APRIL ~ MAY 2004


Thursday 1st April

We got a call from Mike Munro from 60 Minutes while I was at Tennis with Jared last evening. Mum took the message but was so overcome with talking to one of her favourite reporters she forgot to give me half the message from him *S*

So today when he phoned I wasn't fully prepared... he wanted events and dates regarding my unwanted association with the Guardianship Board and Office of Protective
Commissioner in NSW between 1996 and 2000. We spent about half an hour on the phone, the outcome being that he would call me Friday morning for details.

Friday 2nd April

Got another call... this time I was more prepared... had a summary of events for him but
he needed collaborating documents!! About 40 minutes into the call.... he received a phone call... his father-in-law had been rushed to hospital.... heart attack :-(
So he said he'd call me over the weekend... didn't know when so I could only go online
late in the evenings.

Sunday 4th April

Received his call... his father-in-law had passed away :-(
We went over the summary of dates and facts that I'd prepared... told me to get some
more documentation. Will call me back next Thursday or Friday to go over everything and tell me what to fax to him. If it seems worthwhile, then he'll be coming here to film an
interview.

Wednesday 7th April

Discovered last Friday that Jared was on school holidays.... I thought we had another
week to go... WRONG!!!!! They had a 'free dress' day... of course Jared forgot! So he and Erica were the only 2 at school in uniform! LOL!!!

Over the past few days I've been digging through hoards of documents... bringing up old
wounds... but as of today I think I have everything needed... I can only hope. It's so
depressing bringing back old memories. It's amazing how much we forget in the matter of a couple of years... well... almost 4 years.

Jared has been pretty good considering I've been so tied up. THEN I discovered I had a
WORM on my computer!!!! Blast!!!! It's so damned frustrating having to get rid of the
damned thing.... took all day because my Virus software scans both drives.. not just the "C" drive, which is where the virus was..... actually there were 4!!! But they're gone now,
so... I'm clean again. Naturally, while all this is going on I can't use the computer so now I'm behind again! Have to get online tonight and catch up with everyone.




Friday May 21st

Well... what a screw up this past month has been!!!!! All I can say is... WHY ME!!??

First, to keep you in the picture... I didn't hear from Mike Munro for 3 weeks....
He'd been trying to get hold of the Protective Commissioner because he also needed
the VILLAIN in the story for 60 Minutes..... Of course he was nowhere to be found!
So the whole thing has been put on hold... after me sorting through hundreds of
documents... BAH!!! The Protective Office is still stuffing me up!!!!!!

I think we've had 3 long weekends... it's been hard to keep track, just seems like Jared
is always off school. We have another holiday today... Show Day!! We have a local,
travelling, supposedly agricultural show on in Maryborough (30km away from here) so
everything is closed so the people can go and spend mega bucks on pathetic carnival
rides.... on sideshows and watch domestic farm animals being paraded as well as see
displays of local produce... Rah! Rah!! Who cares!!! I've been twice in 20 years with a
few years in between visits.... nothing changed... still boring and EXPENSIVE.

We have one more long weekend coming up in June.... the Queen's Birthday Holiday.
Her birthday is in April of course... that's why we celebrate it in June! Lord... they
don't even get a holiday in Britain for her Birthday!!!! Anyway... that's the last until
Christmas.

Everything was going fine with me after the disappointment about 60 Minutes...
We have new PSP classes happening which finish mid June. THEN DISASTER STRUCK!!!
I have 3 Virus Protection programs... but 2 TROJANS
managed to slip through!! Do you think I can get rid of them.... no way!!! Of course...
by the time you receive this they will be gone because I won't email anyone while they
are still on my computer. This is when I miss Jason!!! I'm ready to throw the whole
thing in the garbage! I'm so p#$$&d off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jared had been a right royal pain in the butt this past month. He got hold of a moblie
phone his dad left behind... bought a pre paid card for calls ($25) from his own money..
told me it was so he could play games on it. THEN he decided he wanted a screensaver or musical ring.... something.....for it so he tried to download it.... 3 times! Didn't work!
He got in a mood! We suffered!
I told him to phone Telstra... he did.... turns out this mobile doesn't have a thing called
WAP which you need for what he was trying to do.... so Telstra refunded him the $9 he'd used up trying to download it !! I couldn't believe it!

Then last weekend he spent time with his brother at his other Grandma's. 3 kids kept
following them around and threatening them. The next day the kids were still around
bugging them.. so what did Jared do????? Phoned the police on his mobile!!! TWO cars turned up! The pair of them travelled around in one of the cars looking for the kids
with no luck....

