Wednesday

I tried a new chicken recipe last night in my trusty slow cooker but I wasn't happy with it, or at least how I tweaked it.  I won't post anything on my food blog that we don't like so I won't be going there.  The kids are going to do their own dinners tonight, Pasta Carbonara for Em and Salmon Quiche for Josh and later Phill when he gets home from work.  I am going to do myself a little Beef Wellington.  I remembered making it a while back but couldn't find the recipe, I did a search of my own blog and there it was!  So hopefully I'll blog about all that at the other place.
Phill had to go to work around lunchtime so I got him to drop me off at the supermarket and I got a few things and then walked up to the high school to meet Josh as he has a half day today.  We walked back into town and got a taxi home.  I love our cab drivers here, and always tip them, I didn't give the woman much today, but she was so appreciative.  Turned out she lives just down the street from us.  We would have walked but it's so hot and I had a bag of groceries to carry.  The cab driver told us she knew the old woman who used to own this house, and it was her that did our beautiful gardens.  She spoke of seeing her aged in her nineties and with a walking stick out there working on the garden. 
The principal walked out while I was waiting in the school foyer reading the new recipe book I bought on slow cooking (this is after I vowed I would not buy recipe books any more!).  I smiled at him and told him not to worry I wasn't here to harrass him this time.  He asked me about the incident the other day when Em was accosted.  He wondered if it was the accused girl's sister but I said no, Emily had said it was Amber.  I told him I didn't know as I wasn't there (of course, they wouldn't come near her if I'd been there the little cowards).  He said he'd spoken to Amber and while she wasn't at school at the time it happened she claimed she was with a group of other girls.  Why he would even entertain the idea of believing a criminal is beyond me.  But I reiterated that as she was in uniform I felt I had to let him know.  He was nice about it but I just get the feeling he doesn't want to know.  Too bad, he is going to know.  He said he was still working on the access report thing for the distance ed, so I daresay it will be a bit longer now till she starts getting work.  I think we'll put her on the train tomorrow to go down to Albury and spend some time with the hillbillies.  It will do them good, I know they're still struggling since Phill's sister died last October and it will give Em something to do.  She hasn't been on the train by herself so it will be an adventure for her.

Full moon last night and an orb!

I love my new slow cooker recipe book, I'm going to have fun with it, especially when the weather starts to cool off, there are lots of casseroles and curries to try.

I swear we can't kill our fish with a stick.  We do all the wrong things and they just thrive and grow, and grow.  Our last lot bred in the old double concrete laundry tub that we pinched from the Junee house and brought to Coota.  And they grew so big.  We ended up giving them away when we thought we were moving to Tamworth and they live happily now in the council pond with lots of other fishies.

We got new ones when we moved here, we have a little concrete pond and Phill set up a pump and fountain. 

I was just asking the kids yesterday how many we originally bought and nobody could remember.  There are four in there now, not comets but other colours.  Phill was outside mucking about with his fishing rods and the kids were doing their pottery stuff out there.  I looked out the laundry door and saw something lying on one of the mats.  I asked Phill what it was and it was one of the bloody fish.  I find it hard to believe that it could have jumped that far, from the pond to the mat.  Phill had just cleaned the pond and put hose in it so they were joyfully playing under that.  But it reminded us of the time Harley had just the one kitten and she took off somewhere and left him in the laundry of the old house and I came out early in the morning and found him neatly sound asleep in the middle of Max's mattress with Maxy standing guard.  Max had rescued him and carried him to his own bed to look after him.  I think the fish jumped out onto the woodchips below the pond and Max has gently lifted him across to the mat so we would see him.  The fish was motionless and we thought it had died, but Phill picked it up and put him back in the water and away he swam and is still going strong tonight, I just went out and fed them and took the above photo.  Now I have heard of people who cannot keep fish alive no matter what they do.  Ours must be blessed.  Same thing happened with our first batch, I went outside to find one lying motionless on the pebbles under where the laundry tubs were in Junee, I yelled to Phill (I hadn't toughened up back then).  He just picked it up and same thing, it just swam away and was fine ever after.  But what a dog?  He is one in a million our little Maxy.  Max the Protector of other family pets.  He has never shown any agression to any cat we have had, and has always been so sweet with our newborn kittens.

I have taken up residence in the tv room.  Phill cleaned it up and tidied and vacuumed yesterday, it has our biggest tv in there as it won't fit into the tv unit that came with the house and the tv in the loungeroom keeps pixelating annoyingly.  It's quite comfy in here with the little sofa and old familiar things around. 

We replaced almost everything when we moved here but this room has our old pine buffet and hutch that I've had since before we were married, and our crappy cheap chipboard bookcase.  Might claim this room for myself I think.