Ooops.... I'm falling behind the blogging scene again. It's has just been a week (and a bit) of birthdays and parties and lots of stuff.
Saturday - January 13thWe went to attend Athan's birthday party at a playcentre, called Dizzy's Castle. It is a themed party room, but I don't think the children cared very much. They were happy to disappear into the jungle gyms, kiddy play areas, jumping castle... and parents were happy to be left alone. Now, Dizzy is an aqua dragon. See
Dizzy's Castle's website. But Dizzy (the mascot) doesn't look too cute IRL, even in the eyes of adults. So when he/she made its guest appearance at the party, my son didn't take it too well.
During the cake cutting, I was quite peeved with the 'cake cutting staff', for no better name. The cake was a Mickey Mouse cake. She started cutting the cake from Mickey's shoes which were yellow. My daughter, was a fuss pot fair enough, asked for Mickey's shorts which were in red. But she refused to cut the red part of the cake for her, explaining that the shoes and his legs have to finish first before she can cut the red shorts. So the poor girl was sitting there, feeling miserable while waiting for every damn soul at the party to be served with Mickey's shoes or legs before the staff finally got to the red shorts. I mean.... for crying out loud... it's just a freakin' cake! JUST CUT IT!! Are there rules about cutting a birthday cake?? Especially a kid's birthday cake? What was she so tight about?
Sunday - 14th JanuaryTHE CROP!!!!! It was such a fun day. Katie and I made the girls decorate a head band. The head band has to have their own preference of coffee or tea, and how they have it. They also need to attach 2 bells on it. The purpose of this, was the person who wants coffee / tea, will have to put that headband on, and the lovely host, Katie will get them ready. So we all had a good afternoon, bobbing our heads and ringing the bells, requesting for coffee and tea! Of course, while at Mornington, you just cannot pass up the opportunity to visit Paper Square. Just HAD to step in there.... inhaled the smell of paper, bought a few things (no paper cos I'm on a paper ban) and walked out $35 poorer. I bought basic necessities though... paper holder dividers. kekeke....
Tuesday - 16th JanuaryI turned 37 years young today. By 9am, I was spoilt rotten by my husband. I got a DSLR camera as a birthday present. Not just a simple DSLR for me to play with, but a Nikon D200. *insert shock horror emoticon here* On top of that, a very expensive, whizz bang lens - 18-200, F3.5-5.6, vibration-reduced.... god forbid I know what all that means. You see, I only wanted a better camera, one better than my digital camera so it doesn't take 7 years to focus on history. I have NO IDEA what photography really is. So I'm actually embarrassed to tell people, especially the pros, I have this monster of a camera. The pros are going to look at me.... and go, "who the hell are you?" LOL
That afternoon, a few of us - Jane, Vita and I (and just a few kids) had lunch at Ruey's place. My favourites - beef rendang, curry chicken, and rice. Then we had a birthday cake - Chocolate Mousse cake, where the kids had to fight over who blew which candle (cos I only allowed 3 candles on my cake).
That evening, we had to take Ellen for her 4yo immunisation. She was fine until we sat in front of the nurse. She started fighting me, and naturally, after the 1st jab, she screamed blue murder and cried a river. The 2nd jab had more resistance from her too. Afterwards, she walked out with both arms hanging out as if they were in a cast, still sobbing and weeping. So to soothe her, we promised her McDonald's for dinner. Fast as lightning, she forgot her pain when I was at the counter ordering. So birthday girl had McDonald's for dinner.
Then we had a power failure at 8pm. For those who don't know, Australia is suffering from drought in a very bad way. For the past few weeks, we have been having severe bushfires all over the state of Victoria (where we are). Although they are no where near us, they still endangered our power supply. On this stinking hot day, 43 degrees celsius (109 deg Fahrenheit), we had a power failure. At 8pm. Can you imagine - no air conditioning, no fan, no TV, no phone, no computer, no lights!!!!! All my basic needs!!! We had to cut my birthday cake in candlelight, I had to shower in candlelight, kids couldn't go to bed cos their rooms were so hot it'll probably roast them alive, and they are tired and bored and there's nothing we can do in darkness! Felt so helpless. At 10pm, the power came back. Phew!! We finally put the kids to bed.
