We finally bit the bullet and went to the accountant today. I've been dreading it because with all the moving and settling we've done in the last two years, I'm ashamed to say the tight rein on the financials has not developed. At first it was because I didn't care, that easy spending of money helped ease the pain of transition. Then the money insulated me from the new and strange for a while, and caring about the conventionalities of taxes in a foreign country was just too horrid to embrace.

After all, I'd only just mastered paying them in my native land. It was only four or five years ago that I had to pay a tax bill of twelve thou at one go. At the time, I couldn't believe it. Now I'm amazed that back then, I had twelve grand in the bank. Anyway, we had a lovely and speedy meeting with our new accountant, who came highly recommended by a family member. I was sure I'd owe some money, but I'd forgotten, we really didn't make much. I did pay a lot of taxes apparently though, we got some money back! Even better, we'll likely get it beginning of the New Year, a time I've always associated with poverty.

We went Christmas shopping with a free conscience instead of the careless ignorant abandon we usually adopt while buying presents. We still didn't go very crazy. Living with less is starting to be a habit, or maybe more appropriately, feeling that less is more. We're pretty happy to have the mortgage paid and everyone fed comfortably.

There seems to be no end of the rigging work, I'm regulating it so that I can kill myself a bit more slowly, I'm finding as usual there are ever so many things I like more than work. Which is misleading, when I'm not rigging, I've been digging like a madman.

It's been wet, and loose clay pugs up the soles of your boots so you feel like each foot has a three inch scab of turd on the bottom. But slowly I have been cutting and smoothing the sidewalls. I'll be ready by next week to start that steelwork, which is none too soon, the three pieces of steel mesh mat have been sitting on the side of the road taking our favorite parking space for almost a week.

Pretty soon I'll need to go and get a load of pipe, I have to start getting serious about roughing in the plumbing.

Last night I helped mount a giant plastic star on top of the Toorak library. It's a lot less tacky than it sounds. Lit from inside.

Still getting massive rainstorms. It's raining now. I just know they won't last all summer, but it is wonderful. I spent a long morning digging today. The first two reed bed channels are ready for steel and formwork. They were the only two that required a lot of digging out, the rest is just getting a step footing channel ready for the end walls.

The first hole ended up 500mm deep, which means with a 100mm bottom pad, my finished depth will be 400.

300mm is the recommended minimum depth, and they get deeper by at least 100mm with each step down. I've started taking the pavers out of the steps, we'll redo the steps and flat area by the barby with exposed aggregate.

Kai was a help today, even though he was sick. We were shoveling and cutting the end wall smooth with a mattock and I had him pose for a picture while he was digging. I took the picture and sat down to catch my breath.

He looked at me and said, " what are you doing? Grab a shovel and keep digging".

Everyone took a nap while I dug for the next two or three hours.

Then Kai and Li and I danced to Christmas music, and had sandwiches for dinner.

Hung a sculpture installation called "Spatial Penetration" at Swinburne Lilydale today. The title was the butt of many jokes. It reminded me of every prop piece from "Beetlejuice". There were about six or seven huge fibreglass, aluminium, etc. primary colored pointy and round shapes. Hung them on steel cables high off the ground. I got the stinkeye from a lady who didn't want one outside her office window.

Tomorrow working at Crown Casino. Hopefully Thu/Fri will stay unbooked so I can start cutting steel. I'm getting excited about greywater.

Which I don't care who you ask, is better than being excited about Nick Cave. I still just don't get it. He looks like a huge wanker. He was on TV and I swear, looked like an extra from "That 70's Show". His lyrics don't rhyme. I'm not a hater, I just don't get it.

I saw an owl just before sunset. I've only seen a few owls in the wild in my life. I heard a noise in the downstairs bedroom. I think he (she?) might have hit a window trying to fly in, Jo opened the curtains down there, they're usually shut.

It was sitting on the porch railing not doing much. Did look kind of dazed. I got outside and got a real good look at him. I'm going to look it up when I get a chance. A real owl.

In the book version of Blade Runner (Do androids dream of Electric Sheep), a cloned owl was one of the most expensive pets you could have made. I hope the owl sticks around, I've always liked the idea of them hunting vermin all night. Maybe I'll build an owl box or something.

just got back from carols by candlelight in Ferntree Gully. Madhouse. We left on a moments notice with no food, drink, money, blankets, chairs, etc. Worked out pretty much as expected. But everybody had a pretty good time. Boys are manic, it being 9:30 already. Got my massage today and feel really run down. I'm hoping another night's sleep will sort me out.

