this week, although has a mixture of exams and assignments this term, so only 4 exams which isn't too bad. Rebecca got straight As for her end of term assignments which was fantastic :) She's just trying to work out whether to do sciences or humanities next year as can't decide now between Vet and Barrister... talk about opposite careers, or maybe singing!!

The weekend has been lovely, well most of it, yesterday Mark had to replace 2 boards of the laminate floor in Ceri's room which her metal bed had damaged as it broke, so that wasn't much fun, but then we put her new bed and shelves together which she was really pleased with. Josh went out to a concert in the afternoon, the Australian girls choir which a friend of his sings in. We went round to Ivan and Mels in the evening and had a lovely time. 

Today was lovely.. it was Father's day here, which was a bit odd. So we started the day at church which was a great morning, then the girls, Mark and I went off to Mount Glorious, which was glorious. We had a picnic then walked through the rainforest where there were lots of walking trails, down to a waterfall, which Rebecca climbed down as there was so little water in it. We then went for tea and cake afterwards, well some had cake, not all of us!!!

Mark then had to wait till this evening for his pressies as Josh was

working all day. the girls had done a treasure trail for him which was quite entertaining. Anyway, we had got him an Android phone so he can join the rest of the family... he'd been feeling very 

 left out :(  So Josh has been giving him lessons this evening and feeling very miffed that he has the worst phone and uses it the most , haha! He's just had his the longest, nothing personal about it. 

So another week over, spring is now here, temperatures are rising ... I wonder what else will happen this week.....except that I now have to go and do some ironing, was trying to put it off, but not gonna be able to any longer :(

building started

 Well, it finally started on Tuesday and I am so excited, the diggers were already there as I went to work at 7.15am, so I felt for the neighbours, however they have also been gone by 4pm as I've got home, so early starts and early finishes. But the site is levelled and the foundations and drainage has all gone in and the concrete slab should all go down this week. we also have the electric meter in already too. So anyway I am going to bore you with house build pictures over the next few months as I track its progress, and then you can all come and visit and enjoy house and spa :)   

However our complaint is ongoing with Metricon and when I spoke to the customer services manager this  week she was going to speak to the engineering boss and see if they could prioritise our build, so fingers crossed but I'm not holding my breath, it'll get done when it gets done, but at least its started.

This week has been a bit of a right off otherwise as we have all had rotten colds, Mark gave in and was off work on Wednesday and Thursday and I was off on Friday. However fortunately we are all on the mend now. 

Josh and Rebecca were in the school performing arts showcase on Wednesday night which was excellent, they were both in senior concert band and Josh is also in stage band, they were very good but not quite the same standard as Oke college Big Band, but they have no minimum, standard to play so nothing too complicated. They have got some excellent musicians there though.

Yesterday Rebecca had an awesome victory in her touch match 9-0 so was well pleased, however Mark got his kindle smashed by some kid kicking a football into it. So in the afternoon we went off to buy him a new one.  Josh and Rebecca also had a school dance on Friday night which they thoroughly enjoyed and then Josh was at a party last night with a casino theme, which was really just an excuse for them all to dress up in formal dress. However it is a nice relief that all the parties he goes to here have had no alcohol, so one less worry as a parent. 

Today we went with some friends from church to an area called Redcliffe, north side of Brisbane on the coast and had a picnic and a lovely walk and coffee out, it was warm sunny and certainly didn't feel like winter. She's English too so we had a good natter over the differences in countries. 

And really that's about the week, nothing more exciting to report, Ceri still hasn't heard anything, although her blue card has finally arrived so she has dropped it into the nursery, Mark's still job hunting for alternatives and I still have a job, will know more in October after the review has been done, but hopefully we'll be safe. Anyway am now off to bed as I am going out bike riding with Mel at 5.15am tomorrow... my new fitness regime, I wonder how long it will last :)

a 4 day week :)

well this week was good as we only had to work 4 days because of Ekka. The downside was that Mark and I had different days off coz we work in different city councils as each area gets a different public holiday. The Ekka is a bit like the UK county shows only much bigger... on Wednesday I went with Ceri, Rebecca, Mel and her kids and another 75000 people!!! We had a good day getting there at about 2pm, and wandered around the food exhibition and managed lots of free wine tasting :) , we also saw the animals, the cake display, then went and attempted to queue for show bags except the queue was 1hr 20 mins so that was abandoned. The showbags are a huge part of the show and range from $5-$25 ish and contain all sorts of stuff from sweets to toys and beauty... there are about 350 different ones to choose from. We did go back later in the day when the queue had gone which pleased Rebecca especially. Then eventually ending up in the arena and saw some precision driving, stunt motorbikes and finally the fireworks at about 

8.15 pm. Getting everybody out and onto the

trains was a work of

art and we finally got home very tired at about 10pm. ps. the photo is Rebecca cuddling a strawberry cream sundae which are a famous part of Ekka and incidentally were very tasty:) 

Mark had a much lazier day off for his day off and 

Josh couldn't come as he was working still. Not sure I'd go again but it was an experience, just too busy.

