Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve got a DVD giveaway happening.
The life of hectic that is me lately will hopefully be over in a week when we go away for a few days break. School holidays have started but I have to work for one of those weeks. I’ve got a pile of things I want to write about but really haven’t had the time.
Just a very quick update to let you know I am still here. I’ve been busy with:
I’ll be back very soon.
Going to the Royal Adelaide show has never really been something that’s been high on my to-do list and then when I had a child I knew that some day I should take him so he could see what it’s all about.
His school closes for one day during the show and for the last two years that he’s been at school I’ve put him into out of school hours care but this year they didn’t have it. This year I’d also been thinking that this would be the year I would take him as he’s that bit older and able to handle walking around for the day.
As I also hadn’t been to the show for a long time I wanted to have a good look around too, and not just be stuck in sideshow alley, or rideshow alley. I’m sure there are more rides now than there used to be. They are certainly much more expensive at around $10 per ride. We went on the Wednesday which is a cheaper day than normal for adults and I’m glad I bought our tickets online. Just a quick word about the user experience when buying these tickets though. On my printout after buying them I was told they would be posted to me. A week after I booked them I rang up to find out why they hadn’t been sent and I was told to pick them up at the show. Surely that wouldn’t have been too hard to put on the website?
I’m glad I’d pre-booked our tickets though as the lines were huge and we saved ourselves a good 30 minutes. The first thing we did was the wearable blooms fashion parade which I’ve already written about.
We moved on from there to the animals section of the show and I think you could spend a whole day just doing that.
I would have liked to spend more time in the dog section but it was so crowded in there that it was almost impossible to move around.
Who knew they had pig racing at the show? I certainly didn’t. They were very cute and very well trained.
We sat down for a snack while watching the wood cutting and bumped into some friends.
After some lunch we moved into the rides area where I’d promised JJ two rides of his choice. His aunt had also given him $10 for a ride so he had three in total. Luckily he’s now tall enough to go on rides by himself. He’s on the second carriage from the front and for a kid who’s naturally cautious he loves this sort of stuff. I think I created a daredevil when we went to the various worlds up at the Gold Coast.
I went on this ride – below – with him (the only one) and when it started going around I felt a bit sick and wondered how the heck I would manage it for the next couple of minutes but manage it I did.
It was onto more sedate things inside the pavilions after that and it somehow became a theme of armed forces with JJ sitting in the back of the army truck and having a go on the Air Force cadet’s flight simulator. I’m glad I wasn’t flying in a real plane with him as it would have involved lots of dives and spiral rolls.
And he became a bike-riding paramedic for a minute.
The showbag pavilion was next and JJ was lucky to get the K-Zone showbag as they had nearly run out but it was really good value for money at $10. I bought the Cleo one and got a magazine fix.
Overall I enjoyed the show and will go again. I don’t think we’ll go every year but every couple of years will be just fine with me but before I know it JJ will want to go just with his friends and stick around in that noisy ride area.
We went to the Royal Adelaide Show on Wednesday. It’s the first time I’ve been in a long time and JJ’s first time ever. The thing that was on the top of my list to do was to see Jenny Gillies wearable blooms fashion parade.
We got there 20 minutes before it was due to start and it was standing room only. JJ deserted me straight away to go and get a better spot at the front. It was really warm in the Goyder Pavilion and I hoped I could hack it. Hack it I did, and JJ didn’t even get bored which is saying something.
Unfortunately nobody was allowed to photograph the parade which is a pity as it would be even better publicity for them, but there were displays of the art around the place so I was able to snap that.
The parade was quite entertaining. I was expecting more of a walk down the runway to music kind of thing, but there was more to it than that. Think of bees and flowers and the attraction there.
The costumes were brilliant and many many hours of work must have gone into them.
Last Friday was dad’s 70th birthday. It was great that he’s made it this far as we had a scare a couple of years ago but he’s pretty well recovered now.
As it was also Father’s day on the weekend I went over to visit them and we all went out for dinner on Saturday evening. It was a flying visit because JJ had his last game of football for the season and I wanted to get back earlyish on Sunday because I’ve got some extra work on. As it turned out we didn’t get home until mid-afternoon but that was okay in the end.
It’s good driving out in the country this time of year because all the crops are in and everything’s beautifully green and lush. In a couple of months it will be a completely different colour when everything starts to dry out.
Amongst all the green paddocks (fields) are yellow ones – canola crops. They look spectacular.
And here we are at dinner.
My niece and I. She’s now 17 and driving a car.
Party hats don’t really need to go on the head. I get photos of my son whenever I can these days because he doesn’t always like posing for me.
And last, but by no means least, here’s dad after they’d brought him out a cake and a sparkler. I think he was a bit embarrassed. But hey, it’s not every day you turn 70. Hip hip hooray.
Farmer’s wife passed this onto me. As I’ve been flat out it’s about all I’m capable of doing to fill in my one word answers, although it took a bit longer than I thought because it’s hard to answer things with just one word.
1. Where is your cell phone? Handbag
2. Your hair? Face
3. Your mother? Family
4. Your father? 70
5. Your favorite food? Chocolate
6. Your dream last night? None
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? Travel
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Singing
11. Your fear? Snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren’t? Extrovert
15. Muffins? Meh!
16. Wish list item? Holiday
17. Where did you grow up? Farm
18. Last thing you did? Worked
19. What are you wearing? Semi-corporate
20. Your TV? Home
21. Your pets? Loved
22. Friends? Cherished
23. Your life? Great
24. Your mood? Middling
25. Missing someone? No
26. Vehicle? Car
27. Something you’re not wearing? Scarf
28. Your favorite store? Op-shop
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Often
32. Your best friend? Loved
33. One place that I go to over and over? Supermarket
34. One person who emails me regularly? Friend
35. Favorite place to eat? Japanese
I’m supposed to pass this award on, but as it’s already doing the rounds amongst bloggy friends I’m going to leave it up to you if you want to participate or not. As I said above, it’s hard to do a one word answer to these things. For example, Favourite drink. I mostly drink water but if we’re talking alcohol which I think this question may have then it’s bourbon. And I do cry often but it could be because I’m watching a sad movie, crying with laughter and less often crying because I’m feeling sorry for myself.
That’s it though, I’m not going to pad out all my answers with explanations.
Dear parents at school,
Do you remember what it felt like when your child first started school and you knew nobody? Perhaps that didn’t bother you, or perhaps you connected with other parents really quickly, or maybe you knew other parents from the local kindergarten and already had a school parents’ friends base.
Not all parents find as easy to connect with others though. Spare a thought for them when they drop off or collect their child and they’re standing alone.
Perhaps they only occasionally drop their child off and find it hard to break into the clique who are there every morning and afternoon doing the drop-off and pickup.
Maybe you’ve pre-judged them because their child’s always in trouble and maybe their child has called your child a ‘fat-arse’ and you think that the parent must have somehow influenced the child saying that.
Maybe you think that because their child is in trouble nearly all the time that they don’t care about this and wouldn’t be worth knowing.
Maybe if you reached out that parent might really like some support and a friendly chat.
Maybe they’re just really shy and would welcome it if you made an effort to say hello to them and engage them in some sort of conversation. After all have one thing in common – your kid goes to the same school.
Maybe because you only rarely see them that you think it’s not worth it, after all they probably don’t have time to join you for a really long chat or a coffee and you just can’t be bothered.
So spare a thought for that mum or dad who’s standing by themselves at the school. They might not be standing alone out of choice.
