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The carpet is now at $85. I gather that 1970's hideousness must be back in fashion. We don't currently have it. A production company has hired it for $40 to do a film shoot. So our manky old carpet has already brought is $125. Not bad.
Done a lot of sorting out and clearing up for Sigrid when she arrives tomorrow night. Apparently she had to put her Harry Potter book back on the shelf; it was too heavy. So I gathered up our collection and left it on her bookshelf.
I'm off to Parachute tomorrow though. It's going to be wet - we've got another cyclone. Last week we had enough rain to fill up the tank. Don't need any more! Parachute (a music festival) is on an agricultural showgrounds which was designed for farming but not for tents. It's going to flood...
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( 3 / 2315 )About 0.1 mm of rain all week. Apparently there's going to be a downpour next week. The camp site was not too full and not too empty. Plenty of new friends around, and we had about three different neighbours on one side. The first had been there for several weeks, and came back every year. They knew quite a few of the other regulars. Their favourite was to sit out after dark and spot satellites. The next lot were there for two nights because their daughter got given a tent, and wanted some real camping. Then the last lot were there for the nearby surf championships, and their girls spent hours playing in the water with ours. Around the field were the kite people, who had some incredible three dimensional kites. They also had Christmas lights flashing on the their tent every night. Then there was the family in the next field, who organised a little creche, complete with toasted marshmallows.
We spent quite a while exploring the shore, from the bouncy tree by the jetty (a great workout) round to the surf beach on the far side of the wildlife reserve. And down to the other end of the beach, about 5 miles away. We also went to the limestone caves, which had no map, no warnings, nothing. A rather interesting experience, and I have no idea if we actually made it to the end or not!
Now that we're back, both girls are at Bronwyn's parents', and Bronwyn's taking me out to dinner for my birthday. Meanwhile, I've been unpacking the car and doing an awful lot of washing...
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( 3 / 2256 )I've hardly stopped today. Took down most of the Christmas decorations, did three loads of washing, shifted all the plants round the back to stop them drying out and sorted out stuff for camping. It's mostly done. Just need to pack the chilly bin tomorrow.
It's going to be warm and sunny all week, allegedly. Hopefully Rachael will remember to put on sunblock this time. It's going to be a lot cheaper than last year. The cat (at the Meow-Meow Motel) is costing us more than both children. At least the dog is going to be free, round at Bronwyn's Mum and Dad's.
I've been teaching Sarah to read. She's getting quite good at it. It's a laborious process, but I want her to actually look at the letters, convert them to sounds and put them together. Works well until you get to words like do and go, for example, which have quite different sounds. But she seems to cope with that.
Rachael had her friend Lissa to stay on Thursday night. I spotted them both high up a tree. Rachael doesn't normally climb trees. It's nice to get her out for a change - we're surrounded by 100 acres, and Rachael spends most of her time indoors!
I've got masses done this Christmas, and the house is almost in order. Well, partially. I don't think it's ever been under control since we moved in!
A week camping, then two more weeks, and then Sigrid arrives...
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( 3 / 2235 )Rachael is recovering from a nasty sunburn from before Christmas. She's stopped peeling now, and is currently out in the pool again. I made sure she had some sun block on!
Finally took the tent down. I'm amazed there's still some green grass underneath. We're going camping next weekend, so we needed it packed away.
And I finished Sigrid's room. It now has two light switches (depending on which way you want the door to open) and a variety of pictures and a mirror. Rachael is jealous. She wants to sleep in it. I said she could, when she tidies her own room. Now that the mattress on Rachael's bottom bunk is back in Sigrid's room, you can see all the rubbish underneath!
It's warm and sunny. Half of Bronwyn's family is out hay making, and the other half is fielding phone calls and supplying cold drinks. Apparently it used to be easy, because all the clients were farmers. Now that they're all 'life-stylers' from the city and expect hay making to operate the same as for example, carpet cleaning, it's a lot harder telling them to wait for the sun to come out.
Made a snowman again. I found the original chicken wire and sticks from the last one eight years ago. Bronwyn's mum provided an old duvet which I cut up and wrapped around with some baling twine, and a bit of paint for the face. And a bright orange bicycle helmet. So far the wind has blown it over twice, but it's certainly visible from the road!
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( 3.1 / 2293 )I wanted a second helping of Christmas pudding, but had nowhere to put it! We're just back from Bronwyn's mum and dad's for Christmas dinner. Bronwyn's mum is English, and still prefers the traditional roast turkey. At this time of year, most people go for a barbecue.
Went fishing on Thursday night with several people from work. It was supposed to continue until "dusk", but our Dave's definition of dusk is not the same as mine. He was convinced we'd found a good spot, so he kept going back and forth over it until we could hardly see anything. I got home at 1:15am, with a fair amount of snapper fillets. Still tired today!
I turned the server into a table. It needs some varnish, and I want to take the covers off the hard drives, but otherwise it's finished. Looks impressive. They want me to put blinking LEDs on the circuit board. Nick suggested I turn the processor heatsink into a coffee warmer. Giles wants the hard drives to spin slowly. Not sure how much is going to be feasible. They want me to turn an Uninterruptible Power Supply into a toaster now.
Bronwyn bought a fair sized paddling pool for the girls, and filled it up. It takes about 1500 litres of water, and the tank is suddenly looking a lot lower. I know this because I've put in a sophisticated measuring device on the tank. It's a length of clear plastic tube full of water. Now I can see the water level without needing to drag out the ladder. Meanwhile, both girls got sunburnt, and have had to stay indoors for several days.
Bronwyn built a Santa's Grotto out on the porch. Unfortunately the wind blew a lot of it down again. I went out yesterday and pinned it all up again, only this time with a hammer. Still up, so far. It looks really good in the dark. Pity there's not a lot of dark this time of year! Bronwyn's mum has commissioned me to make a snowman again. I think I still have the chicken wire from the last one...
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