A Sign

Less than 12 hours after I finally got around to posting my gramma Millie post, I got a sign from her... not quite the hug, but some thing that tells me she is still here with me... I walked into the Coles after coffee this morning to grab a few things and what was the first thing I see -- bright red gladiolus -- I have NEVER seen them here before. So I had to buy them. I know they were meant for me to find and bring a smile to my face.

Thank you...

Yum Cha With Deb

Today was supposed to be a downloading girls lunch where the 'coffee club' were supposed to go out for lunch and 'download' about the kids new teachers and the school year so far, without kids -- but a few moms were not feeling well, had sick kids or just were worn out already, so we had to postpone ALREADY!!!

Deb and I, not feeling the need to give up on a pre-planned lunch date, decided to go out anyway. Headed to Westfield Chatswood for Yum Cha. I'd only been for Yum Cha once before, which in the States is called, Dim Sum. Its basically:Yum cha a dining experience which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum dishes. Yum cha is Cantonese which literally means "drink tea". In the US and UK, the phrase dim sum is often mistakenly used in place of yum cha. In fact, in Cantonese, dim sum (點心, Pinyin: diǎnxīn) refers to the wide range of small dishes, whereas yum cha, or "drinking tea", refers to the entire dining experience.

Dim sum is a varied range of small dishes (a concept similar to tapas) eaten for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea, as part of the yum cha dining experience. Dishes are usually steamed or fried and may be savoury or sweet. They include steamed buns such as char siu baau, assorted dumplings, siu mai, and rice noodle rolls, which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarian options. Typical desserts include egg tarts, sai mai lo (tapioca pudding) and mango pudding. Many dim sum/yum cha restaurants also offer plates of steamed green vegetables, roasted meats, congee porridge, and soups.

Dim sum can be cooked by steaming and frying, among other methods. The dim sum are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces in one dish. It is customary to order family style, sharing dishes among all members of the dining party. Because of the small portions people can try a wide variety of food.
Yum Cha is wheeled around on trolleys, but  specials are more likely ordered from a menu. Traditionally, the cost of the meal was calculated based on the number and size of dishes left on the patron's table at the end. In modern dim sum restaurants, dim sum servers mark orders by stamping a card on the table. Servers in some restaurants even use different stamps so that sales statistics for each server can be recorded (which is how our total was recorded.

Deb and I are a pretty good match for Yum Cha, except that she doesn't eat pork. Which means, I get the pork and prawn dumplings all to myself -- and she gets the seafood dumplings all to herself. We ended up sitting in a dead spot for a bit of the time -- the carts with the good dumplings kept missing us. But once they found us, we were set for the afternoon. That is of course, AFTER we ordered our Chinese broccoli, so we had our vegetable for the day. To go with our, lets see, 2 orders of 4 prawn dumplings, 2 orders of prawn and pork dumplings (which I didn't totally finish), 1 order of sesame prawn rolls, 1 order of scallop dumplings, and 1 order Chinese broccoli. No dessert. No tofu, bean curd or deep fried chickens feet. UGH!

I do think we'll have to take mom and dad there when they visit. They'll really like it and dad will probably want to sample a bit of everything. There were so many carts rolling by and I am not as adventurous as Debbie and mom and dad are.

Basketball Has Begun

We survived the first major basketball rivalry of the year. It pitted brothers vs. sisters. Years 3 vs. Years 4. Boys vs. Girls. And no blood was shed. No tears were spilled. It was a tough game. Hard fought. Fairly played.
The girls did very well for having NEVER played together as a team before.

They looked so sharp in their matching black jerseys. Boys looked a little more thrown together in their unmatched t-shirts, like a group of boys just coming together to play a pickup game of ball. But once the game started, those boys came together like a well oiled machine -- passing the ball, shooting every chance they got. Over half of them made baskets.
The girls gave it 100% of their effort all the time. Emma M. ran that court back and forth, up and down. She was the most aggressive player along with Georgia. Emmalee I think is the tallest, so she was good on defense -- getting her arms over players to block shots. They did a good job passing to each other, now we just need to work on shooting. I think they might have scored a basket or two IF they would have actually shot at the basket instead of just dribbling and passing!
But, like the girls said, its not the score that counts in this league, its learning and having fun!!!

Housing Update

Eeeeesssshhhhhh. I don't think I would ever want to sell a house here in Sydney. It seems to be a pain in the BUTT.

