Easter Lazy Weekend

Back from four days off for Easter and I have to say, I have had a great weekend of doing sweet FA.  Ran the lawn mower over the grass and a bit of weeding Monday morning was probably the most exerting thing over the 4 days and given the amount of chocolate consumed, I am glad I didn't have a coronary or something.

The kids loved their hastily bought Easter eggs (see below) and they too had a great weekend playing and being with the other kids in the street.  Without having to go out and about it was really peaceful.

Niki though seemed to relish the quiet by doing housework and whilst she wasn't rushing and getting stressed about it she washed, cleaned, vacuumed and dusted like a demon.  She seemed happy with doing that though now the house looks a treat.

Other things we did included going for a drive into the city and having brunch in East Sydney.  Nothing like a café brunch on a cool rain swept morning – makes the eggs taste all the better I reckon.  We also saw Meet the Robinsons in 3D on Saturday night and the girls liked it and the fashionable 3D glasses they got as a result.  We ate out too before the movie at the Noodle Bar (Stir Crazy) next to the movies.

Other than that, it was quiet and we all slept in and lazed about.  All good except coming back to work was a real shock today!

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

The house is quiet... its a bit past midnight and I am about to go to bed but not before "the Easter Bunny comes"... I will lay out the eggs, tip half a glass of milk down the sink (I like milk, but its been sitting there for a few hours) and gnaw on a carrot or two using just my two front teeth...

Normal scene yes on an Easter Saturday... but not at 9:35pm tonight...

We had just gotten home from seeing Meet The Robinsons in 3D (not the best 'kids' movie, but a good movie overall) and the kids were asleep in their beds.  Then Niki cries out and she's very upset as she had just taken all the easter eggs down and dropped them and smashed the two big bunnies and the Smartie Eggs she had gotten for them...

No Easter eggs... 9:35pm... what to do.

With Niki upset about the whole thing, I jump in the car and race down the mountains to a Woolworths Petrol Station at Emu Plains.  Get there 9:45pm.  The only eggs are some lame Kinda Surprise rubbish and dodgy little solid eggs.  I ask the lady is that all she has and she says yes, but that Woolworths up the road is open until 10pm.  The Supermarket open until 10pm on Easter??!!

Race in the care and yes it appears open.  Go to enter the mall and the door is locked and I have to run around the other side of the mall... apparently security think its good to leave one door open and one closed.

Race through the mall and the shutters are coming down.  Run through the open checkout and into the aisles.  Place is full of night fill staff.  Easter eggs... where are they?  I am directed to the front corner of the shop and it looks like a bomb site.  There are broken eggs on the floor and the stock looks depleted.  I scrounge through and get a Lindt chocolate bunny (white for Kate, no milk, so dark for Brooke).  They're only small and the bunny's that were broken were the big ones... so I grab the last two Crunchie Bunnies and two cartons of eggs for good measure.

Easter is saved!  I am asked by an attendant to move to the checkout as they're closing.  I am the last customer served... lucky the eggs at home hadnt been broken 5 mins later!

Anglo's Rape Women Too

5 boys of 17yrs of age have been charged with raping a girl when she was drunk after they had filmed the rape on their mobile phone...

Can I ask a question... why weren't these boys identified as "being of Anglo-Saxon or Caucasian appearance"?  Whilst I am not of Middle Eastern Appearance (see my piccy on the right of screen), I can now see this as justifiable evidence that the Australian media seem to use poetic license and labelling of people when it suits to sensationalise a story (not that this story needs sensationalising).

Rapists are rapists and they should be described via age and gender alone and not by racial stereotype.

I just wanted to point this out to people as a clear and present example of how the media emphasise certain things.  If this latest crime was perpetrated by Middle Eastern men, do you not think that all the Sheikh Hilally comments and the issue of immigration would be brought up again?  I'll bet you a week's worth of Daily Telegraphs it would and I will bet you a month of Sun Heralds that the fact that these boys are from first fleeter stock wont have us calling for all English migrants to be sent back to the Old Dart.

Short Weeks - Easter Break.

4 day week this week, 4 day week the next which will include another day off on the Thursday to go to the Easter Show and then a short stint to Anzac Day...

