The Feuerhouse

Ryan's Christmas wishlist

2009-12-15T13:14:00.002+10:30

Hey Father Christmas/Santa/Santa Claus/Saint Nicholas/Kris Kringle/Aussie Sam/Farmer Joe

Well, everyone has probably bought me presents already but what I want from you are:

* an IOU a dog from mum
* lollies
* books
* plums
* tins of ravioli
* lots of meat
* no maths*

Thanks
From Ryan

*this isn't a thing but I want it anyway.

Bethany's Christmas wish list

2009-12-15T12:40:00.003+10:30

Dear santa,
Thanks you so much for giving me presents 8 yrs in a row, now it is yet another year, but this time I only want a few things

1. A border Terrier
2. A time of our lives CD by miley cyrus
3. A pack of 'wammys'
4. 2 DSi's
5. A warheads stocking

That's all folks
from Bethany

Dear mum,
all I would like this year from you is a note that is signed by you saying : I.O.U. a puppy border Terrier sometime in 2010. I would also like a new remote control car, Thanks you heaps (that's if you get me this stuff) I'm just kidding. from Bethany ps: Merry Xmas

Heads up

2009-12-15T12:37:00.000+10:30

Blog post coming soon...

Paul's birthday cake

2009-07-11T20:47:00.004+09:30

Paul has a track record of requesting interesting cakes for his birthday. There was the time when I made a meat pie tower, photos of which I cannot find right now. This year he requested a steak cake (or 'steek cake' as Hannah, who obviously read the word long before she heard it, kept calling it). He backed down on the original plan for the cake to be actually made of steak, and decided it was okay to just look like steak. Fortunately.

I think I did pretty well under the circumstances. And no, he's not 411, that's my feeble attempt at making do with the equipment I had to represent 42. The cake itself is our new favourite chocolate zucchini cake. Which of course presents Ryan with all sorts of dilemmas, as he can't eat it on principle, but you can't actually taste the zucchini, and it's an extremely delicious rich chocolate cake... He usually finds some lame excuse to eat it after expounding for hours on how he couldn't possibly let that poison pass his lips.

Melrose

2009-07-11T20:07:00.006+09:30

Over the weekend I went up to Melrose at the base of the Flinders Ranges for the weekend. The kids were with Paul for three nights, and even though I knew I should have been spending the time doing something productive, like plastering the cracks in the walls, or gardening, or housework, I decided to go away for the weekend. Of course.

Melrose is well known in the mountain biking community here as there is an extensive network of trails around the town, and the town is quite supportive of the sport. Each year over the June long weekend they hold a Fat Tyre Festival where tons of people from around the country camp and ride. I’ve never been there, but read about it each time there is an event held up there and keep wanting to visit. And finally I did.

I really didn’t want to spend tons of money so I decided to camp, despite it being the middle of winter. It wasn’t actually too bad at all. I did doubt my sanity for a while there when I spoke to the caravan park owner and she said ‘an unpowered site? Just for you? Really?’ like I was some sort of insane freak. The setting was lovely, I camped literally at the base of Mount Remarkable, which really is remarkable as you drive up to the town and see it looming out of the plains and towering over the township.

Photo: Mt Remarkable above the road into Melrose. Hard to get a real idea of the way it imposes above everything, even when shrouded in fog.

Photo: My campsite at the base of Mt Remarkable. The road in the distance leads up to the start of the trails.

I had contemplated asking my usual riding partner Amanda to come with me but in the end was looking forward to just tootling around by myself for the weekend. It didn’t quite work out like that as literally five seconds after I arrived in the town, I met a guy called Clive and ended up spending just about all of the weekend with him. There is a really great mountain bike shop in the town which I stopped at first just to have a nosy and get a map to the trails [valiantly NOT actually looking at any of the awesome stuff they were selling]. This guy was in there getting his bike tinkered with (an Ibis Mojo, only my favourite ridiculously expensive mountain bike). We only briefly said hi but then later when I went to pay for my camp site on my way out for a ride, he was in the office too. Obviously I was kitted out in bike gear so he said he was just heading out with a couple of other people he’d met the day before and did I want to join them. I hesitated for a moment – he was obviously way fitter and more serious about riding than me ($5000 bike was a bit of a hint there) but assured me that the other girl that was with them was new to mtb and wasn’t very fit either. So I threw caution to the wind and agreed. The trails they were heading to were at a local winery, about 6km out of the township. He was riding out there, the others were driving. With no room for me or my bike in their van, I joined Clive for the ‘warm-up’ ride. Of course, the 6km was all uphill. By the end of that, I was already wiped. Clive of course was quite merrily chatting and not even the slightest bit out of breath, despite claiming to have not ridden for several weeks due to a knee injury.
The couple that we met were very nice, Paul and Narelle. Narelle had only been mtb riding for a few months, but was actually quite fit. Paul, well, Paul was hardcore. He built lots of the trails around Beechworth in Victoria, owned a sports business and obviously rode a lot. The trails were a bit disappointing but still fun – mostly through paddocks and up and down gullies and not necessarily that well signposted. I trailed everyone the whole day. They were nice enough to wait for me and there were plenty of hilltop chats to enjoy the view and listen to the sheep. The day was a bit misty rainy and the trails were pretty damp, so we got MUDDY! Clive also had the dubious honour of managing to ride through a patch of cow dung. Paul had a border collie, Bindi, who ran with us as we rode, which was an interesting experience. The dog was lovely and well behaved and had a great time chasing everything around (including a massive farm cat).
The ride home from the trails was a lot easier, all downhill and pretty fast – I was excited to crack 50km/hr coming into the town.
Photo: The hardcore Paul. You can tell he's hardcore cos he shaves his legs.

Photo: Back from Day 1's ride. Muddy!

Photo: The bike was muddy too.

After cleaning our bikes in the creek and having the standard caravan park hot shower (ages to warm up, impossible to get temp right, hot water running out) we went to the local hotel for dinner. There are two hotels in Melrose and both apparently do great food. We had a very nice meal, the highlight being Clive’s ‘Belgium chocolate mousse’ (which irritated the grammar Nazis amongst us), spectacularly presented as a big swirl on top of a mound of berries.
The nights were actually quite mild, not as freezing as I’d feared – it was quite comfortable to sit outside until way too late, especially the second night when we had a campfire.
On the second day, we walked up Mount Remarkable in the morning as Clive’s bike was back in the shop (he spent $700 there over the three days getting his bike tarted up, they were good salesmen!). The climb was pretty cool. 12km round trip up a 1km high mountain. And not that it’s a competition, but the projected 5 hour walk took us just a smidge over three hours. That includes stopping to admire what we concluded could only be light plane wreckage on the middle of the mountain, and compensating for Clive’s still sore knee.

Photo: Clive way off in the distance, on the other side of the gully. Slow.

Photo: Every gully on the mountain was filled with rocks like this.

Photo: See, we did make it to the top! Clive doing his best home-boy impersonation. I did ask him to pose 'Japanese tourist' style, but he was obviously confused.

Photo: I had some photo ideas dictated to me ("If I had a camera I'd take a photo of this..."). And to be fair they turned out well. The cyclists amongst us will notice the sweet single track to the right of the shot...

Photo: Thanks, photo dictator. I think this is my favourite pic of the weekend. Can you imagine riding this stuff? It's on the walking trail but the lads from the shop allegedly ride it to the summit on occasion.

