Coming soon...

So You Think You Can Cook. It's the Ultimate, Incredible Jackson Children Cook-off! We've even flown in a impartial judge from Melbourne to work out which Jackson child is the supreme chef. Introducing Mish. Andrew's frisbee friend. There have been rumours circulating that I'm the worst cook in the family...but I find these allegations highly misguided. So let's find out once and for all...Who Can Cook!

Enough's enough

Okay, there comes a moment when you it's know time to grow up. When you have to say to the video shop man, 'It's under my Mum's name, Meryl. M. E. R. Y. L.' You know it's time. I mean, last week when I borrowed a movie I was asked by the video shop man if I was twelve. Do I look like I am twelve?! Well according to his system that's the last time our details have been updated. I mean, we can borrow a movie at Weston Creek Video Ezy and we can borrow a movie at Chisholm Civic Video, but...we can't even borrow a movie at our 2 minute drive away, local shops video store without using our mother's account. It's time to man up and a grow up...or in our case woman up and get our very own membership card for our local Network Video store. Wow, don't I feel grown up now! 

The death of an Entertainment book

I have gone ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free’ CRAZY! Kathy purchased an Entertainment book this year which has vouchers for all sorts of places in Canberra. She left the book in our possession before she went to Europe. The book is valid from July 2010 to June 2011, and for those of you who can do the maths we only have one month left! Kathy did her part and used...oh, one. She certainly got value for money...not! But don’t worry people, enter Penny.

You already know from a previous post that we are bargain shoppers, so this was another bargain battle to sink our teeth into. There are like, 600 vouchers in the book and we have like, 32 days to use them all! I am determined to use up as many I as can, so it will be Penny 1 and Entertainment book 0. Read on to see how you can help me accomplish my goal!

On Thursday or should I call it 'Buy 1 Get 1 Free Day', I converted Liana, Tash and Rach into bargain shoppers. We had journey to the other end of the earth (aka Belconnen) to Cockington Green, the adorable miniature village. Tash went happy snappy and took that many photos the battery went flat! On the way out we drove past the dinosaur museum for which we had a buy 1 get 1 free voucher. We pulled into the car park and attempted to give it to an ‘excited’ pair going to the museum. However, unfortunately no such pair appeared and we were forced to drive on with voucher still in hand...Enter reader. If you enjoy such things as long walks on the beach...then this is not for you. But if you enjoy reading boring facts, looking at boring old things, and learning...well, this is for you. The first reader to comment below will be the lucky winner of a ‘buy 1 get 1 free’ voucher to the dinosaur museum. So not just you can be bored witless but you can submit one of your unsuspecting friends to it as well.

This was a rookie mistake and we were determined not to let this happen again so we devised a game plan for lunch. One hour, 4 vouchers, 2 Big Macs, 2 KFC Fillet burgers, 2 Krushers and 2 Wendy's milkshakes later we rolled out of the food court. At 2.30pm it was time to get serious and learn something. So while I went to the University of Canberra the girls went to study at Hoyts.

Three days, 7 vouchers, I think it is pretty safe to say...Penny 1, Entertainment book 0 = Kathy happy!

If you've managed to read all of this, then you have a good attention span! Now you need to be rewarded for all your hard work. Read the questions below and if you answer yes to any of the following, then they could be yours by just commenting below.

Want to go to the Movies? (Hoyts 2 for $25 tickets of family for $45)
Want to go Go-Karting? (Buy 1 get 1 free – 10 mins)
Want to go Bowling? (2nd game free for 4 people)
Want to go to Paint Ball? (25% group of 10)
Want to go to the Sydney Aquarium? (Buy 1 get 1 free admission)
Want to go to Taronga Zoo? (25% Admission of 4 people)
Want Pizza? (1 Medium Crust Gourmet Pizza or Eagle Boys 25%)
Want bread? (Brumby’s Bakery for 6 bread rolls, specialty loaf or sandwich loaf)

PS. I may or may not have written this post while I was supposed to be writing my assignment. Never mind, I’ve got to keep my readers happy!