Did nothing on the watershed project today, tomorrow morning is free but if I feel like crap I'm certainly not picking up a shovel.

Big Power family Christmas party tomorrow. About an hour away.

I've got work scheduled the first part of the week and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be cutting steel and building formwork. My goal is to pour before Christmas.

I just watched the trailer for "The Collapse". Unsurprisingly, it scared the crap out of me.

Returned late from picnic dinner at Melbourne Zoo, courtesy of Mag's work. Boys had fun (pictures on facebook). It was a bit hectic getting there, we had to battle traffic and arrived with a mostly empty tank. We had fun though.

Steel arrived today, it's out on the road, hopefully no lawsuit worthy things happen before I can get it around back. This weekend should be starting the formwork.

Work tomorrow putting up the monster Christmas tree with a crane @ Fed Square and some other stuff at the music bowl.

My neck is killing me, I'm getting a massage Saturday after karate.

Got quite a bit of the remaining digging done yesterday. Just a bit of cleanup and I'm ready to start the formwork. The steel mesh should arrive today. I'm splitting time between this and work, and most work is at night.

Last night I went into Fed Square to hang some banners off the cantilever entrance. I thought I'd be climbing again (it's about 15 meters off the ground!), but we did all the work out of the basket of a boom lift, which was much more convenient.

Woke up on four hours sleep this morning and just dropped Kai at school. More work outside today, it's a lovely day. Got to keep momentum on this project. Jo has been really supportive, even though it's an (relatively) expensive undertaking and we're so close to Christmas. She's right though, if I don't stay on it, it'll never happen.

The concrete is the big deal, after that it's a bit of plumbing and we can start to fill and populate it. I don't expect I'll have money to build the greenhouse or chook pen over the top for a few months.

Damn. I didn't move a scrap of dirt today. That really got me down. New brakes were just over $700. I'm watching the money from the last show get chewed up and I don't have any concrete poured. I'm hoping to pull it together in the next two weeks, but that means I need to get dug and get what little formwork there is knocked up. It's hard right now, work when it happens is often at night, which does eat up the available daylight in recovery sleep. Jo's got a little bit of work, but not heaps, and anyway I end up watching kids during that. We've tricked ourselves for the moment into thinking it'll be easier when Kai goes into school full time in a few months.

I did a little bit of gardening today, it was all I could do with Z in the baby bjorn. Worked on tying up more apple branches on the trellis. I'm going to train the apples into a big ladder/hedge, so you can climb up and get an apple. Should be ready by the time everyone's climbing safely.

Climbing the Cantilever @ Fed Square tomorrow night to hang some banners. The day is totally booked full of childcare duties. No digging.

Dropped the car off this morning for a brake job at Ringwood Honda and took the train back. They already toted up the damage and it's about what I thought. But the season for immediate departures with little delay is fast approaching and the car has to run perfectly.

Might try and get the last bit of excavation done on the watershed if the rain holds off. Both boys are at school today, and Jo's gone off somewhere, so it's pretty quiet at the moment. Got a few shifts booked so far this week on the rigging front, but there's a momentary lull, so time to press on with home projects.

We've had an uncredible amount of rain in the last two weeks, and it hasn't stopped just yet. Kiddy pools and buckets left in the back yard have four inches or more of water in them after a thunderstorm has passed, interspersed with beautiful sunny warm afternoons.

Yesterday afternoon while it was raining I diverted the runoff from the road into my fledgling storm water creek. I made a bunch of pools down the side gully at the top of the lot out of broken concrete ("Urbanite"), and it's been pretty dry even during the winter, but with water running into it, it's suddenly become a watercourse. It flows right past the base of the huge elm, and when it gets to the bottom pool, just soaks straght into the ground. I hope I don't have a mudslide! My reasoning was it was better to hardscape and control the flow of the water than:

a) cover it with carpet to prevent growth and erosion (the previous method)

b) fill it in and make it a driveway

c) ignore the problem (opportunity?) and hope the water just 'goes somewhere else'

I may build a ferrocement tank at the bottom and capture the runoff. I'm still thinking there's no way you could ever have enough water holding capacity. It increases the long term security and value of the home, and makes gardening truly enjoyable to not have to worry about a source.

We've only had one or two days of really filthy heat, but definitely a harbinger of things to come this summer. For now it's too easy to enjoy all the water and sun, but in the back of everyone's mind is the amount of fine fuel this will provide for the undercanopy when it gets hot again.

