Just inside our door we have a large pine cupboard, full of shoes. There are only four of us (well, four that wear shoes, as the dog and cat haven't got that civilised yet) but there always seems to be lots of shoes!
What really gets me though, is that everyone comes in the door, takes off their shoes by the cupboard......but doesn't put them inside! Every time I tidy up the kitchen (ok, I'm not the tidiest of people so it doesn't happen all that often!) I end up picking up pairs of shoes from all over the house, returning them to the cupboard, putting them away, and just doing that makes the whole place look so much tidier - although vacuuming up the dog hair helps too.....
Well, I've had enough of clearing up after everyone. I have drawn up a chart on our whiteboard, and for every pair of shoes I find not put away, the responsible person gets a demerit point on the board! At the end of the week, the person with least demerit points gets a bar of chocolate.
And guess what? It's working! OH was most put out to get back from a trip out somewhere today to find he'd been given a demerit point. Kids thought it was hilarious and OH even tried erasing his point, but for the rest of the day, everyone has put their shoes away!! Yippee..... will it last? Time will tell.....
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Girls Night Out
Great girls' night out at the Golden Grove Tavern last night - for the first time we weren't the last to leave either - which either means we're slacking, or we've managed to drag some of the locals down to our level!!
Nice to meet some old friends, as well as some new ones. I really enjoy getting the views of Adelaide through a newcomer's eyes, kind of helps to remind me of what's so special about this place. Got to get cracking now on organising some ideas for a winery trip at the start of August to the Barossa! Hello to any of my fellow drinkers from last night who might be reading this, and don't forget to let me know your favoured date (between 2nd and 9th August) and any favourite wineries to visit - we need to find a nice place that does great lunch platters, then we can plan the rest of the stops around that!
Back to work today and the office is planning a 4th July American Independence Day morning tea next Friday - hot dogs and doughnuts - and there's a poster up for a Bastille Day dinner on 14th July. Why is England the only country in the world that doesn't seem to celebrate any sort of National Day? It's a real loss I think: perhaps we should plan on having a British expats' party next year on 23rd April for St George's Day or something! In the meantime, I'm happy to celebrate every other country's milestones with them!!
Nice to meet some old friends, as well as some new ones. I really enjoy getting the views of Adelaide through a newcomer's eyes, kind of helps to remind me of what's so special about this place. Got to get cracking now on organising some ideas for a winery trip at the start of August to the Barossa! Hello to any of my fellow drinkers from last night who might be reading this, and don't forget to let me know your favoured date (between 2nd and 9th August) and any favourite wineries to visit - we need to find a nice place that does great lunch platters, then we can plan the rest of the stops around that!
Back to work today and the office is planning a 4th July American Independence Day morning tea next Friday - hot dogs and doughnuts - and there's a poster up for a Bastille Day dinner on 14th July. Why is England the only country in the world that doesn't seem to celebrate any sort of National Day? It's a real loss I think: perhaps we should plan on having a British expats' party next year on 23rd April for St George's Day or something! In the meantime, I'm happy to celebrate every other country's milestones with them!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Let the music begin
Just wanted to post up about the great standard of music teaching at primary school level here in Adelaide.
Spent Sunday afternoon at a concert organised by the Primary School "Instrumental Music Service", featuring various musical groups: the Primary Schools String Orchestra, the Primary Schools Wind Ensemble, the Primary Schools Guitar Ensemble, and a group called the Fleurieu Flutes. Had to keep reminding myself that all these kids are no older than about 13 - most younger than that! They were absolutely fantastic, the concert was a sell-out, and it was a pleasure to watch and listen to.
DS has guitar lessons once a week at his state primary school - this costs us the huge sum of $50 a year, and that covers the loan of a guitar too! The school also has a choir, which DD was a member of when she there, and every year in September the various state primary school choirs from across Adelaide get together for a massed performance at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. Again, the standards are so high - especially considering they only get to rehearse altogether maybe once or twice before the concert - and it's quite a sight, seeing all these kids up on stage in their bright-coloured t-shirts, choreographed and in time.
As a totally non-musical type myself, I am in total admiration of what can be achieved with, and by these kids. Long may it flourish!
