Giving up a date with Tom Cruise

Jacq and Rich are up in Sydney for the long weekend and invited us over to join them for a roast dinner, seeing as they can't meet up at Casey & Shirley's for games in the afternoon.

Apparently, Aunty Joy cooked the roast before going out to a wedding.

I invited Casey & Shirley over to our place seeing as they would be coming in this direction anyway. We ended up playing 2 games of Ticket to Ride, teaching Kaylene the game, although she didn't get to play. Casey and Shirley won each game respectively.




We then took the party over to Jacq's, where we had a yummy roast lamb and marinated pork ribs with roasted vegies. After dinner we played Ticket to Ride, showing Jacq and Rich the rules. Rich is quick, he won the first game. Casey managed to win the second..but only cause he kept picking up destinations that he's already had completed some of.




After games her had cake...I baked a chiffon cake..but again it flopped. Jacq baked a pumpkin and date cake.

More board games

Today Casey and Shirley went shopping for more board games and invited Evan and myself over to play a new board game.

It's a train game around Europe...object of the game is to try and build your trains linking destinations as well as making the longest train you can.

Casey one the first game as we were trying to figure out the rules. Then miracles of miracles, I won the next with 134 points..woo hoo.

Going again tomorrow to join Jacq and Rich in some more fun and games.

Scrapbooking Aust Day

I'm in the middle of scrapbooking Australia Day photos into a mini album. Here is one of the pages so far. These mini albums are great.

Emily's Stampin' Up workshop

After working on Mare's garden all day, I rushed home, had a quick shower, then was off to Emily's place to take part in her Stampin' Up workshop.

She again provided us all with a yummy dinner of Spaghetti Marinara. For dessert we had tiramisu and cupcakes (provided by Maggie).

Also in attendance was Vanita, Shirley, Belinda, Maggie, Emily, Deanna, and another lady who I forget her name. We made two cards, as well as seeing Deanna demonstrate how to make a mini shopping bag.

I ordered two things, brads and ribbon to use in my scrapbooking. Saving up my orders for our Stampin' Up club meeting.

I came home in time to see Jacq, Richard and Mare who had stopped by for a visit (to drop off Jacq's hard drive - movies, and to clean out fish tank) ready to leave.

Marion's Garden Working Bee

This morning, Janet and I filled up the car boot with garden tools (crow bar, shovels, pitchforks, etc) and went over to Mare's place.

Mare has decided to plant her garden using a Cottage Garden theme, and to fit into the scheme of things, she wanted to move some rose bushes, camelias, etc. When we got to her place and saw how big the rose bush was that she wanted to move, we talked her out of it, and compromised by moving a smaller rose bush. Using the crow bar, shovel, pitch fork and brute strength, 3 tiny girls dug that rose bush out and plonked it into a pre-dug hole closer to the house.

For all our hard work, Aunty Joy provided lunch for us. Which we had with Aunty Florey and Aunty Esther who had also dropped into the Li household.

After lunch it was back to work. The rain would sprinkle now and then, so we'd have to stop work and then start up again when it finished. We pruned the camelias back, the bigger rose bush and the May bush out the front.

Marion and Janet cleared out most of the daisies in the front yard, and now all Mare has to do is plant in her hedging and other bulbs.

Oh..yes, Evan did drop in as well to fix Mare's computer, but still could not solve her problem, so it was all in vain.

Games & Babies

On Sunday, I went over to Casey & Shirley's for games and dinner.

She's due anytime soon and it was my last chance to get a photo of us together with her baby bump.

Suzy had gone rock climbing with Casey and they were both feeling the pain...which is why I don't rock climb.

Shirley went with Lyn to report a minor car accident (some woman had bumped into Lyn's car up at the Hunter Matchbox20 concert).

We had a quick game of Bonanza with Lyn, before she left us. Casey cooked us dinner of spaghetti bosciola (using evaporated milk instead of cream, mushrooms, ham and chilli)..it was very yummy and spicy.

After dinner we watched So You Think You Can Dance, while I showed Shirley my scrapbook albums, and then we played a game of Carcasonne...again Casey won, with me close behind. Still can't work out those farmers.

Justin get's his 'P's

Today, Justin went to do his driving test again, having already tried last weekend.

This time he passed and has now got his red 'P's.

As soon as I got home from work today, he asked if he could take the car out to go to Danni's...what was I suppose to say..anyway, hopefully he'll drive carefully and be wary of the stupid drivers on the road.

Stampin Up! club

I'm officially a member of the Stampin' Up club, which is hosted by Deanne Wilkinson. On Friday night I attended the official launch of the new 2008-09 Catalogue..and got my free catalogue.


Now I get to browse through the catalogue and put my wishlist together...I know I already have a lot of stamps, but there are a few things which have caught my eye.

Emily is hosting another stamping workshop on Friday 25th April and I'll be going...probably put my order in then.

New Haircut. - April 2008

Sick of my roots and the very blonde streaked look, I went to the hairdressers on Thursday morning before work and got Maria to dye my hair brown and put just a few golden blonde streaks in.

Looks good, but won't stay that way for long.

Uncle David's 73rd Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated Uncle David's birthday. Most of them went to the Fishmarkets to buy the ingredients for dinner.

We had on the menu:

• Spaghetti Marinara
• Tomato Bruschetta with Garlic Bread
• Octopus Salad
• Mussels Futiche
• Salt and Pepper Squid

Visit from Jacq

Jacq was up from Melbourne for work, so she extended her stay in order to allow her to visit most of her friends and family.

We went out to dinner with her on Friday 11/04/08 night. Also having dinner was Evan, Ken, Linda, Tones, Marion and Helen (Irene's sister). Jacq had a hired car, so she drove. Jacq & Mare, dropped over after work, so that we could print off some of her photos for scrapbooking. We then picked up Helen from Strathfield station and drove to the Japanese restaurant in Hurstville.

I forget the name, and I also forgot to take my camera with me, otherwise I would have pictures to add to this blog.

We shared the dishes, paying $13 each...not bad.

After dinner Linda, Tones, Jacq & Mare came back to Strathfield, Chan's residence for a bit of Wii bowling, tea and dessert, and some more printing and catching up on the goss.

1st Annual Red Bull Flugtag

Sunday 6th April

Woke up and the sun was shining...looks good for a day out.

Waited for Evan and Aunty Cath to come over, it's about 10.30am.

They arrive and so does the rain..oh no..looks like we may not be going after all.

We wait and wait...Kaylene seems happy and is doing her rain dance. Around 11.30am, it looks to be clearing..so we head off to catch the train into Circular Quay.

Walk towards the botanical gardens via the Sydney Opera House. As the gardens and Lady Macquarie's chair comes into view, so does the mass of crowds...looks like everyman and his dog is also out to see stupid people and their crafty flying machines jump off a ramp.


Walk all the way around to the Man-o-War steps, stopping now and again trying to get a view of those silly people. They don't seem to get far when they jump...just head straight on down into the water.

Having seen enough, Janet heads off to the Herb garden, Aunty Cath and I follow not long after..leaving Evan to take photos of these silly people.

I take quite a few photos in the Herb garden...lots of herby plants, like curry, lavender, and others which I've forgotten their names, but Janet would be able to rattle them off.

By the time we head back to the station, it's past 4pm...we stop off at Maccas for a soft serve...Aunty Cath's treat..before catching the train back to Strathfield.