Brief Coo-ee In The Midst Of Reports

Gee I hate reports. What teacher doesn't I guess? But I really hate secondary reports that have a number attached; a number which is supposed to summarise ability, motivation, application and achievement and which,of course, really tells you not very much at all. Oh and I really hate Care Group reports (which we are obliged to produce every term) which detail whether a student is punctual, wears the uniform correctly and is positively involved in the life of the school. Four times a year?? I mean, how many ways can you say 'neat, punctual, does his best', especially when you only ever see them for 10 minutes in the morning at roll call!??

But I gotta suck it up so I 'll probably be pulling an all-nighter to finish everything by tomorrow morning. :-(

Meanwhile, La Jeune Fille is relaxing into our madhouse and seems to be enjoying herself.

She finally emerged from the bedroom on Sunday at around 2.30pm. As a result she was bright eyed and bushy tailed well into the night so we made her play cards (our favourite...Racing Demons) and then made her teach us a French card game (Batteile). Himself even played, which was predictably hilarious. It's amazing how multi-cultural laughter is!

On Sunday she was up by 10am and after a Gorge walk with Himself and the BA, they accompanied A Free Family to the football to see my beloved Roosters being thrashed by A Free Man's carelessly chosen Tigers. According to Himself La JF is quite a good kick and picked up handballing technique with ease.

Again she was up bright and early this morning to accompany the BA to school and catch up with the rest of the French students as they too came in for classes. This afternoon as I picked the two of them up they were shrieking with laughter and LJF was actually using English in sentences! So. Progress.

I'll see you on the other side of Report Mountain!!!!

Play It Clean*

Well, nothing since Tuesday...what have I been doing with myself? Painting tables in Kidzone (Sunday School) and making up Kids' Kits for use in church when there's no Kidzone if truth be known.

Oh and quilting.

Predictably things did not go to plan; I decided the top of the quilt was too narrow so I rearranged everything again. But I am much happier with it now and I spent Friday sewing it together. Only got about half done though. Phew, it's hard work! Fiddly! Mind you, I was working under stressful conditions; Himself had a deadline and he was waaaaay cutting it fine. He sat through in the other room effing and blinding and calling the computer, the files, the internet and the clients just about every name you can think of. It was not pretty and not conducive to relaxing quilting. I shut the door on him after awhile.

He was pretty stressed and sleep deprived. He spent two allnighters on this animated presentation for the North Adelaide Football Club's presentation night. He came to bed at 4.30am the first night and after a few snatched hours went at it again all day and came to bed at 5.30am the second night! That man lives on caffiene. Still, last night was the 'do' and it all went very well. I was really proud of him and all his hard work although I was mildly surprised and relieved to see that not one 'f@#&' had slipped into the presentation! Miraculous really considering the amount that were flying through the air. Fortunately we are 'kidfree' at the moment :-D

He made a little bit of history too as the club screened the presentation over the internet in real time as the audience were watching it. It was a record of the matches that year and a count down of the votes gained by each player in the 'Best and Fairest' Competition. The AFL (big league) do a similar thing on Brownlow Medal night but as far as we know, in Australia, no other clubs or State Competitions have done it. This meant that ex pat fans of the club (and we know there are many because the site stats tell us we get hits from places as diverse as London, Singapore and Dubai!) could watch a round up of the year's matches and player performances, leading to the announcement of the B&F winner, from the comfort of their own laptops. Next year we want him to do a live webcam of the acceptance speeches! Then again, knowing how riveting the speeches of young footballers are...maybe it's not worth it!
("....And I'd like to thank the coach and the back up team and the massuesse and my parents...")

Oh and if you've got nothing else to do, see if you can find anyone familiar in this gallery of elegant diners......

Off to quilt some more and enjoy my last few days of childfree time and holidays :-(

* The Club Song

SOOC Saturday: Because You Haven't Seen Him For Awhile

I don't know why I haven't taken many shots of the Small Boy lately. I think it's because he's usually off up the street with his mates or at footballl or basketball on the weekends. Maybe it's because the BA and I have been doing a lot together, without the boys....

Anyway, I took this one last weekend. He's playing for a new football team with his friend from Two Doors Up and this is his new strip.

