Xmas phone call to UK

www.888dag.com Just had a lovely xmas chat with my special friend Antje-gave her strict instructions to get onto Facebook and check out The Wiggles-lets see if she sticks to her New Year's Resolution and joins the instant communication network

Tal Wilkenfeld

www.888dag.com Saw an article in the SMH about bass player Tal Wilkenfeld-found some stuff on youtube about her-my brush with fame is that I taught her when she was 5....she wasnt playing any music then from memory...and her name was Talia

TOYS'R'US

www.888dag.comOff to see granddaughter this arvo at Toys'R'us store-so looking forward to seeing her and her mum...

Turn Me On Design

www.888dag.com They did some fabulous braille jewellery-launched yesterday at MTV gallery in Yurong Street-a blind girl was feeling along the silver necklace to read what was written and then said what is "TMOD" to which the reply was "Our logo- Turn Me On Design"....

one year old party

www.888dag.com Happy birthday TJJ-before you look round you will be two! time flies-remember to get your friends parents to go and watch your daddy and the other actors in The Wild Boys at NIDA this week...

nearly got parking ticket

www.888dag.com Parked on the street in two hour zone and forgot to move it at 10am-rushed back at 11:20am thinking that a horrible ticket would be sitting on my windscreen -but "no"-lucky me the parking police were nowhere to be seen....I have now learned my lesson-thankfully without any cost-only park in a zone with no restrictions!

too too hot

www.888dag.com Am melting at my desk....must get better organised for the heat...it arrives with such force!

weird stuff

www.888dag.com Weird... but saw one pair of mens shoes left deserted in the street this weekend and one pair of women's shoes-different street-why I wonder?.....maybe shoeless is the way to go?

almost as odd as getting a great bargain today at the charity shop -three new locks with keys attached and then a friend came over and mentioned he needed to buy three locks.....weird but good weird this time!

If we win Lotto this week

www.888dag.com I will retire! Last week had a bit of a brain explosion and spent Thursday stressing out about information I needed to receive and send by noon that day. Got information by 3pm and then realised I only needed it by noon the next day! Luckily all the stressing out on Thursday was invaluable because on Friday after returning home from morning coffee a geyser of gas was shooting up in our front yard and we were forbidden from entering until 3pm because of possibility of gas explosion-weird eh?

exploding gas pipe

www.888dag.com Hot Friday got hotter when men digging up concrete in front area to fix water leak ruptured gas pipe positioned much too near the surface....took a variety of workmen over four hours to fix it (partially) before we could get back into our house-watching a plume of gas belching upwards in our front yard was scary-spent too many hours walking around in the hot sun and worrying about faxes needing to be sent...thank goodness for a cooling ale at the pub to get the body and mind relaxed....

fingernails and toenails

www.888dag.com Years ago there were no multiple venues for having your toenails and fingernails attended to by hoards of girls in brightly coloured uniforms while you sit in a comfy looking chair.....just wondering why? and as I walk past these establishments now the numbers of women sitting in those chairs seems to be dwindling-is this a real sign of the financial crisis?

amazing recycled haute couture

www.888dag.com Found on my weekly "fix" of charity shop rummaging a truly amazing floor length golden gown with stiff petticoat and train-all for $10-now that will turn into a stunning costume for someone....

dog in pushchair

www.888dag.com Walked round park this morning-two women passed me by-one was walking along one with her dog on lead and the other was pushing a pushchair-her dog was sitting in the pushchair!!!

Top Gear Australia

www.888dag.com Three hours of standing around-retakes, fluffed lines, clapping, more clapping, poor sound, hot lights, make up girl dabbing presenters faces with powder, loads of people, one presenter looking very uncomfortable and trying to remember his lines, other two much more at ease-interesting to see the hoards of "crew" needed, miles of cables, equipment overload, cameras and people with important looking headsets...not a patch on the real Top Gear.....an experience but not one to be repeated!

off to Top Gear Australia taping session

www.888dag.com Very shortly...two and a half hours anticipated time at the taping-wonder if it will be fun and exciting or boring just standing around looking interested? watch this space....

seminar for older people

www.888dag.com Contributed to seminar on Wills, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardianship and Living Wills this morning. 30 or so mainly greying people with all their mental facilities-even one man who swims and goes the gym every day....probably in his late 70s and he looked fitter than we the speakers!

