Time to Replace the Car

Replacing the car has been on the list of things to do for several years.  I had tried to delay it until I had paid down my mortgage to a certain level.  But alas after more than six months of filling up the oil every week, then the water started to vanish as well.  The Bluetooth stopped working...and the frustration started to mount. 

The local mechanic was not helpful in alleviating the oil issue, so eventually it became time to part, before the engine went up in a gush of flames!  After picking out what I would like as a new car, said partner weighed in with the reminder that there are five in the family, and therefore I needed to compromise for this vehicle.

My initial reaction was not so excited, but after awhile and a few more litres of oil, and a price check on other options, I started to come around to the idea.  After scouring the net to determine what the deal should look like, I headed down to the Coast to chat to a dealer who had a demo model listed for sale.  The sales lady made sure I was comfortable for the discussion.

Supposedly the mini muffin, English breakfast tea and the soft drink was to limber me up for a easy sale.  I had planned a teleconference with a customer at 3:00 PM, so after the spiel on the test drive and the very scripted process of getting me to the pointy end of the pricing discussion, I politely referenced the pre-existing appointment, and left the lady hanging with an unfinished negotiation.

Meanwhile back home, the negotiation had to continue.  After the test drive I was happy to purchase the compromise vehicle, whilst the partner had done the 360 and thought the compromise vehicle was too small.  After some discussions the green light was signalled.  Promptly at 9:00 AM on the Monday morning, the lovely sales lady had rung to continue the journey.  By this time I was looking at some $600 of tyres which needed to be fitted at the end of the week, so I was keen to get the price in the desired range, and exit before the weekend.  Now the sales lady was backing up on end of month, and she needed the deal to go through that week also!  Turns out the deal was struck within a few minutes.

Fate then through in a customer meeting back down the Coast later that week, so I modified the schedule to allow time to swing by and swap vehicles.  Very slick process of having the personalised plates zipped from one vehicle to the next, then off to the display room to have the unveiling of the personalised plaque, said photo with the ribbon, and a flash of what's in the boot?

Matching hats for us both, Moet Champagne, wine glasses and Belgium chocolates.  Very nice!
 

Partner Surprise

http://www.firebirds.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/web122.jpg

Each year I love to attend live concerts and sporting events, I actually plan them into my annual goals program.  However, I had not ever been to a netball game.  In a general conversation whilst passing an advertising sign, dear partner let slip that a visit to watch the Firebirds play, was on the list of things to do.


Mental note made, and off I went to pick up a couple of surprise tickets, and an afternoon babysitter.  The games was really excellent, much better than I had anticipated.  The middle child is a sporting nut, and was quite disappointed at not making the starting two to see the netball.  Given the low price of the tickets in comparison to other professional sporting events, I will pick him up a ticket for a match next season.

Project - Front Fence

With a block of land spanning more than 3000 square metres, it feels like the fencing has been a never ending process over the fifteen years.  Thankfully, this is the last piece of the puzzle.  Although not scheduled to be done at this stage, the migration plan for cohabitation has commenced, and the family of five comes with a Golden Retriever.

Tonight upon arriving home, the hedges of the past decade have been torn out, and the foundations for the new wall are underway.

 

New Pets

After some local rain during vacation time, the girls managed to locate a tribe of snails.  Apparently Sam is a water snail, and Crystal is just your run of the mill snail.  After living at school for the past few days, the Director has instructed that the snails are relocated.  Given my child was one of the finders, she was desperate for her two snails to come home.

After several days of nagging me about what snails eat, do and how they live with friends....I finally agreed that the two gross little critters could come home.  We stopped by the cheap store to pick them up a new container, as I refused to let any of my current food containers become a new habitat for slimy and disgusting creatures, even if they do have names.

The next challenge was air holes for breathing.  I managed to find a very small drill bit and create some very professional air holes.  The child was bounding up and down with excitement.  She also whisked off the milk lid to create a bath tub of filtered water fun for the newbies.+
 

Lettuce was dished up in small bite sized bits, and the snail "schedule" was consulted.  We can feed them apples, mangoes, lettuce, carrots, limes...blah...blah...did I mention they I still think they are disgusting, and they have been banished to the laundry to live.  I have been told that they sleep and are awake at random times, of course I think that they are dead, but then Ruby the aquarium snail did lots of random things as well, and I often thought she was dead.

 

I am hoping this is a flash in the pan, well not literally given that we are not French!!  I have said at the appropriate time they should be set free to live their lives on the acreage :-)

 

Onesies....

I really don't understand the onesie craze.  I mean, "onesie" how is that even a real word.  Regrettably my 20 year old niece has decided to hand down her onsie to my nine year old.  Understandably the 20 year old is tiny, and the nine year old is tall....but the small adult size onesie is really way too big for both of them.

As you can imagine from the picture, eeyore has a long tail that seems to entice Mummy on the way up the hall each night.  So I skip along behind trying to land on it, giggling away that eeyore seems to have a really really saggy butt! 

The mornings are the funniest, you can never see the youngsters head, just a donkey lying on the pillow. 

Nutty Professor Lives Here

When we get birthday or Christmas gifts of things to do, I usually pull out a stack of the items and place them in the cupboard for future use.  This saves the everything open at one time, without really taking in each of the gifts. Consequently we have a misc cupboard of fun that gets used on those times when technology has been mandated to off and the instant boredom cry erupts "but I have nothing to do!"

On this occasion when I returned to the living room, the following spread was in play. 

Certainly looks like the Nutty Professor is in the middle of more than concocting bath bombs.   Hmm, maybe I should re-check the internet usage to ensure that no other ingredients are on the way for making bath bombs!!

Easter Bunny Lives On

As we approach ten this year, the chances of Easter Bunny continuing, diminish.  So it's a small blessing to still get to experience these precious moments.  These days the amount of help required by Mummy is almost negligible, with self sufficiency kicking in.

 

 

This year Easter Bunny also got a hand made carrot card.   But what she wanted most was for Easter Bunny to wake her up, so she could just get a glimpse of him.  When I explained that as old I was, I had never been able to meet him myself. After a few days of pondering, she decided that if he could just slip a photo under her pillow, that would suffice.

After a few days of pondering myself, I came up with a solution that may just work.  I decided to create a desktop background for her laptop, with an image of Easter Bunny, but his face wasn't facing the camera!

 

 

Of course, the. I needed to get her to turn the laptop on to see the handiwork!

 

 

Then to carefully arrange the display for completeness. 

 

 

The end result was super, and there was a shriek of delight very early the following morning, as well as some light hearted amusement at being outwitted by the Easter Bunny. She has vowed next year to be more specific on the photo requirements.