I also took several of his socks pulled up so high they looked like tights but he wouldn't let me post those. Mind you he never said anything about not posting THIS one....What? WHAT? Oh get off my case AFM...there are no exposed body parts here and he posed for the photo after all! Quite different to the Baby Angel's builder's bum shot.

But oh my goodness. Hasn't he grown.

They do that when you're not looking.

This is a' Straight Out Of Camera' shot. Melody at Slurping Life invites you to join in sharing SOOC shots every Saturday. Go over and check some out and perhaps join in?

Sorry To Disappoint

I know, I know, I promised you pictures of the new Guest Room today but seriously, it's just not ready for unveiling yet.

I need to get a new quilt. I mean, I have the cover, but without a nice, fluffy quilt to go inside it just looks like a pair of sheets! We need furniture. Apart from a bed I mean. A pair of bedside tables and a lamp or two are required. We need new lighting. The faux colonial open glass shade with oversized energy saving bulb hanging down from it just doesn't create the ambiance I had in mind.

A rug would be nice. Some prints would take the starkness away from the walls. *sigh* It just isn't finished yet! I took some photos of the BA in situ but even with her beautiful presence it still looks like a closing down sale at a bed shop. On the last day. With one bed left.
So, sorry folks, maybe next week?

But to whet your appetite or at least give you something to look at, here's the Small Boy and the Baby Angel on their way to see The Mighty Bays * play in the SANFL Grand Final last weekend. And yes, their colours are gold and black! Unfortunately, the game went so badly that they left before the final siren :-(. Poor old Himself hasn't had any luck in the footballs stakes this year.


* Compare Glenelg's paltry website to the sensational job Himself and his team do on the
Mighty Roosters' site!

Waving My Flaming Sword at the Football: Or How To Make Friends and Influence People

"So what sport is this I'm watching?" I asked my neighbour as we nursed our finely chilled sav blancs, nibbled on a parmesan risotto ball and peered through the expanse of glass to the floodlit field below. "There's no water so I know it can't be swimming."

Can I be forgiven for my complete lack of interest in Friday night's football? I mean, there's been such a lot of sport on this week the last thing I felt like doing was missing my beloved scrapbooking night for a corporate thingy in the President's Box watching The Power play Collingwood. This is the only way I will go to AAMI Stadium though. I'm happy to sit on the Terraces for the local matches and get on the ground for a kick between quarters but I find the plastic seats and distance from the ground at AAMI too remote and sterile. If I'm going there I want to be in a Box with refreshments on tap.

It was a star studded night: The Minster for Education came across and chatted to us. Himself had worked with her some years ago when she was Lord Mayor and he had been involved in organising the Adelaide Millennium Event; The President of Collingwood FC Eddie Maguire was swanning in and out in between recording game stats and chuckling to himself like a schoolboy; there were ex footballers, lawyers, Advisors to the Minister and even The Attorney General.

I told him how to bring up his kids.

Well, he did ask.

I don't think I asked him if he was a Man or a Mouse though, that was the North Adelaide Board Member and retired investment banker. His 17 year old son won't go to school and he is planning on taking him out of the expensive private school he's (not) attending.......at the end of the year.

"Are you ready to go?" asked Himself hopefully as I swung my flaming sword from side to side with gay abandon.
"What, already?" I queried....."who's winning?"
"Errrr the game has been over for some time dear. Hadn't you noticed that most people have left?"

I guess that's the problem with the whole drinking and double vision thing. You don't notice the room is emptying. Perhaps Himself will be less keen for me to accompany him next time and I can go to scrap booking instead?

In my defence I will say that the Attorney General wanted the address of this blog site to show his wife and mother-in-law. Fortunately I wasn't that inebriated.

*********************************************************************************
Update:

After dreaming this afternoon that No2 Son had come home, all smiles and apologising and making out it was nothing, I was awoken to the news that he is paying board to his ex-stepmother, does his own laundry and is helping around the house. Or maybe that's what he's meant to be doing. Either way I feel vaguely, nay definitely, irritated by this. Perhaps it's time to start creating a guest room after all.

image credit

Best Shot Monday: Football Hero

Guess who scored the winning goal in his team's one point victory over the opposition???????

