From April 21st....

Hello all, its Monday morning and I am sitting in bed after a hectic week. We all have the day off today for Memorial Day (US Anzac Day – battle of Normandy), which I have to say, for such a patriotic country is surprisingly low key. Bruce and I were talking to Paula about it yesterday and it’s like Anzac Day used to be. Before what I am proud to say we have now, when no one really cared too much, no crowds at dawn services or parades etc, before we got our pride back. We were telling Paula about all the great things that we do to remember on Anzac Day and it was with a lot of pride. Looking at it from another country we do it well, and continue the tradition on which is the most important thing. Anyway, back to the week that was. It was an interesting week by all accounts. The week started out like any other, we wake up to a beautiful spring morning, like all the other mornings. The boys all got ready for school and rode their bikes and I was off to work as per usual. The office was buzzing as per usual; Paula was actually in today, her usual meeting was in our offices, which was good for her that meant that she didn’t have to drive for 2 hours to get there. Everyone had stuff to do and was getting it done, the place is just going along great guns and OLA (Engineering firm that shares with us) is slowly getting better and more organized which is really good for me and them. There are a few more crucial things that have to be implemented before we can really dig our heels in and get going, hopefully I will get them done in the next couple of weeks. Our afternoons were the usual, the kids would get home and get their homework done and I have been getting home around 3.00, which isn’t too bad as far as working after the kids get home from school. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much, I still do feel out of the loop, as you all know, the first thing you want to do when you get home from work is sit down and take a breath, not tidy up and do homework, which is something that isn’t sitting well with me. I liked it when I was ready for them to come home, after everything else was done. That’s going to take me some time to re-adjust too. The weather for the week was gorgeous, something that bothers me is that there is no hat rule at school, so the boys have been coming home with the red under the eyes, Bruce asks them to wear a hat, but who knows and sunscreen, well by the time lunchtime comes around, it’s done, so we are on the mercy of the kids wanting to do the right thing. I asked a couple of people about how hard it would be to get a rule introduced and they did that laugh, you know the one, that means, GOOD LUCK (sarcasm!!) It was worth the question. Bruce rang on Wednesday morning with some happy dance news; we got a very big order for some angels so that was a bonus for the day. SO the sweatshop is opening back up and off we go for the next 7-10 days. I ended up having a really busy day, out of one meeting with OLA (overview all their projects etc for the next 3 years) then into another one for PMD (that’s us), it was nice to be really busy, then the clock hit 3.00 and I was out of there. Wednesday is out staff meeting day when all sit down talk about work and other stuff gets thrown in there too, which is good times. We are currently trying to work out a good afternoon to have a bonding session for all of us, trying to figure out a good time with 5 girls calendars, plus kids, meetings and husbands etc, it’s not easy and we are up to July. Wednesday afternoon and evening was spent baking for Jamieson’ s last game bbq. (I made a double batch of brownies and 42 cup cakes) as well as throwing dinner in the mix. The basketball finals are on so the boys are glued to the screen (depending on who’s playing). Which is good and bad, the peace and quiet is nice, unless I need something done, then bad luck for me. Thursday was a warm day, the office was really quiet, just me, Paula is always in Plymouth, Kelly was out sick, Darcy works from home and Andrea is out for the week in Colorado for her step daughters graduation. It was so weird, but I got heaps of OLA work done, lots of billable hours, which is good for Paula and I. (especially Paula considering she bills me out at double what she pays me) We were off at baseball at 5.00pm all the goodies in the back. I also organized the parents to contribute some money and we got the coaches gift vouchers the say thank you. We parked under a tree so I left all the cakes etc in the car thinking they would be all right. I went back an hour or so later and the frosting had all melted. Oh well, I tried. The boys won again and it was a good game. The coaches made sure the game finished right in time so we had enough time to eat etc, the kids had a great time and it did get a little chilly. That Delta breeze can get cold the bonus for the day was little Dylan who is the Yankees batboy got to play. It was so gorgeous, he’s only 4 and he played in the out field and also got a hit and was at third base ready to run home when they got their 3rd out, bummer, that would have been a great moment. They all got a trophy and cheered and carried on. We got home around 9.00 and the boys (eyes popping out of their head) went off to bed. Friday I didn’t end up going to work, it had finally caught up to me, the boys went off to school and I went back to bed, and slept until after the kids got home from school. I must have been tired. I got up and tidied up around the house, and then I sat down with the boys and helped them make some angels. We had a nice little production line going, we all had our little jobs and it was a bit of fun. 600 angels later Bruce and I went off to bed. Our Saturday was kind of quiet, meaning we didn’t really get out of the house. Paula called to see if we wanted to go to the Jazz Festival but the boys didn’t so that was that. 100,00 people in this heat is not something that I wanted to do either. We just did stuff around the house. Paula called later in the day and we went over so the boys could have a swim. Then they came over to our place for dinner and we did some more angels while the kids all played. Justin ended sleeping the night; they had a late night and were in bed at 11.00. Our Sunday was also a chilling out one, which is perfect, the boys have a few late nights and they need to chill out. Paula and the boys were here for breakfast, then I spent the morning cleaning the house while Bruce watched the Indy 500 on the TV. The boys played outside and Bruce and I spent a little time in the sun, only a little. It’s not the same when there is no pool. Paula came over after she dropped her boys off and we went out and grabbed a movie. We decided to do the Harry Potter series. We got back and the boys were still out fishing. The boys went off to bed and we knuckled in 1.00am I kicked Paula out with movie 3 & 4, which she would go home and watched. It was about 1.30 by the time I got into bed. So it was uneventful but kind of busy weekend. GO figure!! I hope that everyone is well and staying warm. I hope Elise and Ros had a great birthday and I want to hear all the details…..