I got home around six this morning, and slept most of the day. I woke up to see Jo off, she's on her way into St. K for a book club meeting with Zoe, and I have the boys here. Kung Fu Panda was just finishing when I got up, and I witnessed how late they went to bed last night, so I mandated twin naps and we'll get stuck into the afternoon once they're well rested.

We might go over to Belgrave to Earthly Pleasures cafe today, where our neighbor Andrew is playing guitar. That would depend on the rain, as we'd have to walk to the train station or get a ride from someone. Either way, I'm going for a pint at Oscar's tonight, I've worked thru the last two weekends.

I had my friend Alex over last week to have a look at the proposed concrete pour for what I'm optimistically calling the Watershed, my greywater recycling house machine. We went over tank depths, excavation, formwork standards, costing for materials and labor. I think it's going to come in around where I thought it would, but it's actually less concrete than I thought.

I just ran around and shut the windows and doors, there's more rain!

Wish I'd had more sleep in the last couple of days but at least there's work. Had a lot of fun climbing at Fed Square yesterday, but the rest of the day was pretty ordinary. Got no sleep in between jobs yesterday but got home around two last night and slept until karate this morning. Kai had a great class today, listened well and performed well. He's obviously getting much better and more precise control over all his motors. I think I might get the boys some kind of punching bag for Christmas. Not sure where to hang it that it won't shake the house.

Speaking of xmas, it's time to get the tree out tomorrow. I guess we'll put it up tomorrow night. I'm so relieved to not have to drive somewhere and get one. Although it was great growing up with a real tree, it's been so much of a hassle the times we've done it. Not to mention the fire hazard at the most fire prone time of year. Add to that the fact that you can have instant Christmas in a few minutes, it comes out of the box with the lights already on it, and the arguments over for me.

I've been thinking about getting a larger car for us, something that suits all the functions we need it for. I don't have quite enough room to move tools when I have building jobs, and I think there may be some of that coming up in the new year. Also, until the ends of the year the gov't is offering a 50% tax rebate on small business purchases. I thought maybe I'd get a loan, buy a newer used van about the same approx value as our car, and then sell off our car in a private sale, pay off the van loan and take the tax rebate. I've got one month to contract for a purchase, so we'll see how much time I actually have to make that happen. Jo's not super keen on driving a van, and to be honest, I love our car, but the boys are trashing it and I'd like to flick it while it still has some value (I think)

Got a bit of garden work done today. Made a trellis to espalier my pear trees. The apples were done a few weeks ago.

Well, it's midnight, and I'm back into the city to bump out a banquet hall. Probably four or five hours of driving a boom lift around, dropping out chain motors.

Holy Crap this redefines long weekend.

I've got two jobs today (happy thanksgiving ; ), three tomorrow, two Sunday, starting early in the morning, ending late, another Monday morning, then taking the car into the shop on Tuesday.

I realized today that my year after year of work is really only bearable because it's a series of varied hard/boring/crappy/overly demanding jobs and not just the plain vanilla sit in an office all of the above. At least it's a wonderful variety of crap sandwich platter.

Today after work I took great pleasure in consulting the live weather radar update on my iPhone, racewalking to the station, and seeing a legion of thoroughly soaked people flood in ten minutes after me. It was nothing short of miraculous that I made it home only a little damp in time for dinner, despite one cancelled and one very late train to Upwey.

Tomorrow I get to use my new 11mm Yates Bandit line and arborist's Treemagineer hitch climber rig to ascend the Fracture Gallery and hang some art. I'm looking forward to it. But now, back to the city for something or other at the National Gallery.

Jo had some kind of car drama and was stuck at Ringwood waiting for RACV, so I walked across town to get Kai. We had a pretty good walk home. I made Mac and cheese, and then Jo got home from Li's school. They had walked home and left the car at the childcare centre, so I walked back and got it. Still don't know if there's anything wrong, I wasn't able to replicate the problem.

I'm in the process of redesigning, so don't be too surprised to see things come and go. One huge bonus I've discovered already is the archives have magically reappeared, allowing anyone to surf the short history of my life since 2001! I thought this stuff was bitrotted and lost down some dark techno-alley a few years back, so it's good to see it all again. On the other hand, my photo albums have pissed off somewhere.....

