two things happened tonight.
1. we say arj barker at enmore
2. nan died
we found out about nan after the two non-arj comedians, and in the break before arj. so that is sad news. nan was a good lady.
howie and i are determined to win a holiday to the gold coast with paddle pops lick-a-prize. we only need the 'AY'.
c'mon paddlepop sticks!
and we want to win a holiday to vegas. c'mon howie being original in his 25 words or less.
if all else fails we found some pretty reasonable emirates prices today.
i led communion at church tonight. it was pretty nerve racking. i don't much enjoying being up in front of everyone. and then the added weight of what communion is. so it was a little freaky. plus i thought it would be early on in the service, but it was the last thing! so i got to sit through the whole service in a slightly stressed state.
my tummy is still a bit funny. but it's done. i hope people got something out of it.
yesterday was tim and kirri's wedding. mr and mrs dabinett. it was so beautiful and kind of surreal. these are my first childhood buddies getting married. to each other! but it was a very special day.
i took a bunch of photos. ah the joys of facebook. ah the annoyance of a dodgy image program. ah the annoyance of dial up speed til next month.
sammy and me. he was looking schmick in his pinstripes.
the kissies!
us three girls with hug-a-doug and doreen
the beautiful maid of honour and the stunning bride
howie had some fun with my camera on the table of fun at the reception - most of it involved sam
the cutting of the cake
cathy bell and me
yay for tim and kirri now husband and wife. crazy times. crazy good though! we're all growing up!
yesterday i found me a pair of tops pants in our op shop. i call them my 'motivation pants' because they are a bit too small but i really like them. so i am using them to motivate me to lose a little bit of weight so i can fit them.
meanwhile i hate clothes sizing. there is no consistency. so sometimes i feel like the biggest heffa because i don't fit into something that's a size 12 and then other times i'm swimming in a size 10. what the hell. way to help womens self esteem size-deciding-people!
today we hung out at the greenhouse with some year 12 students. actually we didn't really hang out. we sat quietly while they studied quietly. i watched some friends (with headphones and stifled laughter) and began rereading scarecrow. i was also lunch lady.
i was really impressed with how much they wanted to use the time to get work done. for about four of the six hours we were there, there was silence.
but it was also fun mucking around at lunch/afterwards with playstation and pool.
and it was fun celebrating liz's birthday with a traditional song and a cake.
the best thing was that they all said they found the day really helpful.
we get to do it all again next thursday.
because of my lovely obedient parents giving us movie money for our birthdays, we greater unioned it tonight.
and saw michael clayton

george clooney is pretty good at what he does. it wasn't a bad movie. it won't ever end up on my dvd purchase list. but it wasn't a bad way to spend two hours.
although i am getting more annoyed at the 30 minutes of crap before the movie starts. surely it wasn't always that much time?!
i passed my senior first aid course today. it's the first proper course i've done. i did a resuscitation certificate in highschool and lots of swimming ones (bronze medallions, crosses etc), but never proper first aid.
i'm not quite sure of my complete confidence in my ability or skill. but hopefully i'll never have to put it into practice, and if i do have to, hopefully it will all come back to me when i need it!
michael de beer is a good trainer. it was fun that we knew him. and it was fun that he picked on howie. everyone enjoyed that.
i had a pretty cruisey birthday day.
watched a few episodes of friends while howie slept in.
had lunch at the parentals.
had a post-lunch nap.
went to church.
got some fun pressies. one of which involves us going to arj barker next week! woo! and also 10 movie monies! woo!
sam, lachie and debs came over tonight for some dinner and games.
we ended up playing a lot of buzz because the boys gave me the big quiz for my birthday. lachie dominated - well played!
we got pizza from normanhurst pizza cafe. and it was way too much food. but they are nice people - i didn't realise it's cash only, and the lady just told me to go eat it and come back later with the cash. and when i did an hour and a half later she told me i needn't have rushed!
then we played some random games like 3D snakes and ladders, bingo, guess who and dominos. good fun.
thanks for coming over peoples.
i always had to sit in the front row for school photos. I think the only times I didn't were the big whole grade photos in year 7, 10 and 12.

