Time to bottle the vino

It is finally time... Time to bottle the vino...

As I look across the kitchen of our house I spy the fifteen Yellowglen Yellow bottles awaiting my first attempt at a shiraz... Bottling is planned for this weekend, but before it makes it into the bottles I am going to have to try it. Can't wait!! Cheers to my great mate Troy who has been my guide through this adventure (all mistakes and unnecessary risks are all my fault Troy). Fingers crossed it will be at least drinkable, at best delicious...

I have now tried my red creation and am of mixed feelings. Good legs, the red clings to the glass well... First taste has character, just not sure if it is Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck... Looking forward to many, many, many more tries to find out... CHEERS!!

Not happy... WI-FI issues causing anxtiousness in the Law house

We have had a WI-FI outage in our house since May this year... It has annoyed the kids to no end, Master 11 constantly asking (bugging?) me if he can use my phone to look something up. The worst thing though is it has stopped dead the ability for my wife and I to catch a couple of episodes of our new favourite series HEARTLAND. We are about half way through series 6 (out of 8 series I think) and it has been our night time ritual to what two or three (sometimes more) episodes in a night. I am starting to miss this show. Come on Telstra... Please get the NBN back online again so we can continue our addiction... LOL!

Hanging with the Minions

What a weekend! While my darling wife was hard at work my Saturday was jam packed with entertaining our three little minions (or more accurately keeping them from arguing and fighting... SIGH). I also needed to set up two little beds because we were adding two more little ones to the mix.

We have a great relationship with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law (my wife's sister) where every so often they will be brave enough to take on one or more of our trio, the catch being we then get the pleasure of one or both of their delightful duo. After putting off a planned sleepover once we bit the bullet and went for it. A quick run around the local bike track, Babe (love that movie), Shopkins messes and everyone down and out by 10pm... What a Saturday.

Waffles to start the Sunday or bacon, eggs and hash browns, followed by a crazy morning of seven in the house. The two smallest ones may or may not have been dressed in the wrong sized clothes by Uncle Tim... I'm admitting nothing until my lawyer is present!! Once our two nieces had been collected it was then a whirlwind attempt to buzz off to Mount Barker to catch the latest in the Despicable franchise, Despicable Me 3.

I must admit I was disappointed that the first fifteen minutes of the latest adventures of Gru, Lucy, the girls and the army of humerous minions was a bit of a let down for me... It seemed to be exactly like the adverts for the film, nothing I had not already chuckled at 100 times or more. The villain was the best part (or more accurately the theme music and 80s references associated with this villain), the only part of the first half of the film that captured my interest and made me smile.

As the film continued though it did engage me more and ended up leaving me happy I had watched it. The big plus was that my wife and I shared the experience with our three minions, hearing all three quote their favourite parts all the way home.

After a delicious home cooked creation for tea and getting Master 11, Miss (almost) 10 and Miss 7 off to bed my darling and I finished off this crazy weekend with a snuggle on the couch. Red Dog True Blue was the order of the day and this one did not disappoint. A great father/son film about a cute little pup who wriggled its way into the hearts of everyone down on the farm. Another terrific Aussie film that I think everyone can enjoy. No sex, violence or swearing, but a lot of drama, intrigue and a great story told really well.

I've loved hanging with the Minions in my life but I think the Dog and the Aussie Film Industry made this weekend for me...

2000 words all about me

The challenge has been thrown down... As part of an amazing leadership course I am enrolled in I need to submit a 2,000 word report on my leadership style. 2,000 words all about me... How hard could that possibly be? More difficult than I originally thought so it seems. In the fortnight that has followed since the inaugural workshop sessions I have managed to read the suggested readings, layout my report and make a few notes on what my leadership profile has (with frightening accuracy) revealed. Luckily I love a challenge... All the puzzle pieces are floating around in my mind... Just waiting for them all to fall into place...

The Apps Test - Teaching students by getting them to teach each other

I have just discovered that the year 6 and 7s at the school my kids are at is getting the students to play apps like kahoot for the term so they get really good at it and then they have to teach the class how to play/use it. Shared learning, presentation skills, so awesome...

Loving the See-Saw app too for sharing class moments...

Discovering Me

I have just arrived home safe and sound after two solid days (and an overnight) of leadership training. This is just the beginning of an intense six month journey which will be all about me (and the other participants) and how we can grow and develop as people and leaders.

Today was about profiling us and our leadership style and I must say my results seem to explain me perfectly. As a useful tool I plan to share these results with my direct managers and with my team. The next six months are going to be hard, more work than normal with assignments already due soon and more days offsite this month, next month and all the way through to December.

It is all going to be worth it... My extreme introvertedness now has a different name and all sorts of special skills associated with it... So energised and inspired about the next six months and the time beyond...