Latest Raffle Prize Idea

When staff raffles are held every now and then, typical prizes that are offered every few months include:

* Movie tickets

* Entertainment Books

* Westfield Gift Cards

* Booze Vouchers

* Picnic Hampers

* Meat Trays

Unusual items include:

* Tissue Box covered in $1 Instant Scratchies

* Man/Slave for a Day (although this option hasn't been used yet, as far as I know)

* 1 Hr Massage/Beauty session (not sure of the guy's equivalent- beard trim?)

One particular prize was raffled off without actually paying for anything. That is, they really wanted to get rid of it. Apparently this unused, rather unopened and unwanted prize was gathering dust in our upstairs cupboard at work. The view was, that a bunch of boring, overworked accountants wouldn't have the time to use it at the office.

Whaddya know, now I have to put up with THIS thing in the house:

(The air hockey surface doubles as a Munchkin playing surface)

You can also play this:

And this:

One of W's former housemates has gotten himself engaged over in Canada.

As he tells his story, he had to make some small references to the incidents that occurred during W's attempt in 2004.

http://burdo.livejournal.com/

*Sigh* was it really that long ago?

Not really in a mood to write.....

So maybe you can help me out, by thinking of suitable captions for the following:

What to do on a long weekend

I refer to my preceding post, and the conception of our two recent family additions.



Well, this was where they were conceived.



Despite being banned, the mexican wave made its way around the ground. (Notice the police officers spread around the stands, and a copy of the Briefing for the boring bits of the game)



It was also fitting to farewell one of our greatest fast bowlers ever.



And cheer on our beloved Roy!

There were no funny banners there this year, but the view of a beach ball slowly being inflated, thrown about and then promptly falling over the boundary and being confiscated remained.

Big Announcement!!!!!

After much blood, sweat and tears, we are proud to announce two (yes two!) new additions to our family!!

The answers to your questions:

1) No, we did not steal them


2) No alcohol was involved


3) No, we did not get them on EBay


4) No hospital visit was required


5) No, I am not pregnant























Introducing.............

Just Waiting

Have sent in the paperwork to an accounting body to see whether they like me enough to become a member.

Pondering what actual benefits I'll get:

* increased membership fee
* will actually have to go to seminars to keep my professional hours up to date
* increased mailouts for things such as briefcases, tax guides and conferences in Canada which I can't afford
* three extra letters on my business card

On a positive note, I have Friday off so I can go to the ODI to watch Roy smack his way around the ground yet again. Hopefully the Poms can lift their game as one-sided matches are extremely boring to watch, especially inside the stadium.

In Brief

The Set-up



The location



The Pack-up



The team

Festivities are over, time to get to it!

After two and a half wonderful Christmas gatherings with a few tribes today, it's finally the eve of the much anticipated event of the year.

The last couple of months slogging away will come to fruition (at least for a few people) tomorrow as we head off to Chinderah, NSW as the advance set-up party for our summer family mission.

Thinking back one one of my posts back in August/September which described the despair and frustration of not finding anyone to come on team, is a primary example of how our faith is tested. With the benefit of hindsight though I can say that deep down there was a small part of me that was telling me that God will provide the things required at the right time and place.

17 wonderful volunteers will spend the next 8 days running Kids Klub, Teens and Family Evening programs at a caravan park in NSW.

We have also been blessed to have a person from our church who will provide his services as a truck driver to transport all our heavy equipment down and back up again afterwards, in his 5 tonne truck. He even told us he had two 8 tonne trucks available also, but the 5 is more than enough for our needs. Gotta reflect on the goodwill of others that God uses to fulfil His plans.

Apart from the joy of spending quality time with the kids and families who attend our programs, there is one thing I have missed in the last two years since I last went..........Siesta zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I want a Boonie

Still waiting for someone to buy themselves a few cartons of VBs, and giving me the tokens for the Boonie.

Any takers?

Two weeks worth

We've witnessed a fantastic Ashes series so far.

Caught up with my high school friends.

Been to a family wedding

And an engagement party

Next lot of parties is our respective work Christmas shindigs this Saturday. Trust them to put them both on the same day and time but not location. However W has scored himself a 'date', whilst I'll have to go without :D

I wonder which party would be more fun, a beer bottle manufacturing plant party or an accountant's party.......

Bust a Toad

Toad busting becomes tax deductible

The Minister for the Environment and Heritage has announced that that two toad-busting Western Australian environment groups, the Kimberley Toad Busters Inc and the Stop the Toad Foundation Inc, have been granted deductible gift recipient status.

*POP*

It all begins today

Tis the season to be a fanatic.

Unfortunately we have no tickets to the 'game' that started today, but will be going to the ODI in January 2007.

Whilst all other wives moan and grumble, this one is happy that the best summer game season has started.

