2007 Downunder Doghouse Diva's Chewin' the Fat!

Serene Tamborine Mummy · 01-30-2007, 03:06 AM

OK ladies, the year seems to have started of pretty slowly, so I thought I'd start us up a new thread. New year, new beginnings and all that. As I said on the other thread, I think last year was a slow stat too. Hopefully that's all it is this year for us. I'm certainly hoping for us to get back into some sort of routine soon and that I can check in here a little more often. Well, that's it for me for now ladies. Hope to see you all around the therapeutic Doghouse Tavern as little or as much as you like.

All welcome!

First round is my shout, I'm having a schooner of Tooheys New. What's everyone else having?

And from memory, Tuesday (or was it Thursday) night was Mexican night. We have a wonderful selection. Tacos, Nachos, Burittos, Enchaladas, Salads, lashings of sour cream, guacamole, corn chips, and cheese. No fat, in fact, it is fat burning, so eat up gals!

Ok, I'll have a couple of jugs of sangria after the beer has quenched my thirst

Donna.

Tollee · 01-31-2007, 06:45 AM

Thanks for the new thread Donna! Think I'll just have a soft drink tonight thanks...

Its pretty much taken all of January for our household to get over christmas too! Things are starting to settle down now, and I'm hopeing I'm able to find a bit of extra time to spend here with my best on-line buddies...

So I had my night out last night. Turned out to be a concert rather than a celebrity party. With free food and drinks included, so it was a GREAT night out! Don't have a hangover, cause I got voted to drive everyone home, so half way though the night I stopped drinking. (apparently the other 3 have BIG ones) The line up was pretty much all the winners of previous Aust Idol! "Girl band" was up first (never heard of them??) Then Anthony Caella, The Younge Divas, Guy Sebastian, Damien Leith, and The Rouge Traders were last on. Not what I normally listen too, so I didn't know many of the songs, but I still enjoyed it all. I thought The Rouge Traders were really good though. After the show we waited outside the stage door like stalkers and got our photo taken with Natalie Bassingwaithe (sp???)!! Didn't end up getting home until 3am! So very tired today!!

Off for an early night now! Love to you all!

Roses · 01-31-2007, 07:03 AM

Thanks for the new thread Donna... Mmmm... Sangria - YUM!

I love you your new siggy pic! Those boys are so cute. Probably time for me to update my siggy

Jack is no baby anymore **Sniff sniff**He has totally lost that baby look.
So how are you going on the job front? Any progress or are you just deciding what to do?

Nic - No, no walking here yet. But LOADS of talking. I think he has at least 15 words that he says consistently and then some more. It's like he is learning a new word every day. Sounds like you had a great night out - and you sound like you cope well being the designated driver. I hate doing that!

I am going out with mothers group tomorrow night - just dinner but expecting to have quite a few vinos.... and a sore head on Friday. My Dad (and his lovely wife

) are away this week so DH is staying home tomorrow to look after Jack. I am hoping to sneak off shopping. I need lots of little things like mascara etc... plus ALL new underwear. I am still doing one bf a day.... should I wait until I have completley stopped before I buy new bras? Opening my underwear drawer is not a happy way to start the day.... I love nice underwear and there is NONE in there. I need underwear OVERHAUL!!!!!!!

OK, I am a tired girl - have been going to bed way too late and still recovering from all that champagne and dancing on the weekend. Night night.

Tollee · 02-01-2007, 03:18 AM

Hi Girls!
Heres my pic with Natalie (whatever her name is)!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ee/concert.jpg

Still trying to recover today - meanwhile the kids are running amuck. Had a lie down while Dylan was asleep, and talked Lyssy into lying down with me - but she just layed there poking at my face and eventually went into Dylans room and woke him up... they sat on the floor in my room looking at books for a while, so I nodded off again, next thing Alyssa is calling out from the kitchen - we made a mess mum. A whole box of rice bubbles was emptied onto the floor!

Hey Deb, How did Jen go at school??

Yes Brooke you need to post some new photos of the Jackman! So do you have regular days that you are at work now? Have fun tomorrow night with the girls!!

Swimming lessons start up again for us on Sunday, and I've been enquiring about Alyssa starting Dancing lessons too. The class starts next Tuesday, so we're going to go to see if she likes it first, before i spend any money on uniforms etc...

Ok, my shout! I'm having a passionfruit cruiser, what can I get everyone else???

xxx

Roses · 02-03-2007, 08:15 AM

Hey girls

I am posting from my work laptop - finally got wireless set up at home. It is a mac and I get so confused going between the two.