We went our separate ways in the afternoon after I made lunch (yet another convert to vegemite and honey sandwiches, haha!). I was feeling pretty slow and just wanted to try out some of the intermediate trails around. Of course, once I finally got out there, ‘a quick lap around a blue trail’ turned into ‘just another lap around a different blue trail’ turned into ‘perhaps I’ll give one of the black runs a go’ turned into ‘I’ve been out here two hours and I’m totally exhausted, very far away and it’s starting to get dark’.
The trails were very nice, mostly through open paddock again, rocks, a creek, and plenty of kangaroos. By the end I was really had-it, with very wet feet from going through the creek so many times, and my bike was creaking and moaning like it was fifty years old. I was far enough away and without a map that I started to wonder how to get back. All the trails are loops so you can’t get too lost, but you don’t want to start out the wrong direction and have to do five extra k’s you didn’t have to before you get to where you want. As I made my way back, I was wondering how they do search and rescues… there were a few 4WD tracks, but not many, and lots of km to cover if you didn’t know exactly where someone was. I’d brought my mobile phone specifically to have on the trails but it had no reception there (and it was totally my phone’s fault – Clive is also with Telstra and his worked fine, even with my sim card in). I knew I wouldn’t stuck out there all night – both because the trails looped and also because Clive was expecting me back for dinner and would no doubt raise the alarm if I didn’t show – but still the thoughts passed through my mind as I slowly headed back.

I finally shortcutted to the top of a hill and then followed a 4WD track all the way to the bottom, come out in a totally different place to where I entered the trails. Funnily enough though, a couple I’d chatted to right at the start were standing there admiring the view at the place I came out. 2 hours later and at least a couple of km away.
It was my turn to get a meal cooked for me (I think I had the advantage though – I made sandwiches in daylight as opposed to stirfry in the dark). I got to sit around trying to get the camp fire started, finally caving in to Clive’s repeated ‘advice’ to tip the bottle of citronella oil on it, after which it burned very nicely, assisted by various objects we felt the need to add over the course of the night… including Clive’s stylish ‘pleather’ knife which broke under the strain of the onions, and the wine bottle which disappointed us by running empty, but only AFTER the pubs were shut.

Despite the incredibly late night I was awake early the next morning (damn 6am body clock, and raucous kookaburra alarm) and went off for one last quick ride after I packed up my tent and things. I was keen to try a trail Clive had gone on the previous afternoon, but my muscles weren’t. In fact, when I got on the bike and started up a very slight incline, my thigh muscles yelled ‘you have got to be KIDDING!!’ (only with a bit more profanity) and pretty much refused to move. I persevered and they warmed up a bit, but it was still tough going on the trail. Off-camber on the side of a cliff and about two tyre tracks wide, it was pretty hairy. I only headed out for a couple of km before giving it up and heading back in.
We called at the bike shop one last time before we headed on our respective journeys. I’d pretty much steered clear of the shop to avoid temptation (not that I had any money anyway) but wanted to go chat to the owners and have a better look around. They were great guys (even telling me about some friends of theirs who live in Gawler and are looking for people to ride with) and it’s a lovely place, with a roaring fire and free coffee. Of course, Clive more than earned the coffee with all the money he spent there. Although I spent no money, on that last morning, *I* even had a coffee (my first one ever)! And I have to say, it tasted pretty good. I thought it might be prudent, given the lack of sleep and the long drive ahead of me, to caffeine myself up a bit. It seemed to work – the drive back was fun, bopping to the presets all the way.

So it was an extremely enjoyable weekend, great weather, terrific rides, nice food and pleasant company. I drove about 450km, rode about 40 (fortunately I have no stats on the calories I consumed or the alcohol imbibed). I’ll definitely do it again. If no other time, when Clive heads back through on his epic Australian road trip. Which I google mapped since I’m a geek and at work with plenty of time. A massive figure 8 all over the country. A mere 14,000km which I note you can do in a week if you don’t sleep. Or kill yourself.
I was extremely envious of his plans – as well as mountain biking, he kite surfs and snowboards, and other than some commitments in Qld is just going to meander around the country from fun spot to fun spot. Some people have all the luck. :P

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Becky the Ballet Bread

2009-06-11T21:10:00.000+09:30

Becky was a talent-less loaf of bread. Her relatives were famous or one step closer to being famous Because of their talents. Becky though, Couldn’t whistle or wink like I said she was talent-less. One day her auntie, who was great at hip hop came over to her pantry “hi beck, how are you?” Asked her auntie (who was called Bethany) “great Aunt Bethany “answered Becky” wait actually I’m not” “Oh...I’m sorry But I’m sure I know what’s wrong with you! The thing about you having no talent...but I know what to do me just want to know what you want to do’’ said Bethany “would you like to be in a circus, Learn how to tell when someone’s going to get eaten, amuse bread in a pub, Write story’s or dance” “hmmmm... I don’t know, I’ll think about when you are not here, meanwhile do you want to have some seeds for tea’ Said Becky ‘’yum, yes thank-you” replied Bethany hungrily. Becky thought while she ate because Bethany was not talking much, Becky thought and thought but it was no use she could not think of anything then Bethany went home and Becky went to bed, really tired. Becky woke up, put on her jam outfit, brushed her crust and her wheat hair then she rung her Aunt Bethany for she had made up her mind she wanted to be a ballerina! Bethany said it was fine. The next day after she got ready she heard a knocking on the door she opened it and she saw a roll dressed in ballet clothes “Hello I am Rebecca and I have came to teach you ballet, someone called Bethany told me to “Said the roll “wow, thank-you for coming I will give you a warning though: It might take a long time ‘till I’m ready for the stage” replied Becky “that’s fine, I love teaching ballet”.
It took year by year, year by year until Becky was perfect at it.
She performed her first performance at crumb theatre, then salad filling theatre until she was SUPER famous! Since Becky was a nice loaf of bread she never gave all the credit to herself, she gave part of it to Rebecca and Bethany

THE END!!!

General catch up

2009-06-06T21:46:00.006+09:30

What's been happening? I'll have to be guided by the pics, in date order, not significance.

We got kitties! Smudge and Snowball are part of our crazier household now. We drove all around Adelaide trying to track kittens down - Beth had just had a tooth pulled (decayed badly, just like Ryan's, sigh, what am I doing wrong here?!), and they had a day off school (not for the teeth-pulling, something else I can't recall). We drove down to the animal welfare league to get a cat. I like the idea of 'saving' a cat, plus I liked the thought of them being already desexed. I wanted an older kitten or cat, as Sophie is quite timid around animals, and I thought a kitten would be too much for her. BUT Animal Welfare League was quarantined and not giving out cats (it DID NOT mention this on their website where they had cute photos of all the cats available for adoption). We decided to look for another animal shelter, so I rang my trusty internet service provider (thanks Mikey) and got some numbers for some places. The only places giving out cats were even further away. Not happening. Someone suggested vets often have cats to re-home. So I rang a few vets. These phone calls are all happening while we are sitting in the car on a side street, by the way. No-one had cats. Several had just given away gorgeous cats yesterday. Apparently. In the end, we remembered walking past the pet shop in Gawler that morning that had a sign out the front that there were kittens on sale - $15 instead of $25. I wasn't rapt in a) kittens and b) pet shops, but we'd been promised feline additions that day. So off we went to the pet shop. There were three sister kittens in there - all black, two with white feet and bibs, and one with a brown nose. The kids played with them, Sophie mostly hiding from them. I'd already had in my head that we might not have been able to choose between cats at the shelter and might end up coming home with two, so when the kids couldn't decide between the three sisters, I said they could choose two. Much rejoicing. Of course, the last lonely kitten looked a bit sad when we took her sisters away, but as I told the kids, 'two kittens is okay, three is crazy cat lady territory'. (although I have owned three cats at one time before) So two it is. Smudge and Snowball are their names. They've settled in pretty well. We keep them locked down the living part of the house, since whenever they are allowed up to the bedrooms, mysterious piles and wet patches appear on beds. Not nice. Just recently we've equipped them with collars, bells and nametags and are starting to let them outside more. This is mostly because litter trays stink. And children hate cleaning them. Of course, when the kittens are outside, the kids, particularly Sophie, are paranoid. 'Mum, Smudge is stuck in the tree!' 'Mum, Snowball is close to the fence!'. But so far they've survived. Of course, I got half a tree trunk fall into my eye the other day when we were trying to 'rescue' the kittens from the grapevine, but I survived. I should also mention that super timid Sophie is now the cat-whisperer. She spends most of her time holding or patting at least one of the kittens, and is constantly asking me to take photos like this one:

So the plan of having animals in the house to get her more comfortable around them clearly worked. Yay parenting skills!

