Thursday June 29, 2006   

Well the poor Socceroos were ripped off, but I am still proud of them. I stayed up and fell asleep on the couch, woke up 20 minutes into the match. The Socceroos played very well and I think at the same standard as Italy, they truly are a world class team, it was just a shame their World Cup run had to end on such a sour note.

Back to the real world and I have had a sewing frenzy on my week off, I found this fantastic sewing web site called Bella Dia with loads to inspire me. So here are a few of my creations.

The boys and I spent the day in Gisbon at my oldest girlfriend Julie’s house. Her twins turn 2 on Saturday and they are just growing so fast. We had a lovely visit even with the wind chill factor at 0′.

My girlfriend Claire moved to Dubai last week and has set up her blog, The Appleby’s Adventures, so she can keep in touch with family and friends. It looks blood hot over there. I am going to miss her heaps but hopefully we can keep in touch and have some chats on-line.

Well that’s it for now, Lee is off picking up our new computer, the Baby, and I guess we will spend the evening downloading, uploading and reloading.

TTFN

Friday June 23, 2006

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!    

Yes this is Maddy’s Glass House, with a Socceroos twist. World Cup fever has taken over Australia and I’m on the Socceroos bandwagon, but why wouldn’t you be hey, they have just amazed everyone by getting to round two. And good on them for doing it, they have spent years in the shadows of all those other world champions and now it’s their turn to shine.

I am now officially a Harry Kewell fan, I just love him and think I may have to go get myself a number 10 t-shirt, well I probably wont but it sounds like a good idea. When I got to work this morning everyone was buzzing about the 4am game, madness I say to get up before the birds to watch a football match. But it is exciting and I may even set the alarm for 4am on Tuesday and watch the Socceroos play Italy. Good luck fellas.

Movie review time, Cars. I have to say Pixar are just amazing, the cars actually shine, just like a new car would, fantastic. The boys loved it, and I think most kids would. It gets a bit slow in the middle but picks up with a great finish. I give it four stars.

I am officially on holidays for a week and with school holidays too that means no rushing about every morning. We don’t have a lot planned but we will be catching up with friends and maybe a couple of trips to the park as well. Have a great weekend all and GO THE SOCCEROOS!

TTFN

Wednesday June 21, 2006   

 Last night Survivor XII: Panama - Exile Island finished, and last week The Amazing Race finished, that just leaves BB06, what am I going to watch now … oh that’s right Grey’s Anatomy is back, thank heaven. Now if Gilmore Girls would come back on I’d be right.

Lee has ordered our new computer and monitor, it should be ready by Wednesday next week …. yipeeeee! He has ordered an *AMD Duel Core 3800+939* …. lmao what the? I have no idea what that is, all I understood in the conversation about the new computer was *19″ wide screen*, OMG yeah. Our computer is about five years old and when we got it my husband referred to it as *the monster*, due to it’s large hard drive, now he calls it *the dinosaur* due to it’s minute hard drive, do these things shrink … I think not. Anyhoo, next week *the baby* arrives, will we one day be referring to this computer as *the old man*?

I am definitely going to have to put a rocket up my husbands butt on the weekend to get the final bit of grass laid in the backyard, if I don’t do it before the new pc comes it may never get done. All the ground is ready, the very stinky triple mix composted soil has been laid and the grass is on order. So if all goes well this weekend should see the final bit of grass laid and after six years, the garden is almost complete.

I bought myself a Jamie Oliver cookbook and I just love it. It reads like a story book, he talks about *the family tree* of food, some basics you need to build great meals. I am looking forward to doing his lasagna, it looks fantastico!

Well I must go, it’s time to get the TV turned off, the computer turned off and the X-Box turned off and get these kids out and about. We might go and see the new kids animation Over The Hedge, it looks funny and I love Bruce Willis.

TTFN

Tuesday June 20, 2006 

Ah school holidays, I love the first few days, sleeping in and no rush to make school lunches or finish homework, then the novelty wares off!

Today I decided the TV had to go off at 10am and out would come all those lovely toys and games the boys have. Bailey did thumb print drawing for ages up at kitchen counter and Nicholas designed his own family crest to go on a medieval shield. They did very well and Bailey only asked for a DVD to be put on around 3.30pm, which is pretty good for him. Same again tomorrow I think.

I have today written a letter to the principal of the school and asked for an appointment to discuss the school camp and all that happened. Nicholas has been extremely unwell with a very nasty flue and I think this may have played a major part in him not enjoying the camp.

Congratulations to Claire and BigP over at Loobylu on the safe arrival of Lillian Jan, 41 weeks is a long pregnancy.

TTFN

Saturday June 17, 2006

I have been reminded this week of how strong a mothers intuition is. On Tuesday I took my 11 year old son to school to wave him off on his year 5 school camp. On arrival at the school many alarm bells began to ring in my head and I had an overwhelming feeling of foreboding. As I glanced around the children, parents and teachers milling about I noted the absence of Nick’s teacher, I had presumed she would be going on the camp as she had last year, I also noticed the absence of any senior teachers or any teachers that had previously been Nick’s teachers. This worried me as none of the teachers attending the camp know my son at all, or for that matter know about the painful struggle he has had this year making friends.

Nick received his camp program and I immediately noticed an absence of friends in his daily activity group, all the boys in his class were in other groups and he had no friends at all in his group. I spoke to the camp coordinator and she promised me she would move him once they arrived at the camp. I was not convinced, and as it turns out with good reason. Two buses arrived and the children were split into two bus groups, to my horror not one male child from Nick’s grade was on the bus he was to travel to and from the camp on. Once again I approached the coordinator and expressed my concerns about Nick not having a single friend to sit with or talk to on the bus, she assured me he would be OK and she would move him as soon as they got to camp, once again I did not feel convinced. And so as I looked up at my son sitting all alone on the bus, I waived him off with floods of tears. I sobbed for at least an hour or so at home and had moments of complete panic through-out the days that followed.