Nic - Yeah, I have regular hours. Tue, Wed and Thurs 8.30 - 12.30. Thurs is the worst as Jack goes to my Dad's.... I mean, I am really lucky that Dad comes to pick him up, so I don't have to worry about that. But it is more than an hour round trip from work to Dads and then home... and they never put Jack down for a sleep early enough, so he never wants to have an afternoon sleep... but he is grumpy as and then almost too tired for dinner. You get the picture. We are going to review my hours in March. The only worry I have now is that I am not classed as an employee - I bill him. If we are going to talk to banks re: home loans, then I would really rather be classed as an employee.

How are the kids? Coping with this heat? I'm not! It just suddenly got REALLY hot here tonight. I had a shower hoping for a 'refresher' and I just feel hot! Have fun with swimming. I was hoping to take Jack this term but left it too late... probably just as well - not a lot of cashola at the moment.

Great pic of you and Natalie whatsherface. Your hair looks good. I need a new hair do. So are you recovered?

I took Jack to the beach yesterday with the intention of building sandcastles. We practically had the whole beach to ourselves as it was overcast. He was sooo excited to have so much open space and so many interesting things to look at. He got COVERED in sand and kept coming up for cuddles (as if to say 'thanks, this is great') so I got covered too. A seagull got into his vegemite sandwich and then brought 50 of his friends. We were surrounded! Good fun, but we both had to get in the bath when we got home!

I have watched 2 really good movies this weekend - An Inconveniant Truth which has really given me a wake up call... very scary but also very inspiring. A world tragedy that he did not become President. And Memoirs of a Geisha. Great too.

How is everyone else?

Roobie · 02-03-2007, 10:52 AM

Hey chickies, just a quick hello & thanks Donna for the refreshing of the thread. Great pic Nic, gorgeous Diva, it seems like a good night out was had by all. Brooke you sound very happy with the work, good on you. Hope to catch up with you all from time to time, summer is my busy season so I don't get much me time. The beer here is so good on a hot night! Love to all.

Serene Tamborine Mummy · 02-03-2007, 07:44 PM

Hi ladies!
Nic, nice to 'see' you! I do believe that is the first photo I've seen of you, you Hunka Hunka Burnin Love! Great photo. I told DH that I had a photo of his girlfriend on the computer and he came over and said 'who's that?'. I told him and then he went all ga ga over her. Thought you were a bit of alright too

Sounds like you had a lovely night!

Brooke, sounds like you had a fantastic time at the beach. Don't you love it when they need to show their appreciation when they are covered in sand/dirt/food/dribble/goobies! Too cute. That is a bit of a bummer about not being classed as an employee. Is it likely to change in March?

Hey Rhon, thanks for stopping by! You know there is always a special coldie or two on ice just for you

Amy, Fee, Deb, Janett, Megan, Jeanette, Opal and any other lurking Divas'. How's things? Hope everyone is happy and healthy!

All's well here. Boys are going great guns. Campbell is ofcourse teething again. The kid seems to be getting so many teeth I'm afraid he is going to look like a monster with a head full of teeth! Poor little fella, lots of dribble, lots of red swollen gums, lots of whinging. Mackenzie has been pretty good lately. He had a good day yesterday, trying so hard to be a 'good boy' and was trying to be really thoughtful. I told him how proud of him I was and he was bursting with pride. Bless his cotton pickin socks. We had some good news this week (with all the whinging I've bee n doing over the last few months, it feels funny to say we've had good news). We have a cheque in the mail from Rohan's Gran's will. It will get us out of the poo (get us back to where we were last year before DH lost his job - whew!) and also enough to build our deck over our water tank out the back. It is going to be unreal! We LOVE being outside and have been hanging to build this deck. It is going to be quite large, don't know the dimentions yet, and we will have a guttered roof over it, so we will get all that extra rain water too.
I've had a bit of a sad/rough week kind of. One of my best friends who I went to school with, moved to the Gold Coast was brides maid for and now work with (whew, what a mouth full) - anyway - I saw her at work on Wed am and she looked like crap. I followed her out to the toilets and said - are you OK? - Doh! Stupid thing to say! She started getting teary and said no, Paul (her DH) and I are splitting up. Wholly crap! Not a real surprise and he is not one of my favourite people - we clash - but my heart has been breaking for her. After many dramas/stories, she and he are meeting up today and he said he is moving back home. Which is fantastic, but some serious changes need to be made! He flatly refuses to get any outside help and clams up. I will be thinking about them all day. I hope they can get their act together. Two (very perceptive) kids too, so for everyones sake, I hope it all works out.

