It sure has been a while.

Here's why...

Friday:I attended a friend of Sarah and Tezz's going away party. In short, I had a wonderful time, probably due to the amount - and mixture - of alcohol I drank. Needless to say, I had a rather painful visit from the Hangover Fairy Saturday morning, much to Chef's amusement. I say 'amusement' and ignore 'sympathy', as he even went so far as leaving the heater on all morning so I could cook in my own juices and he knew I was in no state to get up and turn it off. Meanie.

One of the more tame photographs from Friday night.

Saturday: After turning down Sarah's kind invitation to walk from her house to mine with the dogs (a good 10km) as I was still vile headed and acidic and trying to stop all the bits of machinery in my head from clunking around, I lost all my nerve to be able to say no to anyone and agreed to go bike riding. I was hoping she meant at around 4pm when I had a chance to not feel like the walking dead, but alas, I soon poured myself into some clothes and out the door I headed. Phoenix discovered a man flying model aeroplanes, and he seems to find them far superior in enjoyment than chasing rabbits, so we lost him for a few minutes as he joyously chased the thing metres underneath, going around in circle after circle after circle...

Sunday: Still feeling slightly worse for my ordeal Friday night, I was bundled into the car and off we drove to Chef's mothers house for lunch. I actually had a really nice time, and a beautiful lunch, and we stayed and chatted for hours before heading back to the dogs.

Monday through Wednesday: I have no recollection. Hmmm.

Thursday: I bundled Chef and the kids in the car, and we drove down to my mothers for a visit. We were both extremely tired and cold, and we didn't actually do anything much down there, except consume vast amounts of tea, chat and play games. I took Cleo down with me on my mothers request, and received some strange looks from fellow road users when they noticed her sitting on my knee's with her paws on the dash, looking out the window. Mostly she curls up in the back with the dogs, and sleeps the journey away. While we were down by the beach, Chef and I did a spot of shopping, and I found The Most Amazing Skirt. I simply walked in the store, and was magically, magnetically drawn to this skirt... I then practically sobbed when I realized how far away pay day was.

Chef's birthday helicopter. I can't believe this thing made it through the day, what with Sahara attempting to eat it at every opportunity and Cleo developing some sort of Catty-Anti-Aircraft scheme because it's getting more attention than she is.

Friday: A fabulous miracle occurred. I got my car back! I got it towed to a mechanics in the morning, and a few hours later... ta dah! My little De-Fib is all good and pretty again :) Something to do with the ignition coil and plugs... Chef also got the final two problems of his car fixed, so we're both back in business and have a massive weight off our shoulders lifted. We also had a house inspection, so we cleaned manically and removed all traces of Sahara's flying tumble-weeds of hair she lovingly creates each day, only for them to be rollin' all around the house again the next morning. Honestly, I could knit a jumper for a small child each and every day from the amount my own child moults. Friday night involved late night shopping with Seah, as we *gasp* missed Thursday night as I was at Mum's. And..I found my skirt! I walked into the first shop and had the same, magical and magnetic pull towards this skirt...I am proud to say I will be picking it up Wednesday, along with an amazing red dress. There will be pictures, I assure you.

Ahh, Late Night Shopping. How I love you, and your hideous creations.

Saturday: We were up at 5am and on our way to the Queen Victoria Market by 6. (I was lured out of bed with the promise of a hot jam donut breakfast, and I was not disappointed). Soon we were filling up the trolley with various bits of carcass (mine was mainly for the dogs, but we did get some great deals on mince, chicken and things that aren't as creepy as, let's say, steak). I also got a whole sardine for Cleo, who devoured it last night as we were eating dinner. We also went to the deli section and I purchased my ultimate, all time favorite cheese, King Island Surprise Bay Cheddar, and some lovely triple cream Brie, too. We stocked up on pesto's and dips, all of which came to good use last night...

We came home and had a sleep, then took the dogs to the park to wear them out (and get them covered in Bog, see here).

Afterwards, Derek went to dinner and Gold Class with the boys, while I headed to Sarah's with the dogs to watch chick flicks, drink champagne and eat lots of lovely junk food for girls night. I ended up leaving quite early as I was still knackered from the early start, and added the finishing touches to wrapping Chef's presents ready for..

Sarah and I made friends with the staff at the Market, and they in turn gave us some golden photo opportunities. And a free sardine.

Sunday: Chef's birthday. We woke up early so he could open his presents, then bummed around as it was so cold outside. We watched a new episode of Top Gear, then I took my lovely beasty De-Fib for a drive, and went to Petstock. I ordered Sahara a new pink coat, and a new pink collar to match Phoenix's, as I know how jealous she gets. Then we headed to our favorite local beach, and it was absolutely beautiful - all choppy with lots of foamy white wash for Sahara to play in, and we had the beach all to ourselves. There was hundreds of jelly fish and octopussy's washed up, which are really creepy as they're an amazing glowing blue color. On the way home, just as I had driven off, Sahara started going into a fit and jumping all over the car, and Chef yelled at me to pull over - he never yells, so I was quite shocked, and therefore practically went into hysterics myself - and as soon as he opened the door she ran off, jumping and almost flipping over, trying to bite her back foot. I can't even begin to describe how frantic she was, she looked demented with pain and I felt so useless not being able to help her. We ended up wrestling her to the muddy, wet ground and I poured water over her leg to calm her down, trying to work out what the problem might be. I scoured the car looking for white tail spiders, but found nothing, and I called Sarah to ask for the vet's number and any suggestions for what to do, when Chef found a barb in her pad. I can only imagine it was from a sea anenome, and it was so lucky it didn't break off in her pad when Chef eventually got it out. She calmed down quite quickly, and we again got back in the car. She seems perfectly all right now, just a little down. It all sounds like rather an anti-climax, but my goodness, was I scared when I thought she was having an Epileptic fit, or was being eaten alive by venomous spiders.

My lovely apple pies.

For Derek's birthday, I decided to cook a roast, and boy, did I. I've never really done any of the cooking before - I usually do a little, and usually only easy stuff - but last night I decided to channel Ramsay and do chicken breast rolls, stuffed with tomato and capscium petsto, oozing with brie, rolled in prosciutto. I don't think I speak for myself here, Tezz - and please, back me up - but for my first attempt at ever cooking chicken, let alone touching the revolting stuff, I did extremely well. And the puff pasty lattice apple pies weren't shabby, either :)

...so all in all, I've had a rather great week!