year 2 at good old thornleigh public school - now bunnings.
after moving my car yesterday, howie and i were walking along william street past the carpark behind the odeon, and i noticed something swaying in the breeze up ahead over the path. i realised it was a rat! i was a little shocked, and decided to walk through the carpark rather than on the path, in case a gust of wind caused the rat to swing into me or something.
it was well and truly dead, and i noticed as we saw it from a different angle that the rat was hanging from some sort of metal wire. and that the wire was around it's neck!! this didn't look like a suicide. it seems that some sick individual thought it would be a good idea to tie a thin metal noose around a rat's neck and hang it from a tree. delightful.
i cooked the first proper dinner in this household since about two weeks ago. i haven't felt like eating, and most nights only feel like lying down, so poor husband has had to fend for himself - pasta and sauce, chicken pies, pizza pockets, jaffles, and the like. bad wife.
so tonight i decided i have to eat, since i don't know what's wrong with me, and that i would cook something experimental. so chicken and bok choy stir fry it was. howie doesn't like soy sauce, but i keep trying to convince him he does since most of the stir frys i like to make have soy and oyster sauces. so there was soy sauce. strike one. and although i have cooked with bok choy before he doesn't remember, and didn't really like it either. strike two. and i didn't make sure the broccoli was really soft. strike three.
but i'm pretty sure i'm going to make something pretty similar tomorrow night. since i have to use up the ingredients. good old experimenting.
my tests didn't really say much. the ultrasound i still assume was fine. the blood tests had a couple of slight irregularities but nothing that pointed to anything.
although i did have high iron. they assumed i must have had a supplement that morning, but i haven't had one for months. plus i can't remember the last time i had red meat. or green leafy vegetables. or anything yummy. so that is a little weird. but again, doesn't point to anything.
so the doctor thinks i may have reflux. he gave me tablets totry if it flares up again. if the tablets work, it is reflux. if they don't, then it's back to the drawing board.
so in conclusion, no closer to an answer.
but i just don't care anymore. i will make my head say i'm fine and my body will follow.
today was did the first half of a first aid course through work, and the one and only michael de beer was our trainer.
first aid is a bit scary. i'm ok with small cuts - as demonstrated by my husband in last night's little drama - but anything to do with vomit, burns, penetrating wounds, or gaping wounds i'm not so sure about. my stomach isn't the strongest.
hopefully, even though i learn the skills, i'll never have to use them.
sometimes it's fun to reminise about old school cartoons. so many good ones from the 80s and 90s.
but i never realised how much of a complete rip off of he-man shera was. of course it's made by the same people, and they are twins, but they didn't even attempt to change the intro too much. i guess you have to appeal to girls as well as boys. pretty colours, a horsey instead of a big cat, and long flowing hair.
my old mate he-man
my hero shera
today was libby's hens day/evening. it was a shame i felt so lousy. but libby seemed to have fun. she was very purple with her veil and feather boa. i hope she wasn't too embarrassed by the things she was made to do! made me very glad i had the hens weekend that i had. we had some games over coffee and cake in darling harbour. then walked through the city completing various challenges, before heading back to new college for some more games and dinner.
it was nice to be in the sun for some of today. this evening has had a bit of bite to it though!
howie and i are trying to grow cherry tomatoes. i only sewed the seeds this afternoon, so we'll see how things go over the next week or two.
we were dreaming of owning our own place one day and having a kickass veggie patch.
i had my abdominal ultrasound this morning. the jelly is funny. i did lots of "take a big breath and hold". and she played it outloud once. my tummy sounds funny.
the ultrasounder said at the end that she couldn't find any problems, but that isn't the official result. although i'm pretty happy to take her saying that at face value.
but she only did my upper abdomen - pancreas, kidneys, gall bladder, liver. i've had more pains in my gut than up there. so i might have to tell my doctor that again, and see if he wants to do a lower abdominal one.
i feel ok today. had some good pains last night. but today isn't too bad.
i have another appointment with bettsy boy for tuesday.
