We've had another good week and a great weekend - this is becoming a habit - and one that we can definitely live with! :-)
Things went very well this week at school - the kids aren't perfect by any means, but they do seem to be working better and listening better and so I am feeling better about teaching here. Who knows what next year will bring, but I wouldn't mind trying to do Prep again. There is a possibility of a new position next year as there are a lot of Prep students enrolled already - but, it would depend a lot on how many leave the area, etc. Some of these decisions are made on 'Day 8' of the new school year - that's when I was offered the job last year at Kawungan to teach grade two. So, we'll see what happens - if I get an offer of a job, that would be good - if I don't get an offer, that would be okay, too.
Dad had a good week - nothing out of the ordinary - house stuff, church stuff, Meals on Wheels, SES. The guy who does the termite inspection came this week and gave Dad some more suggestions of what to do to make sure that termites are not attracted to the house. For instance, there was some moisture in the insulation in the attic and so Dad had to take out the moldy insulation and put in some new insulation. The inspector also suggested that Dad buy some dirt to fill in some low spots in the lawn caused by the settling of the lawn. These spots are close to the house and might collect water when it rains which might attract termites. This guy has been twice to our house so far and has given Dad some amazing tips!
On Saturday, Dad suggested we go to the beach - we haven't been there in ages - so, we headed out at about 10am with our beach chairs and our camp stools and our books. We sat under a tree on the beach - beautiful day it was, too - sun shining, nice breeze blowing, 29C - and read our books for about an hour. We then decided to go for a dip - only, it was a bit too cold for me at that point - Dad got in all the way, though. We then went back and read for another hour or so. During this time, I realized that my legs were looking a bit red and were stinging a bit - so, I quickly put on some sunscreen (Dad did, too), but it was too late. By the time we got home, our legs from our knees to our ankles were sunburnt and they were stinging a lot - we put some aloe gel on them to help cool the burn down - we ended up putting it on a number of times between Saturday and today. We did enjoy a nice swim just before we went home from the beach, though - the water was a lovely temperature by then and we spent more time than we were planning to enjoying the ocean.
That evening, our friends Robyn and Geoff came over for dinner. Our friends, Trudy and Peter were supposed to come as well, but Trudy has been unwell for the past two weeks and wasn't up to coming over. We had a really nice dinner with Robyn and Geoff and then spent some time after eating just chatting. We were going to play some cribbage with them, but by the time I suggested it, Geoff was tired and so they headed off home.
Dad gave a talk in church today - the theme was about the atonement and Dad's talk was about how knowledge of the atonement helps us in our daily lives. He focused on the need for us to live our lives every day committed to Christ (by following in His way - trying to be more like Him), by repenting and by living the gospel. As usual, Dad did a great job (his talk was 20 minutes long as he was the final speaker) and one guy even asked for a copy of Dad's talk.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and it was lovely - after lunch, we sat outside enjoying the fresh air and the warm temperature and read our books. We made sure to sit in our chaise loungers underneath the roof which goes over the patio - totally in the shade. :-) What a great way to spend our day of rest. :-)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
What a good week and a great weekend! I had a good week with the kids at school this week - I wish that things had started to gel much sooner than this, but I will take as much as I can get right now. We are still having to do too much assessment for my liking, but it's got to be done and so we've been working hard on making that happen. We had a Prep/Grade 1 meeting on Thursday where we had to present how our kids are doing on the goals we set about a month or so ago. Our Prep kids did very well on achieving the goals which was nice to report. I told the group that I had interviewed the parents of those children who were struggling with achieving those goals to help out at home and the acting principal seemed pleased with me doing that, so I was happy about that.
Our weekend was so good! We camped with our friends, Robyn and Geoff, for the weekend at a place called Yandina about two hours from HB so that we could go to Stake Conference. Dad picked me up from school on Friday and we drove to the campground. When we got there, Robyn and Geoff had already set up their tent for us and had supper organized, as well. We were all pretty tired that evening and so we headed off to bed early. They had put really nice thick foam mattresses in our tent and so Dad and I both slept like little babies. :-)
When I woke up on Saturday morning and the sun was shining in the tent, I figured that it was late - would you believe that it was only 5:19am - sheesh! I couldn't get back to sleep and so I got up - Geoff, Robyn and Dad got up shortly afterward and we were off to start our day by just after 7am. We started off at a local market - lots of plants for Robyn to look at (and buy some) and other stuff to check out, but not much interesting to Dad and me (other than a book to read in case I woke up early again which I bought for $4). After that, we drove to a city called Mooloolaba (a seaside town) - we walked the main street and then went to the beach where we had lunch, dipped our feet in the water, and sat down beside the water to talk and watch the boats go by. What a beautiful way to spend the morning. After we dropped off the guys at the Kawana Waters chapel for their priesthood meeting, Robyn and I returned to the campground to have a lovely swim in the pool there before getting ready for the evening session of Stake Conference. They served us a meal there which was really nice. There were a number of speakers at that session including one girl, Nicole, who had joined the church in HB and she talked about her journey to become a member of the church including the importance of fellowshipping new converts. Also, a marriage counsellor spoke about how to have successful relationships, not only with your spouse, but also with your parents, siblings and friends. There wasn't anything new in what he had to say, but it was good to be reminded of the importance of making time to develop and strengthen these relationships. After the conference, we returned to the campground and stayed up until 10:30pm chatting. What a wonderful day!
