Maybe it's because I'm too busy...

How is it that as we get closer to the end I find it harder to blog? I'd like to say that is because I'm so much busier but really I think it's because I don't want to acknowledge the fact that it is getting close.

State of Origin was epic. One of the best things we've done the whole time we've been here. It was down in Brisbane, Queensland Maroons v. New South Wales Blues. Stadium was sold out, 52,000 people going crazy mostly supporting Queensland (as they should). It's an annual, 3 game series. Queensland won the 1st game but it was close. NSW won the second. So it was pretty intense going in. Also Queensland has won the last 6 years running and really wanted to keep that streak going. Nance and I went down with Adan and Adrian in the morning stopped for lunch and hung around for the afternoon. Got to the stadium and went about finding our seats and somehow lost the Nance, or the Nance lost us to be precise. We sat got some snacks and beers and still he hadn't come back. I tried calling to no avail. Finally after almost an hour he shows up saying that he was directed across to the other side of the stadium and just found his way over. Then there was the game. Surprisingly few fights considering the aggression shown by both teams. I might be biased but it seems that the Blues were getting away with a few hits to the head and a little bit of offsides so it was understandable if QLD fought back a bit. We all lost our voices before the end of the game because the score was so close. During the second half the score was tied with I think 20 minutes to go and QLD tried for a field goal so then they were up by 1! As it turns out that was a great play because that's the score that QLD won by! 7 years in a ROW! I feel that my presence was what helped them get a victory so someone should pay for me to come next year to watch them win for the eighth year in a row.

We're staying out at Uncle Denny and Daphne's and helping with their house renovation. Uncle Denny just finished tiling the new bathroom and Daphne grouted it. It looks great. The deck is next on the list and this is where we've been helping. Nance has sanded the deck boards and I've been staining them and now if it ever stops raining long enough we should be able to start laying them. Then it will be the roofs fixed up, the kitchen, and the floors and then done! I'm sure I won't even recognize the place once they're done.

We've been picking beans the last few weeks but the weather has been so crazy it's not been every day. Really like the people we work with though. It's just a good group and they make a very boring job much more bearable. I've always wondered why Dave, the farmer, doesn't quite seem to have the best handle on bean farming and come to find out he's only been doing it for 6 years or so. Before that he was in politics and worked for the QLD premiere. That would also explain why he seems to be able to say and awful lot without saying much. Nice guy though. Most days aren't too bad, but one day Dave had an order for beans and it started to pour rain in the morning but we had to fill the order. Thankfully it wasn't a cold day. The bean patches quickly become muddy quagmires because they're in a clay-y soil. So we picked for another 4 hours completely saturated and coated in mud. I had to hose off my clothes before I could even wash them. That was by far the worst day. Most days are spent in sunshine and I put in headphones and tune out for hours and hours.

This past Sunday we had a Christmas in July dinner at the Taylor's house. The one rule for Christmas in July is that you can't make the same sort of food you'd make for Christmas proper. This meant that for mains we had fish and a pork roast. Side were roast pumpkins and sweet potatoes, beans, stuffing balls, salads, and more that I can't think of off hand. All I know is that I ate way wayyyy too much. It was all so good. Dessert was maple pecan pie and a self saucing banana pudding and some of Kyla's homemade ice cream. A great dinner. The only downside is that night is when I think I picked up a stomach flu from someone. Kirstyn had it on Friday and since then Molly Kleo Daphne Kate and I all came down with it. One of the worst days I've had in years. Glad it only lasted about a day because not sure I could've handled another day like that one.

So we're down to 3 weeks and I took the car in to see about getting it roadworthy to sell it and found that what is giving us the noticeable loss in power is a valve in the engine itself and to fix it would require taking the entire engine apart and stripping that valve, putting in a new one, replacing the head gasket and then doing all the other minor fixes the ole Corolla requires. It would have cost well over $2000 to fix and since our best hope of selling it was for $3000 it just doesn't really make sense to do all that work over the next few weeks and then have even less time to find a buyer. Cory will sadly be heading for that big parking lot in the sky instead. To be honest he has lived a hard life and I feel that we certainly got our money's worth out of him but still it sucks that we can't hand him over to another owner. We became part of the Royal Auto Club of Queensland because we always felt that he was a bit older and not sure if he was up to the journey that he was going to take but turns out he was and will hopefully see us out these last few weeks!

There you are, a brief synopsis of the last few weeks. Just think though I'll be able to fill you all in on person and show all the photos in less than a month so hope everyone is getting excited because I am!