The police are on extra alert these days because we have had 20 attempted child abductions in Queensland in the last 18 months some were successful... one in particular was a little boy, Daniel, who was abducted on the Sunshine Coast, 2 hours south of here, on the 7th of December last year and he's never been seen since,
not even a body.... nothing.... his poor parents and siblings are broken hearted. So many people saw him standing at the bus stop.... the bus he was waiting for didn't stop when he hailed it.... people also saw a blue car and 2 men close by him... still nothing has helped locate him.

What is the world coming to??? Seems I say this every month!!! Gone are the days
when you had no qualms about letting your child out alone. The whole world is sick!

This is further qualified by what has gone in in Iraq this past month! THE PHOTOS!
How can anyone demean people like the soldiers did to the Iraqui prisoners? The whole affair is totally disgusting and makes me ashamed to be part of the human race.
Then yesterday... the news that 40 Iraqui civilians had been killed in a wedding party..
children included!! What is going on? What is this 'shoot first, apologise later' policy
that seems to be the norm in Iraq now?

Quite frankly, June 30 can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned. I think all the coallition troops should get out. If the countries of the world want to help rebuild Iraq then give them the funds and let them do it themselves... their way. The billions of dollars being spent creating more destruction could be put to better use.

The only bright spark this month was the wedding in Denmark of Prince Frederick and Mary Donaldson from Australia. I watched it on TV and as the Prince's eyes welled up with tears as he was waiting for his bride... so did mine *S* The Queen was stunning in her floral dress and deep pink coat and you could see she was thrilled with his choice of partner. Of course Mary may well be from Australia... but she has Scottish heritage!!! *S*

One thing that came out of the wedding for me was that I heard an announcement that
a Countess Birgitte Moltke couldn't be at the wedding because she was in Australia with some Scandanavian company... in Canberra. I couldn't believe my ears!!!!!

Could this be the same Birgitte Moltke who spent time here in the 60's and who had a brother who my Mother used to look after at the weekends????? Well... I got online
right away and checked out the White Pages... sure enough there was only ONE
B. Moltke listed in Canberra!! I rang... but got an answering machine so I left a message.

I had tried a few years ago to find an address for Lars (the little boy) since we had lost touch.... but was unsuccessful. Mum loved him so much and was broken hearted when they returned to Denmark. His father was the Danish Consulate in Sydney for.. I think.. three years. He used to love spending the weekends with us *S*

Later that evening my call was returned !! We had a lengthy, excited conversation!!
But half way through discovered it was the wrong Birgitte... same family... different line.
She did promise to use her contacts and influence to locate Lars and his sister for us *S*
She was excited about the thought of re-uniting us!!
So 'the wedding' was quite significant for us too *S*


Then there was Mother's Day!!
My precious grandson (notice he's no longer a PIB! *S*) woke me up waving a gift in my face. Lucky I was already lying down.... otherwise I would have keeled over!! LOL!!!
It appears that he took $30 out of his savings to buy me a Mother's Day gift!! This is an
11 year old we're talking about and one who is a real 'tight-wad' with his money!!

He went to the Chemist (pharmacy) after school and had the assistant (who has been a friend of ours for the past 20 years) help him select some perfume for me. He didn't want any crummy, cheap perfume (she told us later) so what he decided on was 2 miniature bottles of French perfume. He had her wrap them *S*. It also seems the people in the store were hovering around him.... listening to what he was saying... thought he was soooo cute!!

Well... it was a MOST unexpected gift... all I thought I'd be getting was a card. He can be so sweet at times... as long as the subject isn't mobile phones! LOL!

Jason usually makes dinner for me on Mother's Day... but that was sort of hard to do considering he's on the other side of the world.
BUT this has an upside..... (grin)..... I didn't have any cleaning up to do afterwards! LOL!!! Jason is the messiest cook.... but his meals are DEEEEElicious!!


Friday 28th May

Well... we couldn't end the month without more disasters!!!!! *S*

My mother thinks she is smart enough to outwit her great grandson! WRONG!!!!
When is she going to learn that she's not even in the race???? LOL!!!
Here's the deal.....

She thought she'd con him into improving his handwriting (which incidentally... is deplorable!!) by telling him if he showed improvement he could get a super dooper mobile phone he had his heart set on. I kept out of it..... been there... all I do is get in trouble.. LOL!!!!

I did figure she had at least a month up her sleeve... stupid me... I should know better! Jared hasn't the patience to wait a month...... we all know that!! So immediately his handwriting became exceptional... I knew the little S**T had it in him... just lazy!! So because he was producing beautifully written work within days HE thought he deserved the phone as promised.

THEN.... somehow he managed to visit one of the bike shops and spied a bike he'd rather have instead of a phone. Of course ... without thinking first.... my mother thought a bike was a much better idea, since he already had the phone his Dad left behind. He said the bike was $530....
I lost it!!!!!!