Sophie started kindy too. Her confidence in everything has really increased. She is so grown up!

Onto Mother's Day, which managed to be a two-day extravaganza this year. Michael was at our place on Saturday and so he helped the kids make french toast and pancakes for breakfast. Yummy, of course (although served with a fairly vile mango and banana juice - fortunately the children liked it so I didn't have to tip it down behind the bed and pretend I drank it all).
On Sunday, the kids were on their own, and they made pancakes again (both times were out of a packet, but were still yummy of course). And then they disappeared for a very long time. Sophie's job was to keep me in bed, which consisted of making me read her stories. Clever strategy, that. When the others finally came in, they were bearing THIS:

THEY MADE ME A CAKE!!! A cake! With icing and everything!! Including a M made of lollies (which you could invert to make a W, for my initials, apparently: Wonder Mum).
The cake was kind of dry, but I relished every bite. They made a cake! From scratch! My kiddies are growing up. They mostly respected my wishes and didn't buy me hardly anything. I got presented with lots of handmade cards and gifts, and they sang the indonesian 'mother's day' song to me, which apparently translates as 'you're my mum and you love me very much. i'm so special so you love me very much. it's mums job to love her kids.' and so on. Those crazy Indonesians.
We did have a sad interruption to our mother's day festivities (fortunately in the lull when the cake was being baked) when mum rang to say that grandpa (who'd been in intensive care for almost a week) had had a cardiac arrest overnight. They had managed to revive him (unaware it was against his wishes), breaking a couple of ribs in the process. Poor man, makes me cry to write it. He was still alive but in a coma on life support. We had been to visit him on Friday, at that time he was uncomfortable, with back ache mostly, but glad to see the children and all the drawings and things they'd done for his room. He looked so little and frail in the intensive care bed, with all the machines monitoring him. But he was still happy and smiling and not wanting to be any bother to the nurses. On Saturday, he was apparently quite well and happy and even sat in a chair for a while. Plans were afoot to move him to the hospital where his kidney specialist works (further away from family). Then early Sunday morning he had this cardiac arrest. Despite the resus, prognosis was not very good at all.
After I spoke to mum, the kids and I took time to sit and cuddle and cry. We love our grandpa frog. Sophie was extremely distraught. Her first comment was 'there'll be no more chocolate frogs' but her sorrow was much deeper than that. She cried and cried. Beth cried too. Hannah tried to cry, but I made sure she understood that she didn't have to cry to be sad. We knew she was sad even if she wasn't crying. People show their sorrow in different ways. Ryan didn't cry but was also deeply sad. We decided not to go visit grandpa - he was in an induced coma and we'd already seen him on Friday. We'd already taken a moment earlier in the morning to remember Poppy, Paul's dad, who died on Mother's Day two years ago.
The rest of our day continued in generally cheerful vein - we visited Paul's mum who was doing okay, but I didn't see my mum - I spoke to her several days but didn't even wish her a happy mother's day. Sorry mum!! Happy Mother's Day. :)
Monday mum and I arranged to have lunch together (no kids!) but first we called by the hospital. By this time my parents had made sure the 'no resus' message was clear, although the hospital was still working hard on trying to treat him. That morning they had rang wanting to begin dialysis on him, since his kidneys were not working (the original problem), but the family decided it was too invasive a procedure. When mum and I went to the hospital in the morning, dad met us there, as well as his sister Marilyn, and her daughter Vanessa. When we buzzed to get let in to Intensive Care, instead, the doctor and a bunch of other people came out and took us to a room for a meeting. Never a good sign. The doctor was very nice and sympathetic, but said that even though age was not a factor in their treatment plan, fail to respond was, and grandpa had essentially had four major system failures and wasn't responding to any treatments. They didn't think there was any hope. Of course we all knew this was coming but it was still extremely upsetting. They left us alone for a while before we went in to sit and wait with him. While we were all sitting around crying and talking, a lady came in who knew grandpa from bingo. No-one had the heart to tell her that we'd just made the decision to turn off his life support, so we chatted for a while (she said what a lovely man he was, so independent, so friendly and thoughtful - everyone always said those things about him). She left a card from the bingo people, full of get well wishes. After she left, more talking and crying. Dad said he was surprised at how unprepared he was for this happening. It's so true. Even for someone who's lived a full eighty years, and been slowly getting sicker and slower over the years and especially the last few months, even when I'm a generation away, it's still so hard. He was such a lovely unassuming man, so stoic through losing grandma and always through his pain, I have so many lovely memories of time spent at their house, to have that all come to an end is just sad. And he really wanted to see that darn road built too.
Anyway, we went in to sit with him while they turned off the life support. I really didn't feel like I belonged there - I felt it was something for dad and his sister (the other two siblings were not able to make it for various reasons), and mum, who was very close to grandpa. But they reassured me and Vanessa it was okay to stay. We stood around his bed, holding his hand, stroking his legs, chatting to him and each other about all sorts of things - remembering dad's childhood, our childhood, grandma... It was a bit surreal - they turned off all the medications that were essentially keeping his heart beating, but kept the respirator on so he didn't 'suffocate'. So all the time waiting (about half an hour, I think) we were accompanied by his 'breathing' and occasional big sigh, as well as the monitor machine going off every five minutes because his blood pressure was so low. Vanessa left to go to pick up her son, and then the nurse came in (finally) to reset the monitor machine so it wouldn't beep all the time. While she was doing that and everyone was kind of distracted and talking, his heart quietly stopped. The respirator was still on, which was very weird since it seemed like he was still breathing. We stayed talking a bit more, everyone took their moment to say goodbye, then we went out to start making the calls. Well, actually I think mum made most of the calls. :) Julie came up to visit - she'd stayed away as she was sick, but that wasn't really a worry now he was dead... We went back in for a final goodbye after the nurses had cleaned him up - taken out all the tubes and stuff. And it was just grandpa. Little and alone and cold in the bed. I'm so glad I was there. Seems kind of odd to say, but it was really special. I hope he passed easier knowing he was surrounded by generations of offspring, who loved and cared and respected him.
Then of course mum and the nurse had to have an argument about his teeth. :) And his hearing aid. We went back and forth on whether we wanted to keep them or not. In the end (I think- could have changed) mum kept them, planning to donate them on to some charity that could use them.
So our mother's day lunch consisted of sandwiches from the hospital snack bar.
When I told the children after school, they were not as upset as the previous day - I guess they'd cried it all out.
All the kids came to the funeral and were perfectly behaved. I think it helped that mum read the eulogy, so there was a familiar person talking. Mum did a great job, they wrote a really respectful and yet light-hearted piece (it's at her blog if you want to read it) and she kept it together all through it, until right at the end.
It was lovely to see extended family there, even from mum's side - of course they've known grandpa for many years as well. It's always sad to go to that particular chapel though - the services for my grandmother and three of my cousins were there too. (What sort of crap odds are those? Three out of twelve grandchildren dead before their grandparents?). But the grounds are lovely and we took the opportunity of having the kids dressed in their best to try and get some photos.