For other winning shots, click over to Mother May I for Best Shot Monday.

I have yet to work out how to save my pix after fiddling with them with sufficient resolution to show up ok here. If you click on it you may get a better, larger image. Any ideas?

Footy Fans

My friend Headbang8 was in town this weekend and after a rowdy night with The Bestie and a lovely outing this morning, I came home to this.



Port Power (The Power) were playing. As you can see, Himself and the Baby Angel are great fans. I particularly like the juxtaposition here of fluffy ugg boots and 3/4 length fluro leggings. The scarf and hat are also a nice touch don't you think? Himself is in traditional Bogan garb ie checked, flannelette shirt with Pepsi can in hand. The happy news is that the Power WON for the second week in a row!! Just so's you know all this dagginess was for a good cause!

Bad Mother!!!

Oh dear, I am officially a bad mother. Tonight Himself and I were required at the presentation dinner of the MIGHTY ROOSTERS, aka North Adelaide Football Club. Unfortunately it is also Baby Angel's netball night.

Last night saw me making a flurry of phone calls to drop her off at her coach's house who would then take her to the Bestie's place for a sleepover whilst also finding another parent to give child C a lift home as we had promised to do for the season!! Having arranged all this I fell into a comatose stupor and slept until 2.30am when I was awoken by Himself coming to bed and consequently lay awake for an hour before giving in and going to take pictures of the moon until 5am!!!!

Today at school I accompanied 100 Year 8 pupils into the city on a Geography excursion. It wasn't too taxing really except that we were walking non stop for 2 hours, this on top of the morning fitness training (7am-8am) where the sadistic Nick made us do four out of 5 circuit activities on abdominals!!!

The net result of all this is that I was exhausted by the time I got home from school and fell into bed for a snooze before getting ready to go out.

Admittedly, the BA did ask me on a number of occasions if I was going to make her any dinner or provide her with any kind of nourishment before her netball match. After a few of these interruptions and me asking her (without opening my eyes) what she wanted me to cook, and her not knowing, I went for the soft option and said I'd pick her up McDonalds on the way to netball. (It doesn't hurt once in a while).

She was predictably pleased with this result and left me alone to sleep. I woke up at quarter to six! We were due to leave at 6. I had yet to shower, wash my hair, decide what to wear etc etc etc. Panic.

We screeched out of the driveway at 6.20pm having said we would be at the coach's house by 6.30. With a good run of green lights we were at the turn off 20 to 7. At which point I drove straight past McDonalds. (corner of Cross Roads and Goodwood for those of you with Adelaide UBD knowledge).

"Er Mum."
"What?" (in somewhat exasperated and rushed tones)
"I thought you were getting me McDonalds."
"Oh...damn......well...er....well, we're past the turn off now and we're running late so I can't go back.....I'll give Ken some money and you can get some chips at the netball courts."
"Great."
"I'm sorry but..."
"No, no Mum, it's OK. You're rejecting me once more for the North Adelaide Football Club and now I'm not getting any dinner either..."

Oh my Goodness. What's a mother to do? I still had a 40 minute drive to get up to Windsor Gardens (Main North East Rd) to meet Himself at the venue where he was running the AV presentation for Awards night....! I poured out profuse apologies, told her I wasn't rejecting her, only abandoning her and gave her $10.00 as I handed her over to her coach's husband, explaining that I had failed to feed her. Did her have time to drop in at McDonalds on the way to netball? (sheepish grin)

What must he think? Well, he'd be right!

Aaaaaanyway. I made it up to the venue with 10 minutes to spare before everything started. Himself was frantically trying to contact me thinking I may be lost but I'd left my phone at home in the rush. Got inside and realised it was a cash bar.....and I'd just given my last $10.00 to the Baby Angel. Himself had no money either.

Frantic discussion with barman about location of nearest ATM.

I then sallied forth, on foot, (again...I have walked further today than I have in the whole month) around the back of the venue, down a dark lane and into the carpark of a nearby supermarket to get some cash. Alone. With my handbag.