Friday afternoon saw the return of my son and I don’t think we have ever had such a long and deep hug before. I noticed he had come down with a cold, his voice horse and his nose red raw. I asked how he went and did he get to change groups, as I suspected he did not get moved and spent the entire week in the original group with none of his friends. He had a very lonely week and told me how he had cried in the toilets only to be ridiculed and retreated back to the toilet to cry some more. He had sat on his own on both bus trips. He had been punched by a boy in his room and when he spoke to a teacher about it, it was dismissed as a misunderstanding, with no apology. He was further bullied by several boys, one pushing him over and another tipping sand over his head several times. I ran him a huge warm bath and to my horror found his legs covered in cuts and bruises received when he was pushed over during a night walk through the bush.

And so my intuition was right, he was not safe nor happy the entire week and my anxiety not without merit. He lays asleep on the couch, safe, warm and surrounded by my love. I am not sure I will ever be able to let him go on another school camp without first scrutinizing every aspect. Who is running the camp, attending the camp and I will insist on having a say in who he is grouped with. I can no longer trust in the teachers of our school to look out for my son’s well being. Sad really … for everyone.

TTFN

Thursday June 15, 2006

I know earlier this week I said I would be giving Bailey some much needed one on one time with Mum, but I didn’t mean for him to get sick and have two days off school! He has a shocking cough and will be off to the doctors today for a chest check-up.

I have noticed some interesting things associated with blogging this week. Blogs can be very powerful, and with the right following and the wrong kind of entry can result in someone losing their job or, even more disturbingly, the downfall of a company. I recently read an entry on one of the blogs I read each day, it talked about how the author had been treated very badly at a store, she and her family were rudely spoken to. What resulted was amazing, her readers vented their anger and demanded the woman in the store be hung, drawn and quartered. This phenomenal reaction amazed me, how powerful the words of a person whom very few reading her blog actually know. This was then further highlighted by an article in The Age called *Why Bloggers Blog* written, in part, by Loobylu another one of my daily reads. This article points out that blogs have become the common mans way of commenting to the world on everyday events and, for some, a form of venting. It’s the venting that I find so powerful, one person’s *opinion* can become gospel to thousands of readers.

TTFN

Tuesday June 13, 2006

Sniff sniff, Nicholas went off on his school camp today, he will be back on Friday. I am not sure why but I was the biggest baby, I cried when I saw his group list, his bedroom list and bawled when I saw which bus he was on. The school camp coordinator had put him with no other boys from his grade, when I brought this up with her she was surprised to see all the other children from his grade in the groups were girls, not one boy. She promised to change his group when they got to the camp, but we will have to see as I think she may have just been being polite to me. Anyhoo he’s away and I am sure having a ball.

I got the most lovely parcel in the mail today from my girlfriend, Christy, who lives in California. She sent me a birthday parcel filled with magazines, Kudos bars (3 boxes) and some great cookie pans and accessories for baking. I can’t wait to try them out, thank you sweetie.

I also got a very nice surprise in the mail, a beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings from one of the ladies I made an Ebay purchase from, thank you Kristina.

TTFN

Sunday June 11, 2006

I have an 11 year olds children’s birthday party sleep-over *hang-over*. No alcohol was consumed, and perhaps that’s my problem ‘cos a quick slug of whisky may have blurred the din. Nick invited eight friends to the movies and then pizza, they are all lovely boys but when mixed with chocolate and coke and a loud action movie become … well LOUD! All things considered though, they were pretty good, my hat goes off to any mother with more than two children, especially those with more than two boys!

OK movie review time, X-Men: The Last Stand. It wasn’t bad, filled with action and great costumes, special effects and of course Hugh Jackman. All in all a real boys movie.

Today I am getting ready for Nick to go to camp. I will spend the day labeling everything. Next week I think Bailey will get some much needed one on one time with Mum. He has been the green eyed monster all week with Nick’s birthday and then camp. His language is pretty nasty at the moment, all that boy stuff like *shut the hell up*, *you moron* and some other very undesirable stuff. It’s all linked to his Autism and not getting how inappropriate those words are, to him they are just teenager words, and although he is not a teenager he thinks it’s all *cool*.

TTFN

Saturday June 10, 2006

**HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS**

My first born turns 11 today, oh how our lives have changed since that fateful Saturday morning. He was born on a foggy Saturday at 5.20am and it was the most amazing day of my life. He was all red and so very small and I loved him from the moment I laid eyes on him. It was the Queens Birthday long-weekend so we had visitors everyday and my Dad kept turning up with more balloons. What wonderful memories.

Today we arose to yelps of joy as Nick discovered his gifts, they are all very grown up this year. He received a surf brand back-pack, a new X-Box game called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the new Pirates book, a grow your own crystal set and his very own Chess set. Nick learned Chess at school and has been mad about it ever since. This afternoon we are off to see X-Men: The Last Stand with his friends and then finishing off with a Pizza dinner. It should be a great day.

I spent last night baking and decorating Nick’s birthday cake, he asked for a dragon … what does he think I am … a chef? I did my best and here are a few snaps.

We awoke everyday this week to very thick fog, it was wonderful.

TTFN

Sunday June 4, 2006 

I have had a wonderful day in the garden and been very industrious. I planted out my lime tree, rosemary, pink midget grevillea, potted up the mint, divided and re-planted 10 agapanthus, planted my new rose and two hydrangeas my dad gave me, planted 10 crocus bulbs, pruned my roses and did lots of general pruning and cleaning up …. phew.

TTFN

Sunday June 4, 2006

My Dad always says *prune in June*, well June it is so out in the garden I go. Next weekend is Nicholas’s 11th birthday and the following weekend Lee is going to be grading for his brown belt, it’s sunny today so out I go to the garden to prune. My garden is about five years old now and many plants have started to bloom and look established rather than small, week and very new. I have been dedicating myself to growing organic herbs, fruit and vegetables and this year have started from seed so I know they will be 100% organic.