Dropped the boys at school, house is quiet, the girls are getting some sleep. This afternoon I'm off to an Arborist supply place for a new climbing line and some other doo-dads. I'm hanging art (and 'hanging around' while I do it) this week at the Fracture Gallery in Fed Square, so if you want to come by and taunt a human pinata on your lunch break, do so. Just stay out of range of any thrown tools : )

Hi everybody, welcome back. Sorry I had to close the blog for this last movie, it was somewhat compromised. I'll be posting here again regularly, all are welcome to read. I've missed this as an outlet, I'm going to try and pull a redesign together for the new year, and I'll be documenting the Watershed project to a lesser degree. That may get it's own blog. We'll see, anyway, everyone here is doing great, there's work although much of it is at night, Zoe is doing well, the boys are doing well, Jo is doing well. Watch for updates.

ZOE !!!!!

Waiting for the cab, I'm off to Sydney, then driving 10 hours to Queensland. Narnia here I come.

Killer day yesterday, but really fun (if you have rocks in your head like I do). I left before wrap but still only managed to make it home at about one in the morning. Got up super early for another job, up in the roof at the Camberwell Civic centre, crawling around on my knees in the dust, setting points for a truss system. Tomorrow I'm off to Queensland for what looks like about three weeks.
I'm addicted to work.
I'm addicted to money.
I'm addicted to family.
Not all of these things can be satisfied at one time.
Gotta remember to bring a swimsuit.

Not only that, I got a call for tomorrow for the Melbourne movie. They've narrowed the call time down to sometime between 10 and 3?! They called an hour ago. When it rains it pours.....


And it is pouring right now. Could be 10 degrees in Mt. Macedon tomorrow. I'm bringing everything I own.

Ups and downs.....

So it would appear I'm off to Queensland. I've called and cancelled four out of five rigging days in the next three weeks, as I've been offered a chance to go and work on Narnia for a while. We'll see how it turns out.

As you'll remember, my laptop died when I was in the states, so transmission may be a little bit spotty. I'm not leaving until the beginning of next week, so I'll be home for at least three more days.

This means there will be grip gear and clothing spread out all over the house in every room for about the next 2¾ days.

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.

-Edgar Allen Poe

In other news, I have five days of rigging booked for next month already.

I can't believe it.

I worked for weeks on that set of pancakes and delivered them (well he came and picked them up) today. I buffed them all out yesterday and stacked them up on my bench and covered them with a sheet. I spent a couple hours cleaning up the shop.

He was very pleased. I was paid what I asked, which was totally adequate. I was very pleased. I might even get some rigging work from him, he's a stunt coordinator. We were both very pleased.

So what's the problem, where's the rub?
I forgot to take a picture of them.
Damn.
Now I have to build more.

Home again. Only a four hour shift dropping that scaffolding. Apparently the electricians finally got the LED sign at Fed Square fixed. It was for them to access repairs to said sign.

Gee, wonder why it broke? If you've never been to Fed Square, all the buildings have angled walls, covered with Zincalume roofing. Every surface is covered with this zinc roofing.

Except the roof. That's covered with EPDM rubber, and is flat. I guess it's cheaper though.

Which is apparently the reason water had been getting in that broke the LED. Because it is so architecturally revered, they couldn't change anything about the sign, so I guess we'll be building another scaff tower in a few months time.

I can see why people get sick of riding the train every day. It's good as a novelty. Cold today, but sunny. I worked in a t-shirt for a while. Carried a lot less gear, as I knew exactly what I needed. Pretty blah day really, but the money's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

-Mark Twain

Got a nap this afternoon. Kai went to school this morning, so it was a little hectic then. Li went down for a nap just before me.

I finally finished that project, I have to call the stunt coordinator and let him know his pancakes are done. I'll try and remember to post a picture before he picks them up. They turned out well, I don't think I'll be dovetailing formply again, you have to make the corners perfectly flush, no sanding them. Makes the sloppy material more a more difficult Medium. A finer finish is more easily achievable with real wood. They were great fun to build though.

Going back into the city tomorrow afternoon to drop the scaff tower I built in Fed Square yesterday. I'll take the train again, that worked out well.

Painted the kitchen today while Jo and the boys were in St. Kilda. It's a pale greeny blue. Same as the dining room wall. I think it's a bit cold, but it should be perfect for summer. It's loads better than that mustard creamy color. Why people insist on trying to paint plaster ceiling decorations anything but white I'll never understand. I painted the ceiling and crown molding white. The next guy won't curse me for that.

Back from dropping that truss rig in the city. Piece of piss. Came out easier than it went in, loaders there to stack the truck again. More work next week, blacking in a warehouse-cum-shooting stage for a car commercial. 

Same as Hollywood, the riggers don't get the glam or the big cash, but they do have steadier work. Smart move taking those rigging courses, it's starting to pay off finally. I may tell the film business to go flip. 

