What a week - I am tired just thinking about it. Monday I got a call to go into Kawungan to teach a grade one class. I hadn't had this class before, so I checked with the other grade one teachers to see what the kids were like. I was warned about a few of them - most of them are great. Of the three I was told about, one was away, one was fine (just chatty) and the third did a little bit of work - so, all in all, a good day. HOWEVER, when Dad and I were taking our walk that evening, Pam called - she is the kindergarten teacher who I go in to help every Thursday. She was quite sick and wanted to know if I could go in on Tuesday and supply teach in her class. I ended up being in her class for the rest of the week.
Pam has a different style of teaching from me - she is much more relaxed - and so the kids had a bit of a shock this week with having very high expectations, especially with listening to me when I was talking. She has a handful of challenging children and they were not impressed that I expected the same of them as I did everyone else. One of the girls was so rude (with me and with another teacher) that I took her to the principal and she even spoke back to her. I can't believe how rude some children are here - and how they think it's acceptable to be rude and talk back to teachers - it's so unreal to me and out of my scope of experience. A few teachers told me at the end of the week that they couldn't believe how well behaved the class was compared to what they normally were like - I was pleased that I had been able to guide them to be more respectful.
I was really lucky to have a prac student (student teacher), Stephanie, in the class for the week. She was only supposed to teach one third of the time, but I could tell right away that she was quite good, so I not only had her teach math, but asked her to do a few more things (like take attendance, read books to the students, etc.). I told her that I thought that the best way to learn was to do, so that I would like her to do more and if it was too much, to just asked me to step in and I would. I did have her observe me a few times so that she was able to see me use a few of my classroom management strategies (the hardest part of teaching is classroom management). Stephanie was really pleased to be able to do so much - I don't think she will be doing the same amount next week, though - Pam called her and asked her to do only a one half hour lesson on Monday.
Tuesday night, Dad and I went to the chapel: Dad met with the members of the bishopric (minus the Bishop) and I had an activity for the Valiant girls (aged 8 and 11). Usually my first counsellor does it, but she is away on holidays and I didn't want the girls to miss out for the month. The theme of the night was 'Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy'. We talked about why we keep the Sabbath day holy and what kinds of things are appropriate to do on a Sunday. We then made 'Sabbath Day Boxes' out of cardstock (I printed colour copies off the net) and gave the girls a list of 109 things they could do on Sundays. They made the boxes, put the list inside and then we had a little snack. The girls seemed to enjoy the activity - we will do one about prayer next week.
Dad went to Meals on Wheels this week, but he was an extra person this time - there is one couple who comes and does it once a month - this was their week. So, Dad had some unexpected time off - it was a good thing actually as he wasn't feeling too well that day. He went to SES that evening, but didn't stay long as his tummy was acting up again. It lasted for a couple of days. He went to the Family History Centre on Friday - thankfully, they didn't have any patrons - Dad helped one of our ward members with some family history stuff and then a new computer came and Dad worked on that for the rest of the day.
I was so tired on Friday night that I didn't feel like cooking so Dad and I went to Subway and got a delicious sub to share and went to McDonald's for a chocolate milkshake - both were yummy! We then did nothing that night and spent the next morning relaxing - well, Dad did while I got to chat with you girls and saw only one of my grandchildren (little squishy :-) I went to a Relief Society meeting on Saturday afternoon - it was about being an effective teacher and then afterwards we had some goodies (I wasn't hungry as I had eaten just before I went). But, I like the opportunity to mix and mingle with the sisters so that's why I went. That night, it was more relaxing time - me trying to de-stress and Dad trying to feel better.
I sure hope this coming week will be less tiring! :-) Oh yeah, another thing - Dad has been applying for lots of jobs lately - aviation positions - not in Hervey Bay. I'll let you know how things go as we hear from each company he has applied to.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
I was hoping not to get a call to teach on Tuesday - and I didn't. It was a lovely day (when isn't it ) and so we headed down to the beach to enjoy the ocean again. We took our chairs and set up under a tree with our books and sat and enjoyed the water, the sun and the lovely breeze. I find that we (and by the 'we', I mean a lot of people in HB) take the beach for granted, so I told Dad this week that we need to remember to go down there more often. Tuesday night, I went with Dad to the chapel - while he had his priesthood meeting, I worked on Primary stuff. I have been thinking that it would be a good idea to take that time to get things organized for the following Sunday including getting all of my photocopying done. It was a very productive time and I was glad to get so much done as I was going to be really full-on on Sunday.
I got called in to teach on Wednesday - to a school that I have only been to once before in the time I have been teaching in HB. I had taught Prep there before and this was for a Prep class, too. Last time I had had a great day and this time was the same. The teacher had left a plan, but it needed some extra things which she did not leave (not sure she knew she was going to be away). Thank goodness for her teacher aide, Donna, who was amazing! She basically made up the plan for the day and things went so smoothly. The children were great - there was one little boy who was a bit of a handful (one of the other teachers told me that this little guy would be a handful) and he did go off and had to go to his 'time out' area. After a bit, he came around and was great for the rest of the day. Of course, I made him my 'carpet example' - he really liked being the one who everyone looked to to see what they should be doing. After everyone had left for the day, he came back to the classroom with tears in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he didn't want his teacher to come back, that he wanted me to be his teacher. Awww. :-)
Dad brought my running shoes to pick me up after school and we went down to the beach again, but this time we went for a 50 minute walk. It was low tide and so we didn't get to walk in the water, but rather just walked along the wet sand. I love walking along beside the water - the only drawback is that, by the time we got there, the sun was low on the horizon and so it was going to be in our eyes when we were walking along one way. So, we decided to walk along the beach away from the glare of the sun and then walk back along the boardwalk.
Thursday I did my regular teaching at Torquay - I talked with Pam afterwards about a couple of the kids who I thought were not up to the challenges I was asking of them - so she took those two out of my group and added two more children who she thought might be up to the challenge. I was glad that she took this one little girl out of the group as she was a 'brat' - yeah, I know, I should be kinder, but really, that's how I would describe this little girl, and apparently her mother has told Pam the same thing. Anyway, I am looking forward to next week in the hope that I will be able to really help these children to go a little further in their learning than they would be able to do with being a part of a class of 28 children (that's how many are in Pam's class - crazy to have that many children in a kindergarten class). I'm not sure that I am being very effective with the challenge that I was set up to do, but then I didn't have the cream of the crop in my group, so I am trying not to be too hard on myself.