My roses will be treated to a massive pruning and Lee will be getting that last bit of ground ready for grass. I am also going to plant my new lime tree, rose bush and the herbs I got for my birthday. Lots to do but I am sure I will feel wonderful when I am watering them all in at the end of the day.

The boys have wanted a dog for ages now and my excuse has always been that the grass is not finished, I guess that excuse wont fly for much longer. I do like dogs but I just don’t want one to jump up and put muddy paw prints on my nice clean white shirt and chew up my newly planted organic veg or dig huge holes in my garden or poop everywhere. Oh well I guess I am just going to have to get used to that soon.

TTFN

Wednesday May 31, 2006

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday and turning 42 didn’t feel as bad as I thought it might. I received the Lime Tree I had been longing for, Lee and the boys also gave me a beautiful rose, two herbs and a box of chocolates. My mum and dad gave me a handmade handbag along with a necklace and fine china mug.

Tuesdays scrap booking ladies took me out for lunch, we went to The Golden Grill and enjoyed a yummy Turkish meal followed by a trip to the scrapbook shop, of course!

In the evening my sister Penny and her husband came for dinner and later my other sister Jackie and her husband, and my parents came for coffee and birthday cake. I was spoilt with wonderful gifts including a handbag from my friend Claire, new slippers and a book called Too Many Mothers which is a biography by Roberta Taylor. You may know Roberta as Gina Gold from the ABC show The Bill.

TTFN

Saturday May 27, 2006

Movie Review time …. Mission Impossible III

Well what can I say, I love Tom …. sigh. The action was intense, Rome and China were fantastic and the *mission was impossible*. There was this conspiracy theory thing going on and with all the loud, fast, in your face action stuff I just totally missed the entire *who’s the bad guy and who’s the good guy* plot. Sorry Tom …. sigh. It was great if you love action and Tom … sigh, but not big on story line. Out of ten I’d give it 7 for all the fantastic special effects and Tom ….. sigh!

We were up at 6.50am to get ready for baseball, we traveled to Geelong and got our butts kicked 12-zip, it was a bit of a *mission impossible* as these kids were good, real good, but it was a great game and the boys enjoyed themselves.

Fasting, yes well I have a very bad confession to make, yesterday I got up late and during my mad rush to get beds made, breakfast ready, school lunches and me dressed for work …. I had a coffee! I didn’t mean too, it just happened. When I got to work I realized my mistake and thought it would be OK and I would start from there. We were extremely busy all morning and I had no time at all to get myself a tea and come lunchtime I was so famished I could have eaten a small child and without thinking I got a chicken salad …. and so I have FAILED my mission! I still plan to do this as I feel my body needs it but I am going to have to choose a more appropriate few days. I have a week off in June when the children are on school holidays so I think I will do it then. I am quiet sad about failing my mission.

On reflection it probably wasn’t wise to start the weekend with Mission Impossible III as it seams to have set the tone so far. On a good note, it did have Tom in it …. sigh!

TTFN

Friday May 26, 2006

Over at Head for the Hills, one of my daily reads, Krissie is undertaking a 15 day fast. Since I turned 40 I have been thinking about doing a de-tox, now that 42 is heading my way next week it’s probably time I did something about it. My body and soul have been neglected and are desperately in need of some *TLC*, I know that depriving my body of the things it likes such as chocolate, wine and potatoes chips doesn’t sound like *TLC* but I have convinced myself it is. I hope to start tomorrow with lemon tea and go from there.

It’s been a very quiet week with very little to report, just the usual kids, school and work. This weekend should be great though with a work reward trip to Gold Class to see Mission Impossible III. Saturday morning Nick, Bailey and I head for Geelong to the baseball. Lee is doing a two day JuJitsu seminar and we are all going out for dinner on Saturday night.

Look out weekend here we come ….. OHH I just remembered ….. I will be fasting so there goes my dinner out, I wonder if I can have an Asian soup hmmmmmm?

TTFN

Monday May 22, 2006

Yesterday we finally went to see the spectacular award winning Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne. It was absolutely fantastic. My entire family have been saving for six months to pay off the unbelievably expensive tickets, but they were worth every penny. If you get an opportunity to go and see this amazing stage show beg borrow or steal the money ‘cos you will not regret it.

Scrappy Tuesday was wonderful and I finished six pages. I am onto Bailey’s second birthday so things are really moving along now. I had hoped to be up to date by the end of this year … ha ha ha … fat chance of that happening but I am on my way.

I have bought and sold a bit on E-bay just lately and I think this is the way to go from now on. It is a really great way of recycling things that you have fallen out with or just don’t need any more. I sold my old kitchen dresser and got some kids brand new clothes to boot. I have my Teddy Bear collection up for sale at the moment as I think I am now over the Teddy Bear thing. We did purchase over the weekend an old Roman coin … just one of those things my husband had always wanted.

TTFN

Tuesday May 16, 2006

I had an odd Mother Day, my children spoiled me completely, my husband cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast but for some reason I was in a small bad mood. I thought for ages *why do I fee a bit cross* but the reason never came. We went to my Mum and Dad’s for lunch and all the family was there, it was so lovely to all be together. My mood had changed by dinner time when we had my favorite lamb chops and mint sauce, but it still bothers me why I spent the morning feeling down.

My son’s went to the school mothers day stall and bought me the most lovely gifts. Nicholas made me a tie died bag with I Love You on it and wrote me a very special letter telling me how much he loves me … sniff sniff. Bailey gave me two cards one in English and the other in Italian, not sure why but who’s complaining. My boys are so thoughtful when they buy gifts, they think about the person and what they would love to receive, this is one of those things that really makes me proud of them.

TTFN

Wednesday May 10, 2006

I feel like I have spent the last few weeks with my eyes glued to the TV. First we had the ANZAC Day mine collapse in which one man was killed and two men trapped. By the following Sunday we had all but given up of finding them alive when miraculously they were found, since then it has been a painstaking nine day ordeal to get the men out safely. Saturday was meant to be the day but the rescue team encountered rock five times harder than concrete and so it went on with no progress until they began drilling and blasting the rock away. Finally at 5:58am yesterday morning the two men were reached and they walked out of the mine and clocked off, what a shift I hope they got double time.

