Update

Well all is going well at home. We are awaiting commencement of the deck extension - we have had some rain so probably won't be until next week.

Phil has commenced his study for the renewal of his pilots licence. We hope that in the new year he should be right and can commence his flight instructors course. There are so many jobs available at the moment as we have a shortage of pilots - so we are hoping that he might get a job eventually with Regional Express or a small commercial company. Alternatively, another option is going to the US to do a JAR licence which will enable him to get a licence to fly overseas on commercial jets.

The weather is warming up, so it is nice to open all the doors and have cool breezes flowing through the house. We just love our house in the summer. All the boats are now back on the river and everyone is outdoors. It's great.

I'm in a panic at the moment trying to get Christmas shopping done before we leave for Hong Kong on the 16th. 1 month to go! At least I have someone to housesit. Denise will be staying for the first week, then David and Jenine will be staying for the other week. It is such a relief to know we don't have to worry about the cats and house.

Phil and I are off to see the stage show - Keating this Saturday. It has had huge raving reviews and I think Phil will enjoy it - we were once both Labor supporters when Keating was PM and I love his laricon personality. So will be interesting to see the show. After the show we will be off to Alisons for her 40th birthday party. It is very scary when you start going to 40th parties. Oh gosh - mine is next year. Think i'll celebrate by travelling around the world!

Thai Cooking

Mum and I did a Thai Cooking course on Tuesday night down at our local Thai Restaurant in Woronora. It was a good turn-out of 30 people and we were grouped into groups of 6. All the food was provided for us to prepare. I will have to add the names of the dishes later as I can't remember them.


I would have to say our favourite was the soup which was made up of chicken stock, lime leaves, lemon grass, tamarin, galagal (a wonderful new vegetable I learnt about), garlic, chilli and tonnes of prawns. It was fantastic. I am going to definately cook this one up again.

The course was meant to go for an hour, but we didn't end up leaving until 11pm, so mum stayed the night which was really nice.

I'm looking forward to doing some cooking, and also filling up my herb garden with some more new herbs like lemongrass and lime.

GIRLS NIGHT IN

I held a Girls Night In on Saturday for all the girls to raise money for Women's Cancers. I was really pleased to have raised $190 on the night. Every little bit assists and helps us come up with ways to cure cancer.

We had a wine tasting competition which I am embarassed to discovour I know squat tiddly nothing about my wines..... I bought 3 wines at various prices - $35, $12 and $4.95 and covered the labels. To my horror the 2001 Shiraz I picked as the cheapest. I think I need to educate my pallet and drink a lot more good wine.

Jenine (sister-in-law - Phils' brothers wife) was the winner. She got all 3 correct and she was the winner of a dinner for 2 to the value of $50 at the Thai Penninsular Restaurant. Jenine now can be responsible for purchasing the wine for family functions.

It was a great night and we got to bed at 3.30pm.