Dad went to Meals on Wheels Thursday morning and got a different partner this time. His usual partner, Paul was there, but Avis asked Paul if he would come back on Friday as she had an extra person and needed him more the next day. Dad and his partner did the route that he and I used to do in the retirement community called 'Baycrest'. I used to love doing that route as we got to know the people and would chat a little with each of them each week. When I asked Dad if many of our old regulars were on the route that day, though, he said that only a couple were. Dad went to SES Thursday night and was very busy for the whole evening. Since it was the second Thursday of the month, they had a 'support group' meeting - this smaller group within the SES group talks about how their fundraising efforts are going and also vote about things they wish to buy (this time it was whether to buy a display board which is huge and folds down to a briefcase size). The training for the night was a communications exercise based on the training they had received two weeks previously. It was sending, receiving and recording radio messages - however, it was prescripted so it was pretty fast-paced.
On Friday morning, I went over to Torquay to do some assessment of the children I have been working with in Pam's class. I find that I just don't have much time during my usual day and Pam wanted to know some information about what these children knew, so I decided to use my free time that morning to do that. Chantelle saw me and asked me what I was doing - when I told her what it was, she said that I didn't have to do it on my own time - I told her that I just didn't have time to do it during the day on Thursday. She said that she wanted me to do her class instead of Pam's. :-) At 11am, I headed over to Kawungan to eat lunch with the grade two teachers before going into Bronwyn's class for the afternoon (she had 3 hours of curriculum development training to go to). I love her class - they are lovely kids - I am looking forward to the four weeks of teaching I will be doing with them in September/October.
Dad and I went for another beach walk on Saturday afternoon - the weather was lovely (or was it beautiful or was it perfect) and since it was high tide, we got to actually walk in the water which I love to do. The little waves were actually splashing quite high and both Dad and my shorts ended up quite wet and sandy by the end of our walk. It was still wonderful being at the beach - I really love it there. :-)
Today is Mother's Day and so all the talks in Sacrament meeting were about mothers. Dad and I were both assigned to talk today - my talk was on 'The Sacred Role of Mothers' and Dad spoke on 'Women and Mothers in the Scriptures'. I used mostly quotes from the prophets and blog entries from LDS women - Dad used mostly the scriptures in his talk. We both received very positive comments about our talks which is always nice to hear. I really enjoyed giving this talk with stay-at-home mothers not being valued by the world and knowing how important it is for women to do that. Here are a few quotes from my talk:
Spencer W. Kimball: “No matter what you read or hear, no matter what the difference of circumstances you observe in the lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in the highest esteem. He has entrusted to his daughters the great responsibility of bearing and nurturing children.... There is divinity in each new life.”
President N. Eldon Tanner: From the beginning God has made it clear that woman is very special, and he has also very clearly defined her position, her duties, and her destiny in the divine plan. One of woman's greatest privileges, blessings, and opportunities is to be a co-partner with God in bringing his spirit children into the world.
What a glorious concept! No greater honor could be given. With this honor comes the tremendous responsibility of loving and caring for those children so they might learn their duty as citizens and what they must do to return to their Heavenly Father. They must be taught to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and to accept and live his teachings.
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
President Spencer W. Kimball: “Motherhood is near to Divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. To you mothers in Israel we say, God bless and protect you, and give you the strength and courage, the faith and knowledge, the holy love and consecration to duty, that shall enable you to fill to the fullest measure the sacred calling which is yours.
I got called in to teach on Wednesday - to a school that I have only been to once before in the time I have been teaching in HB. I had taught Prep there before and this was for a Prep class, too. Last time I had had a great day and this time was the same. The teacher had left a plan, but it needed some extra things which she did not leave (not sure she knew she was going to be away). Thank goodness for her teacher aide, Donna, who was amazing! She basically made up the plan for the day and things went so smoothly. The children were great - there was one little boy who was a bit of a handful (one of the other teachers told me that this little guy would be a handful) and he did go off and had to go to his 'time out' area. After a bit, he came around and was great for the rest of the day. Of course, I made him my 'carpet example' - he really liked being the one who everyone looked to to see what they should be doing. After everyone had left for the day, he came back to the classroom with tears in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he didn't want his teacher to come back, that he wanted me to be his teacher. Awww. :-)
Dad brought my running shoes to pick me up after school and we went down to the beach again, but this time we went for a 50 minute walk. It was low tide and so we didn't get to walk in the water, but rather just walked along the wet sand. I love walking along beside the water - the only drawback is that, by the time we got there, the sun was low on the horizon and so it was going to be in our eyes when we were walking along one way. So, we decided to walk along the beach away from the glare of the sun and then walk back along the boardwalk.
Thursday I did my regular teaching at Torquay - I talked with Pam afterwards about a couple of the kids who I thought were not up to the challenges I was asking of them - so she took those two out of my group and added two more children who she thought might be up to the challenge. I was glad that she took this one little girl out of the group as she was a 'brat' - yeah, I know, I should be kinder, but really, that's how I would describe this little girl, and apparently her mother has told Pam the same thing. Anyway, I am looking forward to next week in the hope that I will be able to really help these children to go a little further in their learning than they would be able to do with being a part of a class of 28 children (that's how many are in Pam's class - crazy to have that many children in a kindergarten class). I'm not sure that I am being very effective with the challenge that I was set up to do, but then I didn't have the cream of the crop in my group, so I am trying not to be too hard on myself.
Dad went to Meals on Wheels Thursday morning and got a different partner this time. His usual partner, Paul was there, but Avis asked Paul if he would come back on Friday as she had an extra person and needed him more the next day. Dad and his partner did the route that he and I used to do in the retirement community called 'Baycrest'. I used to love doing that route as we got to know the people and would chat a little with each of them each week. When I asked Dad if many of our old regulars were on the route that day, though, he said that only a couple were. Dad went to SES Thursday night and was very busy for the whole evening. Since it was the second Thursday of the month, they had a 'support group' meeting - this smaller group within the SES group talks about how their fundraising efforts are going and also vote about things they wish to buy (this time it was whether to buy a display board which is huge and folds down to a briefcase size). The training for the night was a communications exercise based on the training they had received two weeks previously. It was sending, receiving and recording radio messages - however, it was prescripted so it was pretty fast-paced.