Then on Friday we heard the very sad news that 5 year old burns victim, Sophie Delezio, has been struck by a car and is in a coma in hospital again. What more can this poor little girl go through, if you pray then please say one for Sophie and her family.

Sunday night saw the Logies, our local TV annual awards, what a load of rubbish they were. I was so disappointed in the back slapping and sickly sweet way they all talk about each other, anyone would think they are brain surgeons or have spent the past year researching a cure for cancer. I would really love to see a show that puts a spot light on really inspirational people, and see them receive awards at a huge gala with red carpet and screaming fans. How inspiring would that be.

Last night was Budget night, how boring and utterly unfair once again. They announced lots of tax cuts and I was just amazed how once again high income earners got lots and low income earners got little. My husband and I both work, he full time and me part time, our income is average and we don’t use child care. Double income two kids got zip, single income no kids got an approximate tax cut of $2700 per annum …. WHAT THE?

I really think I need to stay away from the telly for a while or I may end up with square eyes, did our parents really tell us that?

TTFN

Saturday May 6, 2006

*School gate update*

It appears that my niceness and cheek turning is all paying off. The boy in my son’s grade who began all the trouble over the past two weeks is now being very nice and as a result they have become friends. I am more than pleased as Nicholas was feeling so sad and unliked and it had been weighing us all down. It just goes to show that kindness breeds kindness.

TTFN

Wednesday May 3, 2006

*School gate update*

I am feeling very proud of myself following yesterdays nastiness. I went to the school to pick up my boys and who should be standing at the gate but the nasty mother who said the unspeakable about my son. I met my children and holding their hands walked towards her …. I put on my biggest smile and said “Afternoon” and with that I put my head up and marched on. She was so shocked, the scowl that had been on her face lifted and she almost stepped back so powerful was my *niceness*, she then smiled back at me and said “Oh hi, how are you?”. I felt so good when I got to my car, not only had I not lost my temper with her but I had turned the other cheek and felt good instead of crap.

TTFN

Tuesday May 2, 2006

 

Sadly today I have had to send a letter to my son Nicholas’s teacher following some very nasty things that happened to him yesterday at school. He has had a falling out with his best friend and subsequently this nasty boy has told my son that his parents said he is *a disgrace* …. needless to say I am very hurt that parents would say such a thing to their child about another. My son is warm, kind, generous, loyal and loving and has never in his life been *a disgrace*. I will need to use all my self discipline to not say something to this mother at the school gate. Feral may well describe how I feel however I will not let these trolls upset me …. there I feel better now.

Bailey had a fantastic day at school and is now able to count unaided his entire four times tables and count to 100 in fours unassisted. *Chest swells with pride*. Bailey has amazing skills with Bionicles and Lego and builds the most wonderful *stuff*. He recently received a quite tricky new Lego Exoforce, it literally contained over 100 pieces but he followed the many pages of instructions and created this wonderful Takeshi Exoforce. Isn’t he clever!

TTFN

Sunday April 30, 2006

It’s Sunday morning, it’s raining and it’s just wonderful.

We had a huge day yesterday starting with Nicholas playing his first full under 12’s baseball game. He did so well and got two runs home, one on a strike three *run for the hills* and one on a hit by the pitcher…ouch! He was brave and took the hit, it was loaded bases and so it meant he assisted in a run home. Not that this is important but they won 12-7, the other team were great and considering that it was the first game of the winter season and it had rained heavily and the ground was very boggy they all did extremely well.

I was in such a rush for the rest of the day. Bailey had a birthday party to go to and unless I wanted to send him in his school uniform his pj’s or his track pants, I needed to go clothes shopping pronto and get him some winter pants. I found a pair that were 8 inches too long so I had to get some hemming tape, don’t laugh I know you all use it. When I got home I had to franticly cut, hem and iron the pants with only minutes to go before the party was to start. He had a ball and loved the party and if I do say so myself looked great too.

I thought it might be nice for us to go and watch the Melbourne Storm game against St. George. I got front row tickets which is so good for the kids, they can get up and move around and when the players and Storm Man come by they can go up and high five them. It was another great game and the Storm won 24-10. We didn’t get home till after 10.30pm and with the 8am baseball start we were all ready for bed.

And so here it is, Sunday morning and it’s pouring with rain which means we just can’t do anything but sit around and relax, oh what joy.

TTFN

Wednesday April 26, 2006

It’s my sister Jackie’s birthday today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE, we are going out for dinner to celebrate.

Yesterday Nicholas went to his first ANZAC Day dawn service. He did very well and got up at 4.45am without even a little wine, got dressed in the warmest clothes I could find and headed out the door with Lee at 5.10am. Even though he did find it was absolutely freezing he said it was great and enjoyed the entire service. We went to my sisters at 8am for breaky and by the time we got home at 10.30am it felt really late in the afternoon. We are going to make it a family tradition to go each year and then follow it up with the big BBQ breakfast.

I got an email yesterday to tell me that the 1841 UK Census is now available to troll through and search those long lost family members. I have been researching our family tree for over a year now and the oldest family member was born in 1801 ……. until yesterday! One of Lee’s great great grandparents showed up with his parents for the first time and guess what, he was born in 1796 OMG our first family member pre 1800’s, I was so excited. I then found a new web site called Family Search which is fantastic and from there I got a date of birth that had been eluding me for so long.

All in all it was a very productive day.

TTFN

Friday April 21, 2006

 

Last weekend I moved my website to a new host, I did it before the old one expired to avoid totally losing everything as I did last year. I have to say I am so impressed with Jana, her hosting is great value for money and she was extremely helpful too. Thank you Jana for making the transition so very easy.

Easter long weekend was just wonderful. Friday night friends came to dinner, I served Mexican Enchiladas, the kids had Tacos and for desert we had home made Apple and Pear Crumble. Because I did the shopping on Thursday I had not planned the crumble and so forgot to get ice-cream which was a bummer but we survived. Our friends are off to Fiji, or possibly Dubai, and I am going to miss them all terribly.

