Week in review...

Well, {obviously - considering my previous posts} we're in the 2nd last week of our countdown. This time in two weeks we'll be in L.A. with Storm doing his pre-conference mutter {I hate conferences...why do we do conferences?...I hate this...and so on and so forth} with Nanny Mavis seeing her girls for the third time in their lives. And of course that means that this time in 4 weeks we'll be in the house in TX. No furniture, fridge and eating take out on camping chairs but hey, we'll be there and we'll be together, starting again.

So this week has been busy. My hair got a new cut and colour which was supposed to be fixed...{yes I don't like it and have been wearing a ponytail ever since} but since my hairdresser got sick this weekend I am going back in tomorrow for a fix-up. Cannot wait as I look like a goth!

I'm almost finished up with the post-production on the annual audio event. This year was really difficult due to some major rearranging that I had to do with many speakers work's. I think I'll handle the organization next year as Storm didn't advise them what we needed with every audio. No exceptions! I'm not sure how this year's will go down with our customers as it's quite difficult to get through. Either way, my most frustrating part is over with and now it's just the gussy-ing up that I need to complete.

The girls have been crazy this week. I mean, unbelievably crazy. Why they have to touch everything, all the time {in spite of us telling them not to, of course!} is just mind blowing to me. Kendall has now taken to touching whatever she wants to touch - let's take the bin for an example, and we're not just talking about touching the outside, this girl likes to get her hands dirty! - she will look at either Storm or myself with such a look of...challenge! She knows she's doing wrong and defying us by ignoring us but she'll be such a buggar and keep doing it just to yank our chain.

As for our little Syd...she is just the same but she has also discovered the little piece of fun that is running in the other direction! Yes, Storm found this out the hard way yesterday with both Kendall and Syd running in different directions in Target. Very scary as they - especially Syd - are enjoying being chased and with only one parent in charge it's certainly a challenge keeping them in the same direction. I wish that stores would stock two seater shopping carts. If we can keep the girls entertained and contained it would be much easier to run errands. Either that or they could listen and obey mummy and daddy. Oh well, we can live in hope. 

At least their eye teeth have cut {finally - it feels like forever!} so they're not as whiney {but that is a matter of opinion if you ask Storm} but they are both shoving everything and anything in their mouths to help the teeth come through. The drool is insane and I really have to watch what they're putting in there! I cannot wait for the teeth to all come through! Sigh.

But on the flipside. Both girls are such a joy and really fun. They're both super affectionate right now and with their senses of humour are really rockin'. I really enjoy being their mum {even though they won't say my name or anything for that matter - oh except for woof, woof!}

Update on the pups - poor Rudy doesn't know what's happening. He worries so much and has stuck to Storm and I like glue in case we go anywhere without him. He's not happy and I'm sure that his trip to Aunty Marilyn's when we go to L.A. won't help much. Oscar is Oscar - like one of the guys up at the dog park says - he's the happiest dogs he's ever seen. Gotta love them.

So, it's another busy week this upcoming week with the girl's heart appointment, a couple of other appointments for me and our going away party on Saturday. I've also got to complete the rest of our conference decor {requires some sewing, printing and CD production!} and some other administrative stuff for the accountant in prep for the quarter end {not happy that it's all due when we're on the road!}.

Fingers crossed I'll get some more sleep and knock it out of the park! Woo hoo!

P.S. By the way - I am super bummed that Kylie is finally coming to Vegas but it'll be in May and we won't be here. Kylie is up there {almost with Madonna!} in my must-see artists! 7 years in Vegas and she picks now! So not fair!

Getting there

There is something so cathartic about cleaning out your stuff.

This weekend held the last of the garage/rummage sales. I packed up the car and headed to a local school with the leftovers from the garage sale held here at the house last week. Didn't sell as much as I would have liked but I still made a bit of moola to put in the ol' pocket though so I was happy.

Now I left the scrappy pieces there at the site as a charity was going to come and pick up stuff and brought home about 3 totes full of stuff. Today, I spent the afternoon getting it all ready to go to the Salvos tomorrow. I like the Salvos, I think they do real good for a lot of people.

Gee's it feels to good to have a lot of stuff gone and out of the way.

Another thing I can cross off my list - woo hoo!

On a separate note: this is a beautiful time of year in Vegas. The weather is divine and most importantly the windows are open and fresh air is a-boundin' through the house. The girls are just loving being outside and playing in the sandpit and on the swing. They're having so much fun. So are we...just by watching them.

