Rules for Card Games

Do you remember that card game you used to play as a family when you were younger? You know; rummy, cribbage, 500, 9 card brag, Canasta, or some other equally obscure game.

But do you remember the rules? Because I certainly don’t. For an afternoon, or more usually a damp British summer, I would have been able to quote you chapter and verse on the game we were playing. Thirty years later and my memory gets a little hazy. Don’t fear though gentle reader because this is the internet and everything is here.

Behold the rules of every card game you have ever played. Don’t thank me, thank a gentlemen called John McLeod who has put this collection together and posted it on the web for us to view. Thank you sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar and damp family holidays can fly by once more.

Two Growing Boys – May 2010

Here we have the great hopes for the household in their usual pose. Here in Sydney Autumn has finally arrived and sensible people have started dressing in warm(er) clothes. Some members of the household have taken to demanding hot water bottles and extra blankets at bed time. They are in for a rude shock when we visit the UK in July, I suspect that they will be demanding thermal underwear as soon as we touch down at Heathrow.

Two Growing Boys April 2010

Here we have the two little charmers in April, 2010. We have survived the Easter school holidays, including a trip to Albury and Wodonga.

Some say that it is the wild border country, we just couldn’t spot the joins. I did try and convince JFGP that he needed his passport every time we crossed from NSW to Victoria (and vice versa) but despite some initial gullibility he just wasn’t buying it. Back to the drawing board.

Two Growing Boys Month 7

Here we have the junior members of the team in March, 2010. Not a lot has happened since last month’s photo, although it is getting towards the end of the first school term of 2010 and everyone is getting a little tired and emotional. Not least the parents of these two little charmers.

Unintended Consequences

There is an old adage in management circles that people optimise their work towards what is measured. In my business if you measure someone on the number of bugs they fix it has been observed that some programmers will actually introduce problems in their code just so that they can fix them and increase their measured ‘worth’.

Something similar has happened in our house. One of the junior members of the team (no names, no pack drill) has made a habit recently of climbing into our bed in the middle of the night. The occasional cuddle is OK but this had been happening every night for a number of weeks. I’d tried rational discussion, encouragement and even a little bribery but it still was carrying on. As a last resort I reached for the metaphorical stick. I said to the cuddler that every time he got into our bed I would charge him a dollar. He even paid up for the first two nights.

But then he got wise to this and, rather than stopping waking his Mum up as hoped, went for what I can only call the cunning angle. He has, on several nights this week, snuck into our room; tapped his Mum on the arm and whispered – “Can you come and cuddle me in my bed, if I get in with you Dad will want me to pay him money and my piggy bank is nearly empty.”

You have to admire the ingenuity of the little fellow. Now I’ll just have to resort to a sound thrashing each night before bed.

For more information on this kind of behaviour check out this article.

Things worth mentioning

Once more it has been a little quiet around these parts. Whilst I’m busy doing things other than writing here are some things which I have recently discovered to be rather good:

Which is not to say that these are the only things in my life that are good, hello SWMBO, JFGP and MIGO.

A Quiet Weekend at the Beach

20100306-IMG_4296 We’ve just had our annual weekend at the beach in Huskisson, and a great time was had by all. Most of us were expecting a couple of quiet days by the beach with the evenings spent in convivial conversation, good food and perhaps a glass of wine or two.

Little did we know that Team Reeve had been plotting and planning. With the aid of a range of suppliers (“it’s amazing what you can find on eBay”) we were all kitted out with full pirate gear and participated in themed events including a treasure hunt. To quote our t-shirts “To err is human, to arr is Pirate!”

JFGP says that the highlight of his weekend was “surfing on the waves on my boogie board” and can’t wait until next year when we go back again.

Name of the Week

An occassional competition, run when I feel like it and when I find a name that is so good it must be applauded – or the parents prosecuted for child abuse.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present this week’s winner, spotted on an internal email at work – “Irish Fearsâ€?.

Two Growing Boys Month 6

Many apologies, December and January seem to have slipped by without much in the way of photography. But I am pleased to show you a picture of two smalls boy in February, 2010. In the last 3 months they have had a fine old time with 2 holidays, 3 trips to various soft play facilities, an outing to feed sharks and rays, a Christmas full of presents and delights, and a return to school for a new year.

Oh, and JFGP has lost several prominent teeth. Luckily a probing of his sore gums shows that there are plenty of replacements ready to appear.