The next day we drove to the Nambour Civic Centre (the church rents this space out as there isn't any chapel big enough to hold all the people who would be attending Stake Conference). The speakers at Stake Conference were great - a young boy, a returned missionary, the Temple matron and her husband, the Temple pesident, the mission president and his wife, and our Stake president. It was wonderful to be spirituallly fed and to be among the saints of the Stake to which we belong. It did seem strange that we didn't know anybody other than those in our ward (and the Stake Primary president for me and the Stake representative for family history for Dad) - in Canada, there were always tons of people that we would talk with after conference - people who we had met over the years and enjoyed catching up with.
After a return to the campground for lunch, we decided to go for another drive and ended up in a little town called Montville. It reminded me of Niagara-on-the-Lake - very quaint and plenty of little stores to check out. We did a lot of stickybeaking in stores and saw a few things to buy (which we will do next time we are down in that area on a Saturday). The scenery on the way home was incredible - there was this one viewpoint we stopped at which was fabulous - I took tons of photos which Dad will download this week and I will post on the blog then.
We had such a wonderful time this weekend and are looking forward to doing it again when we come back from Canada. We get along so well with Robyn and Geoff and hope to be able to travel with them again, as well.
Our weekend was so good! We camped with our friends, Robyn and Geoff, for the weekend at a place called Yandina about two hours from HB so that we could go to Stake Conference. Dad picked me up from school on Friday and we drove to the campground. When we got there, Robyn and Geoff had already set up their tent for us and had supper organized, as well. We were all pretty tired that evening and so we headed off to bed early. They had put really nice thick foam mattresses in our tent and so Dad and I both slept like little babies. :-)
When I woke up on Saturday morning and the sun was shining in the tent, I figured that it was late - would you believe that it was only 5:19am - sheesh! I couldn't get back to sleep and so I got up - Geoff, Robyn and Dad got up shortly afterward and we were off to start our day by just after 7am. We started off at a local market - lots of plants for Robyn to look at (and buy some) and other stuff to check out, but not much interesting to Dad and me (other than a book to read in case I woke up early again which I bought for $4). After that, we drove to a city called Mooloolaba (a seaside town) - we walked the main street and then went to the beach where we had lunch, dipped our feet in the water, and sat down beside the water to talk and watch the boats go by. What a beautiful way to spend the morning. After we dropped off the guys at the Kawana Waters chapel for their priesthood meeting, Robyn and I returned to the campground to have a lovely swim in the pool there before getting ready for the evening session of Stake Conference. They served us a meal there which was really nice. There were a number of speakers at that session including one girl, Nicole, who had joined the church in HB and she talked about her journey to become a member of the church including the importance of fellowshipping new converts. Also, a marriage counsellor spoke about how to have successful relationships, not only with your spouse, but also with your parents, siblings and friends. There wasn't anything new in what he had to say, but it was good to be reminded of the importance of making time to develop and strengthen these relationships. After the conference, we returned to the campground and stayed up until 10:30pm chatting. What a wonderful day!
The next day we drove to the Nambour Civic Centre (the church rents this space out as there isn't any chapel big enough to hold all the people who would be attending Stake Conference). The speakers at Stake Conference were great - a young boy, a returned missionary, the Temple matron and her husband, the Temple pesident, the mission president and his wife, and our Stake president. It was wonderful to be spirituallly fed and to be among the saints of the Stake to which we belong. It did seem strange that we didn't know anybody other than those in our ward (and the Stake Primary president for me and the Stake representative for family history for Dad) - in Canada, there were always tons of people that we would talk with after conference - people who we had met over the years and enjoyed catching up with.
After a return to the campground for lunch, we decided to go for another drive and ended up in a little town called Montville. It reminded me of Niagara-on-the-Lake - very quaint and plenty of little stores to check out. We did a lot of stickybeaking in stores and saw a few things to buy (which we will do next time we are down in that area on a Saturday). The scenery on the way home was incredible - there was this one viewpoint we stopped at which was fabulous - I took tons of photos which Dad will download this week and I will post on the blog then.
We had such a wonderful time this weekend and are looking forward to doing it again when we come back from Canada. We get along so well with Robyn and Geoff and hope to be able to travel with them again, as well.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
I only had 18 children at school on both Thursday and Friday and it was like a dream - it reminded me of when I only had 20 children in my class at RJ Lee - it's so great with numbers like that - it's like having one whole group of children less in your class. It was much easier to teach to that many children and less noise - I wish it could be like that all the time. On Thursday, we had a 'Walk for Daniel' to raise money for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Daniel was a young boy (about 13 years old) who was taken from the side of the road where he was waiting for a bus and then killed later on. His parents run the foundation and try to ensure children are taught about safety. Both the local tv station and the local newspaper were out at our school this day and it turns out that I was on tv as the Preps were first in the line for walking (there were about four students in front of us carrying a banner). I didn't see the news that evening, but my friends did and told me later that they had seen me leading the children around the school oval. On Friday, we had a special 'parade' (assembly) at school - it was 'International Teachers' Day' and the administration wanted to acknowledge us in a special way - they had us come up in front of everyone in the school to receive a special appreciation certificate and a pen (which has my name on it). It was nice to be appreciated and to receive such a nice memento.