On Friday morning, I went over to Torquay to do some assessment of the children I have been working with in Pam's class. I find that I just don't have much time during my usual day and Pam wanted to know some information about what these children knew, so I decided to use my free time that morning to do that. Chantelle saw me and asked me what I was doing - when I told her what it was, she said that I didn't have to do it on my own time - I told her that I just didn't have time to do it during the day on Thursday. She said that she wanted me to do her class instead of Pam's. :-) At 11am, I headed over to Kawungan to eat lunch with the grade two teachers before going into Bronwyn's class for the afternoon (she had 3 hours of curriculum development training to go to). I love her class - they are lovely kids - I am looking forward to the four weeks of teaching I will be doing with them in September/October.
Dad and I went for another beach walk on Saturday afternoon - the weather was lovely (or was it beautiful or was it perfect
Today is Mother's Day and so all the talks in Sacrament meeting were about mothers. Dad and I were both assigned to talk today - my talk was on 'The Sacred Role of Mothers' and Dad spoke on 'Women and Mothers in the Scriptures'. I used mostly quotes from the prophets and blog entries from LDS women - Dad used mostly the scriptures in his talk. We both received very positive comments about our talks which is always nice to hear. I really enjoyed giving this talk with stay-at-home mothers not being valued by the world and knowing how important it is for women to do that. Here are a few quotes from my talk:
Spencer W. Kimball: “No matter what you read or hear, no matter what the difference of circumstances you observe in the lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in the highest esteem. He has entrusted to his daughters the great responsibility of bearing and nurturing children.... There is divinity in each new life.”
President N. Eldon Tanner: From the beginning God has made it clear that woman is very special, and he has also very clearly defined her position, her duties, and her destiny in the divine plan. One of woman's greatest privileges, blessings, and opportunities is to be a co-partner with God in bringing his spirit children into the world.
What a glorious concept! No greater honor could be given. With this honor comes the tremendous responsibility of loving and caring for those children so they might learn their duty as citizens and what they must do to return to their Heavenly Father. They must be taught to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and to accept and live his teachings.
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
President Spencer W. Kimball: “Motherhood is near to Divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. To you mothers in Israel we say, God bless and protect you, and give you the strength and courage, the faith and knowledge, the holy love and consecration to duty, that shall enable you to fill to the fullest measure the sacred calling which is yours.
After church, Dad and I came home and assembled a pavlova which is our special dessert for Mother's Day. Dad and I bought the ingredients yesterday at the grocery store (and no, we didn't make the pavlova base [meringue] from scratch - we bought one already made) and topped it with cream, mandarines, strawberries, bananas, kiwi and passionfruit. It was most delicious!!! (Sorry Nana :-) I took a pic and have added it along with some from our camping trip last weekend as well - hope you enjoy! :-)
beach at Noosa Heads
man paddling on what appears to be a surfboard
wild turkey
sailing boat at Noosa Heads
Noosa Heads
Dad looking out at ocean at Noosa Heads
pelicans on canal at Tewantin
driving home
sunset in HB when we arrived home
sunset
Mother's Day pavlova
pavlova
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
What a busy week and a lovely, restful weekend. I worked Monday for Tracey at Kawungan - it was a grade two class and Tracey had told me that there was one boy named Jye who was a real handful (as in tipping over his desk and having tantrums) - I woke up very early (around 4am) in the morning that morning and couldn't get back to sleep worrying about how difficult it was going to be. The first three hours went pretty well, so I figured I had it made ................... wrong! When he 'lost it', he tipped over his desk and his glue went flying along with everything else on his desk. He did go outside when I told him to (Tracey had said to just tell him to go outside and cool down and then come back in when he was ready). He did that and began to work well again, but then he lost it again and I finally called the vice principal to come and take him out of the classroom. The rest of the class were fine and we were able to get most done of which Tracey had left for me to do with them. I worked in Bronwyn's class on Wednesday and it was a dream day - she has a lovely class (again) and it was a pleasure to teach them. I did my regular day on Thursday at Torquay and it went fine. Pam, the teacher whose children I work with on Thursday, asked me if I could come in for her on Friday (she has family things going on and needed a day off), so I ended up back in her class on Friday - they are a full-on class, but we managed to get through it.
Dad did his usual this week: mowed the lawn, did the housework, worked at the Family History Centre (ended up working an extra day there due to computer problems), did Meals on Wheels and SES. By Friday, we were both ready to get in some relaxation and so, right after school on Friday, we headed down south. We met Robyn and Geoff at the campground in Yandina, set up the tent and enjoyed the yummy chicken dinner which Geoff and Robyn had cooked for us. Early to bed that night and slept like babies, we did. We then spent Saturday morning at a local market (where I picked up some kids' books and Robyn picked up some plants - the things we love to buy the most :-) We then walked the main street (one block) of Yandina and had a stickybeak in some stores before buying lamingtons and carrot cake from a local bakery and heading back to the campground for a late lunch. Dad and Geoff then headed off to a leadership meeting after that and Robyn and I got into our bathing suits and headed to the pool. I thought it was a heated pool, but it wasn't - it was QUITE cool. We both took a long time to get ourselves wet - we mostly sat on the edge of the pool yakking. :-) I FINALLY got in the water (I wanted to swim and I was going to do it! :-) We stayed at the pool for ages and it was so nice and relaxing. We then went to the Kawana Waters chapel, where the guys were, for the evening session of Stake Conference. The meetings were being webcast to the HB chapel, but Dad and I like to feel a part of the Stake and one way to do that is to actually be at the meetings in person. The talks and music were wonderful that evening and we were spiritual fed really well.
Sunday morning we headed off to the Nambour Civic Centre where the Sunday morning session of Stake Conference was. There isn't enough room anywhere to hold everyone who comes to the Sunday morning session, so that's why it's at the civic centre. We were again spiritually fed - we were especially impressed with one young woman who spoke about the Young Women's program and what she had learned from being a part of YWs and participating in the Personal Progress program. She was so confident and had such a strong testimony and it was great to listen to her talk. We enjoyed listening to all the speakers and it was one of the best Stake Conferences we have been to.
After Stake Conference, we went back to the campground and Geoff and Robyn's son, Mark, daughter-in-law, Naomi, and their four children (aged 2 1/2 to 10) joined us for lunch. After that, we drove down to a seaside city called Maroochydore and went for a walk along the beach before heading back to the unit which Mark and Naomi were staying in. We chatted for a bit and then had a lovely pasta dinner before heading back to the campground for another early night.
Monday morning, we packed everything up and then had a nice big breakfast (eggs, bacon, baked beans, toast) before heading out to Noosa Heads. We met Mark, Naomi and their family again there and went for a walk in the National Park which went along the ocean where surfers were loving the big waves. The idea of going through the park was to see if we could spot any koalas. Dad REALLY wants to see a koala in the wild and we gave it a good go, but it was not to be this time. We did walk along a hiking path for a good hour and enjoyed the warm sun and lovely breeze and being near the water is always good.
