Wow

What a weekend! busy, busy, busy but a wonderful time.

We started with a trip up to Wollongong after school on Friday - we found a reasonably priced apartment but due to the fact it was much cheaper than the others we weren't expecting much - well we were surprised! It was a massive room and gorgeous! Would definately go back if we needed. Anyway... the reason we were in Wollongong was for Tasha and I to go and watch Southern Stars - a dance and singing spectacular highlighting the talent from schools on the South Coast and Illawarra. WOW WOW WOW. I was blown away by the profesisonalism and the standard of the performance. Both Tasha and I came out of there in awe.

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Saturday morning we headed up to Miranda Fair for some retail therapy. After spending quite a few hours wandering in and out of shops we came away with a new outfit for Tash - a new short and jacket for Kyle but no new outfit for me for the wedding in three weeks :(

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Then it was a trip to the Sutherland where we caught the train into the city and had 1/2 an hour to get us all showered, changed and meet up with Mark, Mel and Declan for dinner. Aaarrghh - they were 15 minutes early! Luckily they were happy to grab a drink in the bar downstairs and gave us time to get dressed. We had a lovely dinner in Chinatown together before we said goodbye to the Stedfut clan and we headed to Capitol Theatre.

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What can I say about Mary Poppins? AMAZING. Okay obvious statement here but boy that Matt Lee can dance! Mary Poppins (Verity Hunt-Ballard) was brilliant and being supported by Philip Quast and Marina Prior as Mr and Mrs Banks just rounds it off perfectly. Apart from the talent everyone on stage just looked like they were having a great time!

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We finished the trip off with a quick visit to Pitt St Mall before heading home. Exhausted but well worth it.

Shame

I hang my head in shame..... my poor neglected blog!

The last three - four months have been hard..... very, very hard.

I have spent a lot of time at Berry with Mum as she got weaker and weaker and then she passed away on the 13th of May, being at home up until 3 days before she died at Karinya Palliative Care. The staff there were wonderful but there is nothing that can make that time any easier. The months since then have been kind of in a fog. At times I did not feel I would get through. The issues and just life in general since have been so hard to cope with.

In the middle of all this Tasha has had more issues at school.... some times I would love to be so anti-politically correct and go and punch some people and tell them to wake up to what their kids are like.

These past few months though have shown me how lucky I am with the friends and family I have. In Mum's last weeks and even after Mum died we had food delivered and left at the front door. Davina and Gail filled our freezer. It was amazing the care shown to us.

My friends have been wonderful. The constant phone calls and messages, the time for meeting up for a cuppa, the love and caring. I must make a very special thankyou to Miss Jane who was there for me whenever needed, she checked in regularly to make sure I was keeping my head above water or to pass me a snorkel if I wanted to slip under for a while (metaphorically speaking). The hugs, the cuppas, the messages and emails have all been a saving grace for me.

In the middle of this period we managed to pile everyone in the car for a long weekend trip to Melbourne just to give my girl SJ a big moving present - a hug from me! (Poor thing - she got a dud pressie hey!) Hopefully our trip down there, even as brief as it was, out a little of sunshine in what has been a tough year for her to.

Anyway I humbly beg your forgiveness for the neglect of my blog. May have to find a challenge of some sorts to get me back into blogging.... 30 day challenge? 20 questions? Photo of the day? Will come up with something - any suggestions?