But I'm sure it won't be long until we're sick of watching the following TV commercials:

-VB
-Solo (the image of that guy racing after the garbage truck on a wheelie bin to retrieve his can of Solo)
-WeetBix
-Milo
-3 Mobile

Let's drink to the David Boon and Ian Botham figurines, thanks to VB's latest marketing ploy, and the humble but nostalgic 'baggy green'.

*btw, does anyone actually have one?

Bubs, Bubs, Bubs

It appears to be the week of bubs this week:

K & M had their baby girl on Tuesday

R & K had their baby boy on Monday

To cap it all off, both couples had their babies in the same hospital.

Although it didn't happen this week, A & S had their baby boy last month!

Is there anyone else that is having a bub that I should know about?

All expenses paid!

Last Friday night we went to a dinner at Michaels Riverside Restaurant that was thrown for two blokes who were retiring from duties at W's glass factory.

It's been a while since I've been to such work dinners where all expenses (including the taxi fare to the city) were paid for by the company......that also meant everyone was drinking to their hearts content. This also meant that almost every empty beer and wine bottle was scrutinised for the quality of the manufacture and defects. *rolls eyes*

It was also a fact that both W and myself were the youngest people there, amongst a bunch of 40-60 year-old people who have been working at the same company for at least 35 years! They even have 25 year and 40 year anniversaries for employees!

People nowadays don't last that long anymore. I mean, I can't see myself like that, must be generation-shift.

I surprisingly hit it off well with W's boss's wife, who's family has only been in Brisbane for 10 months. Bulk of the conversation was.....ahem.......fishing.....and them offering to take us out on their big boat into Moreton Bay for a weekend sometime. *rubs hands together with glee*

Family Movies

Current dilemma- finding a suitable family movie (preferably G-rated) for our mission's movie night.

My all time favourite children's movie is Toy Story 2, but we mainly showcase a new movie that has been released either this year or in the last 2 years.

Shortlist includes:

The Incredibles
Ice Age- The Meltdown
Over the Hedge
Shrek 2

I haven't seen the Meltdown or Over the Hedge yet.....methinks I need to pay a friendly visit to the local video store. $1 Tuesdays here I come!

The countdown begins

The jacarandas are blooming
Everyone at work is stressed and grumbling
D-Day is just over two weeks away
Time for hibernation, I say

See your smiling faces in November

Too Busy

Been too busy to have done anything really exciting in the last couple of weeks, although a few things to come to mind:

Made gingerbread men (and a woman and someone in a loincloth) and gingerbread houses with the girls last Saturday afternoon which was great fun. After most of the girls left, we sat around the house eating dinner and watching 'Nanny McPhee'. I know it is a kids movie, but truly.....how could anyone NOT WANT to watch a movie with Colin Firth and Emma Thompson in it??

Had dinner with a couple of high school friends on Thursday night, as one of them was down our way for work this week. The restaurant we went to had a comedy night that evening, but nothing exciting happened to my memory. Except the last person we heard as we were paying the bill, didn't get any laughs.....poor guy.

The most unfortunate news is that after 25 long years, I am officially short-sighted, to the degree of around.....100? (I don't think this is that bad...unless some other spectacle-wearing people think otherwise)

Today was spent looking for frames to suit my unusually-shaped face. As long as I do not look like a fly or gaudy Lee-Lin Chin I'll be happy.

Results

Rather than buying bait, why not test out your skills and try catching it instead, like this person below:



From there, the fish being caught got bigger..



and bigger...



until finally we got a legal sized fish we could take home with us.



Unfortunately, no matter how much chicken bones and calamari flesh we actually jammed into the crab pots, the mud crabs were off on their own holiday. They missed out on a feast BIG TIME!

Not too long now

A fishing we will go
A fishing we will go
Heigh Ho the derry-ho
A fishing we will go

Throwing in the towel

Why is it that after a reasonable break from study, things start piling up again when you start it all over again, hopefully for the last, last time. (study, that is)

I honestly thought, earlier this week, that it was the most stupidest idea to put our hands up for beach mission directorship this year. Initial response has been a lot slower than I had expected, past members not being available and a fundraiser or two has yet to be organised.

Despite the delay in response, and the fact that people are unable to commit at apparently too early a time, inspiration has come from some most unlikely of people. People I don't even know actually, or have only met once, previously.

One person who's contacts were provided to us through SU, sounded really enthusiastic, to the point that they enquired directly to SU about our particular mission. To think that out of 30 odd summer missions they decided to choose ours, one of the more smaller teams, to be involved.

Hopefully the responses will be positive in the next few weeks before the first, planned team meeting later this month.

Apart from this, study hasn't been as well as I'd like it to be. Maybe it's just because I'm soooooo close to finishing this once and for all, I'm getting slacker and slacker. People that know me well may think otherwise.

Whilst I am tempted, I don't think I'll give it all up just yet.

I am definitely looking forward to catching some good-sized and edible fish next weekend on our houseboat trip. Speaking of which.......we have invested in brand new gear- namely one spin combo and a baitcaster. Will see who has the more success.