Day 11 - Living it up in Castlemaine

I'm up in Castlemaine staying with my parents for a few days - so I can pick my dad's brain because it is his Network & Internet Security course I've been studying. Nothing like having the lecturer all to yourself for a few days to teach you one-on-one!

I just love it up here in Castlemaine - it's such a gorgeous town, lying approximately 1.5hrs NW of Melbourne. Mum and dad have been living here for a few months now, in a sweet little cottage close to the centre of town.

I had a lovely wander through town this afternoon - just having a look at what there was. Lots of wonderful stores from fashion to food, from gardening to art. Definitely not a boring little country town! And there is still so much to explore! One shop in particular caught my eye - it had a Prudence clone in the window.

For those of you who don't know, Prudence is my beloved teddy bear who has been with me for a number of years, and has been through many good times and some very bad times. I ventured into the shop and there were about 10 Prudence clones! I was shocked - not that there were other Prudence-like bears, but because of how much she has changed since my mum first gave her to me. She has definitely been well-loved and shows it!

Here is a Prudence-clone, and what my Prudence looked a lot like when she was new:

But now, after a lot of loving, she looks like this:

A little more of a grey than white, a bit worn around the edges, and a bit more squishy... but a whole lot more loveable that any of the brand new clones! There's nothing quite like your teddy bear :-)

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Day 10 - Wordless Wednesday

Day 9 - Windows... will the updates never cease???

There was much excitement this morning when a parcel arrived at our house... Well, much excitement from me as the parcel was for me and contained my brand new laptop! YAY! So off I went, doing a minimum of chores as possible, so I could unpack my new toy and get it up and running.

Then Micro$oft interfered... slowly at first, but then with full force. All went smoothly (on the most part... Office was a bit stubborn...)  *until* it came time to patch the system. Yep, to run Windows Update. Now, there are always going to be updates regardless of how new the machine, that's just the way Microsoft works (or, can be argued, doesn't...)

So, 79 important updates and a few optionals.

"Fine - go for it!" I said.

"Nope, sorry. Can't install all 79 updates at the same time, but I didn't tell you that and I'm not going to tell you now which ones go with which!" said Windows.

Fine. Just dandy. Thanks Bill. Why didn't I buy a Mac, or better yet install Linux...

But I persisted. Cautiously installing 1 update at a time at first, and then a few at a time... and after about 7 hours (no exaggeration!) I had all the updates - important and optional - installed and had rebooted my laptop more times than a brand new laptop should be rebooted on its first outing...

And I'm an IT Consultant. Not an incompetent one either - incase you were starting to have doubts... So how do you non-IT types cope with your Windows PCs???

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Day 8 - LOLCats - Funny website!

Have you ever come across the website LOLCats? You really should check it out! It has some hilarious photos! Here are just a few I pinched...

ROFL!!

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Day 7 - A relax, minus the kids...

Yesterday the girls decided to stay up at their grandparents, so hubby and I had a nice sleep-in this morning, and the whole day to ourselves! First we went to the Tutankhamun exhibition @ the Melbourne Museum...

We have been to the exhibition once before for Abigail's birthday. But we wanted to go again, just us, to have a close look at everything and take our time. It was, as it was the first time, absolutely spectacular!!!

We than had a super-yummy lunch at a little Japanese cafe we frequent in Little Bourke Street (aka Chinatown).

We then came home, and hubby did some work while I did some study (cracked the first puzzle in my security course! Yay!) and then we watched "A Knight's Tale"

Followed by "Master and Commander"

As for the rest of the evening? Food, setting up my VM guest for my security course (it's fun to me!!) and watching more movies!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

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Day 6 - I'm grateful for... Time with my family

Today was a beautiful sunny day (albeit a bit chilly) and was one of those days that I got to simply relax with my family and play with my girls and just do nothing much. We went out and visited hubby's parents in the country and the girls had a fabulous time running around in 5 acres of bushland.

The old swings ...

... were abandoned in favour of a "new" swing set that was a donation from a neighbour ...

And hubby had a great time the bulk of the afternoon perfecting the flying of a miniature helicopter!

Abigail then decided to start building a cubby house...

While Leah decided to help with the gardening...

While I snuck inside to do a bit of study, but was caught by Abigail...

It was a wonderful, relaxing day that we all really enjoyed! It was great to just get away from it all for a few hours (OK, so I did sneak some study in... but I can explain!!!)

Pop over to Maxabella Loves to see what other people are grateful for!

Day 5 - And the school holidays begin...

It's true - the girls finished up term 2 today at 1pm. We are one of the schools that is either (a) stupid for having 3 weeks holiday in the middle of winter, or (b) smart for having 3 weeks holiday in the middle of winter so everyone can go skiing. Not being one for skiing, I vote for (a). I haven't even seen real snow in my entire life! Seriously!!!

As the school holidays don't tend to take into account the lives of those who work, even I, who am pretty flexible working for myself and now studying, have appointments that I can't just cancel. What to do with the girls? Grandparents!!! I packed a suitcase, bundled the girls into the car and took them out to hubby's parents for the next few days. That gets me through until mid-next week!

I think schools should dispense with holidays all together. I don't mean, or in any way suggest, teachers to give up their holidays - not at all! As the daughter of 2 teachers, I know the teachers really need the break! What I'm suggesting is 2 sets of teachers - one set teaches during the standard terms, and the other set teaches during what is currently the school holidays. Sounds good to me! Hey, and we pay enough in school fees - the least they can do is teach the full year! ;-)

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