Nah, I'd miss it too much. 

I even found a lone VB at the bottom of the fridge which is now at the bottom of my belly. Should help me sleep into the middle of what normal people call morning. The trick to working night hours is to get asleep before the sun rises, because after it comes up you're fucked. And so I'm off. 

Goodnight moon.

Went in to Melbourne early this morning to hang a lighting truss @ Melbourne Town Hall for a little bit of light theatre. Some dinner/boxing match televised on Foxtel. I can't think of a worse way to eat than watching two people pummel each other. It's a bit Rome, isn't it? 

Production hired a bunch of labor guys so the Head rigger and I could really concentrate on setting points in the roof. That was nice, it's been a pretty long time since I felt even a little bit skilled and semi important. 

Anyway, by now the second course is served and the bell's been rung a few times. At about 1:30AM I'll be back in to shoo the drunk people out and break it all down again. 

I should be done early morning. I hope I don't sleep all day tomorrow, I'm really hanging to finish my pancake project, I only have one more set of sides to make, the box tops to cut out, and a carrier to make. 

Still no word on the big shows, but rigging looks to be quite brisk through the new year if nothing else comes along. Opera season starts soon! 

The kids are totally manic. I think they're still a bit sick. Work being sporadic doesn't help anyone's mood. TV doesn't help either, but it's been raining a lot and there's only so much markers and transformers you can play with. Kai does well when we do get him outside, he helped me stack the wood of three or four big deadfall branches. 

I've got some old fence torn out down in the gully on the side of the house. I'm doing the labor part of clearing out and getting ready for new retaining walls. Luckily so much of the yardwork is simple physical labor. I don't need materials or tools, just time, which is cheap at the moment.

I realized today the precise time of day that is my favorite is when I'm in the shop and the car pulls into the drive and the kids get out. They run to my door and bang on it. It's such a great moment when they first come inside and are all excited to see me. To be in that private space with me. They're always torn between telling me what happened before that moment in their lives, and looking all around trying to figure out the meaning of all those odd things I have packed into the space. I'm bombarded with a thousand questions in the first two minutes.

'What's this for?' 

  'Why is this like this?'

'Why did you do this?'

  'Can I have this?'

'Can I see that?'

  'Can you get that down for me?'

Hopefully a shop will always be part of our history, and a lot of their memories of me will be tied to a building like that, filled with tools and mystery, and smelling of sawdust. 

Holy Boring day. Got Kai to school just barely on time this morning. Li and I went to Bunnings to buy glue. We all took naps. Jo had an appointment. My life is so blah right now I could get full coverage up on a single twittertweet. 

Gotta cut tops for the pancake sets and build a carrier (he's paying enough for swishy little details), but I won't get to that until Friday. Which is when someone will probably call me in to work somewhere. 

Went for a walk to town with the boys this morning to buy a couple loaves of bread. No school for Kai today, administrative planning (?!?). How much planning is there really for a schedule of macaroni plate gluing and painting and construction paper activities? I'm mostly pissed because we walked there and back again.

He's gone out with Jo and Li is napping. I should rack it while I have the chance, they are major patience testers today. 

"Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good."

Soren Kierkegaard
  

Didn't end up going to Oscar's after all. While I was stacking the wood delivery my neighbor Karl drove past and asked if I would help sample some beer he'd brewed. 

After quickly checking my schedule I agreed. Kai and I went down the hill while Li and Jo were napping, coming back home for dinner several hours later. 

Unfortunately I hadn't really had enough of a sampling to form an opinion on the beer. And equally unfortunately we had had all of it by then. But happily Karl still had another 50 litres of a different beer, so after kids were put in bed we returned to the business at hand. We had a nice little fire going in the stove in his shed and sat happily chattering for several hours. 

I slept in today. Wasn't much going on really, everybody took turns taking naps all day. We're back to business as usual tomorrow, Li goes to creche, Kai stays with us. 

What a load of crap. 

I went up to Sydney to train up on a remote head I haven't used yet (yes Virginia, there's now like one in the whole universe I haven't trained on), with the aim of doing a show (6+weeks!!!) here in Melbourne. Over the last three days the prognosis has changed from:

 working the whole show>having a few days on the show>the head isn't working on the show, so neither are you. 

Not to mention there was a two day commercial in Sydney next week that's gone away as well. I would have been able to cut my teeth @ work (but not the big job) and make a quick pile of cash. 