Bondi to Tamarama walk and back

www.888dag.com With coffee at Tamarama beach this morning-lovely flowers out along the cliffs and rocks-mowed grass and perfect weather-not too hot and not too cold-great start to the weekend!

walking and thinking time

www.888dag.com Walked round Centennial Park this morning-used the time to think through work stuff-I seemed to be the only person not tuned into the headphones...just wondering if people have any quiet thinking time these days as they exercise or is it all music music music?

Here comes de judge

www.888dag.com Met the judge today in East Sydney as he was off to lunch with the Senior Counsel-one degree of separation from the wheels of justice...as the cappucino greases those wheels..

60th birthday

www.888dag.com Had friend's 60th birthday get together yesterday-good to see old friends and lots of goldfish! Seems like goldfish are now the pet of choice for mature baby boomers-low maintenance ....

HOT HOT HOT

www.888dag.com 34 degrees was 12 degrees hotter than my comfort zone-how I coped with the trip to the city on the train (no air con working) I do not know! maybe cos I got paid for the work.....

mislaid a file

www.888dag.com Then it just appeared where it should have been even after I had searched in that very same place for it-weird.....must have been those gremlins 

friend's mum in hospital

www.888dag.com Went to visit her today-cant believe how lax the nursing is-they give her pills but dont stay to make sure she takes them or to make sure they dont end up on the floor-the doctor comes to answer her questions about her uncomfortable neck brace and he looked bored and disinterested for the whole two minutes he was there..maybe he was overworked and tired but he could have pretended to care for just two minutes!

Goldfish

www.888dag.com Man of the house cleaned out dirty fish pond -lots of elbow grease- now sparkling and clean -then filled it with clean water (or so we thought)-off we went to buy a goldfish or two! Not so fast...goldfish-shop-man said first you must prepare the water to take out the chemicals which would kill the fish-bought the appropriate bottle and added it to the water-need to wait two or three days before getting the new fish now....excitement is building!

Dr Who

www.888dag.com Got caught up in the Dr Who thriller on Sundays and forgot to blog! Phew-without giving anything away to those still to check it out-each episode seems to have a better cliff hanger than the week before! Sundays on ABC with captions available for those who havent yet joined the fan club!

Murder Ball Paralympics

www.888dag.com Gold medal playoff for the men-amazing work to get to the decider-nail biting-if you havent watched it yet-you must! What athletes-what skill-what a game!!

Beefeaters

www.888dag.com Dressed up in Beefeater costumes on Sunday for a Variety Bash fund raiser out west-rained on us a bit- watched lots of children's dance groups on the stage in beautiful costumes-spoke to some mums who said each costume cost them about $180 all up-the dressmakers are doing a good business as there were some kids in four different costumes for each four minute dance!

too hot today-29C!

www.888dag.com But before I wilted in the heat I had brekkie with a special little girl who has THE cutest personality....melts the heart!

Smoke and Mirrors launch

www.888dag.com Went to last night's launch of the new jewellery collection called Smoke and Mirrors-gorgeous stuff-puzzle necklaces in silver-lots of lovely people, music, food and us!

council elections

www.888dag.com Chatted to Independent, Liberal, Labour and Greens at the local library voting area today about what they wanted to achieve for Bondi in the upcoming council elections. Independent and Liberal (both ok with being filmed) just wanted to get rid of parking meters-and Labour. Labour and Greens (not happy to be filmed) wanted to help people and the environment. I know who gets my vote-even though they were scared to be filmed!

Fathers Day

www.888dag.com Brekkie with two special grandpas with one extra special granddaughter with one wonderful daddy and his gorgeous daughter-the other attendees hardly stopped smiling ....

rain rain and more rain

www.888dag.com Enough already! we need some sun.......beginning to wilt.....but am breathing...

delivered a fridge

www.888dag.com We had a spare fridge which wanted a new home so we took it there last night-new fridge happy in new surroundings-enjoy new owner-good work K9!

mobile phone while driving

www.888dag.com Waiting to cross the road today-saw a car with P plates driver on mobile while driving and both her hands were off the wheel waving them around while talking.....scary!

Here is a teaser 

for 888dag from DJmiss universe

my knitting man!