There's no stopping them!

Al's on a mission! And Terry's joined her to make our kitchen pristine. I stepped up too...I offered moral support, advice and even gave them an old toothbrush (for scrubbing of course!). Al's also got a new friend her name is Selley's Liquid Sugar Soap and she's incredible! Her, Al and Terry are a dream team. There'll be no grease left in our house when they're done!

Al scrubbed the grease off the glass...I always thought it was frosted glass!

Terry soaked the piece from the exhaust fan and it looks brand new again!

Matching in Red!

What happened to Al?

I'm not sure what's got into Al. Should I call the doctor? I hear lots of noises in the kitchen and presume she is cooking up a storm. I arrive promptly at 6pm ready for a delicious meal and what do I find? Instead of holding a wooden spoon and pouring over a hot bubbling pot upon the stove, I see Al holding a rag in one hand and a bottle of Ajax in the other! She spent the next 1 hour or so cleaning the kitchen with her friends Ajax, Morning Fresh, Jiff and Windex. She didn't just stop there either. Next she was outside, polishing the windows till they sparkled. Look out Mum, there is a new queen of the kitchen!

Could you be any slower?

No I'm not talking about Andrew. His name is Adam. He is the world's slowest bag packer! We went to get a nice Easter lunch and an hour later left the shops with hundreds of bags in hand. Adam took great care to slowly place a maximum of 3 items in each bag while slowly scanning and checking the price. As thoughtful as Adam was in looking out to see if we got the best deals, we wanted to let him know that we are bargain shoppers and already selected each of the 8 bags of Easter eggs because they were 50% off. But we can't be too harsh on Adam as he did greet us as we placed our items on the register. He was very original in his choice of phrase and went with  "Hi, how are you today!". We finally arrived home to find poor Emily waiting on our door step. We quickly explained it was all Adam's fault and then tucked into our hot chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, bread and Kathy's modern lettuce (which was kept in the biggest bag ever! Check it out below - is it massive or what?!)

 

Emily made my day when she offered to hide our Easter eggs and we had our very own Egg hunt. Picture this. 3 very calm, uncompetitive Jacksons searching for chocolate in the backyard...and no Andrew did not win! If we thought this egg hunt was challenge, then we had no idea what was in store for us at the Joyce's house. Sam (aka Bilby hider extraordinaire) wanted to give us a 'challenge'! Andrew was first to find his under a bush and buried under a foot of dirt. Next was Al, and she found hers in one of the hundred bushes in their botanical garden of a backyard. Last of all was me, and I don't know why I didn't find it sooner...I mean it was only buried deep down in the reeds by the pond and only took 5 minutes to find after I was told exactly which bush it was hidden in! Well it was worth it for that delicious chocolate bilby. Thanks Sam =) 

PS. Just in case you were wondering, we made it to church today and in fact we were even early! 

Sincerely Satisfied

Who said the quality of the meals had to decline while the parents were away? Certainly not Al - she didn't let it stop her! I would have made a stir-fry or possibly even ravioli, but not Al, she decided to make a full roast dinner! A delicious lamb roast with 5 veggies.   

 

She went to all that trouble for her siblings, I hear you say?! Actually it was the special visit from Terry and Julie that warranted such a delightful dinner.  

Before

After

Don't leave that little scrap, I hear you say. Don't worry we didn't, there wasn't a single piece of food left uneaten. Mum, you would be impressed!

Oops!

Well what can I say, when you stay up to 2.30am finishing an assignment the chances of you waking up at your alarm at 8am for church are pretty slim. I would have thought that having 3 alarms set by 3 different people would have given us a good chance of waking up and getting to the Good Friday service on time...but wait this is the Jackson household and we are known for our ability to sleep! Also our number one alarm is missing in action...okay she's gone to Europe! We hope for better luck Easter morning!