We had a busy social life this week. On Wednesday, we had the Gilbert's over. They are a south african couple with five children (two born in South Africa and three born in Wales) who moved to HB within the past year (they are the couple whose house/yard was damaged in the storm and Dad and the SES were over there helping to clean up a couple of weeks ago). Brother Gilbert wanted his wife to learn how to input names into the church genealogy internet site, so we invited them to dinner beforehand to get to know them a little better. On Saturday, we had our friends Robyn and Geoff over for dinner - we had invited our friends, Trudy and Peter over as well, but Trudy got really sick and couldn't come. Robyn and Geoff are our closest friends here in HB and we always have a good time when we get together. We taught them how to play cribbage and they caught on really quickly. On Saturday, our friends, Rob and Rosalea came into town from their trip up north. They were staying with Robyn and Geoff and so we went over there for dinner to say our good-byes to Rob and Rosalea as they are heading back to Western Australia.
On Saturday morning, we got to Skype with our boys again - they are so cute! :-) They were on their way to bed so the talk was short, but they did get to tell us the talks they gave for their Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Both Colin and Caleb memorized their talks and it was so neat to be able to hear them say them to us. On Sunday, we Skyped with Grandma Martin and Jackie (with Scott in the background). Grandma is doing okay - she's very happy that Jackie is still staying with her.
On Sunday, our ward had the Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Things went very well, I thought, and I was told the same by people in the congregation. I spoke for about a minute at the beginning of the program to let those in the congregation know what the children have been learning about this year in Primary. Then our 11 Primary children read their parts and sang their songs really well. Some of the children spoke really quietly so it was a bit hard to hear them - and others spoke really loudly - and the singing, although quiet, was really sweet.
We have been exercising just about every day for the past three weeks. We either go for an hour long walk around the neighbourhood or for a 6km bike ride along the road near our house. We feel really good about getting so much exercise in and we feel better physically for it, as well. I was thinking that I would go swimming once a week to do lengths, but that hasn't happened as yet. :-) We have also been eating very healthily and feeling better for that, too. I have lost over 2kg in our 'summer slimmers' competition at school so far - I'm still not winning percentage-wise, but there's still time for that. :-)
We had a busy social life this week. On Wednesday, we had the Gilbert's over. They are a south african couple with five children (two born in South Africa and three born in Wales) who moved to HB within the past year (they are the couple whose house/yard was damaged in the storm and Dad and the SES were over there helping to clean up a couple of weeks ago). Brother Gilbert wanted his wife to learn how to input names into the church genealogy internet site, so we invited them to dinner beforehand to get to know them a little better. On Saturday, we had our friends Robyn and Geoff over for dinner - we had invited our friends, Trudy and Peter over as well, but Trudy got really sick and couldn't come. Robyn and Geoff are our closest friends here in HB and we always have a good time when we get together. We taught them how to play cribbage and they caught on really quickly. On Saturday, our friends, Rob and Rosalea came into town from their trip up north. They were staying with Robyn and Geoff and so we went over there for dinner to say our good-byes to Rob and Rosalea as they are heading back to Western Australia.
On Saturday morning, we got to Skype with our boys again - they are so cute! :-) They were on their way to bed so the talk was short, but they did get to tell us the talks they gave for their Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Both Colin and Caleb memorized their talks and it was so neat to be able to hear them say them to us. On Sunday, we Skyped with Grandma Martin and Jackie (with Scott in the background). Grandma is doing okay - she's very happy that Jackie is still staying with her.
On Sunday, our ward had the Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Things went very well, I thought, and I was told the same by people in the congregation. I spoke for about a minute at the beginning of the program to let those in the congregation know what the children have been learning about this year in Primary. Then our 11 Primary children read their parts and sang their songs really well. Some of the children spoke really quietly so it was a bit hard to hear them - and others spoke really loudly - and the singing, although quiet, was really sweet.
We have been exercising just about every day for the past three weeks. We either go for an hour long walk around the neighbourhood or for a 6km bike ride along the road near our house. We feel really good about getting so much exercise in and we feel better physically for it, as well. I was thinking that I would go swimming once a week to do lengths, but that hasn't happened as yet. :-) We have also been eating very healthily and feeling better for that, too. I have lost over 2kg in our 'summer slimmers' competition at school so far - I'm still not winning percentage-wise, but there's still time for that. :-)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
It's been a pretty good week and a very busy week. School has been pretty much the same this week although I did have Monday off - well, sort of - it was a 'pupil free day' which means that I had to go to work, but there were no kids there (if only that could happen more often ). It was supposed to be an interview day and I had three scheduled and hoped that two more would happen (I had sent home two letters asking them to come in for an interview on that day). As it turns out, I had one interview - sheesh. Anyway, I just wanted to let the parents know that their children were struggling a bit and tell them what they could do to help their child so that they would be able to learn what they needed to, to get ready for grade one.
Dad spent Monday working outside on the lawn and other outside stuff. Tuesday, he spent the afternoon helping our friends from church to move to a temporary home (the ones who I told you about last week whose rented house/property was wrecked by that storm last week). Thursday was SES - they spent the time there counting supplies as the 'boss' is going to meet soon with the powers-that-be on the council to report on the readiness of the SES for activation during the storm season which will be upon HB in December/January.