He'd saved $170 (cash) from pocket money and mowing jobs he'd done but needed to withdraw the rest from his bank account. I 'hit the roof'!! When he wasn't around I asked Mum how she managed to create these messes. She denied being responsible of course. I tried every way to Sunday thinking up reasons why he shouldn't waste his money.... fell on deaf ears!!!! So I just said "NO WAY!!!!"
He told me he wanted me to send a photo to his Dad.... he'd think it was OK.
So I did... and a photo of the cost... not $530 as we first thought..... it was $579!!!!!!!

This kid has good taste! Jason got an email from me telling him to convince Jared it wasn't a good idea to get the bike. He was sooooo disappointed.... tough!!!! He'd get over it... he always does.

The next afternoon he went down to the bike shop to tell them he couldn't get the bike and was going to the electronics store to have another look at the mobile phone he'd wanted.... said he was going to get that if he couldn't have the bike!!!! Over my dead body!!!! But I left him to it.... like I said... he'd get over it. On his way home he went to the other bike store.... just for a look...... RIGHT!!!! *S* He found another bike... just under $300... so it was almost half the cost of the last one...... He came home full of excitement! Working a major con job on me..... he thought..... full of sugar and sweetness... LOL!!! This bike has 16 speeds.... not just 10 like the last one..... (like I could care.... )

My mother got hold of me when he was in the shower and said we should let him get it... if only just to shut him up.... beside he wouldn't have to withdraw as much from the bank... I gave in.... with a warning..... to think before she puts her foot in her mouth again.
She agreed.... but I won't hold my breath.... she can't help herself!! *S* So I have to go
to the bank today and have the money when he gets out of school. Jared wins again!!!! *S*

Then yesteday afternoon I went to collect him from school... got there OK but when we were leaving the damned car wouldn't work!!! Every time I turned on the ignition all it did was SHUDDER and blow smoke out of the exhaust!! I managed to get it onto the street so that I wouldn't hold anyone else up from leaving. I had to have it towed to the mechanic.

Thank the Lord no-one could see me struggling to get in the cab of the tow truck..... not a pretty sight!!!! I have no strength in my wrists or hands any more and you can forget my
ankles!!! The step up seemed like a metre off the ground... talk about a balancing act!!!
Thank goodness the driver was busy loading my car on his truck!! I struggled up and was exhausted when I finally sat down. I had to get out at the mechanics and then get back up so we could be dropped off at home. Sliding out was just as unsightly as getting in! At least the driver stopped next to the kerb so I wouldn't have as much trouble when he dropped us off at home.

Turned out to be a simple problem that took the mechanic 5 minutes to fix....
FREE OF CHARGE!!! The only good thing that had happened all day!!! *S*

Then I thought how lucky I had been...... I was in old daggy working clothes before I went to get Jared. I mean these were..... "wouldn't want to be caught dead in" clothes!! I tossed up whether to change or just stick a sweater on top... after all people could only see me from the shoulders up in the car.... for some reason I decided to clean myself up... a little voice told me to..... *S* Lucky I did.. huh!!!! That would have been another embarrassment!! LOL!!!
Thank God for 'little voices".. (grin)

Sunday 30th May

Jason sent me an anti virus program... the ones I had weren't working... this one sure did!!!!!
HORROR of HORRORS!!! I had 28 files infected with Viruses or worms!!! The program
deleted most and those that it didn't.... I went through manually and deleted the files. All were email files!! The other programs told me I was 'clean' !! I immediately uninstalled them!

I'm still haviing problems with IE.... sometimes I can get web pages up.... then they freeze on me :-( Have no idea why... waiting for an answer from my 'personal computer expert'...........
YOU PAYING ATTENTION JASON????????

Jared got his 'racing bike'... only had to withdraw $130 from his account and he has to make it up. He's fallen off once LOL!!!! At least he's off our backs now... peace reigns *S*

Tomorrow it will be 5 years since my father passed away.... I can't believe it has passed so quickly..... seems like yesterday. I don't think there's been a day in the last 5 years that I haven't thought about him. I wish 'nice people' could live forever.

I also applied for a job at Jared's school... but won't hold my breath....
I have all the necessary experience, but I bet my age will come into their decision...
haven't even had my application acknowledged.... they lack in common courtesy for sure.

That's about all the whinging for this month *S* It would be so pleasant to be able to
fill this journal with good news for a change. Hope I haven't bored y'all to tears *S*


A FEW PHOTOS
(Pics of the bike Jared didn't get..
the Cat From Hell....
and a pic of the front of my home for those who were asking....
how much I had to mow *S*)

JUNE 2004


HOME EMAIL