Last week wasn’t in any way quieter than the previous week.  In fact, I’m pretty sure we’re just getting more and more busy!

Saturday morning we were up fairly early, we headed up into the West side of the city (pit-stopping at McDonalds for a breakfast en route!) Once done with breakfast, we headed to the Reliant Center, to watch Magz and Sam’s dogs Bazil and Poppy compete in a Flyball competition at the Reliant Park World Series of dog shows.

We arrived shortly after 11am.  We’d never been to a dog show, or a flyball competition before and we had no idea what to expect.  The place was coming down with dogs – understandably so, what with it being a dog show and all.  There were market stalls, booths and areas for competing canines, akin to that in Crufts – just think, smaller scale.

The flyball lot, had their own little section of the center, wall-ed off and everything.  I guess cause that’s where the rowdy crew are or something…and we quickly found Magz, Sam, Tracy, Nancy and Co and the rest of the Flat out Flyers and their dogs.

In short, flyball is like dog relay.  Four dogs (and handlers) per team, two teams running against each other.  On each team, the handler releases dog (both dogs must cross the starting line at a specific time – I.E when the light turns green, the clock should say 0.00 or a plus number, if you’re in the negative, you re-run), dog jumps over a number of hurdles to get to the box at the end of it.

The box, made of wood, has a hole cut in it, and in that hole is a ball.  To release the ball, the dog must push a release-spring plank on the front of the box, which causes the ball to spring out of it’s hole.  Dog must catch the ball, jump back over the hurdles and return to it’s handler – at which time, the next dog in the relay is released.  Their noses must cross the line at the same time.

It’s loud, it’s fast and it’s fun!

We saw the lovely Emily and Luke, Julie and Sherif (plus little ‘uns) and of course Magz and Sam – turns out we almost caught Ann and Paul as they were ‘showing’ the beautiful Bella (who did very well indeed!)

We left Reliant around 3.30pm and made a bee-line for Walmart (yes, to pick up more jars!) before heading to Outback for dinner with Ann and Paul.  It was fun, good to see them again and the food, although below par as far as an Outback goes, wasn’t terrible (though it wasn’t great either…)

After dinner, (as it was an early dinner), we had plenty of time to go shopping! Col insisted that he didn’t need anything, but, me, being the more closet-informed of the two of us, begged to differ.  We did Ross, Marshalls, Old Navy, Kohls and Col came up empty on all counts! I came away with a few bits (shorts, 3/4 lengths, a few tops) but it was a bit of a bust all round.  Boo!

On the way home, to ‘drown our sorrows’, we hit up Baskin Robbins to pick up some sweet treats before settling down to watch the German Grand Prix Qualifying sessions.  I’d never before tried Baskin Robbins and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

They had 50% less fat flavours and I enjoyed a scoop of pineapple coconut and a scoop of Neapolitan – yum! We’ll definitely be back!

Sunday started with me making Col and I breakfast in Magz & Sam’s kitchen (Sam had already eaten and didn’t want any) before we watched the Grand Prix (what a race by the way!)  This season is just getting better and better – and Lewis rolled in to a fantastic and well deserved win!

When the race was over, I abandoned the boys and headed to the gym for a CX30 and Body Attack combo of classes.  For dinner, we enjoyed a yummy BBQ and were joined by the Van der Waals, it was fun, delicious and I’d have loved to stay all evening.

However, ‘work’ called.  I had to pick up some grocery supplies for my SSA Coffee morning and Col and I cleaned around the downstairs of the house, til 11.30pm when we vegged out to an episode of NCIS with a cuppa before bed.

Monday morning rolled around fast, and brought with it, my coffee morning!

Around 17 SSA ladies and a handful of little kids arrived to our house and enjoyed a fun morning of snacks, drinks and chat.  It was great to see everyone and to see some of the newcomers interacting and networking with some of the ‘oldies’.

I even got two bunches of flowers out of it – aren’t they so sweet?!