Grey streaks

www.888dag.com Just wondering why it takes so long for my normal hair to grow but it takes no time at all for the grey streaks to sprout and blossom immediately at a full long length!! odd.....

The Dark Knight

www.888dag.com Saw it at Imax-wowie-talk about being in the middle of the action! very dark and amazing special effects-Heath Ledger was terrific!

In These Shoes

www.888dag.com

Tamarama

www.888dag.comGreat walk from Bondi to Tamarama this morning-fab weather-spring is very close now! car boot sale on way home and didnt get tempted to buy anyone else's trash this time!

Friday

www.888dag.com Busy week-so glad Friday is here-off for coffee first so I can then face Friday with fun filled expectation!

brush with olympic fame

www.888dag.com At work on monday met a guy whose brother's girl friend is an Olympic swimmer-Sophie Eddington-she missed out on the final by a fingertip it seems-how exciting to be so close to an Olympian-one degree of separation!

family BBQ

www.888dag.comSunday BBQ with the family and extended family and granddaughter was wonderful-can't believe how captivating it is to see how she learns and giggles and engages us all!

Chocolate

www.888dag.comHad a lovely time with blogger friends this morning then a really weird meeting-two people with conspiracy theories about missing money and their family-only way I was able to cope was downing a whole bar of chocolate after I shooed them away! It worked! I have been able to erase their ikky comments from my world!

Spirit of the Bash Outright Winners

www.888dag.com Weekend away down at Batemans Bay with all the "Bashers" was great-and I was there to see my "man" and his cuz win the democratic vote as best Bashers for having the spirit of the Bash (voted in by over 300 people). I was included in the celebrations as the woman behind the men aka "seamstress extraordinaire". It was great to bask in their glory! Now we have to make next year's even more fabulous!!!

walked to city this morning

www.888dag.com Lovely weather and good exercise-finished my costume for tomorrow's Bash finale-off to Batemans Bay to meet them all and hear all their tales-should be fun!

Michael Phelps

888DAG.com>>>> Heard a great line on radio this morning about the amazing Michael Phelps-"if he was a country he'd be coming fifth on the medal tally".

grey hair rules!

888DAG.com>>>>Saw mature lady at fruit shop today with the most gorgeous natural grey hair-I was amazed to see someone proud of her grey gorgeous locks rather than trying to camouflage it. I was compelled to go over to her and tell her what great hair colour she had and how impressed I was to see her "au naturelle". She made my day and I hope I made hers.....

the plan worked

888DAG.com>>>> the courier guy took the part to the car and the car got fixed-breathe breathe breathe-anything is possible-saw my beautiful Granddaughter tonight too-melting moments! 888

trip to Normanhurst

888DAG.com>>>> Trusty Tom Tom got me to Normanhurst to the MG Sports Parts place to pick up a cylinder head gasket for the Bash car which is sick. Took me through all the lovely tunnels with hardly a stop there or back for a traffic jam-impressive! "You have reached your destination dahling" -love my Ab Fab Patsy as the voice directing me! Then with help from Jody at the Variety Club Bash Office I located someone who is flying down to Melbourne tomorrow to perform at the Bash to be the courier for the gasket so that the car can get fixed....no real courier company could "guarantee" it would get there overnight- so I am hoping my way will all hang together and the plan will become actuality-tomorrow will tell...

City to Surf

888DAG.com>>>>Walked down to Bondi Beach this morning to watch the first few runners make it to the end-it was pretty chilly standing around but interesting to watch all the different styles of runners-some with lovely fluid motions , some shuffling, some rhythmic, some jolting -not quite sure why it is called a "fun run" for those who made it to the finish within the hour and there wasn't much "fun" showing on their faces! Lots of grim determination! I think the "fun" comes from those in silly clothes-actually saw one guy in full business suit with mobile phone to his ear run through within 70 minutes-now that is commitment! Then slobbed out at home and watched our first gold medal in the pool-excellent! At least the Australian Anthem played all the way through-the gremlins were with the Americans.

shoes

888DAG.com>>>>My shoe gripe follows: had an hour to spare shopping today so went to local mall to check out shoes-each time I go I get so frustrated-why oh why are all the shoes sizes hidden in different spots on the shoes-why cant there be some standardised format ie on the sole showing the size (and dont get me started on size info-am I a size 8 and a half or 39 or 40!!!). I peer at the heel, under the front flap, on the strap, under the shoe, inside the shoe.....trying to see if the pair I like are my size! And if I can actually find the size inside the heel it is usually stamped in gold and hard to read even with my glasses on my mature eyes. Please Please Me (apologies to the Beatles) -stamp the size on the sole-so much easier when it is there!

