Out to Lunch and Phill's off Again

Found out today that Phill has to go up north for two weeks as the supervisor resigned up there.  I know he enjoys going, it's something different for him, and I'm okay with that.  We've had a bit too much together time lately anyway.
We went to the club for lunch.  We love our little club, they know us there and it's small and friendly.  The new bistro  owners have put together a really great menu, lifting the game quite a lot.  We had stopped going because the people who ran it before were hopeless and the food was terrible.  I had chicken and avocado with prawns in a white wine and lemon sauce, with chips and a lovely side salad.  Phill just had chicken schnitzel with chips and salad.  It was lovely, we had a bit of a flutter (and lost) and came home.  I will miss him but the kids and I get into a nice comfortable routine when he's away and I like that.  We might even go up there for a couple of nights, it's a really long drive but I don't really mind that.
But I knew something was afoot with Emily, she's a hopeless liar and I have really strong instincts when it comes to these two kids.  Firstly she left early and walked to school, she usually likes to be driven.  I was like "Hmm" but didn't think a lot of it.  While we were at the club I texted her and asked her look after her brother today.  The apprentice hairdresser gave him a dodgy haircut and we were worried he'd get teased.  She texted back right away which rang alarm bells as well, it wasn't lunch or recess and she is not allowed to have her phone on in class.  Later I got a text asking if she could "run up" to Kim's after school as she'd left something there.  She hasn't been there in ages except very briefly the other day, and normally she would ask us to drive her there as it's a long walk.  When we got to the school Josh said he hadn't seen Em all day and she wasn't in the reading group they're in together.  We drove up to Kim's and around town but no sign of either her or Kim.  (He said he hadn't seen Kim either).  I came home and rang her and she told me a lie.  When she got home I confronted her and she kept changing her story, first saying she'd had a run in with some girls at school, the principal didn't want to know (bull he's a great and kind man) and said she'd wagged the last period alone, then got caught out on that and said she was with Jamie Lee, but Kim had nothing to do with it.  I told her I'd ring the school on Monday to find out if she was at roll call, and she dissolved into tears and begged me not to, she'd get in so much trouble not get her school certificate blah blah.  I told her she better straighten up and fly right and that I'd talk to her father about what we will do.  I believe she wagged the whole day, and apart from that being very dangerous, and not getting her education the lying really bothers me.  What she doesn't know is that whenever the kids aren't at school I get a letter telling me.  I've decided not to ring them and ask but wait for the letter.  I have also decided to ask the school that if Emily isn't at roll call for them to ring me, and I will do the same back if she's home sick or whatever.  I stood my ground and I think I did well.  She has been caught wagging twice before, once by the school and once by me.  I told her I am going to be checking up on her a lot more and the freedom she enjoys now will be severely curtailed.  Honestly I don't ask much from her, just to stay at school and do what she's supposed to do.  She has a mouth on her and I know she pisses certain girls off.  She needs to learn to zip it.
Josh came home happy and nothing more was said about the hair so I'm going to let sleeping strands lie I think.

This is what our bbq looks like.

We got a cute little portable gas bbq at Vinnies today for $20.  It folds up into a bag and will be very handy when we go to places that don't have built in bbqs.  It would have been great when we went to the weir as it would have been nice to bbq on the lovely verandah that overlooked the water.  We just need a little gas bottle now, we even got some bbq utensils for a couple of dollars as well.  We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to use it unless we do go up to Tamworth.  I would love to get some camping gear together this year so we can camp out next Summer.
It's either feast or famine with this rail company.  After waiting two days for our pay last week, they paid us again this week! (We're on fortnightly pay).  Not sure what's going to happen.  I told Phill to tell them they have to wait a few days before he can give it back heh heh.
Got roast lamb in the electric frypan with potatoes and pumpkin and it smells wonderful.  We'll have it with peas and corn and mint sauce and the gravy that tastes so great made in a stainless steel frypan when I've blacked the pumpkin a little.
I'm glad it's Friday, I might take the kids up to Young to go to Maccas tomorrow for a treat.  BigW have the hard cases for Josh's new DSiXL like the one he had for his DS Lite that he lost in Sydney last year.