Somewhere between standing in front of the ATM and walking again back through the dark lane, I plotted my response to the mugger who was going to drive past and grab at my bag, or leap out at me from behind the rollaway garbage skip. Suffice to say it involved karate and breaking his nose or a sharp rear elbow to the ribs followed by a drop down into sumo position (to escape the bear hug) a sudden turn and short punch to the solar plexus. Then kick off my platform sandals and, never losing my grip on my bag for ONE SECOND....running like the clappers back to the foyer of the venue.

Fortunately, even though I am a really bad mother who doesn't feed her child, the Lord saw fit to spare me the practical experience of karate implementation and I was able to make my way, in a dignified fashion, back to our table in time for the entree.

So after a whole lot of football nonsense, including masses of inarticulate young men looking reeeeeally uncomfortable in suits thanking the physio and the masseuse and the waterboy, we made it home by 1am. Himself is sailing to day and No 2 Son had only managed to half finish sanding and polishing the keel and the hull for the final time. So guess what Himself did till 2.30am?

I however, must now go and make up for my bad motherhood by taking my girl to her school fair and being very interested and attentive for the day.......and....feeding her.

The Less said about the Football, the Better

>:-(

GO YOU MIGHTY ROOSTERS

Now the other thing which has been on our minds and on our social calendar lately are
THE MIGHTY ROOSTERS!!! Have a quick look at their site because it is designed and managed by none other than Himself and his band of merry multimedia men. Run your cursor over the rooster emblem on the banner.......cool eh? (and mildly irritating)

Before the National League (AFL), each state had their own Football League with local clubs, traditions, awards etc. In the mid 90s the AFL was created and South Australia put up two teams, The Adelaide Crows and the Port Adelaide Power. Although this stripped a number of the local clubs of their best players, the local SA League continues to provide a good standard of football, a great deal of club loyalty and is still reasonably well followed.
The North Adelaide Football Club is one of those teams.

Himself's company sponsors the club as well as running the website and producing other marketing and motivational items. As a result we get to go and see them in the Member's Stand at the Adelaide Oval from time to time. Additionally, we know one of the players, Nick Gill, as his girlfriend used to work for us so that gives us a personal interest in the team and the game. Well, it gives me a personal interest; Himself just loves football!
Me in the Member's Stand two weeks ago.

Nick is quite a character. Known as The Emu for his height and gangly legs, he is a superb mark (that means catching the ball on the full) and covers a huge amount of ground throughout the game. He really is an exceptional player...except for one thing, he can't kick straight. This of course can be an advantage when you are facing away from the goals on an impossible angle, a position from which Gilly has been known to score on a number of occasions. It is a disadvantage however when you are 10metres out from an open goal, dead in front. From this normally certain position, Nick has been known to kick the ball and not only miss the goals to only score a point...but to kick it out of bounds altogether!!! So it is with mixed feelings that we observe him take a spectacular mark knowing that the next move, the free kick, could be a disaster. Despite this he was selected for The Adelaide Crows and has played most of the season with them this year, only returning to Norths when the Crows were eliminated in the final rounds of the national competition.
I think they were trying to teach him to kick. (Himself says he kicks like a girl)

But I digress. You see, Norths have made it to the Grand Finals this year! First time since 1991!
We were there in the Member's Stand two weeks ago when they lost the Preliminary Final so we took Small Boy down this weekend just gone, to see them claw their way back into the Finals by knocking out Woodville/West Torrens. A Boy and his Dad at the ticket booth.

It was a very fraught game. At one point we were 20 points behind. (One goal=6 points) See scoreboard below. The scoreboard itself is an item of interest because as you can see it has not been updated to include electronic nonsense. I actually think it is Heritage Listed...do you know Dad?
If you look at the points total you can see we were behind. (A Behind on the board by the way is another name for a point, scored when the ball passes between the two outer posts rather than the inner ones...confusing but you'll get it) Check the time on the clock too. Of the 7 'Behinds' or 'Points' scored by North Adelaide, Nick Gill was responsible for at least 3!

But the MIGHTY ROOSTERS were not plucked yet! Check out the final scoreboard (new time on the clock).Yes!!! A resounding victory and Nick Gill had a key part to play, snapping in 3 goals from ludicrous angles and generally making himself useful all over the ground! I was extremely excited by the whole thing. Small Boy and Dad took it much more in their stride.

