Archive for February, 2008

A weekend with Sienna

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Last weekend, Sienna wanted to go swimming with me after swimming school.  So, after school we came back home and I got my swimmers on and headed off to the local pool.  We swam around there for about two hours. Just as we were leaving they pumped up a big floating device taking up a lot of a couple of lanes of the pool. Unfortunately we had to go. We came home then went to the shops to get some groceries then back home again.  We headed to bed and I slept for three hours!

On Sunday Sienna wanted to have a picnic on our back verandah we share with other neighbours.  I thought that’d not be much fun so I suggested we go Geocaching first (or as Sienna calls it ‘Treasure Hunting’).  We drove off to Mt Ommaney and looked for the first Geocache.  After looking around for about half an hour and watching others walking through the area as it’s a shortcut under the motorway we found the cache. It was only a mini one so it had no treasure for Sienna. Oh well. We went back up the stairs nearby and sat under a tree and ate the sandwiches I made for our picnic and had our drinks.  We watched some ants becoming interested in our crumbs while we ate and bundled back into the car.

This time we drove to Jindalee and I searched around there for another Geocache. After about 10 minutes searching I found another mini cache. I signed it and we drove off again.  We stopped at a nearby park not far from home and had some fun on the swings and things for about 15 minutes or so.  We came home and Sienna had another nap.

Caches found:

The 7 Dwarfs - Bashful

Centenary Highway

Silence of the Bees

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

In the winter of 2006, a strange phenomenon fell upon honeybee hives across the country. Without a trace, millions of bees vanished from their hives. A precious pollinator of fruits and vegetables, the disappearing bees left billions of dollars of crops at risk and threatened our food supply. The epidemic set researchers scrambling to discover why honeybees were dying in record numbers — and to stop the epidemic in its tracks before it spread further.

Silence of the bees.

So long and thanks for all the nectar?

Saving electricity

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

I’ve decided a way to cut down on my electricity bill.

I turfed all my digital clocks into the cupboard. The kitchen stove has a digital clock on it and I have a battery powered analogue clock anyway.

The powerboards my TV & Entertainment equipment and PC, etc are hidden behind the big wooden entertainment unit so I put extension cords on each one so that I can unplug them whenever I’m not using them.  That way, the Foxtel box, TV, DVD player, etc won’t chew any electricity on Standby Mode (which they certainly do!).

I turned off the fish’s heater as I don’t think he needs it in the hot weather of Queensland.

For an alarm to wake me in my bedroom, I plug in my K800i mobile phone which has to be on charge anyway. It has an alarm for waking me enabled, so that’s workable.

Now the only things on permanently in my unit are the refrigerator and the digital clock on the kitchen stove.

I also picked up a big fan to leave on when I need cooling so I don’t have to put the air conditioner on much at all.

Hopefully all of these procedures will cut down on my next electricity bill.

10 (More) Pieces of Clever Transforming Furniture

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Why is transforming furniture so alluring? Does it appeal to our sense that innovation is progress, the fact that fewer materials for more uses is sustainable or simply a return to the childhood love of things that we can actively change and shape as we wish? Whatever the reason, these designs range from humorous and impractical to jaw-droppingly cool. Be sure to scroll all the way down: the best (pictured briefly above) has been saved for last!

Check out the website for some funky transforming furniture!

Collapsible Dining Set

A hot day with Sienna

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Today we got up early and headed off for Sienna’s swimming lessons.  She had a fun time and is doing really well and enjoying every minute. After that, we came home and I got some swimmers on and grabbed a towel and headed off to the local swimming pool. We stayed for about 2 hours having fun swimming around. I tried to do more actual swimming than just supervising as I usually do, to try and get some exercise. Well, it must have worked because when we came home we did a little shopping, had lunch and I fell asleep for three hours!! I’m really exhausted while I’m typing this and will stay up long enough to chat on the internet before I head to bed. All in all we had a great day.

I got some washing done and the dishes are in the dishwasher at the moment. It was 36′C today and I’ve had the Air Conditioner on all day.

Lopez gives birth to twins

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Lopez gives birth to twins

US singer-actress Jennifer Lopez has given birth to twins – a boy and a girl – in a New York hospital.

I guess that makes her a Lopez dispenser?

Puffed wheat are not a good breakfast

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

Argh! I thought I’d get some nice cereal for breakfast and got this Puffed Wheat stuff. I had to pour honey on it every day to make it edible.. then it’s too sweet but at least edible. Don’t get puffed wheat!

This post is mostly to test out my new keyboard. Unfortunately, the space bar has to be slammed with your right thumb to activate it and it’s very annoying!!! Will see if I keep this keyboard or not. It’s going to take some getting used to..