I can hear tears outside, so I'd better go and save Campbell. Have a lovely day.
Donna.

Serene Tamborine Mummy · 02-03-2007, 08:25 PM

Hi Ho, me again. I've been thinking of changing my user name to 'Diva Donna'. Wadda you reckon? I haven't given it too much thought yet, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Just food for thought. Bye.

Rum Lovin' Mummy · 02-04-2007, 02:47 AM

Hey gals

Finally i get time to sit and type a post!! Probably not a lot of interest in this post but here goes:

Well i am back at work. Boy, what a reality check that has been the past 1 1/2 weeks! My poor little men DO NOT like being hassled in the morning so every morning is a challenge. Basically i am getting up at 4.45am so that i can have a shower and dry my hair off before the kids wake up - you can count on the first squeal at 5.10am. From then till 6.50 it is matter of getting the boys ready to go to Lizzies. They both can have brekky at my day care mum's place but because they wake up so early they need food before then. It is a matter of getting fruit into them and then dressing and so forth. We get in the car at 6.50 and i am at daycare at 7.10am. Drop the boys off and hope to leave by 7.20 so that i am at school by 7.45am. This is the rule - have to be on the grounds 15mins before class. I then teach all day and then have to be out of school by no later than 3.10 to do it all in reverse.

As for workload we all need to take responsibility for one subject - i volunteered to look after 12 Business Communication and Technologies which is my specialty subject. Unfortunately though, some of the other teachers are pretty slack and have ended up looking after 9 and 10 EIA which is our junior business subject. My workload is huge and i am having to get the boys to bed and then turn around and do school work so it has meant very early mornings and late evenings. I am so tired but i am sure it will get better.
And to cap matters off they want me to do some Professional Devt on a MOnday and Tuesday night 5 - 9pm for 6 weeks so if i agree to do it i will not see much of my little boys at all for the next 6 weeks.

As for other stuff - the boys are remarkably well at the moment. Angus' first birthday is coming up so i am trying to organise that as well. I have decided to have the party at home and keep it pretty small. I am begging the few friends that are coming not to buy him toys but we will see what happens. My mum also comes up on the 13th Feb for 10 days so she will be here to celebrate.

Donna - i think your new name would be great - but i also like STM so i am a bit torn! lol
Good to hear that you have finally had some good news - yay! That deck sounds awesome. Pity about your friend's marriage - so much of it around these days. One of dh's friends is about to leave his wife too. I think there are 3 or 4 kids involved. Hey, do you work on Fridays???

Nic - great pic and i am glad that you enjoyed the concert. Sounds really good - it is a real reality check when you dont have late nights and then all of a sudden you do isnt it? You seem to pay for it for ages!! lol

Brooke - was smiling as i read about your trip to the beach with Jack. My boys love the beach too and i have now learnt that we all have to wear very old clothes each and every time. I am glad i am not the only one who has hassles with their kids after being looked after by grandparents. Thomas stayed over at his Pa's on Friday night and boy did we have hassles yesterday - same stuff as you doesnt enforce a sleep and then he is feral by mid afternoon.

Janet - boy hope you are feeling well! You must be over half way in the preg now wouldnt you? I loved reading about Aletta's birthday too - how cute is she!!

Ok must go hope all is well with everybody

Fee

Smilie · 02-04-2007, 09:01 AM

Fee, wow you sound sooo busy. Hope the boys are able to settle into a good routine for you.

Donna I like both names

That's fantastic about being able to do the deck now, you must be so happy. Can just imagine how nice it will be.

Roobie thanks for dropping in.

Roses hope your boss give you the employee status.

I am 24 weeks on Tues. Can hardly believe it but definitely feeling it. I've had sciatica pain since about 15 weeks and just the other day was starting to get pain in my ribs. Joy oh joy. lol Dh has been away for 3 weeks and won't be home for another week. We're really hoping he'll be able to find a job in Brissie so that he doesn't have to travel so much. We could handle a week here and there but not this 3 to 4 week crap. Of course the bosses don't care because it's not them that has to be away. OMG DD has changed so much lately. We went to the new Lollipops in Springwood today and she had a blast, was running around not really caring that I wasn't right beside her. It's so good to see she has some confidence in herself.