Looking forward to this..

Only 5 weeks before I get to see this view again!

Sigh...

I cannot wait until we build on this little piece of turf and wake up to this view every morning. In the meantime we'll have to settle and ride our bikes around a couple of streets from our new house to this block of land to get there. We'll be sure and take our fishing poles and throw in a line. This bay has wonderful red fish fishing and we're banking on crab pots too!

Mmmmm...grilled fresh fish and boiled fresh crab. Yummmmmmo!

I'm so excited.

Two things

Numero Uno: Congratulations are in order for the Kulhan household! We just settled on selling the property in Redcliffe and as a result the proceeds paid off the house in Scarborough. We now own a house outright! How cool and exciting is that? It'll be a while until we get the title to the property in our hot, little hands but it's on its way. Woooooo hoooooo!

Numero Dos: Speedy travel wishes to my mum who is about to embark on her journey to Dubai and Turkey. {She was supposed to go to Egypt and complete a trip of a lifetime but due to the troubles there it was taken off the table and instead is going somewhere else exciting!} Apart from the freezing, cold weather that she is anticipating to encounter {gotta love the web} she will be visiting Gallipoli, an important part of any Aussie and Kiwi's history. I visited there 20 years ago and was unbelievably moved by the courage that those soldiers had to have had to have gone forward in the face of such a hill. Where they were supposed to have landed was one or so miles down the coast and flat as a tack. They would have been able to land and make their way onto Turkish soil with minimal {if any} casualties. Instead they got straight off the boat and had to make their way up a hill that had heavily armed Turkish forces laying in wait for them. Some of my fellow travellers found metal shrapnel still in the hill in 1990. 75 years ago - April 25, 1915. It's a magnificant memorial to some extremely, brave, wonderful diggers. I hope my mum really gets a lot out of her trip. Bon voyage mum!

P.S. Sorry, didn't mean to get off direction on my mum's news. I can't help it, I'm a proud Aussie!

The week in review

First things, first...the countdown. 4 weeks from today we'll be in L.A. with Storm's mum Mavis. We'll be set up at the conference center and getting ready for manning the booth on the Monday. It's also 6 weeks until we'll be in the house for a whole day. Woo hoo! Excitement!!!!

So this week held deadline and work, work, work. It's great to get things "put to bed" {our technical term} and this week coming will hold post-production on the audio series. Can't wait for that to be "put to bed".

We were all on TV this week! I was interviewed in January for the fertility center that we went through to have the girls, a kind of testimonial. The crew that came to the house told me that they would contact me to tell me when it was going to air and since I haven't heard from them since I hadn't given it much thought. The first I knew that it was on air came with a text from an old workmate and a phone call from another. Storm and I managed to catch a snippet of it {the still that they took of us all on our couch} but haven't caught it in its entirety. Hopefully soon!

The girl's have had an especially whiney time this week. Both of them are cutting their eye teeth and it's taking its toll on the poor buggars. All four on each child are various stages and both girls have been inconsistent with eating, drinking and joyfulness. I really hate teething. I know they do too.

We had our garage sale yesterday. I spent a little bit of time setting the garage up for it and had everything out nice and early. So happy as all the big stuff went {we weren't holding out for mega dollars} and so our backyard looks somewhat normal again and the interior of the house is looking larger everyday. {I had some big toys of the kids inside! But not anymore!} So now I only
have small stuff to take to the rummage sale fundraiser that I have a booth at next Saturday. Phew. Once this is all done it will be such a weight off my shoulders!

I just realized that it appears that April is historically a very busy time for us. Last year it was our trip back to Australia for my brother's wedding and the renovations on the house and the year before that was the trip to UCSF for the surgery on the girls and I. This year we have the conference and the move to TX so I wonder what next year will hold for us?

The RV is finally as finished as its going to be until we get down to TX. Today we put up the tabs to hold the curtains back and tidied it all up. Now we plan on getting stuff into it in prep of the trip. I'll get piccies soon but you'll have to remember that it doesn't look finished without the mattresses in it. I'll explain that when I post the piccies. Storm did a good job. I'm very proud of all the work he has done.

We're also getting odd jobs done around the house. Not to confess too much but we can now use our dishwasher after 11 months of not using it. Sigh...At least Kim will be able to use it.

