Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

This time next week we leave for Egypt so it will be a very busy week! I will be about this week but will not be doing very much reading. Nice to catch up with you all.

Welcome home, June!!!

For those who were wondering, the neighbors did put that poor old dog to sleep. I'm glad she's no longer in pain. I wish I didn't feel so bad about this.

Hello????? ... Hello? .......... hello?





testing..... 1..... 2..... 3

Bloody echo.

Helllooooo Heidi - you've probably gone now.
Neighbours did the best thing for the poor old dog. Sorry you feel so bad about it. {{{hugs}}}

Hi Suzy ... checked out the Slim Dusty video. It's not often you hear someone sing of an older animal; I enjoyed that. Thanks.

Heidi, sorry you got an echo when an ear would have been nice. Poor dog and owners...

Theresa, glad you liked it! Slim Dusty is a legend here.

Heidi, you might enjoy the youtube too with your tendency to save the oldies.

Heidi

Suzy, I had never heard of Slim Dusty before now.
Heidi, sorry about the dog; at least he's not in pain now. Happy to hear canaries seem to have worked out the egg problem. How exciting this must be!

Theresa, did you watch the 2000 Olympics? He sang Waltzing Matilda there I think.

"Slim recorded and released his one-hundredth album in 2000 and became the very first music artist in the world ever to do so. He was then given the honour of singing Waltzing Matilda in the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with the whole stadium singing along with him."

There you go, Wikipedia says I'm right.

Here's another interesting fact: he was the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space (in 1983, astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played Slim singing Waltzing Matilda from the space shuttle "Columbia" as it passed over Australia)

He was also the son of a cattle farmer...

Okay for those of you needing a laugh - a tale of my lack of organisation.....

It begins with a visit from my mother, during which she 'organised' my paperwork. A telephone bill, and the reminder, were organised out of site and mind. Early in January I discover the organisational snaffoo when my phone is disconnected! Fixed by hubby from his work phone. What I didn't know was that he only paid the overdue portion, not the whole bill. It gets better. I forgot to check the mail late last week - super busy around here. I checked it on Tuesday, 25th, and found another cancellation notice - pay by the 26th or else! That's when I found out hubby had only paid a part of the bill. Phew I thought! Caught that one just in time, and called and paid the entire balance. Problem is they didn't process it properly because of the holiday - they not only cut off our phone, they finalised it! Meaning I had to restart the account! They were very helpful and I don't have to pay any fees because I had actually paid before the date, but .... how embarrassing!!!!

Have you worked out how to punish hubby for that? I see it as his fault for not only NOT paying the entire bill, but for not telling you about it. It's his home, too, and he uses the phone!

A touch of insomnia, combined with Rain asking to go outside. She refuses to use the dog door. She prefers that I open and shut the side door next to my computer.

Did I miss you again Heidi?

I can't give hubby too hard a time as he has been saying for a couple of months now that he wants to become more familiar with our finances so he can help.

I'm imagining you crawling through the dog door - who suggested that? June? to teach Rain how to do it...

How long do dogs stay in season? I swear dogs crying is worse than dogs barking! It's not as noisy, but it makes you worry.

Suzy do your utility providers not offer you the choice of paying by direct debit or standing order?
Over here we pay everything directly from the bank (by we I mean our family and probably many others too) I know when payments are going out, the bills come in as normal but they tell us when the payment will be taken. For gas and electriciy we pay the same amount every month which is an average of our yearly consumption. If we use less we get a refund or if we use more the payments increase to cover the shortfall. I have just done the meter readings and sent them to the company, even though we have had a very cold winter so far we were so far in credit that our payments have dropped by £33 a month.

Dogs stay in season roughly three weeks Suzy

Good Morning friends!
Hiya Brenda! I, too, have most all my bills (the ones I can) on an auto-pay system. Suzy - condolences..."no good deed goes unpunished"
Heidi - hugs from me, too...but glad to hear your neighbors made the compassionate decision.
And while your passing out marbles, I can use all the extras you might have left over!

