The Saga of the Commodore

Bizarre things happen in my family. Saturday afternoon Jamie had been to his friends house and was driving home over the Stockton Bridge. The sound changed a bit and then whoosh.. no more back window. That isn't normal, windows don't just fly out do they??? Now we have a good reason why out boot/trunk was always filling up with water - the windscreen wasn't in properly. On that drive we also got a super chip in the front windscreen.
The Commodore now needs

• Front and back windscreens
• 2-4 new tyres
• The gas system installed
• Back seat recovered.
• Automatic locks repaired
• Paint job fixed.

No problem

A good read.

If you are looking for an uplifting and incredibly sad blog to read. The faith that Tammy has is incredible. All I can say is thank goodness I don't live in America... after reading this blog and then watching Sicko... how can a government do this to people.

I just finished reading Li Cunxin's book Mao's Last Dancer. It was totally amazing. I loved it all, the poverty of his childhood, the regimental-ness of his adolescence, his bravery and his love of... ballet. In a million years I'd never imagine I would want to see a ballet, but after reading Li's book, I really do, but probably won't :)

I am supposed to read Emma by Jane Austen next, but it really does not appeal. So I might skip that one.

Maybe I'm nesting.

I feel somewhat organised.

Last night I did all of the dishes and the kitchen looked wonderful.

I asked Jamie to collect Mark from school, its on his way home, and I have to make an arc. I just wanted to come straight home.

Jamie called me and asked for some Chocolate Royale biscuits and some coke. Like the good missus I am, I obliged. What you would like for dinner? I don't care.

So I bought a cooked chook. Arrived home, the boys are watching The Matrix (VERY LOUDLY) on the telly. I assembled a salad, cooked some pototoes (Mark would prefer to have noodles than potato, I cooked some noodles).
Served dinner. Cleared the table. Washed dishes. Fed the dogs. Folded the washing.

The boys are still watching The Matrix (VERY LOUDLY).

I must be coming down with the flu.

WTF??

Another football story.

We take two kids to football twice a week. Once for training and to the games. There is a little 8 year old called Ricky and his 11 year old brother Jake. Jake is a lovely boy, Ricky well he's a little bit feral. Nice enough though.
We drive the kids cos #1 the car doesn't work. #2 Dad got "done" for drink driving and lost his license.
My WTF comments are such.
The mum doesn't come out of the house to say thank you, they don't ring to make sure its ok we collect them, its now just expected. Mum or dad don't thank us after we drop them off or make sure the kids behaved themselves. They show ZERO interest. Very annoying.

The last two weeks the boys have not had breakfast. We collect them about 8am and drop them home about midday. They are playing a very physical game of AFL. Last weekend I felt sorry for them and got them a packet of chips - good nourishing food. When I thought about it, why is it my responsibility to buy them a snack, they should eat before they come, they should have a snack with them or money to buy one with. So I said no this week. Poor little Ricky was starving. But they are not my kids. At the end of the morning the canteen had too much food and was giving it away. So my point to the parents wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be.

When we dropped them off I went into the house, introduced myself, said the boys had a great game, which was true. I then mentioned that it would be a great idea to make sure the boys had breakfast before they came or had a snack...
"That's their own fault, they should get up earlier and have something to eat"
Again, not a thank you.
Do I make some vegemite sandwiches to prevent the annoying "I'm starving, have you got any money?"

OH DEAR... these poor boys have not got much hope in life when the parents care so much.

Cross Country

Back in the good old days when I was at school, I used to fake asthma on the cross country running days so I wouldn't have to run. I hated it that much. Mark loves sprinting, he's not a fan of long distances,or so I thought.

On the Saturday afternoon Mark rolled his ankle. We went ice skating on Saturday night. He tried to get out of AFL on Sunday morning saying his ankle hurt - he ended up playing in two games. Monday morning, he said "I need to stay home as my ankle hurts, it will be so boring not being able to run in the cross country".

Anyway. I collected him from OOSH and he had a funny look on his face.
"I did terrible in the cross country, last, after all of the boys and even all of the girls"
Oh well I thought, you do have a sore ankle.
HUGE SMILE "As if, I came first".

MY BABY CAME FIRST, in a 4km run. The assistant teacher suggested he run at a steady jog rather than sprint, so as not to wear out. And it worked.

He's off to the Zone Cross Country Run on Friday. I'll report in how he went.

Football Family

We spend so long at football each week. This morning we set the alarm at 6.30am went to collect 3 other kids whose parents do not drive. Then drove off to Medowie for a 9am start.

The under 10 team (Mark plays on this team) played ok. They were completely thrashed, but that is ok. Only one kid cracked a 'nana about it. It was one of his first games. Not entirely sure of the score, but I think we only got about 7 points.

Next was the Under 12's and there was a parent barney. The coach, Ricky, is only 17 and he drives me NUTS. He is so over the top, loud and opinionated.... but the kids seem to love him and are desperate to please him. Well, it is a rule that all the kids wear mouth guards - that makes sense - well kids being kids - forget their mouthguards. Mark was one and another boy forgot his. The dad of the other kid (from now on referred to as Dad A) said its ok Kid A can just play without his mouthguard, and he wouldn't sue the club if anything happened to Kid A. Ricky said "I'm the coach, and am here for the kids, and no kid is playing without a mouthguard". Red rag to a bull, Dad A cracked the sads, and blew up at Ricky. Not entirely without reason. But made it EXTREMELY uncomfortable for all involved. Jason (Club President) and Jamie (Coach of U10s) were trying to smooth out the problems.... OH DEAR. Not sure if that was understandable, but trying not to be libelous. I'm on Dad A's side!!

DAMN our tv is not working, its completely scrambled. Our oven broke yesterday. Petrol is very very expensive.