Spent Sunday afternoon at a concert organised by the Primary School "Instrumental Music Service", featuring various musical groups: the Primary Schools String Orchestra, the Primary Schools Wind Ensemble, the Primary Schools Guitar Ensemble, and a group called the Fleurieu Flutes. Had to keep reminding myself that all these kids are no older than about 13 - most younger than that! They were absolutely fantastic, the concert was a sell-out, and it was a pleasure to watch and listen to.
DS has guitar lessons once a week at his state primary school - this costs us the huge sum of $50 a year, and that covers the loan of a guitar too! The school also has a choir, which DD was a member of when she there, and every year in September the various state primary school choirs from across Adelaide get together for a massed performance at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. Again, the standards are so high - especially considering they only get to rehearse altogether maybe once or twice before the concert - and it's quite a sight, seeing all these kids up on stage in their bright-coloured t-shirts, choreographed and in time.
As a totally non-musical type myself, I am in total admiration of what can be achieved with, and by these kids. Long may it flourish!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Fun in the Hills
Had a great night last night up in the Hills at a tiny village called Mylor. Each year the primary school there puts on a fantastic family fireworks night, with a huge bonfire, homemade soup for sale, music, and best of all, a wonderful fireworks display.
As a kid growing up in England, we always celebrated Guy Fawkes Night - us kids used to make a guy, build a big bonfire in the woods to burn him on, and all the families in the street used to get together to drink mulled wine, or whisky (the adults, obviously) and eat baked potatoes in their jackets with lots of butter, whilst pooling our fireworks stocks, which one of the brave dads would set off for our "oohs" and "aahs"!
Later, we took our own kids, well wrapped up in scarves, hats, gloves coats and wellies, to a local Essex Village - Woodham Mortimer - every year on 5th November, where they had hot soup for sale, a big fire, and a fireworks display! It's one of those things that you remember well into adulthood, and something that most born and bred aussies have never even heard of. Oh, there are fireworks on New Years Eve and a few on Christmas Eve that you hear, and occasional displays at the end of an open air concert, but as these things tend to happen in Summer, there's always the thought at the back of your mind that it's kind of irresponsible in the middle of such a dry country at its driest time...
The Mylor display is perfect, it's cold(ish! the hills always feel colder and damper in the winter than the other suburbs), slightly muddy, dark, so the gloves, hats and scarves can all come out. There was mulled wine for sale (we took our own, non alcoholic version in a flask so the kids could have some too - with a hip flask of rum to add to the adults' cups!), pumpkin soup, the ubiquitous sausage sizzle, a roaring fire (firies on hand just in case....), and a big field for the kids to run around in. Everyone up there is so incredibly friendly - this is our third year there so we knew to take our own marshmallows for toasting in the fire, but the first year we went we didn't have any and people who did have were so kind - letting our kids have some of theirs, offering use of their "toasting sticks", and just generally chatty and happy. There is a great mix of young and old - everything from the smallest toddlers, through groups of teenagers with their friends, parents, groups of friends, grandparents... To prove what a small place Adelaide is, we even bumped into a friend of my daughter's from her old Adelaide City soccer playing days!
The fireworks themselves managed to go on for just the right length of time, not too long so you start getting blase, and not too short so you feel slightly disappointed! Everyone "ooh-ed" and "aah-ed" dead on cue, there was plenty of noise, loads of rockets, the occasional Catherine wheel and golden fountain - I loved it! Definitely one for the diary to look out for around this time next year - it's a little bit of a drive up the freeway, but well, well worth it!
My recipe for alcohol free mulled wine: Buy a bottle of "alcohol-removed" Shiraz from your local supermarket. Pour into a saucepan. Add a generous pouring of orange juice, a cup or so of water, couple of spoonfuls of sugar, and some cinnamon sticks. Take a large orange, slice thickly and stud the slices with cloves. Add these to the saucepan. Heat until almost boiling, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat, allow to cool slightly, and pour into glasses, removing any stray lumpy bits like bits of cinnamon stick or escaped cloves. Wrap hands round glass and sip slowly, preferably in the open air, whilst warming your behind at a large bonfire! For added buzz - and adults only, add nip of brandy or dark rum, either at the heating stage, or straight into the wine in the glass before drinking!