Everyone went their own way after that (mid-afternoon) and Dad and I decided to find a McDonald's to get a milkshake before heading home. We wanted to drink it by the ocean, but there weren't any roads along the ocean on the way home, so we found a nice quiet canal to sit beside and drink our shakes - there were four pelicans by the canal and we watched them while we sat there and enjoyed the water, the sun and the lovely weather. :-) A short drive later, we stopped in Gympie, picked up a sub and found a lovely park to sit in and enjoy the food and more of the lovely weather. We were a little sad to be home as we had had such an amazingly beautiful and relaxing weekend and sure would have loved to have more of that. :-)
Dad did his usual this week: mowed the lawn, did the housework, worked at the Family History Centre (ended up working an extra day there due to computer problems), did Meals on Wheels and SES. By Friday, we were both ready to get in some relaxation and so, right after school on Friday, we headed down south. We met Robyn and Geoff at the campground in Yandina, set up the tent and enjoyed the yummy chicken dinner which Geoff and Robyn had cooked for us. Early to bed that night and slept like babies, we did. We then spent Saturday morning at a local market (where I picked up some kids' books and Robyn picked up some plants - the things we love to buy the most :-) We then walked the main street (one block) of Yandina and had a stickybeak in some stores before buying lamingtons and carrot cake from a local bakery and heading back to the campground for a late lunch. Dad and Geoff then headed off to a leadership meeting after that and Robyn and I got into our bathing suits and headed to the pool. I thought it was a heated pool, but it wasn't - it was QUITE cool. We both took a long time to get ourselves wet - we mostly sat on the edge of the pool yakking. :-) I FINALLY got in the water (I wanted to swim and I was going to do it! :-) We stayed at the pool for ages and it was so nice and relaxing. We then went to the Kawana Waters chapel, where the guys were, for the evening session of Stake Conference. The meetings were being webcast to the HB chapel, but Dad and I like to feel a part of the Stake and one way to do that is to actually be at the meetings in person. The talks and music were wonderful that evening and we were spiritual fed really well.
Sunday morning we headed off to the Nambour Civic Centre where the Sunday morning session of Stake Conference was. There isn't enough room anywhere to hold everyone who comes to the Sunday morning session, so that's why it's at the civic centre. We were again spiritually fed - we were especially impressed with one young woman who spoke about the Young Women's program and what she had learned from being a part of YWs and participating in the Personal Progress program. She was so confident and had such a strong testimony and it was great to listen to her talk. We enjoyed listening to all the speakers and it was one of the best Stake Conferences we have been to.
After Stake Conference, we went back to the campground and Geoff and Robyn's son, Mark, daughter-in-law, Naomi, and their four children (aged 2 1/2 to 10) joined us for lunch. After that, we drove down to a seaside city called Maroochydore and went for a walk along the beach before heading back to the unit which Mark and Naomi were staying in. We chatted for a bit and then had a lovely pasta dinner before heading back to the campground for another early night.
Monday morning, we packed everything up and then had a nice big breakfast (eggs, bacon, baked beans, toast) before heading out to Noosa Heads. We met Mark, Naomi and their family again there and went for a walk in the National Park which went along the ocean where surfers were loving the big waves. The idea of going through the park was to see if we could spot any koalas. Dad REALLY wants to see a koala in the wild and we gave it a good go, but it was not to be this time. We did walk along a hiking path for a good hour and enjoyed the warm sun and lovely breeze and being near the water is always good.
Everyone went their own way after that (mid-afternoon) and Dad and I decided to find a McDonald's to get a milkshake before heading home. We wanted to drink it by the ocean, but there weren't any roads along the ocean on the way home, so we found a nice quiet canal to sit beside and drink our shakes - there were four pelicans by the canal and we watched them while we sat there and enjoyed the water, the sun and the lovely weather. :-) A short drive later, we stopped in Gympie, picked up a sub and found a lovely park to sit in and enjoy the food and more of the lovely weather. We were a little sad to be home as we had had such an amazingly beautiful and relaxing weekend and sure would have loved to have more of that. :-)
Sunday, April 29, 2012
What a week! Sometimes I just don't know what to do about teaching in Hervey Bay - sometimes, I really enjoy it and other times, I just want to get out of it. On Monday, Dad and I were doing a crossword puzzle in bed when I got a phone call some time between 8am and 8:30am from Kawungan asking if I would come in for two hours for Luise. She has a lovely grade one class, so I do enjoy going in there. But, it was so late that I didn't know if I could make it on time. Luise had been given a doctor's appointment in the morning at the last minute and so I said 'yes'. I didn't even take time to wash my hair and was at the school within half an hour. I had a lovely two hours in her class and told her that she can be away any time she likes. :-) BUT, then on Tuesday, I got a call about 8am to go into teach a grade two class at Torquay. I have never had that class, but I was worried as I had been told by one of their teachers that they were feral (which means challenging - although Dad says 'nasty' :-) Well, there were 24 kids and about 16 or 17 were fabulous, but the rest were not and it made for a very hard and stressful day. So much so, that I told Dad that he had to take me to get a 'Magnum' ice cream bar after school. :-) Those ice-cream are so amazingly delicious and really take away the stress. I had my contract day of teaching on Thursday and everything went well on that day. So, I don't know where my head is at right now re: teaching - on the good days, I am so happy to be in that profession, but on the 'nasty' days, I just want to go back to RJ Lee to teach. How frustrating not to love what I am doing these days after having so many wonderful years of doing what I love.
Dad spent the week doing stuff around the house and, of course, doing his volunteer work. He spent many hours one day mowing the lawn, trimming it and spraying it with fertilizer and weed control. He was quite done when he was finished. On Anzac Day (Wednesday), Dad went to help out with traffic control with the SES for the Veteran's parade. When the SES were getting their assignments from the #2 guy at SES, he told Dad that the #1 person (a woman) at SES wanted him (Dad) to carry and lay the wreath from the SES up to the cenotaph. Dad was very pleased and honoured to be asked to do this. There are pictures at the end of the blog which were taken by an SES volunteer and by the local newspaper.
We were going to go to the beach on Saturday, but it turned out to be a very rainy day and so we ended up staying inside. I love living by the beach, but when I work so much, it turns out that I don't get to go as often as I would like. So, when we get a day to go and it rains, it's so disappointing.