Phew. I'm glad I got that down. See ya grandpa. xx

That cute Sophie

2009-05-25T21:00:00.002+09:30

Okay okay, I know I know. I DO realise I said in my last blog (way back in January) that I would blog more often. But I've kept hardly any of my New Year resolutions, so don't feel so bad. One day soon I might write a check in of my resolutions plus a general update. Not tonight, as I've got an assignment to do.
I just had to tell about something Sophie said today, and Facebook doesn't really work for that sort of thing...
We were at kindy this morning making a wig. She got the idea for a wig from a disguises book we have and we thought kindy would be a good place to make it. Today they had wool out on one of the craft tables, which was perfect. She started looking through the wool, but screwed up her nose and said 'I can't use maroon wool, it won't match with my freckles'. What? :)
We ended up using black... Michael was with us and he tried it on. I wish I had my camera - totally flashback to high school... Long black wavy hair. Sophie could not comprehend that!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-12T21:14:00.002+10:30

Well it's a new year. That must mean resolution time.

Last year's resolution was to buy nothing new, and I really think I did a good job of it. There were a few moments of weakness (like the bike!) but overall, we bought very few things new, and certainly nothing unnecessary. I found real enjoyment in taking my time, scouring op shops and second hand shops for things I needed, making do with what I already had, or deciding to do without. Of course, gifts were often things that were 'wanted' more than 'needed' but they are kind of exempt from the nothing new rule - as with everything, a little bit of indulgence makes it easier to be restrained the rest of the time. I'm amazed at how much less money I spend, and how much less rubbish we generate. Of course, concurrent with the buying of nothing new, I've worked to cut down on packaging in general (buying in bulk, reusing containers). We also spend much less on groceries than we used to - although I try and buy more things organic which in theory is more expensive, buying less processed foods and no meat really makes the shopping bill shrink.

So my resolutions this year -
1. make vegetarian choices as much as possible. I already don't buy meat for use at home, but I need to work on eating out (sometimes it's hard to resist, like, say, at an Indian restaurant, or when mum cooks dinner for us… and sometimes there are just plain lousy vegetarian options).

2. get my house in order. This means painting, decluttering, plastering, gardening, other repairs. House has to take priority over fun this year. Hmmm. Did I mention yet that I'm studying as well? But Sophie will be at preschool so theoretically I'll have more time to fit everything in.

3. get my life in order. This means writing a will, actually getting divorced, sorting out some financials.

4. spend less time aimlessly on the computer, particularly late at night (sorry Michael!). It's fun at the time, but really achieves nothing and leaves me tired and less likely to achieve the next day as well. So nights are for exercise and study and housework and 10pm curfew. Gee this is shaping up to be a fun year…

5. maintain or even increase my fitness. This is a random goal, really in there so I have an excuse to have some fun. For a few insane moments I thought I'd like to make my goal to complete a triathlon, but after the mini-tri I did where I couldn't even swim 100m, I realised I would need WAY too much extra training time particularly in the water, and I just don't have that much time. I also contemplated, again for about five minutes, doing an extreme 100km mountain bike race, but again, no training time. And it's in February. Not really enough time to prepare. Although it's on awesome trails and apparently a lot of fun alongside the torture element. I'll just have to live vicariously through friends. So there is no fixed goal to train against, except a vague idea that I might run the City to Bay with a friend. It's only 12km, how hard can that be with hardly any running training? Otherwise, I just resolve to exercise as regularly as possible and get out on the bike as often as my other resolutions allow. :) So a non-resolution really, since that's pretty much what I do anyway.

6. get more green. I know some people think I'm plenty green enough already, but there are always ways to reduce your impact on the environment. I really need to work on generating less waste when we go out particularly when we buy lunch (bring our own cups, cutlery etc and ASK how things are packaged and served). I would like to be more active in the community and particularly the school as well. And I need to talk more to acquaintances and friends about what I do and why, and encourage people to consume less.

7. be a calmer parent. I get angry too often over things that shouldn't make me angry. Refine my parenting techniques to use less reward/punishment and more cooperation. Or something. Try to ensure the kids still feel valued even when I'm busy. Try not to use children's needs as an excuse not to study. Or do housework. Ha ha ha.

Hmm, a busy year maybe... Oh, and I promise to put more stuff on my blog too. Pics and stories of the last few months will be up soonish, I promise.

2008-12-15T20:34:00.005+10:30

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I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged. Well, actually I can. Sorry about that. We've been busy too - spent a couple of weeks sick (so very very sick, and over school holidays too!), then two weeks in Queensland (pics of that on Facebook if you haven't seen them already), then the quick race towards the end of the school year (and a cold and rainy last day of school, darn that climate change). And now it's summer holidays with Christmas just over a week away.

Hannah had her tonsils out the week we got back from Queensland. She was a trouper about it, this pic shows her about six hours after her surgery. She ate well right from the start. No jelly and icecream these days, toast is the preferred first meal. Fortunately, eating has never been a chore for Hannah so she did quite well. Ryan was disgusted when she didn't go back to school the day she got discharged from the hospital! She was under strict doctor's orders to have at least a week off. Now, about six weeks after the surgery I think she might be close to fully recovered. No more snoring, and generally not as cranky as she was before.

Decorating the tree. Feels like it's been up FOREVER. We put it up the weekend of the pageant which is early November. Hannah is about four days post-op in this pic. The rather strained smile is a relic of trying to keep her mouth closed as much as possible.

Hannah at the end of year concert.

Bethany at the end of year concert.

Hannah and Sophie in a Christmas tableau of their own design.

Bethany is learning to put on her own makeup. Not getting many handy hints from her mum sadly...

Sophie's also putting her own makeup on.

For my cuz - they're waiting for you back in Gawler, girl!

