Dudded...Celebration

Some of the furniture that we purchased last weekend was delivered on Thursday. The lounge looks good in our living area but unfortunately we were dudded on the dining suite. The chairs came in two boxes (3 per box) and one of the boxes had obviously been previously opened and the contents repacked in. On further inspection all three chairs in the box had some minor damage in the same spot. It would appear that someone may have returned the damaged chairs and the furniture store has decided to attempt to palm the damaged goods off onto some unsuspecting customer. In addition to the damaged chairs, when Lani checked the other box of chairs she noted that although they were the same design, they were obviously from a different batch and had some slight differences in the final finish of the chair. The furniture company has agreed to replace the whole dining suite with a 'new' suite which should be delivered in a few days, meaning further hassle and waiting for delivery. What could have been a positive transaction has unfortunately turned ugly.

Lani also celebrated her birthday on Thursday. The kids and I gave her an Ipod Nano and some nice sterling silver bangles which she picked herself. Lani spent her special day cleaning the house and getting very angry with the furniture company for sending dud furniture and not calling in the morning to give some kind of indication of when the furniture would be delivered, which ended up being in the afternoon. I'm planning to cook her a late birthday roast dinner on Sunday.

Award...Sold...Birthday...Parks...Furniture

Jasmine received an assembly award last week for doing a Rabbit Tangram. Apparently she was the only one in her class to make the tangram pieces resemble something recognisable. We have a tradition in our house, when the kids receive an award or do something positive the rewards follow. For Jasmine it was a dinner of her choice, so we made a visit to KFC. She loves the skin!

On Friday night we sold our old boat for $3000. I was so glad we sold the boat without too much hassle. The guy who bought it gave the boat a good look over and then agreed to buy it without wanting to take the boat for a run on the water or even hear the outboard motor start. I insisted that we at least hook up a water hose to the motor and kick the motor over just for my own peace of mind since it was the main selling feature of the boat. The motor started cold with only 3 pulls of the starter cord and the buyer was impressed. He then hooked the boat up to his car to go and we checked the trailer tail lights only to find it completely dead. I couldn't believe it. I had only tested the lights the week before and they were OK. On further investigation we discovered that his car trailer plug was the cause of the problem and he decided to just drove the boat home without the trailer lights working.

On Saturday Jasmine had her birthday party with 15 friends (11 girls and 4 boys) at McDonald's. The kids appeared to enjoy themselves. They chased each other around the play equipment and the screaming from a few of the girls was intensely high pitched. After the party Jasmine had a sleep over at her friend Chloes'house. Chloe's Mum told us that When it came to sleep time Jasmine claimed she was scared. The kids were in a single bed sleeping at either end and Chloe's mum who is quite small also had to sleep in the bed to get the kids to sleep. Somehow they all managed to sleep through most of the night.

When Lani and I came to pick up Jasmine on Sunday afternoon she told me of a funny experience she had that day. Apparently while she was mucking around with Chloe in the back yard, she was on her knees and Chloe's Maltese Terrier jumped on her back and started "sexing" Jasmine's back. That is how Jasmine described it.

James had a busy weekend. He went to Sea World on Saturday with his mate Josh and his family. Then on Sunday they went to Wet n Wild with another mate Callum.

Lani and I also had a busy weekend. On Saturday morning before the party and all day Sunday we went furniture shopping. We have purchased a new lounge suite, dining table with 6 chairs, lamp table, buffet unit and TV unit. Both of us didn't really enjoy the shopping around, particularly when we visited Ikea. We actually weren't interested in buying any furniture at Ikea, we just wanted to buy a couple of shelves. Problem is that you can't just walk in and out of Ikea. You have to walk through the a whole maze of areas to make it to the checkouts.

Camp...Holidays...Birthday...Boat

James survived his 3 day school camp. It didn't quite meet his expectation but he had an OK time. He said the food tasted pretty good but they didn't provide enough. The kids were only able to get seconds, but there were no thirds, fourths, etc. James may have a small frame but he can eat like a horse. It is a little scary to think of how much he might eat going through the adolescent years. As for the activities at the camp, most seemed to not be physically or mentally challenging enough for him.

The kids have returned to school after having 2 weeks school holidays. Lani and the kids went for a guided nature walk through the Coombabah wetlands near where we live which Lani and Jasmine enjoyed but James wasn't too excited about it. My sister Julie and her kids visited for 5 days. Jasmine gets on really well with her cousin Rebecca and enjoyed her being here. They all went to Movie World on one day and then spent several days going to Sea World after buying yearly passes.

Jasmine turned 8 years old during the holidays and we had a small party while Julie and the kids were here but she will be having a McDonalds birthday party with her friends on the 20 Oct. She is inviting over 20 friends! Thanks to everyone who bought her a gift and phoned her. Jasmine really loved people calling to specifically talk to her.

Last week we bought a bigger boat, 5 metre aluminium runabout with a 60hp Mercury. A few months ago I asked my Uncle Ken, who is a seriously keen fisherman living on the NSW mid north coast, to keep an eye out for any bargain boat deals. We weren't planning to upgrade our boat for a couple of years but if something good came along we would grab it. He stumbled upon the boat when he saw his wealthy neighbour pull it out of his garage, where it had pretty much been in storage for the past 8 years. The guy wanted a quick sale with no hassles, so he was giving it away for $6000. The boat package is easily worth at least $10,000. My uncle took the boat for a run and had his marine mechanic mate inspect the boat, trailer and motor. The trailer needed some minor rust repairs but everything else was in very good condition. My uncle emailed some photos to us and the deal was done.

The boat trailer was out of registration and we had a lot of hassle getting it registered in Queensland so I could go down and drive it back up, but we eventually sorted out all the paperwork. I drove down to South West Rocks on Saturday and returned back home again on the same day. On Sunday I took Lani and the kids out for a ride. I was a little too keen at first to show them the power of the boat and Lani and James nearly fell out as I accelerated and turned around a channel marker. All I need now is a GPS to find some reefs off the coast and (hopefully) catch some big fish.