It's February Already!

So how did it become February already?  How did it happen that I've been back at work just three days and I feel as exhausted as if it was 12 days straight?  Why do the powers-that-be believe that's it's a great idea to start a whole new way of doing things at the beginning of term when we are three quarters the way through a renovation?  Why does my computer at work decide to have several,near fatal strokes right at the time I need to produce the quickest reports at the drop of a hat?  And why does the IT department in head office STILL have no idea what we do here?  We've only been operating 30 odd years.

Well that was my week and that's all I'm going to say about it.  I would much rather review what January brought:

• My big sister and her husband visited us from the North Coast for almost two weeks which was lovely and an excuse to have the odd wine or two and a nightly Bailey's (oh and someone to go dancing with all night at The Unity!).
• Watching the best fireworks in the world (not just my opinion) on New Year's Eve from a local park with the family and a bottle of champagne.
• Spending way too much money and way too much time organising my husband's 40th birthday party which was the biggest gathering of Darth Vaders, Obe One whatevers, Rocky Horror Picture Show characters, Disco Diva's, Taxi Drivers and Blues Brothers in the Southern Hemisphere (yes, there was a theme, 70's movies!).  There was a week preparing the house, two days cleaning up vomit mess afterwards and three weeks waiting for the recycling bin to finally be free of booze bottles.  But it was worth it all to see all of my three sisters and their partners partying on with all of my husband's family (even though we could have done without one of my sisters dressed as The Exorcist doing her backward possessed -by-the-devil crawl in front of my MIL), from all accounts (and some embarassing photos which I have not got permission to show you ... yet), it was a raging success.  The Moneymaker was suitably impressed by my presentation/trip down memory lane photos, hopefully enough that when my birthday comes around (don't forget MM, it's in March!) he will feel guilty enough to surprise me with something wonderful.
• A couple of lovely trips into the city (I think I may have fallen in love with Westfield - shock/horror!). One with Mr Moneymaker and Nugget and one shopping trip with my Chicken, which turned out quite fun. Surprisingly as we were looking for the elusive pair of aqua Vans (not found anywhere in this wide brown land so some weeks later she was quite happy with pink ones).
• My baby girl turned 13!  A teenager.  OMG (as she would say)!  Though really she's been a teenager since she was 6.  I expect that more of the puberty drama is to come over the next seven years and I'm not sure I'm prepared. Any advice would be very welcome if you've gone through it all and survived.
• Back to school shopping.  Not as painful as I anticipated after doing exactly the same thing as last year - walked into the shoe shop advertising the biggest discount and realising that of course it did not apply to shoes in my childrens' sizes then just remembered the other bargain outlet where they had exactly what we needed and walked out with change from $100!
• Saw The Descendants - great film with believable characters and interesting storyline. See it if you can.
• Thanks to Twitter found out that Celebrity Apprentice had a challenge in Sydney Park where they needed everyone to bring their dogs for a bit of pampering.  Of course I had to take Sydney the Schnoodle to see if I could get a photo and succeeded beyond the cost of the $25 donation to The Starlight Foundation (you can read about it here).
• Saw my head on TV yesterday - probably should have not done this as every time that Domino's Chicken Ribs ad is on (Channel 10 or Youtube if you're interested, I will not post it here) I hide in the kitchen.  I realise if there is ever a camera around I need to point my chin UP.  I do not remember when I lost my neck, I think it was some time in the early 90's.

Now that I've listed it all down, I suppose I did do a few things in January, even though I feel I've spent 80% of the time on the laptop reading everybody else's blog and suddenly realising it's 11pm and I haven't written a thing myself.  Oh shit!  It's 10.54pm already!  So there you are, I've made it!  

Hope your January was fun and action packed or at least a time to rest up.  I think I need another January....

• 
  

When my dog got photo bombed by The Hoff

Heard on Twitter that Celebrity Apprentice was filming a challenge at Sydney Park today and they were asking for everyone to bring their dogs along and help raise money.  So of course I had to take Sydney, he needed a bit of socialising with the hoipoloi(?). And it was for the Starlight Foundation.  Nugget got dragged along too when all he really wanted to do was go to the pool with his sister.

Thought I might meet some famous people but had no idea my favourite presenter was there - Ben Dark! It must be something about being a cheeky country boy that I love.  Before I got to meet him, David Hassellhoff was cruising the crowd for photo opportunities and strode straight up to us in the queue.

As the camera crew were filming he gave Sydney a pat while I was holding him (holding Sydney, not The Hoff) and a chat to Bailey.  Meanwhile I was juggling my phone to try and get a photo and just managed to turn it off instead of taking a picture. Had no idea why I was nervous in front of The Hoff, but he is a little scary looking up close.

We moved on up the queue and Ben Dark stopped to have a chat and that's when I really got nervous. He was sweating away in overalls on a 30 degree day and asked if he could entertain us by tap dancing. I told him that him just being there was entertainment enough! What a dork!!  Ben wisely started to chat to Nugget instead.  As he walked away my son asked "who was that?"!!!! I might have to disown him.  He was more wrapped in the hired magician and the guy dressed up as Batman.

So then Dickie from 'Can of Worms' has a chat to me (big time celebrity whore, aren't I?) and asked us who we wanted a photo with. I said Ben of course. Dickie announces loudly that someone actually wants a photo with Ben, not The Hoff and someone fetches Ben back over and he announces it to the film crew.  We go over to the photo area and he kicks The Hoff off his pedestal (no, it was a real little pedestal!) and tells him to go and have a break, it's our turn.  But as we they click away with a giant camera, film it and an assistant takes my phone to take some shots, The Hoff photo bombed us!!!  He can't help himself, he's wherever a camera is. There's no such thing as too much publicity with The Hoff (aside from drunken hamburger eating I'm guessing).  Here's the result...

It's a little fuzzy because I took a photo of the tiny photo they gave me and as in real life, The Hoff looks like he's been photoshopped, but it's real!

The photos below are the ones from my phone. First one before The Hoff arrived (you can see his leg and foot on the right) and the second one just after he left.

Oh, and Jason Arkamanis massaged my schnoodle .... this may or may not be shown on TV.