So, right now our life is pretty much the same everyday and it's all head down, bum up! We're moving forward with the countdown to M-day and afterward the roadtrip-days...

Look!

It got colder again over the weekend - {I know...winter huh..how rude!} and this is what missed our house and hit the mountains instead. The snow got down further than I've ever seen it get down to {without our part of town getting it too}.

 As much as snow is pretty, I know don't think that I will miss it much. Especially the cold wind that blows off the mountains.

These two will just have to put up with Texas weather. Hurricanes and all! {But it is 80 degrees there this week..sigh}

 My favourite pair of jammies. They have monkey faces and ears on the feet. By the way I obviously have not mentioned anything about the girl's fringes. I tried to cut them straight and nicely but both bug-a-lugs refused to sit still during the time so I had to grab the opportunities when I could. Mind you this also meant that I as unable to "blend" my cuts as it all became too much for then to apparently handle. The biggest issue was that Kendall thought that the dogs barking was way more important than sitting still when mummy had scissors in her hands. She moved right when I was cutting the middle bit. Oh well...thank goodness hair grows.

 Nothing beats a bit of "calculat-ering" in the morning! Goes real well with banana!

The week in review

7 weeks until we'll be lying on the floor in our new house.

How cool. Of course we'll all have mattresses (in the girls' case we'll also have their cribs too!) but it'll be slim pickins' until the truck arrives with everything else.

A big shout out to any unpacking fairy godmother's who are willing to wave their magic wand and set our lives back up down there! Seriously I am not looking forward to the packing and especially the unpacking part. Won't. be. fun. at. all!!!

Anyway, this week has been fairly head down, bum up for both of us. Work has kept Storm pretty busy this week and the kids, work and errands have kept me on my toes too. Caytee and Heidi (our afternoon babysitters - separate days!) have been really helpful but with the girls and their eye teeth coming through, there have been times of some serious whining and unhappiness from them both. Both have cut the teeth now so fingers crossed the drool will diminish and the general uncomfortableness they have had will go too.

The house that is under contract in Queensland went unconditional this week so it seems that the buyers are in it to win it so it's just a matter of paperwork with the banks and title company. Fingers crossed that come March 9th it'll be all over red rover. Whoo hoo!

Both girls are getting better with food. Syd seems to be eating more over the whole day and Kendall is drinking a bit more milk and eating more cheese. They've really enjoyed eating spaghetti.

 Syd's getting funnier as everytime she sees a camera she either hams it up or drops everything and wants to look at the screen on the back of the camera and not be photographed at all.

 So obviously you can tell  by now that both Kendall and Syd love putting the spaghetti in their mouths this way. They suck it in and eat it that way too. But before they eat it they will be sure to shake their head side to side so that the spaghetti goes onto their cheeks and sticks.

It's not all about fun...well, maybe a little....

 You may be asking yourself - where did they get such an idea on how to eat spaghetti?

Guess where?

Surprised? Not me.

Well after spaghetti {or mealtime in general} it's time for play and what better way than to encourage the dog onto the couch so that daddy has to sit in the armchair?

 Kendall has a real problem with Storm putting his feet up on the coffee table. She doesn't like it at all and insists on pulling his feet off and will carry on until he does.

 Then it's time to play on the castle. So much fun with the slide and climbing!

 This castle has helped Kendall with her confidence on climbing. She still has moments of doubts but she's coming along really nicely. By the way - check out that drool stain. {It's funny as Syd doesn't drool anything close to the amount that Kendall does.}

 A bit of time counting fish and pegs...

... plum tuckers out Syd.

Kendall joins in support of her sis.

I got some playdoh this week and it arrived in time to enjoy it in the morning sun.

 The concept of the rolling pin is eluding them right now.

 But there's lots of fine toys to play with and even the odd bit of playdoh to try and eat, hey Kendall?

 Yes, and despite there being three rollers, five moulding blocks and four colours in the pack there just had to be a fight and tears! They'll learn eventually that tears mean no one gets to enjoy it {except mummy with peace and quiet!}

 And here's a miscellaneous piccie of dress-up day. Kendall wearing daddy's hat.

 And {now I know this is a bad pic} Syd dressing up in last years halloween hat that she discovered when I got out some clothes for the garage sale. She's always the one who'll wear my scarves around the house, insist on putting on bibs, hats etc. Such a little girl! Love it! {Except when it comes to washing her face - struggles everytime!}