2018-07-10
Sigh. Didn’t write a diary entry yesterday. And instead of going to bed at a
reasonable time, I surfed Reddit for a couple of hours. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
It’s hard to get back into the swing of things after taking a break, but I must
do it. Watched a talk by Jonathon Blow on YouTube about getting over a lack of
enthusiasm, but it didn’t help.
Kids were away too; Eliza went swimming with a friend, and Jack went to the
movies with Mum and Finlay. Dzung’s desk was delivered, so I spent a good part
of the day setting that up instead, which was physically exhausting. And I
cleaned the house a bit. Then there were some urgent tasks with my day job, and
a looming deadling at the end of the month that I’ll need to work extra hours to
hit.
Made steaks and mashed potato with green beans for dinner. Delicious. Usual
bedtime routine. Eliza very tired after her big day.
2018-07-09
Took the kids to Garden City in the morning to get some hotdog buns, then back
home to work. Eliza had some friends over for the day; Cindy and Zophia and
Cindy’s little sister. They baked cakes and ate hotdogs for lunch. They had a
great time together, and were inclusive of Jack. No fighting or breaking
anything; they were all well behaved and cleaned up after themselves. Proud of
them all! I managed to work a full, busy day.
Picked up Dzung from the station and drove to visit Daz to celebrate his 44th.
Sat outside by the fire. Jack had a ball playing table tennis, and Eliza sat
happily with Archie on the sofa near the fire. Chicken and pizza and sausage
rolls for dinner, then chocolate cake and tea. Caught up with Cam’s dad, and Dad
told us about a game he played with his grandfather as a kid, where you throw a
ring tied to a string towards a hook in the wall. Searched for it on the phone;
turns out it’s an old pub game called “ring the bull” or something. Will try to
set it up for Christmas.
Home late and put the kids to bed. Tired, and no desire to start work on
HackTile. I did spend a bit of time today going through what I plan to do next,
and running it to test a few things, so there’s that at least.
2018-07-08
Slept in, then a breakfast of scrambled eggs with leftover toasted baguatte
outside in the winter sunshine. Picked up the kids; they didn’t want to leave as
they’d made new friends and were playing out the front. To Van’s for spaghetti
vongole. Returned home for a rest; I had a bad sinus headache that risked
developing into a migraine, so lights out and listening to The West Wing Weekly
with a strong coffee. A light dinner of leftover Cahn Chua, then watched an
episode of Back in Time for Dinner. Must get back on to the HackTile bandwagon!
2018-07-07
Strong coffee and crumpet breakfast once the washing was on, happily flicking
through new issues of The Guardian and New Scientist. Then off to karate with
the kids, picking up seafood chowder and crusty baguette for lunch on the way
home. Lazy afternoon, then dropped the kids to mum and dads. Picked up Annie for
dinner at Tiny’s. We ordered far too much. Then to the jazz festival to see the
Perth Jazz Collective at His Majesty’s. Back home to watch Endeavour with a
cuppa.
2018-07-06
Kids slept in until eight thirty. Breakfasted, then packed up and cleaned up,
and visited our friends to say goodbye. Kids wrote in the guestbook, after
discovering their guestbook entry from 2016 the other day. Left a bit later than
planned, and I was a bit stressed out, as I’d arranged to have the TV delivered
at one o’clock and I was clearly not going to make it. Needn’t have worried
though, after arriving home and putting everything away the delivery driver
called to say he was coming around. Perfect timing, really. Spent the afternoon
catching up on work and setting up the TV. Dzung took the kids shopping and to
the library, so Jack could get some more books for his reading challenge. Will
have can chua for dinner, and will then most likely watch a movie on our new
sixty-five inch idiot box.
2018-07-05
Last full day. Kids were freezing cold overnight. Made bacon burgers for
breakfast and had an easy morning. Dzung walked the dog with the kids and went
to say hello to the alpacas while I chopped wood. Drove into Nannup to get pies
and pasties for lunch, then went for a walk along the Blackwood River. Back home
to light the fire and hop into the spa. Roasted some vegetables for dinner and
cooked the lasagna. Played a few rounds of Resistance then had an early night
with electric blankets on for everybody. Almost finished reading “The Seven
Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle”.
2018-07-04
Slept great. Strong coffee and raisin toast for breakfast. Headed into
Bridgetown for lunch. Whole place has been decorated with ornaments woven from
white wool to make it look like a winter wonderland for Christmas in July. And
amazed to find the puzzletown exhibition, featuring countless jigsaw puzzles,
including the smallest and largest in the world. Fantastic lunch at the Barking
Cow cafe. Had planned to go bushwalking but the weather set in so we grabbed
groceries and filled up with petrol before driving back to the chalet to light
the fire. Dzung and the kids made a start on the jigsaw puzzle they bought while
I read, then over to Nagis and Ali’s for a dinner of fish, wild rice, veges and
salad. Kids did a hilarious magic show performance. Walked home in the cold dark
night to a guttering fire that I resurrected before ending the evening in the
hot tub. Electric blankets set to max. Love relaxing and spending time away from
screens, would love to live like this and work on HackTile when inclined, with
lots of bushwalking to think.