Ego Tripping

2008-09-22T20:56:00.002+09:30

Yesterday I went out with the big boys, on a BikeSA organised mountain bike ride called the Ego Trip. The ride consisted of a 30km route at Cudlee Creek Conservation Park (where I've been a couple of times before with Amanda (sheep and kangaroos attacked, although I saw nothing more exciting than birds this time)). The pros were going to do three laps, making 90km (for some reason they revised it down from the original 99, which sounds much cooler). I was hoping to make it round for 2 laps, but just getting out and having a ride, discovering some new trails, was the main concern.
The route was insane - it's here. All those zigs and zags on the map are up and down mountains. I just discovered that on the top left of that Bikely map there is a 'show' option and you can have a look at the elevation profile. No wonder I seemed to spend a lot of time walking the bike up really steep hills, or white-knuckling it down really steep ones.
My day started off darkly when as the last thing before heading out the door at 7.30am I grabbed the bike to load onto the racks and noticed the front tire was flat. Hooray. Because my favourite thing to do is fix flats early in the morning. I must have punctured it the day before when I went out for a little warm-up ride. So it was easy to find and repair the puncture and I hoped that boded well for a trouble free rest of the day. I made it to Cudlee Creek without getting lost at all which was kind of exciting and got all sorted out just in time for the pre-ride briefing. I started off well and truly as the last rider - I didn't want to get in anyone's way early on. Another guy and I quickly began competing for who could stay right at the back. His excuse though was a 12 year old bike with no shocks. Mine, well, I didn't really have one. Very early on, my hopes of a smooth ride after the early flat vanished when my chain came off and then I started having problems with gear changes. The other slow guy (we rode and chatted together for a long time but I never asked his name, for shame) was very helpful fiddling with things but we couldn't really get it working right. I quickly worked out that I couldn't use the very biggest or very smallest gears. After the ride, the mechanic confirmed the rear derailleur hanger was bent for some reason and that was causing the problems. Of course that was what I suspected all along... sure.
Anyway, the bike was still plenty rideable although there were a few annoying moments with attempted quick gear changes. And I'm sure if I had that one extra gear it would have made all the difference in having to walk up so many hills.
I had my new bike computer to play with as well, which is so advanced that while it was measuring my speed and heart rate I'm pretty sure it was also calculating the trajectory of the next Mars lander. The kilometres seemed to take a long time to tick over though. After I'd been riding for seemingly hours and hours I was surprised to see it said I'd only done about 15km. At about this time I scored a rear flat. Now rear flats suck a lot more than front flats, because to replace the tube you've got to deal with the chain/gears and brake when getting the tyre on and off. I opted to keep everything on, and just patch the tube. It was pretty easy to find the hole because there was a massive piece of wood sticking into it. I took my time fixing the tyre but didn't see any sign of my friend from earlier who I'd left behind a while ago. I headed on alone but soon realised that the tyre was still deflating. I stopped again and proceeded to pull the whole thing off to replace the tube altogether. About this time, my buddy finally caught up, just in time to help me with the tricky bit (putting the wheel back on). I also checked with him that my speedo was working correctly, and unfortunately it was. We'd only done 16km in well over two hours. I'd been hoping to average 10km/hr, so I could achieve two loops in the approximately six hours I had. But anyway, we pressed on, I soon left him behind again (not that I'm competitive of course). I spent the rest of the ride essentially alone, stopping for a chat with the marshall at the refreshment stop (apple juice and fruit cake - sultanas never looked so good), and otherwise only seeing other riders as I pulled over to let them pass me. The leader passed me only a couple of hours in, so he'd done 45km in the time I'd done 15. Great. He was a machine though, second rider was at least an hour behind that. I was heartened to see some of the pros also have to stop and walk their bikes up some of the hills. One guy even picked up his bike and ran up the hill. What's with THAT?! How is it easier to CARRY a bike up a hill rather than push it? They have wheels for a reason.
The route itself was great, though just to scare me it started off in the really difficult stuff, all dark under the pine trees, windy and steep with lots of exposed roots to add some variation. The park has such a diversity of trails, we also went on some nice wide gentle fire trails, and some big clear up and downs (my favourites - you can see what's coming up and so can go REALLY fast down the hills, and get enough momentum to make it almost to the top of the next hill). There was also one incredibly awesome scary downhill that went down for a VERY long time, but not just down straight, there were jumps and bends and little bridges that had been built into the trail just to keep it interesting. I just about strained my braking muscles on that bit, which seemed to go forever (although not quite as long as the incredibly steep uphill that preceded it).
In the park there are lots of downhill trails like that, rather than the cross-country ones we were mostly on, occasionally you'd hear a rustle in the bushes and a downhill rider would silently zoom across the trail at great speed straight down the hill. Those guys have it good, they have a driver at the bottom who loads their bikes back on and takes them back to the top to hoon down again.
It was really nice basically riding alone in the bush, but not having to worry about finding my way as it was very well sign-posted, and with riders passing me at fairly regular intervals so I didn't feel too alone. I had lots of time for contemplation as well as enjoying the scenery, which is spectacular up there. I didn't really come close to falling off that often, but I did come to a deep philosophical realisation about the nature of control... The times I was closest to losing it all together were on the downhills. I'd get up a bit of speed and instead of just enjoying it, maintaining the barest of control, looking out for obstacles and planning my path, I'd try to slow down and regain total control. That's when I'd start to slide... A very similar thing happened while I was skiing. It was the slowing down and trying to regain control that led to disaster. So my lesson? Relax. Go with the flow. I don't have to be in control ALL the time as long as I can see the other end.
Although I can't POSSIBLY see how that could relate to anything in my life other than the bike or skis...
By the time I'd made it around the route once (so 30km) it was getting late-ish (they'd said no new starts after 2pm and it was about 1.30). As I was nearing the end-point I'd intended to stop for something to eat and then head off again, not to do the whole thing over, but just ride for another hour or so, but first I got the mechanic to look at my bike which took a while, and by then I was just ready to get the kids, head home and shower. So I did 30km (or technically 29.8km). This is at least double what I've ever done off-road before. My exciting new (secondhand of course) computer tells me I averaged 7.9km/hr, with a max speed of 42km/hr. I was on the bike for 5hrs exactly with 3hr43 actual ride time. And because it's so technically advanced I know I averaged a heart rate of 144bpm with a max of 175, and also that I burned 2039kcal. Annoyingly, I can't get it to tell me energy used in kJ although everything else will switch metric-imperial. I even uploaded all this data to the internet, where I promptly ignored it.
Hooray for mountains and pushing comfort zones. When's the next ride?

Out riding again

2008-09-15T14:51:00.002+09:30

Yesterday we went on the inaugural Gawler Bicycle User Group (GBUG) social ride. The GBUG was founded a few months ago by the energetic Sophia who is keen to encourage cycling as a method of transportation within Gawler as well as liaise with the local council regarding the newly released Cycling and Walking plan (which I was on the reference group for).
The first ride was planned a couple of months ago but the weather was awful so it was put off until this weekend, with the plan being that there will be a meeting every other month and a ride the other month. The weather was a bit touch-and-go for this weekend as well, after a lovely week there was some rain about in the morning and plenty of wind, but it fined up somewhat in the afternoon. There was a decent turnout of people too, some familiar faces (it is Gawler after all) and other people I hadn’t met before. We had a good assortment of bikes there – I didn’t think to bring my camera but someone else did so I might get some photos one day. Not only were there a bunch of kids (including someone from Bethany’s class), and me with the child seat on the back of my bike, but Sophie had her bike with child seat (and much feared son Derek, who Sophie is terrified of at childcare) plus cargo racks adding about an extra metre to the back of her bike, someone had a bike with two children in a trailer, someone else had a bike with tag-a-long child’s bike joined to the back, and there was also a tandem bike. An interesting and very visible group of riders we were! (which is the point, of course). We did a long ride although I’m not sure how long exactly, we covered all of Gawler from Willaston down to Evanston and back again. Sophia said it was going to take about an hour, but it took us two hours, with Hannah being the limiting factor. She was the youngest solo cyclist and did a great job. She persisted and worked hard the whole way around, never coming close to giving up (or falling off!) even though she had to hop off her bike to walk up hills a few times. Everyone was very impressed with her efforts. I could not believe how hard she worked for such a long time. It was nice travelling in a group, as I could hang back with Hannah while the other kids were being watched out for by other adults. Everyone was extremely nice and it will be nice to have it as a regular event. The kids all enjoyed themselves and said they would love to do it again.
Sophie made some new friends, Max and Eliza, who she was scared of first, I think worrying they were like Derek, but then they became her best ever friends. They were being towed in the trailer by their dad and she was forever nagging me to ride next to her new friends. Hopefully seeing Derek outside of the childcare situation was helpful for her as well, although I suspect he’s not actually that much of a problem, he seems very much self-involved and probably doesn’t even pay attention to her at childcare, other than that one fateful time he ‘roared’ at her when face-painted as a tiger. She has a loooong memory for such things.

After an incident free long ride, we stopped at the BMX track on the way home which is right next to the park where we started. Hannah was upset she couldn’t make up any of the hills at the track and in fact had a bad stack, she didn’t quite understand the concept that her legs were exhausted after such a long ride plus we had also gone out the day before for a practice ride, since I hadn’t ridden much with Sophie in the child seat, and wasn’t sure how it would work looking after Hannah and having Sophie, so we’d had a very energetic weekend. Ryan also took a big fall at the BMX track. I just couldn’t believe they were all game to give it a go after already riding so long! After that last burst of energy though, Hannah could not face the 500m ride from the BMX track to the car, so we ended up leaving the bikes (and the two oldest kids still riding) at the track and walked over to get the car. Funny how the last bit of effort is just tooo much.

Two thumbs up!!