Lee and I have made a huge decision to finish all the little things around the house this year, that includes the grass, the pergola, light fittings inside and out and some furniture too. Just a few little things … not … and expensive! So we took this huge plunge and got a personal loan for the LOT. I have now re-done the budget (I think this is budget number 3 for the year) for the next 18 months and hope that if we stay on track all will be good by Christmas 2007, fingers, legs and eyes crossed.

Easter Sunday was very nice, we got up early, 6.30am, the boys were happy with their eggs, new clothes and a little something each. Bailey was looking a tad glum and asked why there was no Easter Egg hunt this year? So at 6.45am I am rushing around the house hiding all the eggs they just saw, rotfl. I called the boys and they rushed around the house yipping and squealing each time they re-found their eggs. Funny kids.

Sunday night we headed off to my sisters for a big family dinner, the whole family came which was wonderful. My sister had begged me not to buy any eggs, they all buy for my two boys as they are still kids but their older children are apparently over it! Not on your life. I got these very cute Gold Lindt Bunnies with little bells around their necks.

Easter Monday, Lee and I are out in the garden getting the back ready for the grass. It’s looking great and once that grass is down the boys can get that long awaited dog.

I’m home today with Nicholas feeling unwell. I can’t put my finger on it yet but “Mum I have tummy ache” isn’t the whole story. He was bullied by three boys on his way home from school on Tuesday and Wednesday, they had sticks and tried to pock them through his bike spokes to make him fall off his bike. Thursday he came home with my Mum and Dad. I’m not sure that is the problem, but one of the boys is in his class and the other two are in the room next door. I will give it a few hours and then have another talk to see if I can get to the bottom of things. When I was in high school I was bullied by two or three girls and seeing my son like this brings back the same pain in my gut as if I were 15 all over again.

We are off Refrigerator shopping this weekend, my fridge has this huge ice burg big enough to sink the Titanic growing in the back. It has completely surrounded the shelf and now I can’t get the fruit and veggie draw in or out. We are going to a new scratch and dint place that just opened and I think I should be able to save about $600, woooohoooo.

Well that’s the week that was, look out weekend here we come. OH MY GOSH I nearly forgot to mention that I finally got to pick up the long awaited kitchen hutch. It looks wonderful and as soon as I have it filled to the top with my lovely blue china I will post a pic.

TTFN

Friday April 14, 2006

Happy Easter one and all.

I was recently on one of my favorite bloggs, Big Yellow House, and read Chris’s entry about her youngest son (she has 7 children) and how when she had her first child she was very idealistic about the way to raise children. I too have had this happen to me and have seen it happen to friends.

Nappies (diapers) were my thing, not a disposable one in the house and nor would there ever be according to my inexperienced butt. I was not ever going to pollute this wonderful world with disposable nappies that would still pollute the world when my grandchildren were having grandchildren of their own. I spent hours everyday scrubbing, bleaching, washing, hanging, folding and using cloth nappies.
When my first born was 6 months old my mother gave me a packet of 24 Huggies disposable nappies as a Christmas present and said, “here, have Christmas off”.

You guessed it … I never went back!

When my 41 year old best friend was blessed with twins she too spouted the same rhetoric as I had done ten years earlier. All her experienced friends held our tongs as we knew that pre-children you know it all and no one will tell you any different.
At her baby shower we counted the number of disposable nappies given as gifts, we roared with laughter every time she opened another gift and out fell yet another packet of Newborn Huggies. At parties end she tallied up over 800!

I can’t recall ever seeing any cloth nappies in her house, I guess she has them in the cleaning cupboard like I do, nothing brings up mirrors like a well washed and soft cloth nappy.

TTFN

Sunday April 9, 2006

Yesterday my mum, sisters, niece, friends and I went to see the funniest movie … Kinky Boots. If you get the chance to see this flick it is well worth your while, I needed a laugh and boy did this one deliver. I have an English background as did most of the women who went yesterday but I don’t think it would matter, this movie is still hilarious. It’s one of those small budget movies that has you and everyone in the theatre laughing out loud. I won’t spoil it for you but the premise is simple, a son inherits his dad’s shoe factory, which isn’t doing great financially, and he goes in serch of a niche market to re-invigorate the factory sales. While in London he meets a drag-queen and that’s when all the fun starts. So in the famous words of Molly Meldrum … “do yourself a favor” and go see this very funny movie.

Our Anniversary dinner turned out to be a pub tea, it was OK but could have been better, the highlight was sharing a Death By Chocolate dessert with my son.

We also watched Transporter 2, great movie filled with action and, if you like that kind of thing, the English version of Jackie Chan, his name is Jason Statham hubba hubba.

TTFN

Saturday April 8, 2006

This time 17 years ago I was having breakfast in bed with my best friend Julie, who had stayed for a sleep-over …. well it was my wedding eve and we girls had stuff to do *rotfl*. Yes today is my 17th wedding anniversary, wow I can’t believe that 17 years have passed and so much has happened to us. We started with a grand honeymoon to England and Europe. We purchased the Renovators Delight and found we couldn’t renovate. We had two amazing sons and have built our very own house. Here’s to another 17 years! (OMG I’ll be 58 when I write that post).

The week that was hmmm lets see, oh yes. The week began well with the children still on daylight saving time, they got up an hour early and were dressed fed and ready for school by 8am, yippy, this gave me 45 minutes to eat my breakfast and watch the morning news, how luxurias is that!

Tuesday found Nicholas at his first big boys Baseball training session, I dropped him off full of excitement, he’d been dressed and ready an hour early. On my return 45 minutes later I found a dejected rather sad looking feller standing in the outfield, it seams that he had not realized how easy T-Ball was and how fast Baseball is. He had been hit by the ball a couple of times and missed most catches that came his way. He came up for batting practice and my heart lifted as this is what he’s good at, or so I thought! Each boy gets 10 pitches …. he missed them all, off with the batting coach for some specialized training. The drive home was quiet, I tried to tell him it takes time to become great at a new sport, no help, OK next week will be soo much better …. I hope.

