Last night I went to an info night for the Kokoda Challenge which isn’t the trek through New Guinea, but a 96km run/walk/stagger/drag through the hills and trails of the Gold Coast hinterland. Yep, for some bizarre and misguided reason, I agreed to do this earlier this year. It was quite disconcerting sitting in the room for the briefing, and listening to the muttered conversations around me. The word “pain” was mentioned a bit too frequently for my comfort level. Anyhoo, it should be a really fun adventure, and if I can’t walk for a few days afterwards, then Hubby will just have to do the cooking, cleaning, laundry…. hang on, I don’t do that even when I can walk!! :lol: Robyn was at the physio today and appears to have ITB issues, so hoping she’s going to be sound enough (equine/dog term, hehe) to do the challenge.

I am starting to love my slow cooker. It takes the pressure off the afternoons - usually at around 5.30pm, I get quite stressed. Hubby will be home in just after an hour, the place is bedlam, I stack the dishwasher so it looks like I’ve done something constructive with my day, and then stress about what to do for dinner. With the slow cooker, I can put dinner on in the morning, and then in the afternoon I just have to worry about pretending to have been busy and oh look, the dishwasher cycle has just about finished. I made lamb shanks in the slow cooker today, used carrot, celery and a tin of tomatoes, with a McCormacks slow cooker flavour sachet. Sooo yummy, and I feel so domesticated.

I didn’t go for a run today. Hubby has had a bit of a cold over the last week, and in a fit of generosity, seems to have passed a few symptoms on to me. I’ve had a bit of a cough and sinus congestion and since it’s only 18 days until the Kokoda Challenge, I thought I’d not do myself any harm by skipping a 7-8km slow jog. Will see what happens tomorrow afternoon. Tell you what, I’d be so disappointed if I became injured or unwell before the 19th July. I’ve got to see if I can sort out babysitting for maybe Sunday night for another longish night run - last one before Kokoda. I’m convinced Hubby is trying to collect on my life insurance.

Miss 8 has been trying a bit of behaviour modification on her brother. She has a stash of skittles in her wardrobe and if he is nice to her, he gets a skittle. The theory is that the behaviour that gets rewarded is more likely to be repeated. I also had a stash saved to reward her for being patient when he’s extremely trying. She’s just called me into her bedroom to sadly admit she’s eaten a few of the skittles that were meant for Master 6. I was virtually on the floor laughing, because I then had to admit I’ve scoffed the whole packet of skittles meant for her!! My bad!

I had an email today from an old friend in Texas. Never met them, Larry and Chandler have had an Australian Cattle Dog Ellie for many years, and she was of a similar vintage to our old dogs Cody and Kato, who died in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Chandler is a vet too, and they had children and cattle dogs and really paralleled our lives, so we had a bit in common. We didn’t keep in touch a great deal, but on occasion we’d drop an email to each other.  Anyway, Ellie was euthanased yesterday, she must have been a good age, and I must admit, I did shed a little tear. She was an awesome dog and it just reminded me of the times before kids when we used to be so into our cattle dogs and travelling and camping and competing in obedience and agility. They were such great days, and it really seems like another lifetime. Nostalgia is kind of nice sometimes. Mind you, I don’t think life ever stays the same, I’d never change things as they are. I love having my kidlets around, and I’m enjoying our new dogs, but gee, those were such fun times.

Well, I’ve had a glass or two of red wine with dinner, so am off for a good night’s sleep :smile:

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