2008-09-07T21:33:00.008+09:30

I got home today from my trip to Melbourne. Nine days, no kids, Melbourne, Michael, Steve. A lot of fun.
So much happened during the week. First the credits: thanks to mum and dad for having the kids for me and buying my airline tickets, and thanks to great friends Michael and Steve for their generosity, sharing their time, houses and money with me. :)

The trip was every bit as awesome and fun as I anticipated it to be, in fact exceeding my expectations, which is always a good thing. Melbourne turned on the weather for me, certainly in the second half of the week. I always said loving the environment is a good thing, because it loves me back.
My holiday was really two mini-holidays, as I stayed first with Michael and then with Steve. Made the trip seem twice as long (which is a good thing!).

Michael lives out of the city in sunny Ringwood (or as he calls it 'Melbourne's Munno Para'). He had time off while I was there which was really nice, just to hang out for a bunch of time without a lot of plans. We got to visit not one but TWO giant monuments to surburban consumption in mega-shopping centres Knox City and Eastlands - totally appealing to Ms Anti-consumption here, as you can imagine. Michael coaches a kids basketball team so we went to their game and to training (they will be playing in the grand final this weekend - GO BULLS!). We hung out at home a lot, lounging around (and I mean REAL lounging, laying on world's largest lounge chair in the lounge room and listening to lounge music). I caught up on some popular culture I missed out on (how could I survive this long without having seen Zoolander or 40 Year Old Virgin??), and discovered the world of lounge music gone wrong with Richard Cheese.

Photo: this car was just darn sexy I had to take a photo of it

We went up to Mt Dandenong and watched a storm move in across Melbourne towards us. The view from Mt Dandenong was quite spectacular, even with all the clouds. In the photo you can see the rain storm just to right of centre.

Photo: Michael pondering the wishing tree at Mt Dandenong

We stopped for pancakes in world's steepest carpark where Michael achieved world's crookedest carparking.

The pancake place sold pancakes topped with curry and rice! We didn't try those although we did make the foolish mistake of going for savoury pancakes, leaving no room for the delicious sounding sweet ones, darn it.

Photo: So cosmopolitan. Sippin' chai lattes, walking on bridges, overlooking Wallaby Ave. We had it going on.

Michael took me to all his favourite food places, including world's best garlic naan (and pretty darn good butter chicken), and even cooked dinner for me (pics of that are on his Facebook page).

The first half of my holiday ended too quickly and Michael took me into the city on Wednesday where I called into work to undertake some delicate negotiations with my Victorian counterpart (I failed in my mission sadly, he refused to share some extremely valuable information, but it was a useful visit anyway). But before I went there, we went to Southbank and Greco, home of world's best cake fridge (can you tell yet that Michael is fond of superlatives??). As per usual I scoffed at his declarations of awesomeness, but this place exceeded his promises. There were so many great looking choices that, as promised, I found it extremely difficult to decide on just one cake. Finally I chose the honeycomb cheesecake and was not disappointed. Their 'real' food looked pretty good too, but we didn't actually eat any, concentrating instead on the sugar and fat laden goodies.

Photo: These two windows are only half of the cake fridge at Greco.

So on Wednesday, after I was done at work, I headed into the city and met Steve who gave me his house key and pointed me in the direction of the tram to his house. He lives in Carlton which is very close to the city, so it's only about 10 minutes on the tram. On account of having only just started a new job, Steve didn't have any days off while I was there (has he never heard of the aussie tradition of faking illness?!), so I spent a couple of extremely enjoyable days tootling around by myself. I went to St Kilda one day, chatted to the fishermen, saw a penguin swimming in the water, found some starfish, bought a genuine vintage top, and ate lunch at Lentil As Anything, a restaurant which only asks that you pay what you feel the meal is worth. Neat concept and great food. Nice to see that it is doing well.
I soaked up a bunch of culture too, so much so that everything was referred to generically as a POC or place of culture, as I had difficulty remembering exactly where I saw each cool thing. I went to both sites of the National Gallery of Victoria (what's with a state art gallery closing one day a week?), Melbourne Museum (and what's with a state museum charging an entry fee?), the Centre for the Moving Image, and somewhere else I'm not remembering right now. I also walked the streets of Melbourne, discovering chai latte flavoured icecream (yes, as good as it sounds) and Puffy Cookies (deep fried cookie/eclair type things filled with custard, yes also as good as they sound).

Photo: Royal Exhibition Hall, or more particularly, some cool clouds as the sun set

All these things were so cool, I started formulating next year's family holiday, which involves driving over to Melbourne, imposing on friends generosity for free accommodation and showing the kids all this cool stuff. Melbourne is such a great town to visit and I suspect it would be very liveable too. I know there are those who dislike it (hmm, Michael?) but there are also those who absolutely love it (right Steve?). I was so impressed with the public transport (every time and place we needed a train or a tram, it was there) and the amount of bikes and cycling infrastructure.
Steve lives right between Brunswick and Lygon Streets so there was no shortage of interesting shops to look in and great places to eat. There are also extremely high-rise old housing commission flats mixed in with the trendy renovated little terraces so there are an interesting mix of people.

Photo: Me trying to be arty at one of the commission flats

My week quickly came to an end, with Saturday my last full day in Melbourne and the only full day I had with Steve. After finally getting his car working again, (he joined the RACV on Monday specifically because his car hadn't worked for a couple of weeks and he knew he needed to take me to the airport on Sunday), the ideas man came up with an awesome plan for Saturday - SKIING! Lake Mountain is about two hours from Melbourne, and is apparently Victoria's premier Nordic resort, although we didn't actually see any Nords. Steve can ski very well having lived and worked in Canadian ski resorts, and I, well, I've skied for a total of two whole days. Sounds like fun, right? I soon learned that we hadn't actually gone up the mountain to ski together, but just so Steve could laugh at me while I tried to ski. At this place they have cross country skiing, rather than downhill, so there are no lifts, and plenty of hills you are supposed to ski UP. Ha ha. Still, I like to think I did quite well, I probably only fell over twenty times, and only five or six of those times actually hurt, with only one involving a face-plant. It was actually incredibly good fun and hard work (today I am yet to find a single muscle in my body that does not ache). We estimated we did about 25km including some black trails (the most challenging). I even got a bit of technique happening towards the end, rather than just aimless flailing. On this day I refined next year's family holiday plans to include a couple of days in the snow. Which suddenly moves it from budget holiday up into more expensive realms. But, hey, it's SNOW!

Photo: Sunrise through the mist as we drove to the snow at some incredibly early hour

Photo: Steve coming down the black trail. You will notice I am already at the bottom waiting to take the photo. Meaning I finished first. Not that it was a competition or anything. (actually I took a shortcut)

Photo: Snow bunny. The scary thing is these blingful sunnies belong to Steve. He actually BOUGHT them. To wear himself. Although he did confess he wouldn't really mind if I lost them or broke them when I fell over.

Photo: This possum stalked us the whole way around the trails. Apparently.

Photo: The Panorama Lookout. The sign writer was a bit ambitious about what exactly you could see (might need to click to enlarge).

Photo: Note to self - keep sleeves down even if you get hot, especially if you are prone to falling over. Snow isn't all soft and fluffy like it looks.

After we made it back from the mountain, tired and sore and a little sunburned, we headed out to a Japanese bath-house tucked away in the side streets of Collingwood which was very pleasant and a different experience. Nothing quite as satisfying as getting naked in a public place and then getting into a incredibly warm deep bath. And of course after that, what else for dinner but Japanese? Food, not people.
Sunday my flight was relatively early in the morning (11am) but we managed to fit in breakfast at the awesome Sugardough on Lygon Street, before heading to the airport for final farewells.

