April's end

The boys have been on holiday still this week; on Tuesday they spent the day with Caleb and Josh and then we had the Camerons around to tea, after which Caleb and Aaron went back to their place for an outdoor tenting sleepover! Apparently winter sleep-outs are no issue if you have a 1 degree tent and -2 degree sleeping bags...I don't think anyone would convince me that it could possibly be warm enough, but when I collected the boys on Wednesday morning after a double dentist appointment (two more fillings done, one to go) they were in high spirits and looking quite well albeit a little tired. They spent the day quietly at home. I made beanbags this week from a pattern I found here...on Tuesday I only got as far as ruling out inches on brown paper and drawing the pattern pieces onto it. On Wednesday I cut out the pieces after work (six side pieces required for each bag, plus inners, meant 24 sides cut plus four top circles and 8 bottom pieces...we all rejoiced when it was done!) and then started sewing up the sides before bible study. On Thursday Nick took the car in for some fixing up and the WOF (it had failed on Tuesday), and was gone a couple of hours while I stayed home with the boys. Due to some further complicated arrangements with Nick having a lunch meeting and the boys having afternoon plans and some shoots happening at work, I ended up not going to the studio at all so spent the entire day finishing off the beanbags. Getting the velcro fastening inserted and sewing the rounds onto the bags took longer than I had thought. By late afternoon they were done and ready for stuffing; I had bought two 200-litre bags of polystyrene balls which I thought would be twice as much as we needed. After much engineering and a little frustration and a lot of giggling we got one bag stuffed using nearly all the filling. It's a LOT bigger than I thought; somewhat of a monstrosity but it seats both boys comfortably. Friday I was back at work and the boys were home with Nick; in the evening we got our Royal Wedding vibes on and gathered at the Camerons place to watch. Nick and Matt went off to Mac club and then Burger King afterwards (anything to avoid our TV company!) and the boys watched a movie while Rachel and I provided our own running commentary on who was arriving and what they were wearing and the expressions on their faces and the moose antlers one dear royal seemed to be sporting. We thought Kate looked lovely although the bust on her dress was offputtingly Maddona-esque - and why did bride and groom both look so bored and sleepy? There was much biblical input although the clearest part was the reading of the Word - the short message was wafty with a moralistic emphasis and no gospel, full of high prose and theatrics. By 11.30 we'd seen enough (couldn't wait another hour for that balcony kiss) - it was great watching the wedding though; I remember watching Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981! Today has been a jobs-day - part of my job was to get lightbulbs and weather strips from the Warehouse where I bumped into Danielle, which led to coffee at Mitre 10's Sopheze insert for a great chat. Nick and the boys got under the house to sort out some insulation with a staple gun and carpet offcuts; after lunch I revved up Matt's hedge trimmer and took down heaps of foliage outside the diningroom window and along the driveway. Nick switched over to lawn mowing later and I zooted off to the church for my rostered cleaning. We had an amazingly hot and sunny day - just when we think winter has set in (with the highest temperature of 10 deg on Wednesday), we have these remarkable days tucked between (today's high was 22 and it felt hot). Short sleeves would have been sufficient but for melanoma-me it was long sleeves and jeans and a hat for all outdoor stuff :)