After a quick clean-up and change of clothes (as I had just been vomited all over by an adorable little 1 month old baby), Magz, Heather and I hit-up Panda Garden chinese restaurant for a quick (and not bad) lunch before we went craft shopping in JoAnns and Hobby Lobby, yeah, like I need more crafting stuff, eh? 😉

By the time I got home, it was after 4pm, Col was pretty much home on my heels and since I’d nothing defrosted or ready for dinner we decided to use one of the Groupons I have lying in wait for such an occasion.

We chose to go to go to Baker St. pub and grill – a British pub.

Col, I know it’ll be hard for you all to believe, chose the fish’n’chips…and as much as I wanted to indulge in ‘bad’ food, I decided it was better served to stick with something healthier (I ended up with grilled chicken, veggies and mash potatoes).

The food was pretty good, Col’s fish was delicious and aside from the fact that there was way too much mash and sauce on my plate and not enough chicken, mine was good too.  What let the place totally down was the fact that it permitted smokers, no designated ‘no smoking’ section, so our entire experience was ruined by smoker.  Gag.  It was gross.  Get it together TX and ban it already!!

On the way home, we used another groupon, to a place called Maiberry.  The groupon bragged that it had a menu of ‘craving-mollifying treats features greek-style frozen yogurt, fresh juices, and more. The eatery’s nonfat, RBST-free frozen yogurt, available in pomegranate, mango, açaí-blueberry, and many other mouth-tickling flavors, is a chilly nosh that’s as smooth as a sweet-talking seal’.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Wrong.  It was disgusting and I threw most of mine out! I guess you can’t win them all, but jeez what a disappointment!!

Over the next few days, we decided to lay-low.  Neither of us were feeling particularly good (and actually both woke up sick as dogs on Tuesday morning) and we just felt that staying close to home was the safest option.

Worked to my advantage actually, I finally got caught up on my laundry (I only had about 6 or 7 loads to do), I tidied the back hall, sorting out stuff for Magz’s upcoming baby shower, I tidied our front room and moved the boxes of toys and gifts for people upstairs, got stuff organised for the post office and Wednesday night, while Col went to footie, I cleaned the kitchen and contemplated doing a little baking…

That thought didn’t last long (I was torn about what to make, so didn’t bother making anything!)

Thursday morning brought with it another trip to Trotter family YMCA, where I did Body Attack (meeting a new friend while I was there).  The new instructor was hard-core, like an Energiser bunny (on a sugar high) and most of the tracks were new to me, so, by the end of the class, I felt pretty knackered.  Which, for the most part, was a good thing – though my calf is STILL giving me grief, two weeks on.

For lunch, Nicole (with Sam and Alex), Frances (newbie driver, drove all by herself like a rockstar!), Magz and I tried out a new location for lunch.  I had another Living Social certificate (I’m sure you’re all shocked!) for a place called Freshii.

As the name suggests, it’s a healthy, fresh place, soups, salads, wraps etc. and was pretty tasty.  In fact, aside from the insane amount of plastic dishes they gave you to serve the soup, it was a pretty successful lunch – and somewhere, I’d happily go back to for a tasty, cheap and healthy lunch.

After lunch, Magz and I took a wee trip up to Ikea for a dander.  I had a few things on my ‘to get’ list, that I wanted to have a gander at and my shopping partner in crime decided to join me.  For dinner, we had an impromptu BBQ at Magz and Sams which went down very well indeed!

Friday brought with it another new place to go and play, another Groupon deal cashed in and another yummy lunch with a good friend.  Wow – I really am a lucky gal eh? 🙂

For Magz’s birthday back in April, I picked her up a Groupon voucher, with it, she (translated: we) got a hands-on pottery wheel throwing demonstration for two people, including two self-made pieces.  In short, I bought her a pottery lesson for her and a friend.

When you first pull up, it’s a little off-putting, you don’t realise you’re actually going to someone’s house, the workshop is in the teacher (Linda’s) garage.

We both had a great time and we both came away from it having finished a bowl (in spite of both of us being sure we’d come out with the same ball of clay we started with!).  We had fun and would definitely both, go back and recommend it!

For lunch, we hit-up Chilis, in Spring, before we headed home, where I did some baby shower stuff and tried out a new Chicken and Broccoli Fettuccine recipe for dinner!

Phew! What a busy week!