What will I be doing this Easter break?  Absolutely nothing!

Other than the girls catching up with grandparents on Sunday and Monday night, we're having a "family weekend" in which we're going to take the girls out for dinner and a movie.  Will probably go see "Meet the Robinsons" and have dinner at a noodle bar that has a movie / dinner deal.  We'll also go on a long put off bush walk.  We'll take the dog and some snacks and a rug and we'll head into the bush weather permitting.  Wouldnt mind taking the girls to the old highway bridge that isnt used anymore... its about 40m high over the gorge and is actually quite impressive, particularly when you're under the bridge.

Need to clean up the yard a bit too, but wont work too hard on that - and am going to try and kill all the ants making a living under our pavers.  Have some of that "Ant Sand" that I will sweep into the gaps between pavers.

Looking forward to not driving much, not rushing around, not shopping and not being pressured to being somewhere by a certain time to ensure that we can do something else by a certain time later in the day (eg, swimming to get to cricket to get home to get dressed to go out - which has been waay to common lately).

Interest Rates...

Am in the process of refinancing the mortgage after becoming disillusioned with Westpac... Never have I seen such grubby fee grabbing tactics that has eroded what I had envisaged as a good relationship over the 11 years I have been with them.

The TV advertisement showing how the niceties of the bank are ripped away as soon as the mortgage contract is signed has never really felt so true as my most recent escapades with Westpac.  I wont go into the specifics but I went from an account set up that was 100% fee free to perhaps having a structure that was cost me over $1000 per annum in fees alone and any dispute / change / transaction that I was involved with invariably resulted in a further fee or charge.

I am signing up with Suncorp Metway, a firm I have no particular association with in the past, but based on a mortgage broker's recommendation it seems to good to be true when compared with my current Westpac arrangements.  But what I really like about Suncorp is that they are not one of the 4 major banks and I think this will in turn be a good thing as Suncorp clearly have other income streams and hence can balance themselves when it comes to making a profit.

I am not against profit and I hardly want to put my investments and savings into a firm that is going backwards, but blatant price gouging has to stop... and this article this morning is clear that banks are simply doing just that.  Raising interest rates before the RBA actually announces a rate rise is horrendous when looked at in comparison to the profits they make.

Howard Meddles In Hicks Sentence

Surely not!  Johnny Howard getting a "MEDIA GAG" as part of the sentence issued to David Hicks?

They also seem to have known his fate BEFORE Hicks did himself!

Since when do convicted criminals (now that he has been tried (and I use that term loosely)  and convicted he is a convicted criminal) get media clauses issued as part of your sentence?

So he gets 9 months sentence but cant speak to the media for 12 months?  Odd... I always thought that when you get sent to jail for period "x" and you serve that period at Her Majesty's Pleasure then afterwards you are a FREE MAN?

Not so apparently... apparently American courts can impose a further 3 month period of denying an Australian citizen his full rights and privileges for a further period when he is then living as an Australian citizen in Australia...

mmmm.... but at least our government had nothing to do with it.... nothing at all.... mmmmm

Story here:  Link

Weekend of Firsts

Very busy weekend for the girls...

Firstly, Kate made her Netball debut for the Blaxland Redbacks Under 8's in an intra-club trial where they played the other three under 8 teams.

Given that the 3 other teams played last year and Kate's team (the Sparkles) are all rookies, we thought they'd get slaughtered... well not that it matters in U/8's Netball, that's just me being competitive.

For the record, they lost 1-2, won 1-0 and lost 0-3... she had a go at Goal Shooter in game 2 and it was her intercept that set up their goal, but prior to that she had a shot of her own...



She enjoyed it heaps and she played really well, particularly in game 3 where she played Goal Defence and worked her backside off chasing around a much more skillful team...

Then today, the girls had their dance scholarship competition. We were very proud of the girls. Firstly Brooke had only been doing competitive ballet this year and was clearly a very young competitor but held her own and did really well... we were very proud of her.

Kate however, did really well and came runner-up in a very close decision. She got herself a trophy for her performance and was rapt.

I managed to tape both main dances for the girls, but the video quality is crap on account of I am using my Sony Cybershot and the stage lighting played havoc. Plus the red leotards are a bit lairy as well :)