My flight out was on Qantas, so there was even some free food and drink served on board, oh the novelty. When I got back to Adelaide I was surprised to see mum and dad waiting for me. I'd intended on catching the bus out to Paul's where my car was, but my great parents just dropped by on their 'way' (yeah right) to grandpas for father's day.
Up to Paul's and many hugs and cuddle for the kids, who by all accounts were wonderfully behaved for mum and dad during the week.
Tonight we went out for dinner for mum's birthday and father's day (sadly both bad daughters neglected to organise cake, although I think I at least have a reasonable excuse, since I was in a different city that morning). Fortunately tomorrow there is no school (since I'm stupidly still up writing this at midnight!), so I get to just hang with the kids and unpack, taking it easy.
Thanks again everyone, I had such a great holiday!!

And greenie addendum: I bought some new stuff while I was away - some gloves, which I really needed for the snow (I lost one of my other ones in Adelaide, and these ones will also be great for on the bike) and some gifts for the children.
I made vegetarian choices for a lot of my meals (cake counts as vegetarian, right?) and also did my best to choose food that was not excessively packaged. I worked on brainwashing ahem educating my friends where necessary too.

And late edit: Why am I still writing this at 1am?! My body clock is totally screwed from too many late nights and sleep-ins this past week. Kiddie alarm-clock in the morning though unfortunately...

2008-08-24T21:15:00.000+09:30

A new park in the city - it's all giant garden things made of concrete. Here children are balancing on the hose (on the right you can see the nozzle with blue water spilling out, and some giant blades of grass).

In the second photo, the girls are on a giant thong. Of the footwear type.

Sophie and Charlotte with cauliflowers from our garden. Charlotte is holding the one we let grow too long - it kind of started to set seed. But you can see from the one Sophie is holding, that they must be mini-caulis. I kept waiting for the first one to get bigger!

Ryan and Bethany went to the zoo for a Zoo Snooze sleepover which sounded like lots of fun. They got to go into the orangutan's cage at night and hide treats for them to find the next day, plus go on a nocturnal walk and a bunch of other fun stuff. I told them to take plenty of photos, but they are all of animals! I wanted some of the kids too.

Water water everywhere

2008-08-12T21:07:00.005+09:30

As I've alluded to in other posts, I had a bit of a plumbing disaster a while ago - over a month, I'd say. We came home one night to the water meter ticking furiously but no gushing taps. I got Tim the friendly neighbourhood plumber to come over and have a look for me (at 6pm on a Sunday night - I'm sure I'm now his favourite neighbour!). He found the leak for me - a huge chunk had blown out of the pipe around the side of the house. The next day he put a temporary fix on it for me but strongly suggested I dig out the pipes so he could replace the old rusty ones with brand new plastic. So I spent a few happy days trench-digging. The kids helped too, for a while... I dug out about 12 m but then sprang another leak through incautious use of the shovel. So Tim decided he would just lay the polypipe over the top of the soil and I could dig the rest of the trench when I had time. From the meter to the house is probably about 30m, the way the pipe runs (and under the concrete path too). But when he went to lay the polypipe, he found that the pipes were already mostly plastic, and it was only the last, oh, 12 metres that were iron. If I'd dug about another 30cm more, I would have found the plastic myself. How cool was that?!
But not so cool was the fact that once he'd replaced the pipes, every tap in the house kept dripping furiously. I finally got another plumber in (one that I could actually PAY, since Tim accepted only some lasagne I cooked for them but no money) after my wimpy girl-arms failed the tap test, much to my disgust. Anyway, the new plumber kindly loosened all the taps for me and started to replace the washers. Only to find lots of little pebbles in the pipes. When the pipe burst and we turned off the mains a whole bunch of gravel and dirt had fallen into the pipes, and now were spread all through the house at each tap. Yay. Oh, and that kitchen spout that's also dripping from the base? Since the screw has seized up, there's no way to change that washer except to hacksaw off the spout and buy a whole new one. Now this story could get really long and colourful from here, or I could keep it short and say that after changing most of the washers myself and cursing at various other things that didn't work properly and spending many weeks living with buckets under every tap, over the weekend Dad and Roman who was visiting from Melbourne came and helped fix it all! Well, except the bathroom taps and shower still drip a little, and the laundry one leaks as much as before, but I'm keeping quiet about that. Actually the extra bonus frustrating thing about it is that when you change the washers and things, more grit and pebbles seem to flow up the pipes and damage the new washers too. Hooray. So we probably need to actually flush the pipes a bit, which could be a very wet experience. One day...

Here is the trench after I started to fill it in. It still looks exactly like this though! It's a tomorrow job...

A bit hard to see, but this is the section of pipe with the hole in it. The hole is pretty much the same size as my thumb.

Also continuing the water theme is that Sophie has started swimming lessons. I took her to the pool before her lessons started as she is pretty timid and I thought she might be scared of the water. She loved it but hates putting her face under the water. Today though (week 4) she actually willingly put her whole face under the water! I bought new goggles too for her, which should help with her confidence. I think I have probably purchased around two dozen pairs of goggles so far. I only have four children! How does that happen? There must be a goggle party happening somewhere where all the goggles laze around the pool getting a suntan and laughing at the foolish humans they have escaped from.

Sophie about to get in the pool for her first ever swimming lesson.

She actually got in the pool! I did have some doubts...

And totally unrelated to water but I had to share this quote which came up for me today in a widget thing:

Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.: Rick Polito

That was a strange enough quote to make me go look it up. It's a tv listing for "The Wizard of Oz".

Birthday hijinks

2008-08-02T21:34:00.006+09:30

So last week I turned 34. Already! Aren't I only about 24 or so? It was a lovely birthday week - I feel so privileged to have such lovely family, wonderful kids and such nice friends. No surprise party this year, but plenty of other good stuff, mostly just people making me feel all special :)
My actual birthday was on Friday, which was a nice day, Karena stayed over and we spent a fun morning taking photos of me for her to draw or paint (so artistic!) then lunch out as well. Dinner was... Indian of course. What else would I choose? The usual fun and chaos of dinner with all of us out. I had an awesome cake (subtly requested by me to the children many times as we looked through the cake book), an echidna, made of choc chip icecream with choc biscuit fingers stuck in all over it to be the spikes. Yum!
On the Saturday morning, I had heard a whisper that the kids were organising something, which I figured to be breakfast in bed. I was looking forward to the usual soggy cereal and cold toast. My favourite. But it took the kids way longer than usual to make me breakfast. I'd say they started at about 6.45 and it wasn't until 8.30 that breakfast came in. And it was PANCAKES! An amazing stack of 15 fat pancakes, layered with bananas and strawberries and topped with maple syrup and icecream, as well as a banana and strawberry smoothie. Do my kids know me well or what? I was so excited and delighted. They (especially Ryan, whose idea it all was) had worked so hard together. Ryan had organised my mum to buy shaker pancake mix (which he had wisely decided was much easier than to make from scratch as we usually do it), bananas and maple syrup. They had got the electric frypan set up, and Ryan had cooked all these pancakes. He burned his fingers a bit in a few spots, but nothing major. We sat in the bedroom and ate these tasty pancakes, the kids always double-checking and saying thank you every time I offered them a bite. After we finished the pancakes, we went out and faced the kitchen, which wasn't actually too bad. Ryan cooked the rest of the pancake mix (the 15 pancake stack was meant to be all for me, they'd saved some mix to make their own later) and we cleaned up together. It really topped off a lovely few days.
Oh wait, another birthday related thing after that - amongst other things, Paul and the kids bought me a fondue set. So on Saturday after dinner we had caramel toffee fondue, with marshmallows and fruit. YUM! But I forgot to take photos of that. Too busy stuffing my face.
The presents I got were all winners, as usual. I didn't want anything much because I'm in such a non-consumerist mindset at the moment, but the things I got were all welcome. Especially the flights to Melbourne complete with childminding arrangements. Yay! Thank you so much to mum and dad and Nicole and Raff who will take the hard grind of four extra kids while I'm off playing irresponsible single mother in Melbourne. Like I said, I'm privileged to have such fantastic family.