Wednesday … uumm …. nope can’t remember!

Thursday, pension day at the bank, thousands of them crowd the entrance of the bank as I push my way through just to get to the door. How I love this day, filled with updating the good old passbook and the cranky printer that hates the old passbook. I love how they ask you to update their passbook first to see if a miracle has happened and the government gave them more money, this never happens and so they just take out the same amount as last time.

On to Friday and our new uniforms have arrived so I wear the skirt and white shirt, with the scarf that makes me look like an air-hostess, nothing wrong with air-hostess’s but I’m a bank teller and it’s going to drive me nuts all day. I ask my boys what they think and they both say “are you going to school mummy?” OK so the white shirt and gray skirt look like something you’d wear to an English boarding school in the 50’s. I try the gray jacket on and now I look like a dyke, nothing wrong with that either it’s just that I’m not one and don’t want to look like one. Off I go to work and find we have all decided on the same outfit for today, we all look the same, how boring and dull. What was the bank thinking, oh that’s it, take away any sense of individuality!

And here we are, Saturday morning again, I think I will start the day with washing move on to putting away all the things we have got out over the week, then a little cleaning followed by ….. oh how boring is this.

We are going out for dinner with the children to celebrate our anniversary. I’m pretty sure it will be a Chinese banquet, we all love the different dishes and the boys are generally well behaved when there is only 10 minutes between servings, fingers crossed!

TTFN

Sunday April 2, 2006

Oh how I love the end of daylight savings, not for the day light stuff but for the Sunday morning when you get back that lost hour. Last night we watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire till gone midnight, but, I woke at what I thought was ten to 9 and it’s only 10 to 8 YEEHAW! Oh how I enjoy that extra hour of the morning, I get my coffee turn on the pc and read my daily reads in peace and quiet.

I just loved HP4, JK Rowling is so very clever. I was disappointed that the Omnioculars did not make a showing at the Quidditch World Cup but other than that I give it 4 stars. The same cannot be said for Jarheads, what a crappy movie. I think the F word was used way too much and did we really need to see them masturbating? Come on, leave some things to the imagination.

Friday night saw both our boys have a friend over to sleep, yes four boys in one house but they were very well behaved. They had a unanimous vote for KFC for dinner and Lee popped our and bought HP4 for them to watch. Needless to say they too had a midnight finish and thank goodness they all chatted for 20 minutes and then fell asleep.

My week other than that was pretty ordinary, the boys went back to school, I de-cobwebbed the house, work was work and not much else happened. Lets hope next week is just as exciting hey!

TTFN

Wednesday March 29, 2006

OK so Big Wal has left the Biggest Loser house, sniff sniff, I loved Wal. Now Adro thinks he is the “man of the house” or “big bull” as he referred to himself, more like “full of bull” if you ask me. Ruth is my second favorite BUT, she just keeps giving up, just like Fiona who is my least favorite, and it’s starting to get a bit predictable Ruthy! Last night there is Christy slogging it out with the men, brick by bloody brick, she even tricked Adro into thinking she had more bricks to stack that him. I really hope Christy wins, she is such a great roll model for women.

Survivor started last night, and to tell you the truth … it wasn’t that exciting. I love Survivor normally but I just couldn’t get into it, not sure why but it just wasn’t that exciting.

The Amazing Race however is just fantastic. I love that show so much. The two hippies are driving me nuts and I was so sad to see the Amazon Women go, funniest line ever “I think I just peed my pants”. The Double D’s will have to go too, way too much pink, and I normally like pink. My favorite to win has got to be The Nerd couple, I just love her to death.

It does appear that other than watching life-style and reality TV I do little else at the moment. I can’t find that motivation to get up and out of the house. My girlfriend Jenny is down to 88kilos, go Jenny, and I am down to sneaking a chocolate frog from the fridge when know one is watching.

I feel a surge of energy coming so housework here I come.

TTFN

 

Saturday March 25, 2006

6:00am Alarm goes off

7:00am All dressed fed and beds made.

8:06am Train departs for The Commonwealth Games

9:00am Arrive at Federation Square to pick up tickets.

10:00am Enter The Melbourne Cricket Ground and The Games Begin

What a fantastic day we had, when we arrived we instantly had a seat re-allocation from nose-bleed high in the Great Southern Stand to level one six rows from the front, we had an absolutely fantastic view of the entire stadium. We could see the starting blocks for the running, the medal ceremony area and the long jump pits. The children just loved every minute and roared as loud as the best of them when an Aussie ran by.

Lunch for three was under $25 which was fantastic considering our tickets into the games came to $75 which included all our transportation, so the entire day came to $100.00 ……… ain’t that grand.

The weather was perfect.

The highlights of the day would have to be seeing Patrick Johnson win the 200m heat and Jana Pittman win the 400m hurdles heat.

TTFN

Saturday March 18, 2006

With the Commonwealth Games underway we have already enjoyed a fantastic few days with the Aussie’s winning 27 medals already! I just loved the opening ceremony, I think the organizers did a fantastic job of showing off our fine city. I am looking forward to the Gymnastics and Swimming and can’t wait to see the outcome of the Jana Pittman V Tamsyn Lewis battle.

I’ve had a full-on week, we traveled to Echuca for the long weekend, it was great to catch up with our friends up there. I had to work Tuesday which was so busy, I came home exhausted. Wednesday the boys had friends over for a play day and I had hot flashes all day. My girlfriend suggested I was coming down with a cold, and oh mamma was she rite. Thursday I worked and felt disgusting all day, I was sure I had razorblades in my throat, a sore neck and by 6pm the headache from hell. Friday I called in sick and just laid on the couch all day. Today I feel “dull”, can you feel dull, well I just feel “blah”, no not blah, “YUCKY”, yes that’s more like it YUCKY. LOL

I did have a wonderful Wednesday afternoon though. Nicholas had his last T-ball game, he scored two second base hits and after they had the presentation and break up party. My boy got a medal, oh how proud I am. Nick now moves up to Baseball which starts in two weeks time, so he is just jumping with excitement. This Sunday morning he will be in our local annual parade representing the Baseball Club, I’ll be there with my camera.