We had a really lovely day yesterday - we decided to celebrate our anniversary then. We started off by having a lovely chat with Colin, Caleb, Benjamin and James (Terri-Ann was at a church women's conference). We love talking with 'our boys' and they are 'true' boys. :-) We talked with them for a few minutes and then they wanted to get moving again. While we talked to James and Benjamin, Colin and Caleb ran back and forth behind them laughing and having a great time. :-)
After that, Dad made our usual Saturday breakfast: poached eggs, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, and for a little treat, a little piece of bacon. We then got in the car to enjoy the beautiful weather of the day. We were driving down to the esplanade (where the beach is) when we passed the botanical gardens and decided to back up and go for a walk in there. It was a lovely place to walk with lots of trees and paths and a big pond in the middle with ducks swimming on it. We also happened upon a wedding and watched from afar as a bagpiper piped in the bride. We also 'happened' upon a teacher from the school I was at last year and found out that there's a possibility of a one-day-a-week job going in grade two next year - I will go into the school this week and talk with the vice principal about it.
After our walk through the gardens, we drove down to the esplanade and walked along Urangan Pier which is 800 metres long. There were quite a few people fishing off the pier and we actually saw one guy holding a fish which had to be about two feet long. After our walk on the pier, we went to a lovely cafe by the water (the harbour) and sat at a table overlooking the harbour and all the boats - it was a really nice place to sit. The food was just okay this time - I went there with my friend once and had a really yummy meal. Dad had a club sandwich with fries and I had a steak sandwich with wedges. The wedges were very yummy, but the rest of the food was pretty ordinary, so we were a bit disappointed. We went to the Cheesecake Shop after our meal to buy ourselves a pavlova (thanks Nana! :-) There weren't any small ones left, so we HAD to make do with a large one. :-) We had a piece when we got home yesterday and then another piece at night and have had one piece today after lunch and will have the other piece tonight before bed - what a yummy way to end our relaxing day.
Dad spent Monday working outside on the lawn and other outside stuff. Tuesday, he spent the afternoon helping our friends from church to move to a temporary home (the ones who I told you about last week whose rented house/property was wrecked by that storm last week). Thursday was SES - they spent the time there counting supplies as the 'boss' is going to meet soon with the powers-that-be on the council to report on the readiness of the SES for activation during the storm season which will be upon HB in December/January.
We had a really lovely day yesterday - we decided to celebrate our anniversary then. We started off by having a lovely chat with Colin, Caleb, Benjamin and James (Terri-Ann was at a church women's conference). We love talking with 'our boys' and they are 'true' boys. :-) We talked with them for a few minutes and then they wanted to get moving again. While we talked to James and Benjamin, Colin and Caleb ran back and forth behind them laughing and having a great time. :-)
After that, Dad made our usual Saturday breakfast: poached eggs, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, and for a little treat, a little piece of bacon. We then got in the car to enjoy the beautiful weather of the day. We were driving down to the esplanade (where the beach is) when we passed the botanical gardens and decided to back up and go for a walk in there. It was a lovely place to walk with lots of trees and paths and a big pond in the middle with ducks swimming on it. We also happened upon a wedding and watched from afar as a bagpiper piped in the bride. We also 'happened' upon a teacher from the school I was at last year and found out that there's a possibility of a one-day-a-week job going in grade two next year - I will go into the school this week and talk with the vice principal about it.
After our walk through the gardens, we drove down to the esplanade and walked along Urangan Pier which is 800 metres long. There were quite a few people fishing off the pier and we actually saw one guy holding a fish which had to be about two feet long. After our walk on the pier, we went to a lovely cafe by the water (the harbour) and sat at a table overlooking the harbour and all the boats - it was a really nice place to sit. The food was just okay this time - I went there with my friend once and had a really yummy meal. Dad had a club sandwich with fries and I had a steak sandwich with wedges. The wedges were very yummy, but the rest of the food was pretty ordinary, so we were a bit disappointed. We went to the Cheesecake Shop after our meal to buy ourselves a pavlova (thanks Nana! :-) There weren't any small ones left, so we HAD to make do with a large one. :-) We had a piece when we got home yesterday and then another piece at night and have had one piece today after lunch and will have the other piece tonight before bed - what a yummy way to end our relaxing day.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
We've had a busy and lazy week. :-) School was pretty much the same as it's been since we got back from holidays. The kids seem to have settled down a bit - except for Fridays - they go swimming on Fridays, so after the lessons, they have a difficult time settling down. We have a PD Day (they call it a 'pupil free day' here) tomorrow which will be nice. Not so much fun to have to do some kind of workshop in the morning, but we do get from 1pm onwards to do interviews (I have three booked already and hope two more will show up) and then we get to work on whatever we want. That means I can do preparing for the coming week which has meant that I didn't have to do any school work yesterday which was a real treat.
