Temping

is an interesting occupation. I have recently signed up with an office labour hire firm in Traralgon and have had two temping jobs since. They were both babysitting jobs, i.e. go in, sit in the office all day and mind the phones and the walk ins, leave messages for the appropriate people and go home again. The second temp job was incredibly boring. There were virtually no phone calls to answer (and I don't count the boss calling to check in as a real phone call) so for the second day of that job, I actually took work that Ben needed to get done with me and did that. I am hoping that this sort of work might lead to a part time position somewhere, but at least it will look good on my resume. I have been applying for jobs in the area, but I guess it's an employers' market at the moment...

It's been so long

since I last blogged! So much has been going on! I have been temping (which was okay, good money, boring occupation) and I've done tuckshop duty; we've been looking at houses in Sale; picking up Mike from Band Camp; having friends around; just lots of stuff!

We had a lovely time last weekend. Mike went to Band Camp, which he enjoyed and I got to spend some one on one time with Gabi. It was really nice to be able to do that. Mike did miss his first soccer match of the season, though, which was a bit sad, but that's the way the cookie crumbled this time. Mike brought home the camp permission form on Monday of last week, with a note attached from his instrumental music teacher saying Mike will be attending camp, starting on Friday. Nice notice there, huh? Of course we wouldn't have said that Mike couldn't go; it was just the slightly arrogant presumption of the teacher in the note that got me. While we were listening to the concert on Sunday morning, Gabi got really excited about learning the trombone so she could be on this camp next year. That would be pretty cool; both Mike and Gabi at the same music camp. The camp caters for the junior musicians of the school, from Grade 4 upwards to Grade 8. As a side note, Gabi was also excited by the prospect of playing her grandfather's compositions at the camp. And the grade 5/6 band did indeed play two pieces written by my dad. I told my mum about this, and she told Dad and then she emailed me that he was "pretty chuffed" about it all. Not bad progress there.

So proud...

I would just like to say that I am proud of my children, usually just because they are mine. Yesterday, however, I was able to experience that feeling because of my daughter. Gabi has been asking for sometime now if we could arrange a playdate with one of her friends from the school bus, Sarah. Well yesterday, Sarah's mum called and asked if we could possibly go over that afternoon for the playdate. We didn't have any other really, really pressing plans, so I said yep, we could drop in for Gabi and Sarah to spend some time together, no problems. Now all I've ever known about Sarah is her name and that she travels on the bus with Gabi. That's it. That's all that Gabi has ever told me. We arrived at Sarah's house and Sarah was just out riding her pony (a lovely white pony) called Toy. When Sarah arrived, I discovered that she has Down Syndrome. All at once I was so proud of my little girl because it hadn't mattered to her at all. Yep, my Gabi had made friends with Sarah because she liked her and she wanted to go and play with her and have Sarah at our house and that was that. I love moments like that. I must be doing something right after all.

New cds

Okay, today I bought two new cds. One was the Bushfire Aid cd (all proceeds to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal), and the other was a Russell Watson cd, Outside In. I have to say that I am especially enjoying the Russell Watson cd. It has several really good arrangements on it. I really like the Amazing Grace track, and the swing songs but the two stand out tracks for me are One More Time and Love on the Rocks. Yes, the Neil Diamond song. Russell does it quite well. I still think the original is the best, but this cover comes a very, very close second. I was quite surprised by the sound of Russell's voice on this cd. It has very definitely changed over the years that I have been listening to him, but I think it has been a change for the better. Anyway, i just wanted to let you know that it is a good easy listening type cd, if you're interested. And too bad if you're not, because I am! :P

Music

Exciting news! Both Mike and Gabi came home this week with news about instrumental music for the year! Mike has received his clarinet and had his first music lesson on Monday. Gabi came home on Thursday and told us her music teacher for the band program had assigned her to the ...trombone! We're deadlocked at one all, again! (For those that don't know, we have a small battle in the household, over which is better: woodwind or brass. I played brass instruments when I was younger, (and I still can,) and Ben played woodwind (and he still can). ) It looks like we're going to be stuck with brass vs woodwind and boys vs girls until Gabi reaches high school and is given an opportunity to change instruments. Although, hopefully, by then she won't want to...

More swimming!

Watch out for a new post on lazymikey.blogspot.com about his swimming carnival tomorrow. Today we prepared by buying red face paint, red pirate scarf and a red wig. (Mike's house colour is...RED!) He's not swimming but he is planning to cheer to the max. I shall have to try to get a photo of him in the wig at least!

Swimming!

Today was the Inter House Swimming Carnival for Gabi's school. We had a fantastic day, but Gabi said it would have been more fantastic if she had been in more events. (She had to wait until the very last event to compete. However, her team did come third, so she got a ribbon! Yay!) I helped out with the timekeeping for a while (managing to get sunburnt, despite wearing a hat and everything!). I really enjoyed this swimming carnival. Everything worked like clockwork. It even finished before the stated time of 2pm! (Amazing!) The absolute highlight of the day (after Gabi's event of course!) was the fact that Gabi's house won the day overall. Go Blundell-Bogong!