 

With one more week of school holidays it should be another full week ahead. We are off to see our friends on the other side of town and possibly roller blading or a movie on Tuesday.

Now though, I am off to get another tissue, thank heaven for Kleenex with Aloe Vera, I love them.

TTFN

Saturday March 11, 2006  

Long weekend here we come. The school holidays are with us four weeks, yes I say four weeks, early due to the Commonwealth Games. This will not be a problem until next term when the kids have endured 14 weeks of school with only Easter to break the drought. I am imagining my 10 year old by week 12, he will be a drained mess. Oh well lets just enjoy this long weekend.

I have sadly discovered that my domain host does not support WordPress and so the dream of a WP blog has gone out the window, not to worry, it looked too hard for me anyway.

Scrappy Tuesday was a huge success this week with eight pages finished and number nine all laid out ready to stick down.

Mum and I went off to the Stitches and Craft show this week and did three great workshops, two free with Hot Off the Press and one which I loved the best. We covered CD holders, you know those boring black zip up bags for your cd’s and dvd’s. Well I just loved this idea and will be making them as gifts for family and friends this year, so look out!

We have a full on weekend ahead of us, housework and laundry first then off to dinner tonight, and traveling to Echuca tomorrow. Should be great.

TTFN

Saturday March 4, 2006

It’s Saturday morning, 8.36am, I’ve just done the bills, waa waa waa. I’m not sure how we got so broke this week but hey I’m still breathing, there is food in my pantry and my kids are safe, what more could a mother wish for. A million bucks would be nice, well fantastic really, more than fantastic it would be bloody brilliant. OK back to reality.

We have good friends coming over for a BBQ this avo’, we will be celebrating their pending move to Fiji, yes FIJI, how awesome is that! This happens on a regular basis to me, most of my very best girlfriends move far far away. I am trying not to take it too personally but this does happen often. Let’s take my oldest girlfriend Julie, she lives in Gisbourne which is about and hour and a half drive away, just that bit too far to pop in for a coffee. Then there is Kerry, she lives in Echuca, that’s two and a half hours away. Claire with the twins, she lives about an hour fifteen away, once again just that little bit too far to pop in! Do you notice a trend here, yes well I’m trying not too.
All of these friends started out living in my town, and for one reason or another MOVED. They have all used the same line, when telling me of the pending move, “you can always come and stay”. I last heard this line yesterday when Claire A. said “Guess what, I have some news”, I should have know there and then the “you can always come and stay” line was next. Fiji for heaven sake, that’s not only hours away it’s another country.

Ok that’s my Saturday rant over with, off to do some housework.

TTFN

Wednesday March 1, 2006

 Happy Ash Wednesday, I hope everyone enjoyed pancakes yesterday for Shrove Tuesday. My son’s started their first class’s toward their Confirmation, this should happen some time at the end of next year. Last night was the parent information evening and Nick came along, he was very impressed with Father Frank and the prayer that he gave us to take home. We are doing a home based religious education program as the boys don’t go to a Catholic School, I hope my husband shows some interest as this will help the boys to take it seriously.

I am back to Scrappy Tuesdays and did two pages, they were of Bailey’s second Christmas, gee he was so cute at that age sign! Next week I will be doing holiday pages so I can’t wait.

Thanks to all those people who posted a tag over the last week, I will put a blinkie linkie on that page for anyone who would like it.

Ok off to do the ironing, and watch Dr Phil and Oprah.

TTFN

Sunday February 26, 2006

 This past few weeks have been filled with stuff. I sold my old Singer on Ebay, sniff sniff, she had to go as we got a new dinner table and buffet and it just look out of place. I was so happy with the price I got and went and lay-byed a hutch to go in the kitchen. Don’t ya just love E-bay? I got Nick a fantastic Louisville Slugger baseball glove, leather and in fantastic condition, for only $5 last week, the postage cost me $4.50 lol.

I have been working on some new web sites for friends, my boys do Ju-Jitsu and some of the local clubs don’t have web sites so I have been working on designing them. It’s a nice feeling to do something for others.

Scrappy Tuesday is back this week, we have pledged to do at least four pages a week. Last year we slacked off and did nothing for months and have only just come back two months into this year. I hope to have Bailey’s baby album finished and up to kinda’ done by the end of the year and Nick’s album up to starting school finished.

Work has been different, I can not believe that two branches of the same bank can run so differently. I am slowly getting to know the staff and customers but things like that take time and an amount of trust. I miss the girls at Altona North a lot, they were all really nice and after my farewell dinner I cried on the way home. I made this move for my boys and not for me so I will have to pull myself together as life is what you make of it.

We have booked our October trip to Sydney. I was so mad with myself, I was booking the airfares on-line as it’s cheaper and I could not believe what I did. As I hit accept I noticed I had the return date wrong, ahhh! I phoned Jetstar within a minute of the mistake, my printer was still printing the receipt, and it cost me $48 to make the date change! Can you believe that, talk about skyway robbery! Anyhoo I got the four return airfares for under $700 which is great, just it could have been a little less. We have decided to go for five nights this time and see the Zoo and Bondi beach, it will be great.

TTFN

Thursday February 16, 2006

 I’m home sick, so I thought I would brows a few of my favorite sites and a number of them have this Flickr thing on them, what is that I hear you ask, well let me tell ya! It’s this great site that lets you upload your photos and display them for FREE, yes I said free, now how cool is that. So check out my new Flickr account and maybe get one for yourself, there great.