On Tuesday, while Dad was at his Priesthood Executive Committe, I was able to go and visit teach with my friend, Diana (the Bishop's wife). I have always loved doing visiting teaching - I love being able to get to know the sisters on a more personal level - being able to have a good yak as well. :-) Diana is really good at yakking (like me) so we had a lovely time. I usually stay between 45 minutes and an hour when I go visiting teaching, but Diana and I were having such a great time together that I called Dad and asked him to get a ride from the Bishop to their place so that Diana and I could have more time together - we ended up visiting for almost 1 1/2 hours. :-)
Yesterday, Dad and I had the loveliest of days. We spent the whole day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We started off watching a movie (Eat, Pray, Love) - a good one, but not as good as the book - I have got to stop watching a movie made from a book if I have read the book - I have never seen a movie which is as good as the book. We had a great chat with Krystal over Skype (sad that her boys were sleeping, but Krystal has her voice/guitar lessons on Friday night, so we have to wait until she gets back from them to Skype). Dad and I then took our books outside and lay down on our chaise lounges in the beautiful warm sun. We both read for a while and then had a nap - I love these kind of days. We then drove down to the beach and went for a short walk (half an hour) and ended our lazy day by watching tv.
We had an enormous storm last night - out where we were it was just really powerful (and loud) rain, but in other parts of Hervey Bay, it was much worse. When we got to church, we heard that one of our families had it really bad last night - a mini cyclone went through the area of town in which they live. A roof off a school building out their back yard had come off and parts of it landed in their trees and in the yard; many of their trees had fallen, so much so that they were told to stay inside their house until help had arrived to clear things away. Just after that, Dad got a call from SES putting him into activation. Lo and behold, when he got to the SES shed, he was told he was going to be working at our friends' house. :-) There were 29 SES members called out today and 15 of them were working on our friends' property. It was really warm today and the SES uniforms are long sleeved - Dad sweat so much today - they worked for 8 hours on that property and there's still tons of work to be done. What a blessing for people here to be able to call on the SES for assistance - and it's all free. This was Dad's first call-out to assist in an emergency - although he is exhausted from the hard work, he feels good that he was able to help someone in need.
On Tuesday, while Dad was at his Priesthood Executive Committe, I was able to go and visit teach with my friend, Diana (the Bishop's wife). I have always loved doing visiting teaching - I love being able to get to know the sisters on a more personal level - being able to have a good yak as well. :-) Diana is really good at yakking (like me) so we had a lovely time. I usually stay between 45 minutes and an hour when I go visiting teaching, but Diana and I were having such a great time together that I called Dad and asked him to get a ride from the Bishop to their place so that Diana and I could have more time together - we ended up visiting for almost 1 1/2 hours. :-)
Yesterday, Dad and I had the loveliest of days. We spent the whole day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We started off watching a movie (Eat, Pray, Love) - a good one, but not as good as the book - I have got to stop watching a movie made from a book if I have read the book - I have never seen a movie which is as good as the book. We had a great chat with Krystal over Skype (sad that her boys were sleeping, but Krystal has her voice/guitar lessons on Friday night, so we have to wait until she gets back from them to Skype). Dad and I then took our books outside and lay down on our chaise lounges in the beautiful warm sun. We both read for a while and then had a nap - I love these kind of days. We then drove down to the beach and went for a short walk (half an hour) and ended our lazy day by watching tv.
We had an enormous storm last night - out where we were it was just really powerful (and loud) rain, but in other parts of Hervey Bay, it was much worse. When we got to church, we heard that one of our families had it really bad last night - a mini cyclone went through the area of town in which they live. A roof off a school building out their back yard had come off and parts of it landed in their trees and in the yard; many of their trees had fallen, so much so that they were told to stay inside their house until help had arrived to clear things away. Just after that, Dad got a call from SES putting him into activation. Lo and behold, when he got to the SES shed, he was told he was going to be working at our friends' house. :-) There were 29 SES members called out today and 15 of them were working on our friends' property. It was really warm today and the SES uniforms are long sleeved - Dad sweat so much today - they worked for 8 hours on that property and there's still tons of work to be done. What a blessing for people here to be able to call on the SES for assistance - and it's all free. This was Dad's first call-out to assist in an emergency - although he is exhausted from the hard work, he feels good that he was able to help someone in need.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Wow, I didn't realize that it had been that long since I had written, so here's the Reader's Digest version of what's been happening in the last week and a half.
I loved being on holidays (except it being lonely at night without Dad here) - no work, no kids, no stress! :-) School started again last Monday and it's actually not been too bad at all. On Monday, they were really well behaved and listened well - however, on Tuesday, they were back at it. :-) One of the teachers said that the kids don't get any better than this - she reckoned that by this time of the year, the kids are 'over school' (meaning that they had had enough of it for the year).
Dad got home on Thursday night after one false start. He almost got out on the first night he tried, but then at the last minute, the reservations agent had to tell Dad 'sorry, but no go'. Fortunately, he was able to get on the plane the next night (got the last seat on the plane in the back). He was able to get on both flights within Australia and I met him at the airport (he wasn't sure if I would feel comfortable driving out there, but it was an easy drive) and he was very happy to see me and to be home.
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate Dad's birthday. He had a lovely big steak and three jumbo shrimp and I had chicken parmigiana. We went to our favourite restaurant/pub, Hoolihan's, and the food was as delicious as always. If it's your birthday, they will give you a free meal (entree) up to $25. so Dad's meal only cost us $10. We had bought a pavlova for dessert which we had some of when we got home. We also rented two movies (we would recommend one of them called 'Unknown') and enjoyed watching them together. Dad said it was a really nice way to spend his birthday.
We spent yesterday relaxing all morning and doing school stuff all afternoon. We watched another movie last night. Jet lag started to affect Dad last night and so he went off to bed early.