Serene Tamborine Mummy · 02-04-2007, 07:15 PM

Oh Fee, you sound so busy! I don't envy you at all! My brother and SIL are a bit like that, but they have FOUR kids! Thankfully as of this year they are all at school, so they are a bit more movable in the mornings. They are a very busy household! The three days I work don't sound much better than yours though. Thankfully my work is allot more flexable and I get paid from when I get there as opposed to 'You have to start at THIS time'. My work days start at around 5.30 and we get home again around 6. Long day for the boys and I. Ah well, the joys being a working mum I guess. My work days are Wed, Thurs, Fri. Do you have some Friday's off? Is that why you were asking? I started back three days this year, Friday is my third day. I had a message from my girlfriend this morning. She is going to ring around lunch time but she said that all was OK. I hope so!

Janet, woo hoo! Almost 24 weeks. Sounds like you're not having an easy time with this pregnancy though. Did you have sciatica with Aletta? Maybe Aletta is letting you know that she is grown up enough to be a big sister by going off and playing by herself? I remember when I was pg with Campbell it was breaking my heart thinking that Mackenzie is just a baby himself, and then he would go and do something all grown up. Made me feel a bit better about thrusting him into big brotherdom. Ofcourse he did famously, as will Aletta. It must be so hard to have DH away so much

I hope he can get something closer to home sooner rather than later.

Not much happening here today. Just the usual. I might get on the net later and look up some people to get quotes for our deck. Appart from that, I'd better go and do the dishes and think about our deck.....can't wait!

Have a lovely Monday ladies!

Rum Lovin' Mummy · 02-05-2007, 04:05 AM

Hey Donna

That was why i was asking - i have Fridays off this year! It is really really good - i had a nice day with the boys last Friday and i think we all enjoyed having a not quite so hectic start to the day! lol I have booked them into Kindermusik but that is from 9 - 9.45 so the rest of the day is free.

Gotta keep going i am supposed to be getting something organised for Thomas and Angus' dinner!

Fee

Serene Tamborine Mummy · 02-05-2007, 07:49 PM

Bummer, looks like any of our get togethers are going to have to be on the weekends. Most of them were anyway weren't they?

I don't know if I told you that Mackenzie and I have planted a vegie garden. We have tomatoes, pumpkin, corn, carrots, lettuce and zuchini. They are growing so fast it is wonnderful, however, the bloody chooks are making a mess of it! Man it makes me angry. I can usually keep our chook out of it because I let her out when we are home and mucking around outside, but there is a chook from two doors up who just appears in our yard and makes herself at home. Rohan locked her in our pen one night and we got two eggs out of her! Don't know quite what I'm going to do about them. Well I must go and try and fix thismornings damage to the garden. Have a lovely day divas!

Roses · 02-06-2007, 08:06 AM

Donna - that garden sounds devine! Shame about the chooks. What a pain. I say keep locking her in for the goods! LOL!
Great news about the deck! That sounds sooo nice! I have house / deck envy! Can I use anymore exclamation marks????!! LOL.
Hope your friend is ok. Poor thing.

Janet - Aletta sounds so sweet. GL with DH finding a new job - you sound like you cope pretty well with him being away. I complain when DH works late! Slap me, I know!

Fee - Wow, you sound like a superwoman. You're right, it should get easier. But make sure you try and take some time out for you. Even if it is only once a fortnight, you need a break and something to look forward to.

Rhon - Good to see you! You 'sound' well. Hope to see you in here for a good sess soon!

All good here. Took Jack for a swim after work today, he loved it. He is blowing bubbles under the water now. He is just learning so much. Andy taught him 'lie down' today and says it when he does it - so cute. He can't say 'lie' (comes out as eye)... such a funny little man. Lots of good tantrums and these bloody teeth are just up and and down again. They've been up again the last 3 days - swollen gums and lots of dribble and rubbing his gums. But no teeth to show for it - STILL!

OK, I am really really tired! Must go to bed! Happy hump day!

Smilie · 02-07-2007, 06:29 AM

Brooke I like your new photo collection

We have the same trike and DD loves it.

I think I do cope pretty well most of the time when DH is away but days like to day, where I'm totally exhausted, I kind of come to the end of my rope and struggle to hold on. I went out this afternoon to get some stuff from the shops and ran into a friend. He dd is a screamer and it was just not the thing I needed. It's one of those days where I just didn't want to see anyone and would have loved to spend the day in bed trying to get more sleep.

I have house/garden envy too

I'd love to own our own place and have a small garden.

Can't wait for House to start tonight.