Church was going as usual on Sunday when, during our Sacrament meeting, our Bishop and his first counsellor got up and went to the back of the chapel. Dad turned around and said that they were going down to help Brother Pearce who appeared to be slumped in his chair. He is an older gentleman whose wife died last year. They took him into the family history room and called for an ambulance. Both Cherylyn and Trudy (sisters who are nurses) went into the room as well to assist. Dad went back to ask Alastair (a psychiatrist with basic medical training), the first counsellor, if he would like him to continue with the meeting and Alastair said 'yes'. So, we continued on. Part of the way through the second talk, Bishop came to the front and asked us all to vacate the chapel. As we were doing this, the paramedics came into the chapel to attend to Neville. A few minutes later, they came out with Neville on a stretcher and took him to the hospital. We all came back into the chapel and Bishop cancelled our Sacrament meeting and Alastair ended the meeting with a special prayer for Brother Pearce. We are all worried about Neville and will continue to pray for him.
So, that's our big week - some good, some bad, some happy, some sad - sounds like life, eh?
Dad spent the week doing stuff around the house and, of course, doing his volunteer work. He spent many hours one day mowing the lawn, trimming it and spraying it with fertilizer and weed control. He was quite done when he was finished. On Anzac Day (Wednesday), Dad went to help out with traffic control with the SES for the Veteran's parade. When the SES were getting their assignments from the #2 guy at SES, he told Dad that the #1 person (a woman) at SES wanted him (Dad) to carry and lay the wreath from the SES up to the cenotaph. Dad was very pleased and honoured to be asked to do this. There are pictures at the end of the blog which were taken by an SES volunteer and by the local newspaper.
We were going to go to the beach on Saturday, but it turned out to be a very rainy day and so we ended up staying inside.
Church was going as usual on Sunday when, during our Sacrament meeting, our Bishop and his first counsellor got up and went to the back of the chapel. Dad turned around and said that they were going down to help Brother Pearce who appeared to be slumped in his chair. He is an older gentleman whose wife died last year. They took him into the family history room and called for an ambulance. Both Cherylyn and Trudy (sisters who are nurses) went into the room as well to assist. Dad went back to ask Alastair (a psychiatrist with basic medical training), the first counsellor, if he would like him to continue with the meeting and Alastair said 'yes'. So, we continued on. Part of the way through the second talk, Bishop came to the front and asked us all to vacate the chapel. As we were doing this, the paramedics came into the chapel to attend to Neville. A few minutes later, they came out with Neville on a stretcher and took him to the hospital. We all came back into the chapel and Bishop cancelled our Sacrament meeting and Alastair ended the meeting with a special prayer for Brother Pearce. We are all worried about Neville and will continue to pray for him.
So, that's our big week - some good, some bad, some happy, some sad - sounds like life, eh?
Dad walking the parade route behind the Emergency Services cadets (newspapter photo)
Dad walking the parade route in front of the Emergency Services scouts (newspaper photo)
Dad walking up to the cenotaph with two Emergency Services cadets.
Dad laying the SES wreath at the cenotaph.
A moment of silence and respect.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
A very busy week although not all with school. Monday was my first day of my one-day-a-week contract at Torquay SS. Pam, the teacher I am working with, gave me a list of eight children to work with, of which six were there that day. I had planned a ton of activities so that I could find out what their abilities are - that way, I can best plan for the group in the coming weeks. Pam had said that I would be working with the top children in her class so that I could extend them - however, she has given me two different ability groups (I'm guessing her top group and her second top group). So, my activities are going to have to be more differentiated than I was hoping, but that's the way Pam wants to do it, and Neil, the deputy principal who asked me to do this contract, told me that I was to do whatever Pam wanted. I will be able to work in the library in a small room so that will be really good (no distractions). During the day, the principal, Angelique, came and spoke with Pam and then they both talked to me and said that Thursdays would work better for Pam and would that work for me - I said it would.
On Tuesday, I went into Kawungan to volunteer with Bronwyn - still trying to get to know these children who I will be teaching later on this year. I spent most of the day working with children reviewing word lists, math activities and others who had missed work because they had been absent from school. While I was outside after first break, Luise Wotton, who teaches grade one (I was supposed to take her 8 week contract last year before I was offered the 22 week one at Torquay) saw me and was so pleased. She wasn't feeling well and really wanted to take a day off, but doesn't like to get just anyone to cover her class. Someone had told her that I was in the school that day and she told Jan, the deputy principal, that she would only take me to cover her class. That made me feel really good. :-)
So, on Wednesday, I went into Kawungan to teach Luise's class and they are a beautiful group of children. Luise had left a ton of work to do and so we just kept going and going all day. The children listened well when I was talking with them and worked well when I sent them back to their desks. They are a bit chatty, but I can't say much about that since I was a chatty student when I was young (Jennifer, you come by it honestly). :-) I told the students that I didn't mind if they talked as long as they worked at the same time. I had a wonderful day and hope that Luise has to take more days off this year - I can't wait to work with her class again!
I was pleased not to be called on Thursday or Friday as I had a lot of stuff that I needed to get done at home. I spent most of my time working on Primary stuff, my Mother's Day talk and my application to teach permanently or for a longer period than half a year. There just seems to be a lot on my plate right now, so it was great to have the time to work on things. I was able to get my Primary stuff done, my talk basically done (I'm going on to my third draft) and started my 'Personal Statement' for my teacher application. The personal statement can be no more than 500 words (it's at 1,000 words right now) which talks about my beliefs as a teacher and also how I incorporate different things into my classroom. I will be working on all those things again this week, so hopefully I won't get called in to teach too much.
Dad spent his week working on a few things. He spent a couple of days working on our old digital camera. He has decided to take up the hobby of photography - he has wanted to do this for many years, but hasn't really had the time to put into it - he has now. Dad tried to turn the camera on, but it wouldn't do it. The camera is old and, as Dad researched about it on the net, he found out that it would cost too much to have someone else fix it compared to the cost of buying a new one. So, he took it apart to see if he could fix it and then tried to put it back together. He found out what the problem was with it, but it would cost too much to fix it. So, he spent some time researching other cameras of the same model (used) so that he could buy one and use parts from both cameras to make one good camera. I told him that I thought that he should just buy a new camera, but he's not sure he wants to put out that kind of money at this point. The rest of the week, Dad did a bunch of things around the house - there always seems to be tons of stuff to do around here.