It was General Conference today and we were able to see two sessions. Because of the time difference between here and Utah, they tape the Conference sessions here and we view them the next weekend. I love our prophet - he has such a great sense of humour and a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I love listening to him talk and am looking forward to getting the Ensign magazine so that I can read his talk. One thing I noticed today was that, when we read the talks in the Ensign, we can't read the emotions of the person giving the talk. Two brethren got really emotional when giving their talks today and I am glad that I could actually see them give their talks and experience their emotions, so that when I read their talks, I will be reminded of these emotions. The power of the Spirit was amazing today! :-)
I loved being on holidays (except it being lonely at night without Dad here) - no work, no kids, no stress! :-) School started again last Monday and it's actually not been too bad at all. On Monday, they were really well behaved and listened well - however, on Tuesday, they were back at it. :-) One of the teachers said that the kids don't get any better than this - she reckoned that by this time of the year, the kids are 'over school' (meaning that they had had enough of it for the year).
Dad got home on Thursday night after one false start. He almost got out on the first night he tried, but then at the last minute, the reservations agent had to tell Dad 'sorry, but no go'. Fortunately, he was able to get on the plane the next night (got the last seat on the plane in the back). He was able to get on both flights within Australia and I met him at the airport (he wasn't sure if I would feel comfortable driving out there, but it was an easy drive) and he was very happy to see me and to be home.
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate Dad's birthday. He had a lovely big steak and three jumbo shrimp and I had chicken parmigiana. We went to our favourite restaurant/pub, Hoolihan's, and the food was as delicious as always. If it's your birthday, they will give you a free meal (entree) up to $25. so Dad's meal only cost us $10. We had bought a pavlova for dessert which we had some of when we got home. We also rented two movies (we would recommend one of them called 'Unknown') and enjoyed watching them together. Dad said it was a really nice way to spend his birthday.
We spent yesterday relaxing all morning and doing school stuff all afternoon. We watched another movie last night. Jet lag started to affect Dad last night and so he went off to bed early.
It was General Conference today and we were able to see two sessions. Because of the time difference between here and Utah, they tape the Conference sessions here and we view them the next weekend. I love our prophet - he has such a great sense of humour and a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I love listening to him talk and am looking forward to getting the Ensign magazine so that I can read his talk. One thing I noticed today was that, when we read the talks in the Ensign, we can't read the emotions of the person giving the talk. Two brethren got really emotional when giving their talks today and I am glad that I could actually see them give their talks and experience their emotions, so that when I read their talks, I will be reminded of these emotions. The power of the Spirit was amazing today! :-)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
I didn't write on Tuesday cuz there really isn't much going on with me - and Dad is pretty much doing the same thing at Grandma's as he's been doing for the past couple of weeks. So, using the emails back and forth between Dad and I, I will fill you in on what we've been doing since I last wrote.
Monday
My Monday was delightful. I slept in 'til 9:15am which I thought was a very respectable time to get up. :-) After breakfast, I started working on my plan for the first day of school. I absolutely loved doing it - it reminded me of how much I love teaching - just not in Hervey Bay. I asked Heavenly Father what we were supposed to do - I want to teach - I am not ready to give it up yet - but, I also don't want to teach in the conditions here in HB - I'm not sure what the answer is yet. Anyway, after I was planning for a while, I thought to myself - what am I doing inside when it's such a beautiful day outside (27C today), so I went outside and read my book out on my chaise lounger. This book is a crime thriller and it's quite good - it's about a blind woman who 'sees' the last 18 seconds of a dead person's life when she touches their hand. I didn't get my nap in today as I didn't really feel tired at nap time - likely cuz I had slept in late. After the wind got too cool outside, I came inside and ran a bath and read for another 90 minutes. I know that it will cost a little extra having all these baths, but I figure that since I am not doing anything or going anywhere that costs money, I can afford to pay for a few bathtubs full of hot water. :-)
Tuesday
I got a call from Rosalea about 9am to say that were up and ready for me to come over to help them clean the house. As soon as I got there, I got to work on cleaning out the kitchen cupboards - that's a big job and one that I could do without Rosalea's help - she was busy packing things into their fridge. Rob was busy packing things into their sea container. We worked until about noon and then they wanted to go and get something to eat, so we drove over to 'Subway' on the Esplanade and then ate on the foreshore, beside the ocean on one of the tables there. It was another beautiful day in HB. :-) After that, we went back to their house and worked until almost 5pm. I told them that I wanted to leave by then as I didn't want to drive in the dark (not quite comfortable with that yet).
