fish mornay

Well, today went looking for a bit of fish! Not any old fish, but a special fish to replace chilli. After almost 30 mins looking for parking in Westfield, we finally got ourselves a spot and joined the masses inside.

We not only trudged around the majors within, but found a plentiful supply of chocolate goodies for tomorrows 'Easter' binge. We had made ourselves a list of 'to-do' items, one of which was to find a suitable replacement for the dearly departed chilli. On the list of attributes required, was a long whispy fins & tail, pretty colouring and attitude! Well, we got two out of three, it remains to be seen about the attitude and if he will allow Jasmine to share HIS living space!

So long Chilli

After much discussion over names (Chilli, Bok Choi, Jalapeno, Jesus (prouounced 'hey zeus' & it is the Easter Weekend!!) ,and Lavender due to his colour), we introduce Mornay!

Mornay

chilled out

Chilli the siamese fighting fish has passed away. Chilli has been a good pet, causing us no trouble, just quietly doing laps of the vase and tolerating Jasmine (the cat) drinking his water. Chilli was our second siamese fighting fish, our first fighting fish was also named Chilli (I liked the name) although Chilli the first met his death through an unfortunate circumstance, which goes something like this:

The scene - winter, it's cold in the loungeroom
Me to B and the Next Sister Down who is visiting: Do you think Chilli is feeling cold?
B: I think he's all right
Me sticking a finger in the water : He's a tropical fish isn't he? The water is cold!
So I turn on the new MicroFurnace ceramic heater and place the vase (fish bowl) in front of the heater.
B: What are you doing?
Me: I'm warming the water up a bit for him
Next Sister Down: I don't think that is such a good idea
Me: It's all right
A couple of minutes later...
Next Sister Down: I think that's enough, you'll end up cooking him
Me: Don't be silly, it'll take ages before it heats up, look he's swimming around now, he was cold
Next Sister Down: I think you're wrong..... I think he's in the throws of death
A few kamakazi dives later and I had to admit she was right.

Chilli the second, was not given any such helping hand from me apart from a sprinkling of food each day. He had lasted 2-3 years, and we kind of expected he would be with us for while yet. We had a bit of a chuckle earlier in the day when Nat, who will be houseminding for us in a couple of weeks, said we had better get her a photo of the fish cause she couldn't see him in the bowl, and should he die on her she would need to know what to replace him with. We just laughed it off. So it was with some suprise to find him dead this evening.

Blogging friends

Today we finally got to meet 'N'! What was supposed to be dinner, ended up with a late night (thanx 'A') and an early morning (THANX 'A') and before we all knew anything else, it was arranged for both 'A' and 'N' to come over for morning tea, which naturally carried over to lunch!
Today we had 'Spicy Fish' on a bed of 'Cockroach (in joke after My Restaurant Rules) Rice, and veges of Carrots, Peas and Brussel Sprouts YUK!

A good time was had by all, and cant wait to do it all again!!!

Blogging friends

bloggerbot bother

There is something wrong with bloggerbot! I have a couple of posts waiting in the wings, and about half a dozen photos to illustrate however, bloggerbot is stuck at please wait, loading.

I think I might go back to my less than weekly postings....

yummy little cupcakes

we returned to the Royal Easter Show today and came home with our own little stash of cupcakes from the My Little Cupcake stand.

cupcake anyone?....too late they're all gone!

These are the best cupcakes, besides the one's the Next Sister Down makes of course. The self-appointed taste tester also agrees...

Macc: Who left that cupcake outside my (dog)house?

Macc, did his usual trick of helping himself, when B and I were distracted by a loud noise out front.

We were only at the Show for a few hours, we covered some old ground but also said hello to some geese and chooks.

curly feathered goose

pretty chook

secret women's business

the women folk gathered at the Littlest Sister's place for the Kitchen Tea today. The Next Sister Down had devised some good games although, one which involved putting on a wedding dress and picking up smarties with chopsticks, was a too much of a challenge for most.

silly smartie game

B is with the men, who have gone to play lawn bowls and have dinner at the Lowenbrau. This should provide me with an opportunity to get some study done, or not.

a right royal day

apart from the early start - having to drop B off at work and pick mum up before heading back almost from where I had started - and despite the rain, it was a good day. But then, I always love the Royal Easter Show.