So updates re Ceri.... she went out to a house group meal on Monday that she thoroughly enjoyed.. her and 3 lads !!! although others arrived later for the bible study. She has also phones up the nursery and they have now sent her certificates to the human resources department for them to assess what level her btec equates too. However she has now also applied for 2 more jobs, just in case  this one doesn't materialise.  

Josh has been on 2 trips this week with school, 1 to the central library and the other to Suncorp Stadium for a combined  legal studies and business trip. That one was much better as they got to go and sit in the VIP boxes and got a tour of the whole stadium and changing rooms etc.. Still not sure what it had to do with legal studies though!

Rebecca has been away with church youth group for the w/e... she seems to have had a good time although has come back very tired. They had food fights yesterday and she went water skiing in rubber rings this morning and that's all I've got out of her so far. Apparently 5 kids became Christians over the w/e too which is fantastic. 

So the week tootled on, Marks boss is still being bone idle and he is getting increasingly fed up. My place is all very unsettled as our lovely new liberal government have announced they are cutting 4000 jobs in Queensland Health, all preventative services are going and although front-line staff will be ok, you only count as front-line if 75% of your time is face to face patient contact, so uncertain times. I think we'll be ok as we are not preventative.. they have a diagnosis and are stuffed by the time we see them, but there is a very large staff forum on Tuesday so we'll wait and see. 

Yesterday we had a lovely day out as we had no Saturday sport with Rebecca being away, so we stopped in Fernvale on the way for coffee and then went up to Wivenhoe Dam and had a picnic and a wander round. It was beautiful and lovely and warm.

It full of little areas that jut out into the reservoir and each have BBQs and picnic tables. We also saw a couple turn up and get married there with all their guests and music, quite unusual and a lovely venue. Not a bad winter's day :) Anyway there are also areas that have cafe's and ramps to put boats into the reservoir, but nobody was in at all yesterday.

It was quite amazing to think that all the reservoir was flooded and overflowing the top of the dam last year when you see the size of it... quite mindblowing, the TV certainly didn't give a good picture of it. 

The nice bit about Saturdays though is that you can plan ahead and not have to wonder if you can do it because of the weather, and will it rain... it just doesn't!  We haven't had any for about 5 weeks now, long may it continue!

The other highlight of the week was that we met our site manager at the plot on Thursday, seems like a nice guy, and was very up front with us which was good, already telling us that the company producing the steel frames are about 3 weeks behind with the orders as they are too busy, so once the slab goes down we just have to wait for them before anything else can be done... so definitely won't be there for c'mas, but at least we know! Anyway, today we went and cleared the site of all the stuff that's been tipped on it :( and cut up all the wire rebar which had been left that we are going to use as trellis along the back fence when sprayed :) Then this afternoon we went and had our first drink on site with Ivan and Mel, as they start the build on Tuesday, can't wait to get it built :) So watch here as I will bore you in the coming months with the progress :)

Its a date!

Ok its a date... a date to start our house build, which I am so excited about, and its only a week away on the 20th August, that was also after we had put an official complaint in for the time it has taken to sort out... whether the salesman told us the porkies or has it just taken much longer, either way it'll be smarties and beer for the builders from here on. We've been given a build time of 18 weeks but that takes us to the 21st Dec, so I can't imagine it will be then as there are bound to be delays, including rain as they stop work then, did you ever, how on earth would British builders get on if they stopped in the rain, nothing would ever get done, we should send Aussie builders over there to work for a bit, they'd soon get used to it then! The down side is that everything then stops for 5 weeks over Christmas, so if we're not in then it won't be until Feb/ March which will be so annoying... and an even longer wait for my swim spa :(, so it's beer and being nice to the builders and try and get them on side to work quicker... a girl can try anyway :)  Anyway, at least they are now starting. 

So although the week ended well the beginning was not so great... one kid complained about Mark at work, which fortunately has come to nothing, he also didn't get the probation job, and his CRPS is flaring up which isn't great, roll on the warmer weather. Rebecca has been involved with some bullying at school i.e. she has had one girl square up to her and be quite nasty and one of her friends has been having really nasty anonymous notes put in her locker most days, they have been to see the teacher and he is currently trawling through the CCTV footage to see who is doing it, so he has actual proof first . Just to add to it her friends parents told her this week they were getting a divorce, so Rebecca is trying to be the supportive friend and seems to be dealing with it quite well so far. Ceri phoned the nursery again and they said they are about to send her certificates to their HR department so they can judge what level they are and what entry they can start her on. Having said that she is so bored she has now started applying for other jobs just in case anything changes with the other.   

So we reckon this week's happening may all be down to the fact that Mark was up for nomination for the Ministry Council at Church today and spiritual warfare is well and truly alive. One of the other nominees also had a really rubbish week too, however I guess a church that's thriving is going to be under attack. Anyway Mark did get voted on today at the AGM and get this.. the AGM and Church meeting lasted a total of 50 minutes which I felt was very impressive, mind you the longest one we went to was at Oke baptist and that one was 4 1/2 hours!!!!!  