Wednesday
Today I went to the Lovelock's for lunch. Alison and I sat down at their kitchen table and chatted while Graham made pancakes - they asked me if that was okay and I told them how you used to make it all the time for us when the girls were little. The pancakes were yummy! We talked about how they met and they showed me their wedding albums. We will have to have them over for dinner when you get home. After lunch, I went over to help Rob and Rosalea clean again. They asked me if I would like to go with them to Rainbow Beach tomorrow, but I declined as I really need to do some planning - I have only touched a little of it on Monday and haven't done any more since then. They also wanted to take me out to dinner tonight for helping, but I told them that I was quite tired and just wanted to go home and relax. Since getting home, the only energetic thing I have done is make 'Bev's Garlic Chicken'. It's been a night of tv watching - what a lazy slug, eh? :-) Oh yeah, when I was on the way to the Woodcott's from the Lovelock's, I stopped at 'Cut it out Christa' and made an appointment for 11am on Friday to have my hair cut - it is getting way too long and it's starting to make me look old - and I don't like looking older than 29! :-)
Thursday
I slept in until 9am again - yippee - I'm getting good at this - just in time to have to wake up early again next Monday. :-) I spent some time reading before getting to work on my planning. I am now reading a book called 'The Secret Life of Bees' - it's one of my book club book list books. I was able to completely plan for the first week of school which I was pleased about. Tomorrow, I will start to get all the supplies I need for the week so that I can take the stuff into my classroom on Saturday (or maybe tomorrow if I'm really organized). My evening was spent watching tv again - I have it on every night just to have noise in the house - I just don't like the silence in here when it's not on. If it's during the day, I have the CD player on, but it just doesn't do the trick in the evening. If there's 'nothing' on, I put on the news channel just to have some background noise (although often on the news channel, it's actually interesting. :-)
DAD
Monday
I walked Mom through sending an email today. Krystal had written and sent along a few pictures of Alexander and Dominic. She opened the email, read it and looked at the pictures, then replied and sent it off. All in all not bad for her first go. I spent the day today, after making 5 trips to the garbage bin and recycle with all yesterday's garbage, helping Mom with all sorts of things. We found phone numbers for almost all of the companies who she will need to call in the next couple of days. It took nearly all day, and still a dozen or so calls for Mom to make. Jackie is still sorting photos with Mom. Which to get rid of, which to keep and put into albums. Tomorrow I also need to get a small mailer box and send if off to myself with all the family history documents and old photos that are passing to me. In going over documents and photos with Mom we have found a few holes in the family history that will need looking into.
Tuesday
Mom really likes having me here helping her out. She really does not like having to deal with all the red tape and forms, etc that go with someone passing. Doug, or Scott, or Erika can help her, but I think she just likes me being here to take it on straight away and get things sorted out, or at least moving on. Today Mom and I went to the airport and picked up my Zed ticket. A stop at the funeral place to see how the memories book is coming. Jackie needs some of the photos back to scan for Victoria who is working on Dad's memoirs book. The memory book computer version should be finished by tomorrow. So all is well there for Jackie to get the stuff back in time to scan it before they head out to Calgary. Speaking of Calgary it looks like Scott may not be going. He does not have enough time off available and is having trouble seeing if someone can swap a day or two with him. Also today included stops at the drug store, the post office and the grocery store. Several more phone calls (they're neverending, it seems). There really is a lot to tidy up after someone passes on. I can see the 'business wisdom' in a company requiring all this red tape, but it sure makes it difficult for a grieving spouse to deal with all the paperwork and red tape. Tomorrow Dad's work has arranged for a courier to come and pick up 2 boxes and a paper roll tube of stuff we have come across that needs to be returned to his office. Then they can decide what happens to it all. Much of it they did indicate they would like back when Mom talked with them.
Wednesday
Jackie has decided to come back to Vancouver after Thanksgiving and will likely stay until Christmas. That way she doesn't have to rush through sorting photos and books. She can also continue to help Mom with email, Skype and other things which come up. So today was stops at the drug store, pet store, Walmart, Dad's Dr's office to get some forms signed for insurance. Also Jackie and I went over and had a look at the memories book. We found a few missing pages and a couple of typos they had made, so they will fix those tomorrow morning and give us another call. Mom's visiting teachers came by tonight and they are really nice and supportive. They offered to give her a ride to church if required and stop by if she needs any help. They talked about the VT message that Terri-Ann put a quote from in her blog the other day regarding being hit over the head. We also had a very nice stew dinner tonight. Yesterday at YW, they had a cooking lesson and made the stew. They made tons and when the girls asked what they were going to do with all the extra, the leaders said they were going to be giving it to some sisters in the Ward that were on their own and could use the help. Right away the girls said to make sure Sister Martin got some. So they brought enough by for the three of us. It was pretty good. Certainly better than fast food.
Monday
My Monday was delightful. I slept in 'til 9:15am which I thought was a very respectable time to get up. :-) After breakfast, I started working on my plan for the first day of school. I absolutely loved doing it - it reminded me of how much I love teaching - just not in Hervey Bay. I asked Heavenly Father what we were supposed to do - I want to teach - I am not ready to give it up yet - but, I also don't want to teach in the conditions here in HB - I'm not sure what the answer is yet. Anyway, after I was planning for a while, I thought to myself - what am I doing inside when it's such a beautiful day outside (27C today), so I went outside and read my book out on my chaise lounger. This book is a crime thriller and it's quite good - it's about a blind woman who 'sees' the last 18 seconds of a dead person's life when she touches their hand. I didn't get my nap in today as I didn't really feel tired at nap time - likely cuz I had slept in late. After the wind got too cool outside, I came inside and ran a bath and read for another 90 minutes. I know that it will cost a little extra having all these baths, but I figure that since I am not doing anything or going anywhere that costs money, I can afford to pay for a few bathtubs full of hot water. :-)
Tuesday
I got a call from Rosalea about 9am to say that were up and ready for me to come over to help them clean the house. As soon as I got there, I got to work on cleaning out the kitchen cupboards - that's a big job and one that I could do without Rosalea's help - she was busy packing things into their fridge. Rob was busy packing things into their sea container. We worked until about noon and then they wanted to go and get something to eat, so we drove over to 'Subway' on the Esplanade and then ate on the foreshore, beside the ocean on one of the tables there. It was another beautiful day in HB. :-) After that, we went back to their house and worked until almost 5pm. I told them that I wanted to leave by then as I didn't want to drive in the dark (not quite comfortable with that yet).
