Let's catch up

We recently enjoyed a fun night out with the OzMcp's, to watch the Wallabies play the Springboks. You'll note from the worried faces above that the Bokke didn't play so well (apparently. What would I know!?).

She who told me I must have my own blog, Lenka.

Banjo, the wonder stuffy, is settling in beautifully. He still needs to learn his manners around Ginger the Cat. Unfortunately for Ginger, when Banjo hears hissing and sees paws swiping, he thinks Ginger is being a great playmate: Dog chases cat even faster, gets very excited and wrestles like a good staffy should! O dear. If Ginger didn't already have a heart murmur, he soon would have developed one. We're trying to referee at every encounter and ensure that Ginger has safe hiding spots.

Player of the week! Winter sport is just about coming to an end, as I breathe a sigh of relief. I do love how much those boys love it though. Their enjoyment, exercise, team development, etc., is worth a little boredom (at training sessions) and discomfort (at the early morning starts on a Saturday) for me.

And finally... the red door makes it to the chook yard! The Zimbabwean showed great dedication when he hung this door during a hail storm last weekend. Some may have thought it wise to retreat inside during a hail storm. But no, not us! When we have a small window of opportunity, we take it! I still need to work on the latch system for the chook yard door so for now it's held closed with a rock and a log, but it pleases me a great deal. I'm sure it pleases the girls too.

A few days later, a friend pointed out to me that I had a flat tyre on my car. O how inconvenient! How was I to get 4 little boys to rugby training in 5 minutes with a flat tyre! I am slightly embarrassed to admit that it took me a good 10 minutes (whilst making a cup of tea and chasing a puppy) to have a light bulb moment... I have a spare tyre! O, I could change it! At this point I'm very glad that my friend Robin does not read this blog.

So... my clever friend Michelle (who had noticed the tyre in the first place) whipped out her portable air compressor (!), gave my tyre enough air to get us to training, where I proceeded to unload my car in search of spare tyre. Have you seen how much stuff I fit into the back of that subi? Well, unloading it was no small event. Anyway... I found the spare, and the jack and a few other tools which I don't know the names of. Some muscle-power came my way (in the form of rugby coaches) and before I could say "Where does this jack go?" the flat tyre was off, the spare was on and it was time to reload the luggage. I would like to say I took care of the whole event myself but, alas, that would make the men look bad. I did need their strength to get the tyres into and out of the car, and to loosen the nuts (is that what they're called?), and to ensure they were on tightly enough at the end.

In other Handy Woman moments, I've ripped the carpet off the stairs and have been painting them. You'll see the photographic evidence when it's all done. All this handy-(wo)man-ing has brought me to pondering a home renovation job on our ugly downstairs bathroom. How hard can it be? Surely not that hard! I've had a chat with a few friends in the know, and am now convinced that I should start this project myself. As soon as my husband lets me.

In the meantime, I'm pondering how often my children see the back of me (when I'm racing them here, there and everywhere, hurrying them along, stomping to my next engagement, getting to the boat/ferry/car/house) and I'm working on facing them, whilst giving them a smile, when they are walking behind or towards me. I may end up with bruises on my back (from running into things) but at least the boys may have memories of smiling Mama in years to come.

Come on Spring. We're ready for you.