Suzy - sorry to hear about Ebob. Hope she can get back to school soon. It's a big deal when you are 16 - I remember feeling like I'd miss out on something all the time!
June - Welcome home...you are sooooo busy...I don't know how you have the energy for all the stuff you do. I'm excited for you and your trip to Egypt - WOW!

I'm off for my Wednesday morning hike with my friend's dogs. Looks like the sun may peek through today and dry things out a bit here.
Hugs to you all!

Good Maen everyone. Marbles story (from last page). When Darrell & I were dating, he came to the house with a small vase of flowers (like from the supermarket) and told me to hold out my hand. In my hand he put 6 black marbles. I told him "the flowers are sweet, but why the marbles?". He said " I lost my marbles when I met you, you might as well keep them!!" My aunt Sandra cracked up when she heard him say that!!

Going to sign off for now, ttfn everyone!

Morning all!
Yep, insomnia. Not usual for me.

Suzanne, that is so sweet! By that I mean I'm getting cavities!

Brenda, we can do direct debit for bills here, but we have recently changed banks and haven't got around to organising it yet. We are still deciding about extra accounts etc... Guess I'll have to get that one organised sooner rather than later! They don't do the averaging of bills here thing as far as I know. We used to do that in California.

SA people who aren't on Facebook now have a chance to hear Ally sing... her singing teacher has put a video of her on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbGr0c9F8GQ&feature=autofb

Suzy!!!! She's wonderful! I've downloaded that onto my pooter.

Ain't insomnia fun?

I just got around to watching that Slim Dusty link. Wonderful song.
for sharing it.

I miss having our Bean here. I hope her pooter problems are fixed soon.

I'm back again. I'm pretty biased but I think Ally has her moments of wonderfulness! Then she has the other moments... I'm just glad we are able to capture some of the wonderful moments.

Her singing teacher did an amazing version of the long yard song yesterday. I was kicking myself for not recording it. I only had my little camera so it wouldn't have done it justice, but...

When 'they' said they wanted to put the song on youtube I didn't say anything because I wanted to ask Ally what she thought. I don't care Mum, the only people who will watch it are people we know anyway. It's not like anyone is going to think they should look for me there or anything. I thought - then I could share one of her songs with SA!

Suzanne - absolutely LOVE your marble story...what a sweet and clever man you have!
Back from my walk - the sun is shining (what is that strange bright orb in the sky?) so I'm off to spend more time outside today.

Ebob is up and dressed ready for school! I have insisted that she eat some toast (and keep it) before she is allowed to go. First day back and she wants to see her timetable etc...

It was nice to sleep in my own bed!
Love the marble story Suzanne.
Lovely to hear the YouTube Suzy. Sounds wonderful. I bet it is nice to have them back at school. The Victorian teachers have three pupil free days so the children do not go back till Monday. G'son in care(run by the after school care group) these three days as I could not afford the time to stay any longer.

Pleased you were able to get the phone sorted Suzy. Pleased you will have lots of canaries Heidi. How are the remaining Goldian finches going?
Hi Vici, you always sound bright and breezy!
I see Brenda has new lounges, Brenda has her family back at school.
Tami is slowly comming down from her big high of last weekend. I am so pleased that was such a wonderful success.
Hi Cyn, Broni, MizT, Nola, Judy, Gail and everyone else who drops by. I did have a chat on the phone with Bean while I was in Melbourne but it was very hard to try visiting anyone with a very active boy in tow.

Morning June!
I only have one going back today, the other tomorrow. NSW teachers seem to like to spread their pupil free days over 3 terms. I wonder when they are supposed to have prepared lessons?

I'm so excited about you going to Egypt. I hope you take lots of photos so I can live it vicariously!

Are you going to visit Wagdy, June? I've heard he's a wonderful host.

Yes,I have arranged to meet up with Wagdy.
We will aso have to spend a day in Bangkok (we just miss the connecting flight) and we have booked a trip to the Tiger Temple to pat the tame tigers. I hope to get some great photos there too.
Off to do some shopping and then a much needed hair cut. Checking all the medications etc that we might need.