What a strange and eventful day for my birthday!
Thursday - 18th JanuaryMy FIL's name day (Greeks celebrate that more than they do birthdays BTW). So I had to take the kids over for dinner without my husband as he had to go to a work function. Apart from that, nothing much.
Saturday - 20th JanuaryMikaela's birthday party. I brought my new fancy camera there to test out and experiment on some settings. It was a real smooth operator, I tell ya. Now I just need to learn how to adjust some settings manually.
Sunday - 21st JanuaryA rest day for me. Lots of scrapping to catch up.
Monday - 22nd JanuaryDog day. The child care centre I send my kids to, were recently bought over by ABC Childcare Centres. They are basically a mogul in this industry in Australia, close to a monopoly, slowly wiping out small centres, or buying them out. I have never heard of good reviews of them, and now I'm convinced, that they have got to be the shittiest, most unprofessional people I've had to deal with. To trust these people with my kids? I don't think so. I've finally pulled the plug, and pulled my kids out of childcare. So I officially have no more children-free days from February onwards. For those who know me, my Mondays and Thursdays were once upon a time, my most precious days of the week. LOL
How I'm convinced? The Centre Director is plain blunt and tactless. During her first week, I was just trying to strike a conversation with her, and asked how her first week has been. She plainly said, "Oh, I'm still trying to clear the mess they left behind." I happen to have a good relationship with her predecessor, and I don't think she was "messy" with her work. Nevertheless, you should never bad-mouth your predecessor! It is just a clear sign of how immature she was. Then I had issues with my public holiday fees. The previous owner of the business, Kids Campus, lifted the charges on public holidays. In other words, on public holidays when they close for business, we don't have to pay for the day because our children are not being cared for, which is the
RIGHT THING TO DO by any count, right? ABC decided to charge us now, which we weren't informed. So I kicked up a stint. They "fixed" the bill, but nevertheless, we have to pay for public holidays from now on even though they close for business!!
Today, has to top the list of bad things they can do. Since I'm pulling my kids out, I asked for my deposit back. This refundable deposit was paid way back when we first enrolled our kids in the centre. I enrolled Ellen when this centre was privately owned, by a man with initials NC. Then he sold the business to Kids Campus upon retirement. Then I enrolled Phaedon through Kids Campus, also paid a refundable deposit. Now that I want to take my kids out, our mogul of an ABC, turned around and told me that the deposit I paid NC had nothing to do with them!!!!
WHAT LOGIC IS THAT????!!! I was so dumbfounded. Anybody with half a pea brain will say that THIS IS WRONG!!!! I know this is a matter of pure laziness. Because they don't want to dig deep enough, they don't want to go that far, so it's just easier to say, they can't help. And for that stupid Centre Director, to even have the audacity to relay that message word for word without editing it, infuriates me. I stared at her with fire in my gut, and asked her if she actually knew what she was telling me. She even asked me to go hunt down NC to sort it out with him. WTF??????? I need Dizzy the Dragon .....
So ABC, if you are reading this.... rest assured that I will not leave a single stone unturned and I promise to make your existence a living hell, if you can't even do something so simple as to check the records. I will report this matter to ACCC, and every media you have ever heard of, just because you refuse to entertain my claim of $100 refund. I'm not letting it go until you refund my money. You hear me?
Phew... ok.. vent over. Forgive me, my friends, I am a bit passionate when it comes to principles, and when people are just being lazy, passing the bucket and not do their bit to be a decent human being.
Just sharing a layout I did with my December Poppy Ink Kit.
Have a great week ahead, everyone.... bar ABC.
