Ok so this first photo was actually taken in winter... Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games!!

Just a quick sampling of flowers going off in the front yard..

And here ends another weekend :/

Our cherry tree that last weekend was mostly all yellow leaves, had lost just about all its leaves by this weekend..



Still lots of colour on some of the other trees

What happened ?!?  Got lulled into a false sense of spring and then suddenly *bam* .. apparent temperature less than zero this morning!!

Will curl up in bed back in winter pjs and nice warm doona....

Why is it I always seem to leave blogging photos til the end of the weekend..? :)

This was actually taken during the week - Canberra is so green at the moment.  Gotta love that la nina weather.  But even with all the rain we've had this year, our dams haven't risen all that much.  Which is why cramming more people into Canberra is rather a silly idea..

At work on Friday, one of the sections had some of these for their morning tea - Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs!!  I haven't had these in years (although I've had caramelised popcorn in that time).  I instantly got a craving, so when Windy said he was going to the shops I asked him to buy me a packet...

Yum! Delicious!

On Saturday we trekked out to Fyshwick to pick up a printer for me little brother. What a beast! This stoopidly big A3 laser printer that he picked up at auction for $7 (!) We also stopped at a coffee machine shop so Stu could drool over the coffee machines and grinders. Then we went to Fisher Discounts to go to the upstairs section that we missed last time we were there (which we never would have known about had someone at work not told us). I got myself a model of the Space Shuttle which I've wanted for ages (although this one is by Revell so the quality may not be great), and Stu got a bunch of little bits and pieces to go with his wargaming stuff. But the total came to less than the price tags we added up, so we were under the voucher by like $20. To save having to come back and spend the remainder, we impulse bought a little electric screwdriver that was at the counter. Oops :)

I also took some more photos of our English Country Garden on Saturday. It's really quite a lovely garden, and things take their turns flowering all through spring to summer. At the moment the lilac is starting to bloom, the wisteria is going nuts, this big creeper thing is about to explode with flowers, irises have burst forth all over the place, some pink/purple daisies are quietly doing their thing in the shade, and lavendar and roses are getting ready to go. Some fresias I planted are also quietly blooming yellow in the shade near the daisies. Rosemary and daphne have been and gone, as have the jonquils that I planted. I'll actually kinda miss this garden when we move. Will have to try and take some cuttings of a few things...

The rest of Saturday was spent packing, cleaning, and dismantling the Millenium Falcon.

Sunday: repeat.

Monday: repeat, with weeding of the yard.
Actually didn't get much packing or cleaning done today. Oh well.

I realised tonight I hadn't downloaded my photos in over a week.. oops!!

Last weekend was very springy...

A few of my mint seedlings survived the winter and are starting to thrive again..

This currawong sat in the back yard for quite a while, which gave me time to get a photo of it..

A young (pink) daisy..

A few shots of Canberra/Gungahlin..

I'll never tire of the blossom trees around here..

Not sure what this is..?

I like the cutlery they have in the Thai place we went to for lunch on Wednesday (Lemon Grass I think??)..

Of course the big news of this week is that we exchanged contracts for a house!! Terribly exciting for us :) Turns out our new house has a beautiful weeping cherry which is in full bloom at the moment..

Saw this on the ground on Friday afternoon, which I deemed stop-in-the-middle-of-the-city-to-take-a-photo-worthy..

Friday evening saw a bunch of us go to the Wig and Pen for after work drinks. It was a good fun night, although the place is far too pricey to be wanting to do it too often. At one point we got one beer, a plate of chips and a plate of wedges. For $21.30 ?!?!? Friggen rip-off. But the beer is pretty good.

On Saturday, Annie and most of the rest of the family came over with French champagne to celebrate our house-buying (actually the champagne was given to them when Little Squishy was born, but they hadn't gotten around to drinking it.. so we celebrated both occasions :) )

With our dinner (home-made pizzas) we opened another one of our wedding wines - a very nice Coonawarra shiraz. Quite delicious.. for a red wine ;)

Today we spent much of the day cleaning up the house in preparation for moving out.

And we went to the book fair :)

We filled up a shopping bag ($10 worth) with 38 books, so think we got our money's worth :)
Here's the ones I grabbed..

I'm most excited about "The Final Countdown". Dad and I saw this movie years and years ago, and then couldn't remember the name of it for the longest time. I've not seen it again since, so will be cool to read the book.

