Swimming

Well, it's been a chilly week here in Gawler, and that can only mean one thing. School swimming lessons! Yes in the outdoor pool that's never heated quite warm enough. Actually the days have been warm enough but the mornings (when lessons are on) are cold, with a cool breeze, never a good thing when you're wet. Ryan is lucky, his lessons are later in the term, and at the indoor pool. Of course, the way things work out, the three girls all have lessons at different times, so if you stay for all of them, you kill the entire morning. Everyone seems to be enjoying the lessons though. Here is Hannah, very excited because she was in the big pool, and Sophie, sneaking a quick paddle while we watched the others.

The other photo is for Adam and Eva - this is mum the day we talked to you while having coffee and cake in the Barossa. Note the nearly destroyed delicious cake as well!

Long life lightglobes

In my lounge I have two light fittings, both with three globes. These seem to go out with annoying regularity. Last time, I bought some long-life low watt bulbs and put these into one of the light fittings, sticking with normal bulbs in the other fitting. This was, oh, maybe as long as four months ago. The normal bulbs are still going strong and the long-life ones just died, all within two days of each other. So, since the long-life ones are approximately 10 times the cost of the other ones, I guess I'm back to buying the old sort again. Strange, and annoying. Meanwhile, until I get to buying some more, I sit here half in the dark typing this.

Alright, menstruation!

Boys, don't tune out! Read on and discuss this issue with all the women you know.
It seems to be all the rage at the moment (at least on the blogs I read) to be talking about menstruation and in particular its environmental impact. Just think of all those little plastic packets containing all that processed cotton and plastic that every single woman uses and discards Every Single Month for decades (except those in poor African villages that don't even have that - Crunchy Chicken has been suitably inspired to set up a website to help them).
But even if you're not inclined to donate or sew your own pads, there are things you can do.
Get pregnant and then breastfeed. That stops menstruation for months. Okay, that's not real helpful for a lot of people. :)
The simplest and best thing you can do is invest in a DivaCup or Keeper menstrual cup. One bit of molded rubber or silicone that you can reuse for up to ten years. Sounds kind of gross I know, but don't dismiss it straight away, have a look around on the internet, Crunchy had a DivaCup Challenge which is a good starting point. Cups are not that expensive when you consider what you spend on disposable products, and they come with a three month money back dealie in case you really can't stand it (although I seriously doubt that!). And if you have any questions about how they work, just ask. Oh, for women who travel, these would be the best! Just one thing to carry, no running out to shops in a strange city, easy to clean, can keep in for 12 hours or so.
But, if you really can't handle the thought of a cup, then use cloth pads. There are plenty of people selling these online, mostly work-at-home mums. They are easy to use and wash (but the Keeper is way easier!).
And if even that makes you squeamish, at least buy organic cotton products preferably in cardboard or paper packaging.
And, last but not least, discuss this with other women.

Alright, I think I'm over talking about bleeding for today.

Chip off the old block

Ryan was telling me tonight about his spelling words and how they had to put them into sentences. Well, actually, he was helping someone in the highest group with their words (because inexplicably he's only in the middle group, gasp). The word was advantageous (which he can't pronounce but presumably can spell now). He used it incorrectly but hopefully got brownie points for his sentence: The Labor party was advantageous because no-one liked the Liberal party.
Cheers!

School's so boring

So here we are, starting Week 3, and Hannah has had enough of school. In fact, on Day 2 she started complaining. There's nothing to do at lunch time, all the maths activities are boring, they read the same book every day, it's just not fun. Hannah and Ella are meeting up to play at lunch time but they seem to spend the time complaining about how the upper primary playground is much more interesting than the junior primary one. I tried to encourage her to roleplay (the playground resembles a castle) but she just informed me 'Ella and me are so over it already'. So there.
She does seem to be settling in a little bit more, she's made friends in her classroom and is a bit happier. Maths is still boring apparently but at least the book they read changes every week.
The others seem to be happy, Bethany's teacher is 'the best' which is pretty good since last year's teacher was fabulous. He calls everyone 'hairy legs' apparently which is the height of Grade 2 humour. Ryan doesn't say much about school, but he is quite settled and happy to go every day.
Sophie is getting the hang of this 'just mum and me' thing. Hannah did the ceremonial handing over of the catering shirt so Sophie's enjoying coming in to 'help' with some of the food deliveries I do.
The first week I seemed to have vast expanses of time free but now the catering is going crazy and it seems like all February and March will be busy.