As a kid growing up in England, we always celebrated Guy Fawkes Night - us kids used to make a guy, build a big bonfire in the woods to burn him on, and all the families in the street used to get together to drink mulled wine, or whisky (the adults, obviously) and eat baked potatoes in their jackets with lots of butter, whilst pooling our fireworks stocks, which one of the brave dads would set off for our "oohs" and "aahs"!
Later, we took our own kids, well wrapped up in scarves, hats, gloves coats and wellies, to a local Essex Village - Woodham Mortimer - every year on 5th November, where they had hot soup for sale, a big fire, and a fireworks display! It's one of those things that you remember well into adulthood, and something that most born and bred aussies have never even heard of. Oh, there are fireworks on New Years Eve and a few on Christmas Eve that you hear, and occasional displays at the end of an open air concert, but as these things tend to happen in Summer, there's always the thought at the back of your mind that it's kind of irresponsible in the middle of such a dry country at its driest time...
The Mylor display is perfect, it's cold(ish! the hills always feel colder and damper in the winter than the other suburbs), slightly muddy, dark, so the gloves, hats and scarves can all come out. There was mulled wine for sale (we took our own, non alcoholic version in a flask so the kids could have some too - with a hip flask of rum to add to the adults' cups!), pumpkin soup, the ubiquitous sausage sizzle, a roaring fire (firies on hand just in case....), and a big field for the kids to run around in. Everyone up there is so incredibly friendly - this is our third year there so we knew to take our own marshmallows for toasting in the fire, but the first year we went we didn't have any and people who did have were so kind - letting our kids have some of theirs, offering use of their "toasting sticks", and just generally chatty and happy. There is a great mix of young and old - everything from the smallest toddlers, through groups of teenagers with their friends, parents, groups of friends, grandparents... To prove what a small place Adelaide is, we even bumped into a friend of my daughter's from her old Adelaide City soccer playing days!
The fireworks themselves managed to go on for just the right length of time, not too long so you start getting blase, and not too short so you feel slightly disappointed! Everyone "ooh-ed" and "aah-ed" dead on cue, there was plenty of noise, loads of rockets, the occasional Catherine wheel and golden fountain - I loved it! Definitely one for the diary to look out for around this time next year - it's a little bit of a drive up the freeway, but well, well worth it!
My recipe for alcohol free mulled wine: Buy a bottle of "alcohol-removed" Shiraz from your local supermarket. Pour into a saucepan. Add a generous pouring of orange juice, a cup or so of water, couple of spoonfuls of sugar, and some cinnamon sticks. Take a large orange, slice thickly and stud the slices with cloves. Add these to the saucepan. Heat until almost boiling, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat, allow to cool slightly, and pour into glasses, removing any stray lumpy bits like bits of cinnamon stick or escaped cloves. Wrap hands round glass and sip slowly, preferably in the open air, whilst warming your behind at a large bonfire! For added buzz - and adults only, add nip of brandy or dark rum, either at the heating stage, or straight into the wine in the glass before drinking!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Easydata Indicators
Went to the official launch last night of a new application giving access to all sorts of statistical and graphical information in the various regions of South Australia. Been involved quite heavily in gathering the information from the various local authorities for inclusion on this site, so good to see it up and working. Really brought home to me how important a bit of networking is in Adelaide - it really is a case of who you know, and my boss is truly an expert at that. The new Easydata tool will be officially available to everyone from 1st July and will be accessible from here, under the Regional SA tab. Some very interesting stuff on there.....
Have to work on my pommie pronunciation prejudices though - it really jars with me everytime I hear the word 'data' pronounced to rhyme with 'carter' (or even 'carder') rather than rhyming with 'indicator'! And while I'm on the subject it's pro-ject not prow-ject and prow-gress not pro-gress!!
Have to work on my pommie pronunciation prejudices though - it really jars with me everytime I hear the word 'data' pronounced to rhyme with 'carter' (or even 'carder') rather than rhyming with 'indicator'! And while I'm on the subject it's pro-ject not prow-ject and prow-gress not pro-gress!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Proper little housewife, me!
My solution to these cold winter mornings - a slice of homemade bread pudding and a nice cuppa for Morning Tea!