888 Launch

888DAG.com>>>>It was amazing-been looking at the fantastic DAG videos and laughing-checked out the Doggy Day Care one and it is so interesting to see as soon as one dog gets petted all the others rush over for the same treatment! Social animals just like us!

888 day

888DAG.com>>>>Today is the launch day DAG oh and the Oympics too!

Variety Club Bash

888DAG.com>>>>At 5am the alarm got us all up-headed off at 6:15am to the start of the Bash in Blacktown-my wonderful TomTom got us there without any wrong turns-I was driving the support vehicle with the UKTV giveaways-arrived at the start around 7am and by 7:45am lots of kids big and small were clutching the UKTV bags with big grins on their faces. The line of UKTV ducks on the spoiler of the Bash Car was a big hit with all-whether it helps the car go faster will be an added bonus! The hundred or so cars left one by one at 8 30am with Vince Sorrenti doing the MC role-excellently. Spotted many strangely attired people including:-Elvis', Cowgirls with one of the girl's mum decked out in cow skins and proudly proclaiming she was the "old cow"of the gang, pandas, policemen, Ned Kelly's , Men at Work, Shrek and his missus, 60s Cadillac with rock and rollers,noisy fire engines and many many more. Noise noise noise as they had their music blaring out their signature tunes all in competition with each other as they followed each other round the car park to the start. By 9 30am the last of the cars had departed and the gorgeous Lara the blind 10 year old songstress had brought the house down with her rendition of Advance Australia Fair!
Each day at 930am on Channel 7 there should be an update on where they all are and what the Bashers are up to.. Now I have time to tidy up the house and relax......

pomegranate for the pommy gran 8

888DAG.com>>>>

how to look good naked

888DAG.com>>>>
When watching Pay TV "How To Look Good Naked" show with the lovely Gok-the interesting aspect is that when a line of women is shown to the lady who hates part of her body she always places herself at the fatter end of the line whereas in reality she is usually at the slimmer end of the line. That becomes the "light bulb" moment when she realises her view of her body is completely incorrect. We all view ourselves in isolation and when we appreciate the uniqueness of others and accept them as they are we can then accept ourselves-with any wobbly bits, lines, imperfections etc

enough rope

***888DAG***just watched andrew denton's enough rope-there was a song at the end called "just be yourself everyone else is taken" apt indeed!

sunday 3rd 0808

Packing nearly done and last minute alterations to costumes on track-the Bash starts on Thursday so excitement is building ....and 080808 is nearly here too-its all happening-need to find time for work! Didnt even get time for coffee at Onyx today-tomorrow definitely!

windy day in sydney town

Nearly got blown off feet tramping round the city today-lots of people wearing black-talking on mobiles or listening to music on headphones-not too much interaction from them but lots of noise from traffic and the wind! phew! made it back home in the cold air tucking my coat around me. Met a grandma and her grown up granddaughter for work and the grandma treats the granddaughter like she is still 5 years old-note to self-remember not to go down this track with mine!

day two blog

Had coffee at Onyx again this morning and met a couple of "girl" friends-using the term loosely as we are a bit too old to be described as "girls" now-women of mature years! Then more work and a few more silly questions I had to to answer like I was really interested......-whereas my little voice inside my head wanted to tell them to just grow up, to stop worrying about the small stuff and leave me alone! One day......

First blog entry

What a day with work-non stop phones ringing, people hassling me, pushing me, relying on me----kept breathing .....got caught up wedged in the middle of "stuff" and by being honest managed to extricate myself from an uncomfortable situation-still kept breathing... 888 three fat ladies were singing and telling me to keep breathing...all good at the end of the day...even managed to get some good words in scrabulous. And the lovely cleaners came so my home is sparkling. Reading Richard Hammond's book "OnThe Edge" about his brain damage injury from the car crash on Top Gear-his wife is amazing too!