My darling sister J leaves tomorrow afternoon for her second European Vacation (sans Chevy Chase). The last one was a few years ago and it was THE BIG ONE. This is just a mini one (three and a bit weeks) but still exciting. She is starting with a few days in Germany (don't mention the war) to see a France vs Switzerland game at the World Cup, then Italy and France and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it stopover in Tokyo. Oh, to be young, single and free again. The grass is always greener, isn't it?! I will miss her terribly but I am super excited for her. Bon Voyage, beautiful girl.

On a totally different topic... Shannon Noll. Admission time. I didn't like him during the first Australian Idol. In fact I may have sent a vote or two Guy Sebastian's way. Now I see the error of my ways. At the time I dismissed Shannon Noll as a Jimmy Barnes wannabe, all yelling bravado and no musical talent. But recently I've decided I was wrong, so wrong. Sure Guy Sebastian can sing but it's what he chooses to sing that's the problem. There's enough R'n'B in the world, buddy. There's way, way too much, in fact. Enough already. Shannon Noll is actually a song writer in the classic Aussie sense, in the Ian Moss sense, (almost) in the Paul Kelly sense. In the storytelling tradition which makes you feel something. While I can't see myself buying his CDs I do appreciate his songs when they come on the radio. Good work, Shannon!

It's been a busy morning and a busy week. Last weekend we decided to change the house around "a bit". As usual these projects end up bigger than Ben Hur. So far we have moved the queen size bed into Will's room from the "spare" (aka JUNK) room and have dismantled his car bed (going to a good home). We have also moved ourselves out of the big bedroom at the back of the house into the almost as big bedroom at the front of the house. It is actually a much cosier room and we love it. Now we are in the process of turning our old bedroom, which is very large, into the kids' playroom/entertainment room.

Today we went and ordered a new lounge suite (a three-seater, a two-seater and a funky large pouffe). We've also ordered a 106cm LG flat screen plasma TV (why do such things make men so very, very happy?) and bought a home theatre package to turn our tiny living room into our very own realistic cinema experience. Our old 86cm TV will go into the kids' room, along with the old sofa and arm chairs, the Sony Playstation, the old stereo and all the kids' toys, books, games, etc. Our aim is to turn the lounge room into a sophisticated adults' retreat (humour me!) and the back room into a kids' paradise - plenty of room for all the fun stuff the kids need all in one space (and - V. IMPORTANTLY - out of our way).

So basically we end up without a spare/junk room so we are culling all the crap which accumulates when such a room is available for junk breeding purposes. Trip to the tip tomorrow. It also means visitors will not have a dedicated room but when they do stay they can have Will's room and he can camp out in our room or in Marianna's room. It seemed pointless to have a whole room going to waste just for the odd occasion when we have visitors staying over. It's bizarre that the three of us are struggling to find "enough space" in a largish four bedroom house when my parents and I managed quite well in what was basically one medium sized room with a shared kitchen and bathroom when I was little back in the motherland. Everything in life is relative!