(*sigh*)

Back to making pancake boxes. I'm not sour grapes, but carpentry is a hell of a lot less stressful.

Good juju with the owner of the remote head, who's grateful I made the commit to go up there and train. He's muy pissed off about losing the big rental, but that ain't on me. 

I contacted the rigging company, they called me last week to see what was up. Good thing I said the movie wasn't in the bag and they'd be the first I'd call if it wasn't. I want to run away and join the circus. 

Oh well. 

I bet I'll be going to Queensland for 2nd Unit (if they make one) Narnia in a month or so. In the meantime, I'm really happy to be back home. Damned if I do and damned if I don't. Sydney was a nice break from domesticity even if it cost me money. 

Got to get another load of firewood. Tomorrow is karate. Got to finish those pancakes. 

I'm going to Oscar's for a pint tomorrow. 

Last night Mag watched the kids and Jo and I went to dinner at Saffron Cottage, an indian joint over in Tecoma, and in my opinion almost the only edible local restaurant food. After we went over to Oscar's to hear our neighbor Andrew play music, and caught up with Brad. Jo left before Gyps came in, but I got a chance to chat with her and we caught up and that was all cool. 

Went to bed around 2 and was up at 8 to get ready for karate, which was taught for the second or third week by Senpai Guy and Senpai Ashley, two of Sensei Cameron's students while he's away. They do a great job and you can tell they've caught the bug for teach/play from their instructor. Kai did a fantastic job listening and was given a matchbox car for same. 

We went back home where everyone had gotten up and gotten ready for a drive into the city. I got dropped off at the MPPA Alliance office in the CBD for a union meeting. Although I haven't joined, they keep requesting that industry technicians participate, and ratification of a new contract is imminent. Although they aren't representative of everyone, they are the body that producers seem to be doing the most negotiating with, and they have the only formal agreement that everyone refers to when signing deals. It's a bit of a catch 22, they don't have the membership, butthey negotiate, so many feel they don't have to do anything to reap the benefits. I agree in principal, but I don't have enough history here to make an informed decision yet. In my experience, a union has a life cycle beyond which it becomes a bit of a parasite on the working class. 

Took the train back home and relaxed a bit, both Jo and I are sick, she seems to have the virus I had last weekend, and I now have a pretty heavy cold. I might watch Harry Potter on TV, everyone's asleep. Less than nothing planned for tomorrow.

Just when I had started grinding my organ last night with the same sad song about how bored and unchallenged I am, lamenting the fact that there wasn't enough film work, that no one had called about rigging jobs (in the last three days), my phone rang last night about some film work. 

I've already received another call this morning about next week, so it looks like it's officially picking up. The irony is I'll be pinched for time to finish those sets of pancakes. I'm booked for Camera tests for "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" starting next week. No official word on my role with 'Narnia' yet. 

In other news, I'm going to have to order and stack wood in the rain by the end of the weekend, or we'll be heating with gas only. Cheaper, but not carbon neutral, so not really cheaper. 

Boys are almost ready to go to school. Hoorah!

Two more boxes done. Very uneventful day. Lots of rain, really cold out. Both Jo and I agree we would have less children by the end of tomorrow if they weren't both going to school. 

We celebrated zeroing out both credit cards again (lingering wreckage from my time in the States) with a now untypical trip to the mall. 

Kai absolutely loves Knox shopping centre, to the extent that I knew the best way to pry him out of school to escape the bushfires was to tell him we were going there. It did backfire on me, he turned around to the entire class and proclaimed with his arms in the air 'Rocky' style, "I'm going to KNOX!". 

Made me feel awful at the time, as the fire was just over the hill and the teachers and kids had no idea how they were going to get out. Needless to say there's a very stringent bushfire evac plan now that doesn't involve Knox on anyone's part. 

Anyway, it was a short trip, we basically let the kids each choose a little Transformer (every single Transformer product has mysteriously jacked in price with the imminent release of the movie), I grabbed about 25 Matchbox cars, which will set me up for bribes until the new baby is born at least. Jo got some underwear and a dress. We all had lunch, pretty average, then headed home. 

We made one detour to Thousand Steps park, where the kids played for about 20 minutes, then went home. Liam had a nap, Jo snuzzed on the carpet in front of the fire, Kai watched TV, I cleaned up the shed. Fantastic chicken quesadillas for dinner. 

Tomorrow I really have to get onto building more of those boxes. 

 Grateful Dead Live @ Fillmore East 1970 

I hope that when I die, people say about me, 'Boy, that guy sure owed me a lot of money'

-Jack Handey