And so that's pretty much the last week and a bit.... :)

So I had most of the contents of a largish tin of tuna that needed to be eaten before I went away.  The perfect solution? Tuna casserole!  Except I didn't have either of my mum's recipes, and probably wouldn't have had the ingredients anyway. 

So I improvised!  Using whatever I could find in the house..

* most of a largish tin of tuna (I think I used springwater stuff - lower fat than in oil)
* a pack of alfredo pasta - one of those side dish packs
* a pack of cream of mushroom soup
* a small tin of corn kernels
* two tomatoes, diced
* a couple of handfuls of shredded tasty cheese
* a couple of cups of milk
* a cup or so of water

Top it with a mix of shredded cheese (finely grated would have worked better) and in this case wheatgerm in lieu of breadcrumbs.

Bung it in the oven for 3/4 hour or so

Enjoy!

(I shoulda taken a photo!)

As seen at Dave's the other week

A- Available or Single? No, engaged to Stu :)
B- Best Friend? Stu
C- Cake or Pie? Pie (most fruits)
D- Drink of Choice? Orange juice
E- Essential Item? My digital camera
F- Favorite Color? Aqua blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? er.. worms mabye
H- Hometown? Sydney, Australia
I- Indulgence? right now, Doritos cheese supreme
J- January or February? Dunno. January probably - usually quieter at work, but too hot
K- Kids and Names? Don't have kids
L- Life is incomplete without�? Stu
M- Marriage Date? Dunno yet. Maybe October.
N- Number of Siblings? One
O- Oranges or Apples? Probably apples. I like oranges, but they are too sticky/messy
P- Phobias/Fears? Cobwebs
Q- Favorite Quote? Live long and prosper
R- Reasons to smile? Stu, I'm healthy, and got enough money to do some of the things I like
S- Season? Spring
T- Tag 3 people? I don't tag
U- Unknown Fact About Me? er.. dunno
V- Vegetable You Hate? Brussel sprouts aren't very pleasant.
W- Worst Habit? No comment :)
X- Xrays You�ve Had? My left foot, my chest, my teeth (don't have that one though)
Y- Your Favorite Foods? Roast pork with crackling, cheese flavoured potato crisps, my potato bake
Z- Zodiac? Leo

ok so it's Tuesday .. :) Saw this at Michael's and thought it would be fun.

1. How do you eat an Oreo cookie?
Well Oreos came here far too late for me to think up clever ways to eat them (and I'm not a huge fan of them anyway). But Mint Slices on the other hand. Well. First I would take a small bite at the front. Then I would nibble all around the edges. Then I would eat off the top layer of chocolate. Then I would eat off the bottom biscuit, then finally eat the icing. :)

2. How long does it take you to eat lunch?
er, never actually timed it. Probably 20 minutes? But total time away from the office is usually about an hour cause we walk a good 10 minutes away to get food, then there is the chat time after.

3. Caffeine or decaf?
In coffee? Well neither cause I don't drink the stuff :)

4. Chicken or beef?
If I'm eating out it's more often chicken, because I'm a bit picky about my beef and it's easier for them to stuff up beef I've found (too dry/chewy etc). At home I love a good steak.

5. Pen or pencil?
Depends what I'm doing really. I really like the Pacer style of pencils though.

6. Autumn or spring?
Spring

7. Baseball or basketball?
Neither really heh :)

8. 'Survivor' or 'The Amazing Race?'
Now that's a tough one.. probably The Amazing Race though.

:)

So the boy left work early last night and came up in time for dinner, which was lovely. A rare treat :) Watched some bits and pieces on tv, then Fantasia 2000.

This morning was a very slow start, not really getting ready til midday. Then we found a new aquarium to look at, but it didn't have the killifish Stu was hoping to see. Next dropped into work so I could show Stu the new office arrangements and my fishies at work. My kribs have had another school of babies!!! Did a water change in their tank while I was there. Then took Stu to my favourite Thai restaurant for lunch, followed by a shopping trip for tonight's dinner. Also went to Best & Less and got three floor cushions which are way cool.

So dinner was dory fillets fried with spring onions, ginger, red banana chilli and coriander, with asparagus and squash on the side. It was all delicious, Stu is an awesome cook :):)

We ate while watching the last disk of TNG season 2 (the special features disk), followed by ST I the motion picture. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, you could easily watch the movie in fast forward. Nothing much happens. Basically it's just a single episode story that they took a lot longer to film, with the express purpose of showing off all the special effects they could do in 1979.. :)

Anyways, bed time :)