On Saturday, I left Dad at home to piddle around some more and I went out to lunch with my Primary counsellors, Maureen and Debbie, and Denise, who was just released as our secretary. We drove over to Maryborough (where Debbie lives) and went to a chinese food restaurant. The food was quite yummy, but even better was the chance to hang out with my friends for a few hours - chatting and eating and then stickybeaking around in a knick knack store which Maureen wanted to go to. Dad and I were invited to Trudy and Peter's place (friends from church) for dinner that night (so I got to eat out twice on Saturday - nice, eh? :-) Trudy cooked us a yummy roast chicken and vegetable meal and we enjoyed getting to know Trudy and Peter better (as well as Trudy's mom who was visiting - she used to be in our ward and I was her visiting teacher then).
Our Sunday, as always, was wonderful. Caleb, who just returned from his mission from Taiwan, spoke to us about the atonement and then we had the high council speaker speak to us. Primary was as busy as always, but I did get through it. I gave the lesson to our one little nursery boy, then gave a short talk to the Primary children as well as gave the Sharing Time lesson. After church, Dad went to choir practice and I had a meeting with my Primary counsellors. After my meeting, Talia (our only young woman in our ward) asked me if I would talk at a fireside the youth are having on Tuesday night. She told me that she knew it was really short notice, but that it would only have to be 5 - 10 minutes. She is such a sweet girl that I said that I would do it (she was quite relieved as my name was already on the program :-) So, I spent this afternoon working on that talk. While I was preparing that, Tammy (one of the R.S. counsellors) called me to ask if I would lead a workshop on the 19th of May. I told her that if it was at any other time, I would willingly take it on, but with all that was on my plate right now, it would be just too much right now. She totally understood once I explained to her all that I was doing in the month of May. I felt a little bad, but I know that it would just be way too stressful to take on anything else at this point.
On Tuesday, I went into Kawungan to volunteer with Bronwyn - still trying to get to know these children who I will be teaching later on this year. I spent most of the day working with children reviewing word lists, math activities and others who had missed work because they had been absent from school. While I was outside after first break, Luise Wotton, who teaches grade one (I was supposed to take her 8 week contract last year before I was offered the 22 week one at Torquay) saw me and was so pleased. She wasn't feeling well and really wanted to take a day off, but doesn't like to get just anyone to cover her class. Someone had told her that I was in the school that day and she told Jan, the deputy principal, that she would only take me to cover her class. That made me feel really good. :-)
So, on Wednesday, I went into Kawungan to teach Luise's class and they are a beautiful group of children. Luise had left a ton of work to do and so we just kept going and going all day. The children listened well when I was talking with them and worked well when I sent them back to their desks. They are a bit chatty, but I can't say much about that since I was a chatty student when I was young (Jennifer, you come by it honestly
I was pleased not to be called on Thursday or Friday as I had a lot of stuff that I needed to get done at home. I spent most of my time working on Primary stuff, my Mother's Day talk and my application to teach permanently or for a longer period than half a year. There just seems to be a lot on my plate right now, so it was great to have the time to work on things. I was able to get my Primary stuff done, my talk basically done (I'm going on to my third draft) and started my 'Personal Statement' for my teacher application. The personal statement can be no more than 500 words (it's at 1,000 words right now) which talks about my beliefs as a teacher and also how I incorporate different things into my classroom. I will be working on all those things again this week, so hopefully I won't get called in to teach too much.
Dad spent his week working on a few things. He spent a couple of days working on our old digital camera. He has decided to take up the hobby of photography - he has wanted to do this for many years, but hasn't really had the time to put into it - he has now. Dad tried to turn the camera on, but it wouldn't do it. The camera is old and, as Dad researched about it on the net, he found out that it would cost too much to have someone else fix it compared to the cost of buying a new one. So, he took it apart to see if he could fix it and then tried to put it back together. He found out what the problem was with it, but it would cost too much to fix it. So, he spent some time researching other cameras of the same model (used) so that he could buy one and use parts from both cameras to make one good camera. I told him that I thought that he should just buy a new camera, but he's not sure he wants to put out that kind of money at this point. The rest of the week, Dad did a bunch of things around the house - there always seems to be tons of stuff to do around here.
On Saturday, I left Dad at home to piddle around some more and I went out to lunch with my Primary counsellors, Maureen and Debbie, and Denise, who was just released as our secretary. We drove over to Maryborough (where Debbie lives) and went to a chinese food restaurant. The food was quite yummy, but even better was the chance to hang out with my friends for a few hours - chatting and eating and then stickybeaking around in a knick knack store which Maureen wanted to go to. Dad and I were invited to Trudy and Peter's place (friends from church) for dinner that night (so I got to eat out twice on Saturday - nice, eh? :-) Trudy cooked us a yummy roast chicken and vegetable meal and we enjoyed getting to know Trudy and Peter better (as well as Trudy's mom who was visiting - she used to be in our ward and I was her visiting teacher then).
Our Sunday, as always, was wonderful. Caleb, who just returned from his mission from Taiwan, spoke to us about the atonement and then we had the high council speaker speak to us. Primary was as busy as always, but I did get through it. I gave the lesson to our one little nursery boy, then gave a short talk to the Primary children as well as gave the Sharing Time lesson. After church, Dad went to choir practice and I had a meeting with my Primary counsellors. After my meeting, Talia (our only young woman in our ward) asked me if I would talk at a fireside the youth are having on Tuesday night. She told me that she knew it was really short notice, but that it would only have to be 5 - 10 minutes. She is such a sweet girl that I said that I would do it (she was quite relieved as my name was already on the program :-) So, I spent this afternoon working on that talk. While I was preparing that, Tammy (one of the R.S. counsellors) called me to ask if I would lead a workshop on the 19th of May. I told her that if it was at any other time, I would willingly take it on, but with all that was on my plate right now, it would be just too much right now. She totally understood once I explained to her all that I was doing in the month of May. I felt a little bad, but I know that it would just be way too stressful to take on anything else at this point.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Well, I am sad to say that our vacation is over - well, mine is anyway - school starts again tomorrow. I was planning on doing some school work during the week, but I didn't get to it until Friday. :-) It was just so nice to be able to relax that we kept on doing it. :-)
On Monday, my friend, Robyn and I went visiting teaching together so we had a lovely time chatting with our friends and leaving them a message about Easter. On Tuesday, Dad and I met up with Robyn and Geoff for lunch at the Kondari Hotel (where my friend, Denise, took me for lunch last week) and we had a delicious roast pork dinner with orange cake for dessert (including a salad bar and all for $8.90). It was really nice to go out and spend more time chatting with our friends. After lunch, we went out back of the hotel to see the turtles in the pond out there. We spent a while just enjoying being outside near the water and in the lovely warm sun. :-) After that, Dad and I went down to the beach for a walk along the water - it was a perfect day for doing that. We went back to the beach on Wednesday morning hoping to enjoy the morning on the beach. We were there for about half an hour (reading and doing puzzles) when we decided to go for a swim in the ocean. Just then, it began to rain (rats!), so we had to pack everything up and come home. :-(
On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and things went much more smoothly this week compared to last week. The people are so appreciative of us bringing them their meals and it's so nice to do this for them. We spent the afternoon doing home teaching and visiting teaching and in the evening, Dad went to his SES meeting and I worked on my talk which is going to be on Mother's Day. Friday, Dad went to the Family History Centre and I went and had a spa pedicure and manicure with Robyn. I had received a gift card from two of my students at the end of the year last year for our grocery store. I told Dad that I was going to use the money from that to do something for myself and a pedi/mani was my choice (I did have to put in a little bit more money to pay for it :-) It was so amazing to be spoiled for an hour - I chose a rust coloured nail polish (pics underneath the blog) - and I can't wait to do it again (likely in another year or so :-). When I got home from that, I worked on school stuff, getting ready for tomorrow (my first day at my new contract in Kindergarten). I am sure that I have way too much stuff, but since the teacher wasn't really sure about what she wanted me to do, I figured I would get tons of stuff organized and then see what she wants me to do from that and then I will know better next week what to get organized.