TTFN

Wednesday February 15, 2006

 I am so happy with my new layout, I made the top graphic myself, thank you thank you. I have added a couple of new things too. I was getting a bit fed up with all the huge pop up adds on my Bravenet Guestbook so I went searching for a new tag-board and have installed it, so go leave me a message…please
I have also put this very cute and clever country tracker which shows the country you come from when you visit my site, I love this idea and hope you do to.
Now to Valentines Day, so over rated, my husband did nothing, well he did put the roast pork in the oven and share the chocolates I gave him, spose that’s it then, sigh!
Well time for me to go and do the housework thing, blah!

TTFN

Saturday February 4, 2006

 NEW LOOK, I did this all on my own, I am so proud of it, yeah! I just need to update my other pages but I love it, love it, love it.

TTFN

Saturday February 4, 2006

 OMG my son Nicholas started t-ball and got his uniform this week. I was so proud to see him standing there looking like Mr Cool. He is playing for our local team,the Giants at Presidents park. I just love the back of the t-shirt, with the Land of the Giants slogan.

When I was about 9 I started softball and I played untill I was 22. I had many memorable moments including playing in a grand final on my sisters wedding day? She just didn’t get it, why on earth would I want to play softball on her wedding day? She had no idea of the passion involved. I will be at every game for my son and it wouldn’t surprise me if I don’t join the club myself, in a coaching roll ha ha not playing. So there we have it, a full circle moment … Sniff Sniff!

TTFN

Saturday February 4, 2006

 Why are our young men fighting in NSW? What have we been teaching them, within their social groups, that has made them feel comfortable stabbing and attempting to murder their fellow Australians?

Have we learned nothing from the July 2005 bombings in London? The young men who blew themselves up in London were not foreigners to England they were all British born and bread. Which must beg the questions, what drove them to hate their fellow citizens enough to want to murder them?

I know it was social intolerance and racism. They all came from societies that did not teach social understanding and acceptance of others who are different. This is not just outside their social circle but within it. Their societies bred racial intolerance and their own families showed them how to be intolerant of anyone who was not the same as them.

We must be tolerant of other cultures. And I don’t mean that “white Christians” are the only members of our society that need to be tolerant. I think the white Christian Aussie has, for long enough, accepted other cultures. It is time that other minority cultures start accepting that this country is not the same as the country they came from nor does it have the same cultural background that they are used to.
Australia is a “multicultural” society and all members of this society need to accept that they are living in a country populated by immigration from all over the world.
We must teach tolerance to our children, and that included our male teenage children.

And so I ask the question again, why are our young men fighting in NSW? What have we been teaching them, within their social groups, that has made them feel comfortable stabbing and attempting to murder their fellow Australians?

To hear that a local Australian council was too scared to fly the Australian flag for fear of upsetting some members of the Australian community is racist. There is a growing racism towards white Christian Australians and it has got to stop. If any one group within our community is allowed to think they are more important or have more rights than others living in Australia then we are going to head down the same path as America and England. The Australian flag represents all of us, each and every person who lives in Australia, regardless of any ethnic or religious background.

God help us if we don’t do something about this growing problem now. I use the word “God” in the generic, whatever God you worship, pray to them and ask for tolerance.

TTFN

Saturday January 28, 2006

 It has been very hot this past week and we have had many fires, about 30 homes have been lost and miles of bushland destroyed. We have had some good rain and some of the fires are under control but the loss is high. With two more hot days to come we can only pray that the fires will not get worse.

Tuesday brings the new school year with the boys going into grades five and three. This year I am going to enroll the boys in more sports and take them to football and soccer. They need to play some team sports which I am sure will enrich their social skills and teach them to be better team players. Bailey will be my biggest challenge to find a sport that is just right for him, he struggles with fitness and his weight but they go hand in hand so it is vital that we succeed.

I will also be looking at taking the boys to Sunday School, this too will add depth to their personality, and a little fear in God can’t hurt can it!

So the new year brings a higher commitment to give my boys more opportunities to try new things. I am also going to say yes more often to them bringing friends over after school. In the past I have resisted as the invitation is often not returned, but I have decided that I am not going to worry about this anymore.

Making a timetable for my week will be challenging but I think that the boys and I need to get out and about much more and this can only help in getting us all fit and healthy. I think half the reason we are overweight is because we spend far too much time close to fridge and pantry. Getting out of the house will fix that!

2006 here we come.

TTFN

Wednesday January 25, 2006

 Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!

On Thursday we will be celebrating Australia Day, a day of national pride and a day when we come together as one nation and celebrate all that is good about our country! Or do we? My husband came home from work with the news that the blokes at work had a vote and decided to work, yes work, on Australia Day, so that they can have a long weekend by taking the day off on Monday! Then we have the situation in Sydney with a local council deciding NOT to fly the Aussie flag incase it upset non-australian people! This week on the news we have found that some schools don’t play the national anthem, and are wondering if they should be!
I am sick to death of the anti-Aussie chant that is going out.
We should be proud to fly our flag, we should not want to work on Australia Day and all children should know and sing often the national anthem.
There I have had my rant, now lets celebrate.

TTFN

Sunday January 1, 2006

 Happy New Year!
I have added a new page to my site filled with family photos from the year, check it out under 2005 Photo Album.
Wow it’s 2006, what ever happened to 2004 and 2005? The last thing I remember my kids were starting school and I was thinking about getting a new job! All that has happened and so much more, not only did I get the new job but I have now moved to my local branch only five minutes from home. This year brought with it the Tsunami and Katrina and we saw shocking loss of life and homes.
In June I had my eyes lazered and I love it. Bailey learned to ride his bike and got his yellow belt in JuJitSu. Nicholas made some new friends and got his Pen License.
In October we flew to Sydney and had a wonderful family holiday.
I feel so blessed that life has been good to me and my family, my kids have great teachers and my husband and I great jobs. Out family is close by and all happy and well and even though many of our friends live far away they are still good friends.
This year starts with a family holiday to a farm near the beech. We have five nights away and I hope we get lots of relaxation in as we all need it. Next is a new job for me, I start the day after we get back from our trip and I am looking forward to it so very much, I love a new challenge.
I hope that 2006 brings more than just shocking news reals and that we can live in peace and show understanding for all races and religions.

TTFN