When we got home we got a call from the CEO of the Club asking Himself to get straight on to designing the Grand Final Merchandise. Himself mentioned that we'd been at the game.
"Ah yes," he quipped,"I thought I heard your wife barracking."
(Himself laughs),"Ha ha...no we were on the Hill today, not in the Stands."
"Yes....." says the CEO.

Cheeky bugger!

Oh now, I've just found this on Youtube so if you want to see what a 'mark' looks like and get an idea of why the Aussies are so passionate about their football.....get a load of this.



You don't have to watch it all the way through, although girls...there is some very nice eye candy here...and there is a really cute bit right at the end!

So, Grand Finals here we come. We have been invited to the Magary Box at the AAMI Stadium next Sunday. GO YOU MIGHTY ROOSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Shot Monday

I have recently taken over my husband's Nikon ex-work camera. Inspired by all the fantastic photography I have been seeing across the 'Picture This' group, I wanted a camera with better resolution and more manual features. My old Sony Cybershot had served me well for a number of years but I wanted to extend my skills.

Now something else you need to, or may already, know. My husband is a multi-media designer, graphic artist and photographer. As a result, he takes NO family photos. When Baby Angel and I were recently watching one of the myriad DVDs of her babydays, Small Boy asked excitedly, "Where are MY baby videos dad?" There was an uncomfortable silence as we all turned to look at Himself. Apparently there aren't any.

With this in mind, I took the 'new' camera along to Small Boy's football match on Saturday.

"It's the wrong camera for this," Himself pointed out," digital cameras are not very good for action shots and the lens isn't big enough. You need something more like the one I'm using now."

I grit my teeth. "Well, why don't YOU take some photos then????" No reply.

Doggedly I click away. I'm not sure if anything's happening. Lights are flashing and there are beeping noises and something called AF keeps flicking on and off. The kids are miles away in the middle of the oval. I run out of memory. I need to manually delete 30 files to make more space.
"You're wasting your time...it's the wrong camera," he intones again.

In a bloody minded, stubborn funk I ignore him and click on. "Get in closer," he instructs, "Use a different setting."
"Leave me alone," I snap back," who is taking these anyway???!!!!!"

Stand-off.

Back at the ranch I download 50 files and delete about 40 which are so out of focus they look like the phone book with my glasses off. However!!!!!!! I did manage to capture these.

Our lad is the red head on the left. At this point the ball was nowhere near them so they were playing chasey around each other. Ornithologists note the flock of grey and pink galahs in the back ground. Classic Australian bird!

Ah hah! Some movement, the ball is close by! (so...no good for action pictures eh smarty dad???)

He has the ball! But wait, what on earth is that hanging out of his mouth????? Ah, that would be his mouthguard. Hmmm, looks like that'll be a waste of space in a collision!!! Although it may do the collidee some damage.

Yes, it looks like we really need to do something about that mouthguard!!

Okay, so HE thinks its funny. here he is jamming it in again one more time!!!

And here we have the ubiquitious 'team line up and high five'. This is where they walk down the line high fiving the oppostition and saying "good game, good game" over and over until they run out of articulation juice and all you can hear is "Goo gay, goo gay."

But after all this IS Best Shot Monday and although I thought the action shot with football and mouthguard was ok.....

.....this is my choice. You can tell he's not used to being the center of attention. That's a position usually reserved for the mouthguard, which is now in his hand.
For more Best Shot Monday, head over to Picture This!!

Man in Charge

Saturday morning, a sleep in at last. Drowsily 'coming to' and rolling over luxuriously in the warmth of the quilt to see the crisp blue sky framed through the window. Interesting sound from the depths of the house. Roll over again and snuggle down. Nagging sound, click click click. Drift back off with the knowledge that I don't have to be up for another 30 minutes....another flurry of clicks. What IS that?

Lightning bolt. I am now sitting bolt upright in bed. The bellow comes from the depths of my lungs.

"Please tell me you are not letting that boy run around this house in his FOOTBALL BOOTS!!!!!!!!!!"

Silence. More clicks and hurried footsteps, a door slam, car in the drive.

Cowards.