On Saturday, it was great to talk with and see all my beautiful grandchildren (oh yeah, and you girls -. Dad had to go and do recertification with the SES - it was about providing basic emergency life support which includes performing CPR - you have to recertify every year for this. Dad said that there were about 15 people there and the fellow who taught it is a doctor and a member of the SES, so he volunteers his time to do this refresher training. Dad said that he found the training an excellent refresher of the emergency skills. While he was doing that, I worked more on school stuff. At 5pm, our friends, Geoff and Robyn and Alistair and Haidi came over to our house for dinner. I didn't time things very well and so we didn't eat until 6:30pm, but that just gave us time to talk while we waited. We had a roast chicken dinner with mud cake and ice-cream for dessert and had a wonderful time eating and chatting with our friends.
Today was Conference Day at church - General Conference was actually on March 31st/April 1st, but because of the time difference between here and North America, we usually download the Conference from the internet and watch it the following Saturday/Sunday. But, this year, Easter was the following weekend and so we watched Conference this weekend. It was wonderful to listen to all the talks and especially to hear our prophet speak to us - it was a very uplifting Sunday for us. :-)
On Monday, my friend, Robyn and I went visiting teaching together so we had a lovely time chatting with our friends and leaving them a message about Easter. On Tuesday, Dad and I met up with Robyn and Geoff for lunch at the Kondari Hotel (where my friend, Denise, took me for lunch last week) and we had a delicious roast pork dinner with orange cake for dessert (including a salad bar and all for $8.90). It was really nice to go out and spend more time chatting with our friends. After lunch, we went out back of the hotel to see the turtles in the pond out there. We spent a while just enjoying being outside near the water and in the lovely warm sun. :-) After that, Dad and I went down to the beach for a walk along the water - it was a perfect day for doing that. We went back to the beach on Wednesday morning hoping to enjoy the morning on the beach. We were there for about half an hour (reading and doing puzzles) when we decided to go for a swim in the ocean. Just then, it began to rain (rats!), so we had to pack everything up and come home. :-(
On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and things went much more smoothly this week compared to last week. The people are so appreciative of us bringing them their meals and it's so nice to do this for them. We spent the afternoon doing home teaching and visiting teaching and in the evening, Dad went to his SES meeting and I worked on my talk which is going to be on Mother's Day. Friday, Dad went to the Family History Centre and I went and had a spa pedicure and manicure with Robyn. I had received a gift card from two of my students at the end of the year last year for our grocery store. I told Dad that I was going to use the money from that to do something for myself and a pedi/mani was my choice (I did have to put in a little bit more money to pay for it :-) It was so amazing to be spoiled for an hour - I chose a rust coloured nail polish (pics underneath the blog) - and I can't wait to do it again (likely in another year or so :-). When I got home from that, I worked on school stuff, getting ready for tomorrow (my first day at my new contract in Kindergarten). I am sure that I have way too much stuff, but since the teacher wasn't really sure about what she wanted me to do, I figured I would get tons of stuff organized and then see what she wants me to do from that and then I will know better next week what to get organized.
On Saturday, it was great to talk with and see all my beautiful grandchildren (oh yeah, and you girls -
Today was Conference Day at church - General Conference was actually on March 31st/April 1st, but because of the time difference between here and North America, we usually download the Conference from the internet and watch it the following Saturday/Sunday. But, this year, Easter was the following weekend and so we watched Conference this weekend. It was wonderful to listen to all the talks and especially to hear our prophet speak to us - it was a very uplifting Sunday for us. :-)
Sunday, April 8, 2012
It sure is lovely being on holidays this week - it's been a bit of a busy week and a bit of a lazy week. On Monday, I went out for lunch with some friends from Kawungan School - a few of the teachers were getting together for a teacher's birthday (who I didn't know) and one of the teachers asked me if I would like to come, too. So, since food and chatting are two of my favourite things, I went along and had a lovely time. When teachers get together, most of the talk is about school, of course. I added some to the conversation, but most of the time, I just listened. On Tuesday, my friend, Denise, from church took me out for my birthday. We went to the same restaurant which Dad and I had gone to for my birthday - the Kondari Hotel. On Tuesday, they have a special for $8.95 which gets you a roast dinner (we had pork), all-you-can-eat salad, and a dessert (cake with cream). The meal was really delicious and filling. Denise and I had a lovely long chat while we ate. Afterwards, we went out back to the pond to check out what was there. As we walked down to the pond, all these turtles (about 30 of them) came swimming over to us. Denise thinks that people must feed them and so, when they see people coming down to the pond, they all swim over. They were small turtles and so cute looking up at us from the water. That night, Dad and I went to the Bishop's for dinner - I had talked with the Bishop and his wife on Sunday to see if we could come and visit on Tuesday to home teach them (Dad and I are home teaching companions) and Diana invited us for dinner - always a nice thing. :-) We had a great time chatting and eating with them - Diana is so funny and both of them are so easy to talk with. We had a really good discussion about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I mentioned how comforting it was to know that I would see Poppy again because of what Jesus did. It was really good to have such a nice gospel discussion.