I could've done with a spare couple of thousand dollars though to buy a beautiful pair of pearl drop earrings from the Pearls for Girls stand; a wool and cotton felted wrap (I might still go back for that one); a pale turquoise/aqua leather briefcase/bag; a 'frayed shade' lampshade; and Dick Bruna Alphabet needlework (and I might still go back for that too).

With a budget of $150 or thereabouts I did get a vintage mirror lidded glass box from 'The Shed', a cake decorating book from Better Homes and Gardens, gourmet biscuits (to take to the Littlest Sister's Kitchen Tea Party tomorrow), a beaded throw from My Little Cupcake, as well afternoon tea (coffee and cupcakes) for mum, B and me.

Highlights of the day, were the treasures found, bumping into the 'Princess of the East', fashion and style pavilion and the fashion parade, Miffy's garden (so cute), and the Woolworth's Fresh Food Dome. The Horticulture Pavilion was a bit disappointing this year but apart from that the quality of the exhibitions at the show was much improved.

doing the hedges in Miffy's garden

Miffy: Excuse me while I water my flower.

favourite district exhibits

B and I hope to return on Sunday, B only had an hour with us after he finished work, so hopefully we can bring you some photos.

let me reacquaint you....

too many commitments are distracting me from blogging. Work is busy, and uni is back for both B and Me, so we are in competition for the computer. I have been so busy that no quilting, x-stitch, or other creative pursuit has been done either.

So at my desk, over a sandwich, before my next meeting at 1.30pm, a brief update:

• the faulty toaster has been returned and a replacement is yet to be purchased
• a new breakfast has been discovered 'Spicy Date and Cinnamon Museli'
• B is a year older, and although I forgot to wish him a happy birthday, he did get a good pressie from me, and enjoyed a B'day BBQ with his 'adopted family', mum, and A
• the icing has been purchased for the Littlest Sister's wedding cake (the wedding being just over 2 weeks away)

And, in case it is over a week before I blog again...

Tomorrow, I am going to the Royal Easter Show with mum, Saturday, is the Littlest Sister's Kitchen Tea, and beyond that I have a few days annual leave which require some serious attention be given to uni work.

toaster tantrum

I got off to a really bad start today. Our new(ish) toaster kept shorting the house out. The first time it happened I was only partly dressed which meant when the power shorted out, I needed to get dressed to go outside and 'flick the switch'. On the way back in the radio needed to be turned back on, the microwave clock reset, etc if you ignore the video and other appliances that flash at you when there has been a disruption to the power. This process (apart from the getting dressed) was repeated a couple more times, with the exception of the last time when I decided to plug the toaster into a powerpoint in the loungeroom. I was trying to eliminate the kitchen and kitchen powerpoints as the problem, but had the same result, at which point it was deduced that the new(ish) toaster was solely to blame.

Already running late at this point, I determined the toaster had to be returned, so wasted a ridiculous amount of time searching for the receipt and getting myself even more worked up......and of course cranky with B, who was blissfully unaware on his way to work. To clarify I was cranky with B because of poppyseeds and breadcrumbs left on the kitchen bench after he made his lunch this morning, and wasn't it B who had discouraged me from getting my dream toaster in the first place because it was ridiculously expensive. If we had bought the dualit I wouldn't be having grief this morning, now would I?.

It wasn't till I was on the road and still trying to calm down, as I hadn't found the receipt, had left the house in a mess, hadn't had breakfast, and was late for a meeting at 9am, that I thought to go through the centre console of my car and found the receipt I was looking for. Now the toaster can be returned and I was calmed by the decision-making process required for deciding which colour(petal pink, mint green, glacier blue, lavender blue, utility cream.......) dualit toaster to purchase. Surely, the expense is worth avoiding another morning like this morning?

A, B & C

Last night, (Sunday), we went and had a lovely dinner with A, B & C.... In case your wondering, A is expecting the C!

We had a lovely night, up until B got out the old Trivial Pursuit, Special edition '80's style! Well, I totally sucked at it, and didn't even get 1 piece of pie, L got 2 (from memory) and whilst the other B got two, one was 'stolen' from A as in this game you can gasump from other parties if the question itself has a symbol on it and your roll of the dice matches the symbol, so A's piece of pie was quickly taken and he had three bits. But as the night was getting on, I made the suggestion we have a race to the middle and if you get the question right, then you're the winner. Well done A for your quick 'B-line' to the middle and an easy question to win!

Thanks A, B & C for the invitation for dinner!!