Wednesday
Today I went to the Lovelock's for lunch. Alison and I sat down at their kitchen table and chatted while Graham made pancakes - they asked me if that was okay and I told them how you used to make it all the time for us when the girls were little. The pancakes were yummy! We talked about how they met and they showed me their wedding albums. We will have to have them over for dinner when you get home. After lunch, I went over to help Rob and Rosalea clean again. They asked me if I would like to go with them to Rainbow Beach tomorrow, but I declined as I really need to do some planning - I have only touched a little of it on Monday and haven't done any more since then. They also wanted to take me out to dinner tonight for helping, but I told them that I was quite tired and just wanted to go home and relax. Since getting home, the only energetic thing I have done is make 'Bev's Garlic Chicken'. It's been a night of tv watching - what a lazy slug, eh? :-) Oh yeah, when I was on the way to the Woodcott's from the Lovelock's, I stopped at 'Cut it out Christa' and made an appointment for 11am on Friday to have my hair cut - it is getting way too long and it's starting to make me look old - and I don't like looking older than 29! :-)
Thursday
I slept in until 9am again - yippee - I'm getting good at this - just in time to have to wake up early again next Monday. :-) I spent some time reading before getting to work on my planning. I am now reading a book called 'The Secret Life of Bees' - it's one of my book club book list books. I was able to completely plan for the first week of school which I was pleased about. Tomorrow, I will start to get all the supplies I need for the week so that I can take the stuff into my classroom on Saturday (or maybe tomorrow if I'm really organized). My evening was spent watching tv again - I have it on every night just to have noise in the house - I just don't like the silence in here when it's not on. If it's during the day, I have the CD player on, but it just doesn't do the trick in the evening. If there's 'nothing' on, I put on the news channel just to have some background noise (although often on the news channel, it's actually interesting. :-)
DAD
Monday
I walked Mom through sending an email today. Krystal had written and sent along a few pictures of Alexander and Dominic. She opened the email, read it and looked at the pictures, then replied and sent it off. All in all not bad for her first go. I spent the day today, after making 5 trips to the garbage bin and recycle with all yesterday's garbage, helping Mom with all sorts of things. We found phone numbers for almost all of the companies who she will need to call in the next couple of days. It took nearly all day, and still a dozen or so calls for Mom to make. Jackie is still sorting photos with Mom. Which to get rid of, which to keep and put into albums. Tomorrow I also need to get a small mailer box and send if off to myself with all the family history documents and old photos that are passing to me. In going over documents and photos with Mom we have found a few holes in the family history that will need looking into.
Tuesday
Mom really likes having me here helping her out. She really does not like having to deal with all the red tape and forms, etc that go with someone passing. Doug, or Scott, or Erika can help her, but I think she just likes me being here to take it on straight away and get things sorted out, or at least moving on. Today Mom and I went to the airport and picked up my Zed ticket. A stop at the funeral place to see how the memories book is coming. Jackie needs some of the photos back to scan for Victoria who is working on Dad's memoirs book. The memory book computer version should be finished by tomorrow. So all is well there for Jackie to get the stuff back in time to scan it before they head out to Calgary. Speaking of Calgary it looks like Scott may not be going. He does not have enough time off available and is having trouble seeing if someone can swap a day or two with him. Also today included stops at the drug store, the post office and the grocery store. Several more phone calls (they're neverending, it seems). There really is a lot to tidy up after someone passes on. I can see the 'business wisdom' in a company requiring all this red tape, but it sure makes it difficult for a grieving spouse to deal with all the paperwork and red tape. Tomorrow Dad's work has arranged for a courier to come and pick up 2 boxes and a paper roll tube of stuff we have come across that needs to be returned to his office. Then they can decide what happens to it all. Much of it they did indicate they would like back when Mom talked with them.
Wednesday
Jackie has decided to come back to Vancouver after Thanksgiving and will likely stay until Christmas. That way she doesn't have to rush through sorting photos and books. She can also continue to help Mom with email, Skype and other things which come up. So today was stops at the drug store, pet store, Walmart, Dad's Dr's office to get some forms signed for insurance. Also Jackie and I went over and had a look at the memories book. We found a few missing pages and a couple of typos they had made, so they will fix those tomorrow morning and give us another call. Mom's visiting teachers came by tonight and they are really nice and supportive. They offered to give her a ride to church if required and stop by if she needs any help. They talked about the VT message that Terri-Ann put a quote from in her blog the other day regarding being hit over the head. We also had a very nice stew dinner tonight. Yesterday at YW, they had a cooking lesson and made the stew. They made tons and when the girls asked what they were going to do with all the extra, the leaders said they were going to be giving it to some sisters in the Ward that were on their own and could use the help. Right away the girls said to make sure Sister Martin got some. So they brought enough by for the three of us. It was pretty good. Certainly better than fast food.
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