My favourite bread pudding recipe is adapted from a Delia Smith one - here - except I add lots of cherries, a few cranberries, then any other dried fruit I can find in my cupboards - this time I used some muscat wine instead of brandy to soak the fruit in as well (must have drunk all the brandy!)
To go with that of course you need a nice cup of tea, and that's
where my latest craft masterpiece comes in - a "traditional, knitted tea cosy" to keep the pot warm. According to my husband, it's the only thing I've ever knitted that actually fits its intended wearer, and I guess the colours might not be to everyone's taste, but it was really easy, once i'd found some basic instructions here, and I'm now so inspired I might even make another one (in different colours, maybe!)
Final touch a nice tall mug to wrap your fingers around to keep warm, and you're sorted!
My favourite bread pudding recipe is adapted from a Delia Smith one - here - except I add lots of cherries, a few cranberries, then any other dried fruit I can find in my cupboards - this time I used some muscat wine instead of brandy to soak the fruit in as well (must have drunk all the brandy!)
To go with that of course you need a nice cup of tea, and that's
where my latest craft masterpiece comes in - a "traditional, knitted tea cosy" to keep the pot warm. According to my husband, it's the only thing I've ever knitted that actually fits its intended wearer, and I guess the colours might not be to everyone's taste, but it was really easy, once i'd found some basic instructions here, and I'm now so inspired I might even make another one (in different colours, maybe!)Final touch a nice tall mug to wrap your fingers around to keep warm, and you're sorted!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Recession? What Recession?
Called in to the new retail centre at Gepps Cross yesterday (or "Gepps X" as they call it, making me remember gritting my teeth every time I passed the sign on the M25 back in the home-country that announced the "Dartford X-ing" - don't they realise a "cross" isn't an "x"?). Absolutely stunned with how many people were there - there was even a queue to get into the car park! Most of the queuing though was because it was raining, and of course, everyone wanted a space right outside their chosen shop; if you didn't mind walking for a few minutes and parking a bit further away there were loads of spaces! Once inside the stores it was no different - the queue to pay in Harvey Norman's was filling up half the store, and there was certainly no sign of any recession.
We needed a new telephone as our current one is driving us mad - the '4' key only works intermittently and when you have something like that, you realise that about 99% of the numbers you need to dial need just that number! Obviously any mobile number has a 4 in it, and of course the country code for the UK is 44, and our Daybreak Calling Card code has a 4 in the local access number and five 4s in the actual code! We also must both have larger than average fingers, and find a lot of these handsets have keys designed for a five-year-old's tiny pointy fingers, rather that our great big lumpy ones, so we wanted something with big buttons. We were actually lucky enough to find a really helpful staff member in Harvey Norman's who knew what she was talking about, told us that several hands-free sets have bad reception if you have broadband, and was able to advise us which did, and which did not have this problem, so we have ended up with something that hopefully will improve our phone experience no end!
Prices for printers and computers have really come down - they had a printer/scanner/fax machine for just $47! That's almost cheaper than the toner cartridges! And we got a laptop for DD - who's been nagging for ages that she needs one for her homework - for less than $650 (after some sort of cashback we still need to apply for) - need to look into the education tax refund now as well to see if we can claim even more of that cost back. Result one very happy daughter!
We needed a new telephone as our current one is driving us mad - the '4' key only works intermittently and when you have something like that, you realise that about 99% of the numbers you need to dial need just that number! Obviously any mobile number has a 4 in it, and of course the country code for the UK is 44, and our Daybreak Calling Card code has a 4 in the local access number and five 4s in the actual code! We also must both have larger than average fingers, and find a lot of these handsets have keys designed for a five-year-old's tiny pointy fingers, rather that our great big lumpy ones, so we wanted something with big buttons. We were actually lucky enough to find a really helpful staff member in Harvey Norman's who knew what she was talking about, told us that several hands-free sets have bad reception if you have broadband, and was able to advise us which did, and which did not have this problem, so we have ended up with something that hopefully will improve our phone experience no end!
Prices for printers and computers have really come down - they had a printer/scanner/fax machine for just $47! That's almost cheaper than the toner cartridges! And we got a laptop for DD - who's been nagging for ages that she needs one for her homework - for less than $650 (after some sort of cashback we still need to apply for) - need to look into the education tax refund now as well to see if we can claim even more of that cost back. Result one very happy daughter!
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