no more eating or drinking for me for 12 or more hours. the benefit of a morning appointment is that i wouldn't normally eat or drink while i sleep anyway! good logic.
but it's one of those things where you hope everything is clear, but if it is, that doesn't tell you what's wrong with your body or how to fix it.
so i am kind of hoping they find something and can treat it, so that i feel better.
delicate balance.
i like going to dr betts because he makes me have tests.
i had a blood test - and everyone in the pathology place loved my bag and kept commenting on it. it was bizarre.
and i have an ultrasound on friday morning.
hopefully they will rule things in or out. and then i will be better.
i'm not feeling anywhere as bad as last night today though. which is good.
well this afternoon/evening hasn't been very enjoyable. i've had all manner of dull aches, sharp pains, cramps, and discomforts. i hope that my doctor appointment tomorrow is of use. i'm seeing the other guy. i just want my insides to be normal.
howie is out tonight with sam watching some comedy that howie won tickets to. i wasn't all that interested in going. so i've had myself a mini friends-a-thon. i'm four episodes into season four now. i am a bit friendsded out for tonight now. but it is good fun watching it.
i think sydney water is slowly killing us.
i had fun gastrointestinal problems last week, and again today. howie had them last night. two of my friends had them on friday/saturday. and that means it's everywhere!
this morning as howie and i were discussing what to do with our day, i blurted out "bushwalk". to which husband agreed. so eventually we got our butts in gear and headed to hornsby to park the car and head bush.
i am so unfit. as is howie. but it was still nice to enjoy naturalness. we went to the fishponds, and then a bit further because the fishponds were so close. we ate some lunch that howie packed - pink wafer biscuits, bread rolls and kiwi fruit. and drank lots of water.
and then almost died coming back up the hill.
i later developed a bit of a headache - possibly a dehydration thing. it's still hanging around.
but it was good fun. we should do it more. so that we aren't so puffy when we're doing it.
today was kirri's hens day out. we went to homebush to trapeze. i'm a wuss bag when it comes to heights, so i was happy to watch. but there were some brave souls in amongst our group of girls
attractive harnesses on attractive girls - tazz, debs, deby (and cath)
go debbie!
falling gracefully
deby is a gun! she'll shortly be running off to join the circus
me and chuckie, part of the cheersquad
we then had lunch at a burmese restaurant in strathfield. it was pretty nice, and amazingly cheap - $8 each!
then we headed back to the hewatt's for some creative fun. we dressed kirri up and painted portraits of her. and then we used kirri as a paintbrush, or many paintbrushes, to paint a canvas.
deby and i got kirri's bum
it was a fun day. so sleepy now. and there will be a lot of sore muscles for the trapezing ones tomorrow! i'm happy to be a wuss bag.
school holidays means no youth group.
somehow howie talked himself out of us seeing a movie tonight. i'm not quite sure how he did it.
so instead debs is coming over for some dinner and a DVD.
our door bell has die. new batteries in both the dinger and the donger won't bring it back.
now we'll have to go spend something like $12 on a new one. i hope it's not like the one at work that talks to us - "how are you, and please open the door". so annoying.
i spent today at home in bed. i got up this morning feeling fine, had breakfast, and a little bit later didn't feel so fine.
i lay on my back all day. i watched 11 episodes of friends. ross and rachel just broke up for the first time. that's where i'm up to.
i ate some slices of bread. drank some water. drank some lemonade.
and that was my day.
we're about to go to my parents house for dinner. some plain toast coming my way!
once again, the birthday month us upon us.
happy birthday auntie ros for yesterday!
and for today...
happy birthday grandpa!
happy birthday john!
to be continued... all month!
i'm thinking of going to a different doctor to ask if there's anything wrong with me and my strange pains.
i'm thinking of going to the one who diagnosed my glandular fever after my normal doctor told me i just had a viral infection.
i like my normal doctor. but sometimes i wonder if he picks up on the important stuff or not.
i'm up to season 3 of friends. go team! i'm really enjoying watching it. i love chandler.
yay that howie is home from stump.
not sure what to have for dinner.