Well Ceri has finally contacted the scouts, and the Forest Lake group, which meets in another suburb 20 mins away (why???) are desperate for another cub leader so have bitten her hand off, so she starts on Tuesday. The older group, called Rovers here, unfortunately is on Friday nights and she has just been added to the youth group leaders team at church on Friday nights... so we think that one's out, but we'll wait and see. 

We had a lovely social at housegroup on Monday and we have some very talented cooks there, so finishing with Wii games a good evening was enjoyed by all. Yesterday Rebecca was playing Touch rugby away, so we all got up and got her there for 8.30am, it was only at Springfield which was 15 mins away, so not too bad, which we followed with coffee out, some shopping and then home. I then took Josh out in the afternoon to get his suit for the Yr 12 formal that he is going too, have to say he does scrub up rather well. However he must stop growing now as it needs to fit him next yr too, but it was cheaper to buy than to hire so we can hope, but I bet he hasn't stopped yet. we then went up to the West End in Brisbane with Ivan and Mel in the evening to a little restaurant called the Gun Shop cafe and had a lovely evening with some lovely company. Today was almost as hectic, I was a church by 8am, then AGM after the service, then friends for lunch which was very enjoyable. Then taking Ceri to the evening service, then pick both her up and Josh from work and then Mark went out to a church meeting, so ironing got done in between and now looking forward to bed, although would like to be up early to watch the Olympic closing ceremony tomorrow. 

I've also managed to book a hotel in Noosa for a w/e when Mum and Dad are here, so looking forward to that too. 

So another week over, we both have a bank holiday day this week for EKKA , the unfortunate bit is that they are different days as we are both is different areas of Brisbane. EKKA is a bit like the county shows but is held in the city and goes on for 8 days (I think)... I'll tell you all about it next week, its a day off to look forward to though :)

Blog time

So Sunday night comes once again and it's becoming a routine... ironing then blog, uumm not sure if that's the height of excitement for a Sunday night but there you go, that's what it is, although I reckon as the days warm up and we go out on a Sunday ironing night will have to change. Anyway, I'm rambling, what's new I hear you cry!! Still, I'm still getting the occasional email not to stop the blog so I guess for those of you who are still vaguely interested or have a bored 5 minutes in your week and want something to read, I'll keep going.

Well despite my youngest defecting to the Aussies I've been proud to be British this week, we have watched a fair amount of Olympics but just keep getting the focus on the Aussie athletes :( and I'm sorry, but they seem so disappointed if they get a silver or bronze... but surely that's a major achievement, and they've not had to do it in the rain either...it could have been so different!

Well Rebecca got her academic award this week in a spell binding assembly (according to Mark anyway) which was a proud moment, considering she's only been there 6 months. She also won the winning goal in her Touch game on Saturday, which made standing on the school playing field at 7.30 am in the cold... yes it was cold... so worthwhile!! (even though I was only there until 8.20am) Anyway doing warm jumpers is not  a problem, I have a wardrobe full of them, the problem was looking very silly still carrying it round at 11.30 when it was 23 degrees by then:)

Josh has spent the week counting his pennies and wondering how long it will take him to save up for a car... wouldn't be too long if he'd get a banger, but he wants a 1- 2 yr old car... not one for not spending is my son :( well it's his money! How he's going to do that when he claims he can't work and do all his study will be interesting, just hope it's more interesting than his bed at 10.30 am on a Saturday morning!!

Ceri spoke to the nursery this week about her interview as she still hadn't heard from the Forest Lake one, apparently they are waiting for her certified forms to get to them which they will then forward onto Forest Lake, then they will contact he to go and have a look... the wheels do turn slowly here. In the meantime Marks giving her some driving lessons when he's feeling very brave:) We just keep remembering she's had 6 months off!!!  However if it does click she doesn't have to wait the year to do her test like Josh which has made him decidedly grumpy, although cocky coz he reckons she won't be able to do it. Sibling rivalry is very much alive and kicking in this house, but very wearing :(

Marks still finding work really tough what with getting up at 5.15 and not ending the day until 6.40. and being on his feet for most of the time. Anyway, he did have a telephone interview with the probation service on Thursday so is waiting to hear, trying not to get his hopes up too much though. He's trying to look for other jobs but is just so tired to do so and with other things to do in the day... hey ho, one day....

I had a interesting week at work, same old issues, I'm coming from a totally different perspective and they just don't get what I'm talking about... and no it's not the accent!!! Still I cheered myself up with a trip to the hairdressers yesterday and was very brave..both new colour and new style, I'm told it makes me look younger, so was worth it!! We then went and bought more house lights and did some shopping at an outlet mall we found, even got some converses for $40 (£25), bargain :) Then in the evening we went out for a meal with the kids, see if we could have some family time without them arguing. In fact they didn't and we had a lovely evening, although was rather entertaining watching their faces when I made them hand over their mobiles for the duration of the time we were in the restaurant, I swear their phones are just an extension of their arms, coz they looked like I'd just chopped their hands off when they had to surrender them. 

So this weeks project is looking for somewhere to go for the w/e in November when Mum and Dad are here... all ideas appreciated, only 12 weeks till they come now :)