On Wednesday, I went visiting teaching with Robyn. Her companion has moved and my companion is away for a couple of months, so we decided to combine our lists and be companions for now. I just love visiting teaching - it's great having some time to get to know the sisters better (just don't have time on a Sunday, especially with being in Primary) and also to have a gospel discussion about the message of the month. We visited with four sisters (two of them are mother and daughter) and enjoyed ourselves very much.
On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and what a shmozzle that turned out to be. Since it is Easter weekend and no deliveries were going to be made on Good Friday, we had to deliver two meals to some of the people. That would have been okay, but they also said that the desserts would be different for each day, but had put down that the dessert for Thursday was chocolate mousse, but we figured out later that it was actually Friday's dessert, so a couple of people at the end received the same dessert for both days (I figured that they could handle that, though :-) Also, because of the double meals, we got away more than an hour later that we would usually do, so some of our clients were a bit concerned about whether we were coming or not. We finally got done and with only a couple of uh-ohs, so we were pleased about that.
After that, we went to see a camping trailer which we had seen advertized on the internet. The trailer was a 2006 model and they were asking $18,900 which was definitely above our budget, but we really wanted to look at this kind of trailer as it is so easy to put up - takes about five minutes. This trailer was first owned by a couple who had to sell it after a few years as one of them got ill. The couple who own it now have had it for about a year and they had found that they weren't using it as much as they thought they would. We absolutely loved it - it was in immaculate condition and had some extras which would add to the experience of camping. I would have loved to have bought it right then and there, but of course, we didn't. We are seriously thinking about it, although there's no way we could offer anywhere close to what they are asking. We are kind of hoping that no-one else will want to buy it and that this couple will want to just get rid of the trailer and accept our offer - we will keep you posted.
On Friday, Dad and I had the best lazy day ever - we never even got out of our jammies all day and most of the day we spent in bed, mostly doing crossword puzzles, reading or being on the computer - it was such a wonderfully lazy day and very much wanted and needed.
We had decided on Saturday that we wanted to get out of the house and go for a drive somewhere. We originally were going to go for a river cruise on the Mary River in Maryborough which is about half an hour from HB. However, we ended up driving down to a place called Nanango (about 3 hours from HB) to see a camping trailer (like the one we had last in Canada). My friend's sister was selling it and, although they weren't at home, they told us that we could go and have a look at it. We were excited to see it as it was up for sale for only $3,800 and we figured that we could buy this one and have it until we retired and then we would buy a nicer one to travel around Australia with later on. It was a lovely drive down there and, on the way, we stopped at a little town called Goomeri (pronounced G-mary) where we had a most delicious hamburger with fries at a local take-away. The trailer itself was quite disappointing - it was really old and it showed in a lot of ways. If we had bought it, we would have had to put in a lot of work to make it ready to use.
Today was a lovely way to end the week - it was an Easter Sacrament meeting today and it was nice to listen to the talks reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us and of the gift of the resurrection for all of us. We were invited over for dinner to Leanne and Bill's place which was a nice way to end the day - their two teenage boys were there along with two church friends and we ate and chatted for a couple of hours before heading home. This coming week is going to be another one which will be a little bit busy and a little bit lazy - we are both looking forward to it.
On Wednesday, I went visiting teaching with Robyn. Her companion has moved and my companion is away for a couple of months, so we decided to combine our lists and be companions for now. I just love visiting teaching - it's great having some time to get to know the sisters better (just don't have time on a Sunday, especially with being in Primary) and also to have a gospel discussion about the message of the month. We visited with four sisters (two of them are mother and daughter) and enjoyed ourselves very much.
On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and what a shmozzle that turned out to be. Since it is Easter weekend and no deliveries were going to be made on Good Friday, we had to deliver two meals to some of the people. That would have been okay, but they also said that the desserts would be different for each day, but had put down that the dessert for Thursday was chocolate mousse, but we figured out later that it was actually Friday's dessert, so a couple of people at the end received the same dessert for both days (I figured that they could handle that, though :-) Also, because of the double meals, we got away more than an hour later that we would usually do, so some of our clients were a bit concerned about whether we were coming or not. We finally got done and with only a couple of uh-ohs, so we were pleased about that.
After that, we went to see a camping trailer which we had seen advertized on the internet. The trailer was a 2006 model and they were asking $18,900 which was definitely above our budget, but we really wanted to look at this kind of trailer as it is so easy to put up - takes about five minutes. This trailer was first owned by a couple who had to sell it after a few years as one of them got ill. The couple who own it now have had it for about a year and they had found that they weren't using it as much as they thought they would. We absolutely loved it - it was in immaculate condition and had some extras which would add to the experience of camping. I would have loved to have bought it right then and there, but of course, we didn't. We are seriously thinking about it, although there's no way we could offer anywhere close to what they are asking. We are kind of hoping that no-one else will want to buy it and that this couple will want to just get rid of the trailer and accept our offer - we will keep you posted.
On Friday, Dad and I had the best lazy day ever - we never even got out of our jammies all day and most of the day we spent in bed, mostly doing crossword puzzles, reading or being on the computer - it was such a wonderfully lazy day and very much wanted and needed.
We had decided on Saturday that we wanted to get out of the house and go for a drive somewhere. We originally were going to go for a river cruise on the Mary River in Maryborough which is about half an hour from HB. However, we ended up driving down to a place called Nanango (about 3 hours from HB) to see a camping trailer (like the one we had last in Canada). My friend's sister was selling it and, although they weren't at home, they told us that we could go and have a look at it. We were excited to see it as it was up for sale for only $3,800 and we figured that we could buy this one and have it until we retired and then we would buy a nicer one to travel around Australia with later on. It was a lovely drive down there and, on the way, we stopped at a little town called Goomeri (pronounced G-mary) where we had a most delicious hamburger with fries at a local take-away. The trailer itself was quite disappointing - it was really old and it showed in a lot of ways. If we had bought it, we would have had to put in a lot of work to make it ready to use.
Today was a lovely way to end the week - it was an Easter Sacrament meeting today and it was nice to listen to the talks reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us and of the gift of the resurrection for all of us. We were invited over for dinner to Leanne and Bill's place which was a nice way to end the day - their two teenage boys were there along with two church friends and we ate and chatted for a couple of hours before heading home. This coming week is going to be another one which will be a little bit busy and a little bit lazy - we are both looking forward to it.
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