It's Tuesday morning and it's still raining - yay!!! Let's recap the last few days...

Friday night we met our friends Marlene and Vern for the very first time. They are the family after us on the waiting list (Oz) for La Casita de Nicholas in Medellin, Colombia - where our second child is hopefully waiting for us right now. They live on the far North Coast of NSW so we have only been cyber friends until this weekend. We finally met on Friday night and had a wonderful time getting to know each other at Sydney's one and only Colombian restaurant.

I wasn't sure what to expect re: Colombian food but we were all very pleasantly surprised. Not sure if it's Colombian food in general or this restaurant in particular but the servings are HUGE! My plate contained: mince, pork belly, a small steak, a chorizo sausage, a fried egg, yummy beans, rice, avocado, arepo (like a corn flour bread) and fried plantains (cooking bananas). Even with Jason's help I couldn't get through it. While we really wanted to try dessert it was not humanly possible to fit it in.

Saturday was Will's final swimming lesson for term two. He is swimming like a fish - hard to believe it's the same boy who two and a half years ago cried for the entire lesson - all term (it was pitiful and shows what a cold hearted mother I am, making him continue with the lessons even though he was so sad). After swimming we enjoyed a quick morning tea at our friends' house before Jason whisked Will off to the city for some Darling Harbour fun. They watched the Sharks 3-D movie at IMAX, did two trips round the city on the monorail and had a greasy lunch - what more could two boys want in life?

I enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at home cooking up a storm. I am trying to use spare time on the weekends to cook up some casseroles to freeze so that I am not so manic every evening. Especially when I have a meeting to go to in the evening it can be stressful getting home, making dinner, doing homework, reading, etc. with Will, plus any other chores like washing which may need doing and then still getting out for the meeting at around 7:00 pm. Anyway, Saturday I cooked which I really do find enjoyable and relaxing.

So it's raining on and off all day. I had told Jason I wasn't going to the Swans' game if it was still raining and he'd decided to go on his own (that's true dedication for you!). Anyway, around 4:00 pm the rain stops and stays stopped! By 5:30 pm - when we usually leave home to pick up our friends Bob and Tricia on the way to the game - it's still dry. We packed our stuff, picked up Bob and Tricia. Still dry. Cut a long story short... not a drop of rain during the entire game. In fact, it was much warmer than I thought it might be - I didn't even need the rug I'd brought for my lap. Better still the Swannies did kick Collingwood's butt - well, it was a very small kick (they won by 1 point) but it was a kick nevertheless!

Happily we return to our car for the drive home and guess what - the rain starts as soon as we drive out of the car park - it rains all night and most of Sunday. Do you think the great non-denominational all-powerful entity in the sky might be a Swan's fan? I think so!

Sunday Marlene and Vern come for lunch and we are joined by Melissa and her gorgeous 18 month old daughter Daniella. Daniella was born in Medellin and Melissa and her husband Craig (who couldn't make it as he was in Hawaii - it's a hard life being a Qantas pilot!!!) adopted Daniella last year from La Casita so we all feel like the "La Casita de Nicholas Family". We enjoyed a lovely day of chatting, eating and daydreaming about our children from the beautiful city of Medellin, Colombia.

Ignore this bit if your IQ is bigger than your shoe size. Sunday night... eviction night on Big Brother. Now I know I shouldn't care but somehow I do. Geneva was evicted and now there are only 3 girls left and lots of stupid boofy blokes who really make me wish I lived on the island where Wonder Woman came from (i.e. the island where there are NO blokes). Not that the girls on BB are anything special, I probably wouldn't spit on any of them if they were on fire, but the guys are just spectacularly oaf-ish, rude, self-centred and just plain nasty. I really hope either evil Dean or that stupid Glen are evicted this week... if only I could be bothered voting...

Returning back to normal transmission... Monday morning we got up bright and early (well, actually it was 6:00 am - our normal rise and shine time) and drove to the airport to meet our wonderful friends Tim and Rosalie who were returning from Colombia with their "surprise". Their surprise is Jorge, their third child and a biological sibling to their eldest son Andres. Last year they brought home their cheeky little daughter Estefenia. So now they are a family of five and slightly in shock but very happy. So we were lucky enough to be able to meet them at Sydney Airport yesterday morning. Will and Andres are great mates so they were overjoyed to see each other and spent a very happy time wrestling on the mat in front of the emergency doors while we caught up and ooh-ed and aaah-ed over gorgeous little Jorge.

Before I sign off I think an honourable mention is needed. "Our shops" are back! Huh??? you say. Well, when we moved to our house we had a small and run down but very useful shopping centre about 30 seconds drive from our house and (very importantly) on the same side of Pennant Hills Road as us. It was a taken-for-granted luxury to be able to pop up there after work to pick up a few things or go later in the evening once Will was in bed for a proper BIG shop in peace and quiet. A year ago it was closed down for major renovations and we have really "suffered" (OK, suffered might be a strong word but it's been BAD). We've had to shop here, there and everywhere and our shopping routine went out the window. Even when Cherrybrook shops reopened just before Christmas and things improved considerably it was still tough. After all Cherrybrook isn't far but it is on the other side of Pennant Hills Road. When I made the mistake of going there on a Thursday evening it took me 30 minutes to make what would normally be a 7 minute trip.

So ... drum roll please ... Thornleigh Marketplace is officially opened and may I say it is BEAUTIFUL. So far only Woolworths (who own the centre) are opened and it is a lovely supermarket, new and shiny and full of wonderful new and shiny things and trolleys with all four wheels working (ah, heaven!). Next door is Dan Murphys which is a discount liquor store (and almost as big as Woolworths - being a non-drinker I have to question whether a liquor store needs to be as big as a supermarket, but what do I know?!). Anyway, the presence of Dan Murphys make my husband a very, very, very happy man. They are cheap, they have a huge range and they are close by - what else does an Aussie bloke need in life? There is also a chemist, a newsagent, a post office, hairdresser and optometrist. Within the next few weeks we'll also have a Brumby's (bread - yum), a couple of coffee shops, a butcher and a Sushi bar. We are very excited about the Sushi - we all like it but Will loves it and will often ask for it if we're having lunch at a shopping centre food hall (I guess McDonalds haven't brainwashed all the children yet!).

If you're still awake after that long bit of nothing - congratulations! See you next time.