Let's see. I had to be around so they could take photos of the exterior.

Then I had to be around so they could take photos of the interior.

Then I had to be around so they could have someone walk around to sketch in dimensions of all the rooms of the house.

Next they will put signs up in the front of the house and then down at the waterfront area of the property.
(As of Wednesday am - signs are up and neighbors are 'sticky beaking' at the signs and on the website to see the plans)
---Want to take a look yourself -- click this link

OUR NORTHBRIDGE HOUSE FOR SALE

Then they will start with Saturday and Wednesday 11-11.45 open houses, for which I have to have the house in a very presentable, tidy stage. And during time of open houses, I have to be available to open the house for agents, and again be available to close house back up, but not be around DURING the open house. NICE! Complete strangers pawing through our things six different times and I have no control over it.

Then in mid-March the house will be auctioned, and if an appropriate seven figure number is reached, it will be sold.

After that date, depending on whether such purchaser decides if they will occupy or choose to continue renting it out, we will have until July 1^st to find another location to call home.

yippee. (note sarcasm in voice)

I don't like Mondays

Who ever said Mondays are yucky, I have to agree. Let's run down how mine ended up today...

Started the morning off with a great start. Alarm at 7am. Showered, dressed and kids lunches made by 7.45am.

Daughter hissy fit starts at 7.30 due to A4 binder not the proper size (after looking at 4 stores based on her description only to have her change it at bedtime Sunday night!)

Offer to take her to store to find different one if she dresses since brother and I am ready at 7.45. Fit continues and increases.

Continues thru to 8.30 when I suggest piling into car to go to Woolies to get the binder to be done with it and still make it to school on time.

Back out of drive, daughter gets out of car, demands house keys because of forgotten plastic SHOPPING bags 'needed' for school (which we could have gotten at Woolies)

I refuse on principle, stating that I had reminded both verbally night before and this morning and with typed checklist for to-do's for Monday morning.

Fit continues to spirals with feet being slammed into back of front seat and all the way into ribcage of brother as he sits trying to be patient. Time now 8.47am. No time for Woolies.

Drive to school. Daughter refuses to leave car. Lock her in. Walk son to before school door where kids are walking in, kiss him good-bye while watching car/daughter and seeing destruction happening inside of car. UGH!

Walk back to car. Strong arm her from car. Tell her that I will not spend my day chasing this binder for her after her attitude. Walk her to class and kiss her good-bye. Kiss boy good-bye.

Take car in for annual car registration inspection. Drop keys, hope for the best.

Receive phone call 10 minutes later. Informed that front two tires (tyres in AUS) are beyond safety reqs and need new ones. $380 later. Plus inspection.

One hour later. Registration completed. New tires. Same car.

Stop by home to login to  NRMA to purchase GREENSLIP to be up to date on required registration for car. $400 or so later.Up to date. YIPEE. That is the sound of my wallet saying good-bye to the credit card once again and money leaving faster than Jim can earn it this month. Jan/Feb is a rough month for cash inflow/outflow for us!

Off to new dentist. Told I brush my teeth too much (Is there such a thing?). I need to floss more (Yes, I knew that -- story of my life - Same as Dr. Damko) And I get a new TMJ mouthpiece. Fitting on Wednesday.

Home to work on laundry. Same old Same Old.

Pick Up Time. While walking in past oval to get kids, I hit a pot-hole in the asphalt. Down I go. Very graceful... in a skirt. Managed to go down only on one leg since I was in a skirt-- was in front of a dad figure, so needed to keep lady-like. HA HA HA. So, had lovely road-rash down the front of my left leg from my knee cap to the middle of my shin and then ripped up my ankle. Blood was pouring from my ankle. Very graceless. Emma came up and helped me to the bench to attempt to catch my dignity or what was left of it.

Found the kids, Daughter still had the attitude. Brought it to swimming all through the car ride. Very lovely. Patched my ankle up at swimming.

Managed to talk to Jim at end of swimming and he finally realized that I was swinging by a very, very fine thread and it was to his advantage to get home ASAP.

Came home from swimming. Kids didn't listen or do anything on the do after school list until Jim got home. I sat on the couch outside reading my Kindle trying my best not to move, cry or damage anything until Jim got home.

Rubbed antibiotic cream on damaged areas while trying not to throw up or cry too much. Not to self - don't do this again very soon...

Really didn't like this Monday. Hope next Monday much much better...