Yay for echidna icecream cake.

Children happily eating curry.

Everyone's favourite nana.

Sibling rivalry is never pretty.

The fabulous pile of pancakes topped with icecream, with the smoothie in its elegant serving jug in the background.

Me eating pancakes. Yes, I am wearing a jumper in bed. It's cold!

The cooks.

More adventures in mountain biking

2008-07-28T14:06:00.003+09:30

Amanda and I went out to Cudlee Creek again on the weekend for an eventful ride. It started off well when we only made one or two little side-detours on the way there, cutting our travel time in half compared to last time. Next time I'm sure we'll make it all the way there without one wrong turn! Continuous improvement is the name of the game.
There was no-one in the park again, which I couldn't understand. The sky was clear blue (except for the looming rain clouds), the sun was shining, and it must have been at least, oh, 8 degrees in the sun. We quickly got on the bikes and started moving. Amanda has been in training, after my old legs exposed her lack of fitness last time. She has been making an effort to get out on the bike and actually up some bigger hills, and you could notice the difference. I didn't have to stop and wait quite so often. :P
After hooning around a little bit on a purpose-built downhill (lots of downhill and corners for very little uphill, very good value), we made it to the top of this very high hill and then I started the descent. It was a narrow track, steep and slippery. My back wheel slid out from me a couple of times but I got it under control and made it down. I stopped to watch Amanda, who'd wised up after watching me slide around and rode down in the grass on the side of the track, very clever. When she was nearly down the bottom, I headed off on another downhill, around a corner and out of sight. In the first wildlife sighting of the day, a massive SHEEP bounced across my path. When I made it to the bottom of this downhill, I saw another half a dozen sheep looking down from the top (probably wondering where the other one had disappeared to) and about the same number of kangaroos hopped past. I took a photo of the sheep while I waited for Amanda. And waited. Waiting for too long is not a good sign. Finally I headed back up the downhill, to discover her at the top. She'd stacked it about two seconds after I started off again, going straight over her handlebars and landing on her head and shoulder. Took a large chunk out of her helmet, and hurt her head and her shoulder, as well as somehow ending up with a massive bump on her ankle. She was recovering by the time I made it back and decided to press on. So we headed off the same downhill I'd already been down. Only this time, instead of making it over a fairly large log in the track, my wheel slid along the log, meaning the bike and I went sideways and slid down the hill. Fortunately it was a grassy trail and my backside is reasonably well padded, so it wasn't all that painful, but I collected a LOT of dirt and weeds in many bits of the bike, and my hip is letting me know about it today too.
Later we came to an incredibly steep uphill that there was no way we were going to ride up (or down, for that matter, waaaay too scary), even walking up it was difficult. Note to self: get cycling shoes with some grip. Amanda managed to slip over and land the bike on top of her. I was already at the top and went down to bring her bike the rest of the way up for her. And this time she actually drew blood! On her knee. She bravely cycled on (we passed more sheep or perhaps it was the same gang following us). There were no more adventures, and it didn't even rain on us.
The park is beautiful, lots of panoramic views without very many people at all. Considering both the Mawson and Heysen trails criss-cross the park, that's surprising. We came across one group of about eight walkers, and there were some lads with bikes in the carpark as we were packing up, but that was it. We are starting to get a feel for our location in the park, as it's not really that big. Although there's one whole section to the west that we haven't even ventured in yet... next time perhaps...

Photo: Just to prove it really happened - the blobs near the top of the hill are sheep.

School holidays

2008-07-20T19:39:00.003+09:30

Tonight all the children were asleep by 630pm. It's been a big two weeks! Last night all children were involved in sleepovers, with school friends or cousins, so there were a few late nights. Ryan deserves special mention, for apparently waking up at 1230 and playing Wii with his friend until 530, when I woke up and told them it was too early to get up and to go back to bed. They did go back to bed fortunately but were totally wiped by tonight. He also managed to lose his loose tooth tonight - it's only been loose for a couple of days but he worried at it so much that it's already out, most of the root intact. So different to Bethany, who will just ignore the loose tooth for weeks until it falls out of its own accord.
We did lots of stuff these holidays. Celebrated Ella's birthday, including a visit to a new playhouse cafe in Salisbury which everyone enjoyed.

Photo: Lucy having a ball. Geddit? I'm so funny.

Photo: Hard to see, but at the front table, no 29, Ryan, Nicole and Hannah are reading. It's a play cafe guys! You're supposed to PLAY not read!

Photo: Just Bethany doing her thing.

We had Michael visit from Melbourne again which is always a lot of fun. He even cooked dinner (those photos will be appearing on Facebook).

Photo: Sophie and Michael in funny-face mode post dinner cooking

We went rollerskating, cleverly planning for mum and Michael to come with us, so they could help the kids and Nicole and I could just skate like we were cool again.

Photo: Bethany rollerskating

We met my friend Karena in Adelaide for great Greek lunch and saw a Japanese anime which was very good. There was only one slight problem when we sat down to watch and the movie started. In Japanese. Subtitled fortunately but still made it rather boring for poor Hannah and Sophie. I didn't get to see all the movie but I now am quite familiar with the toilets and corridor of the Palace Cinema.
The kids had a cooking class at Regency TAFE. Nicole and I stayed and helped with the younger ones, but Ryan and Bethany were in a longer class with no parents. They really really enjoyed it - they felt so grown up that they got to fry chicken and various other things to do with high temperatures. And the food they made was yummy.
Ryan attended a cartooning workshop at the library, while the girls and I hung out and read books for an hour and a half (a real chore, that).
We went swimming too, at Starplex, where the pool is heated to about 60 degrees (or at least it feels like that!). Just the thing for a freezing cold day. It was good prep for Sophie too, who starts swimming lessons this term. She is sometimes unexpectedly timid, so I'm not sure whether she'll be too scared to get much out of her lessons. But she got very comfortable in the water, even putting her head under a few times.
So it seems like we had busy holidays, but we did have down time too. We managed to fit in much playing of Sims 2 and the Wii, including the newest game, Rayman Raving Rabbits (thanks Mikey, best houseguest ever!), plenty of jumping on the trampoline, and various other fun things. Oh, and also digging a trench, so the pipe that sprung a huge hole could get dug out and replaced. Hooray for friendly plumber neighbours.

I love school holidays. Tomorrow, it's up early, making lunches, getting everyone organised, rushing to school, every day, for another ten weeks... sigh

Wrong numbers

2008-07-07T16:10:00.001+09:30

The last two nights I have been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night by the phone for wrong numbers. On Saturday night, I was all warm (finally!), but fortunately not asleep, after getting home late from the movies (Get Smart rocked, even if dinner didn't). I didn't appreciate racing out of bed for the mobile and a 'private number' that hung up when I answered. Thanks for that. And last night, in bed and warm but also not asleep after staying up way too late discussing the foibles of German women, the home phone rang. FIVE times over the course of half an hour from 1130pm, some woman tried to speak to someone who clearly wasn’t me. In the end I was just answering with 'It's still the wrong person' and she finally gave it up. How rude! Because of course when the phone rings the first time you panic - why on earth is someone ringing in the middle of the night? And then to keep ringing in the hopes I have moved out and the correct person is now going to answer is just totally uncalled for. Fortunately this woman's number came up on the Caller ID. I plan to call her tonight at midnight to see how she likes it (well, perhaps not, but I entertained thoughts of calling her at 530am when I got woken up - I bet SHE was sound asleep then!).

They grow up WAY too fast

2008-07-06T20:32:00.002+09:30

Tonight I had 'the talk' with Ryan. I thought it was about time as I'd read somewhere that puberty starts at around age 10 for boys. I was surprised how little he already knew (nothing, actually) about puberty and sex. He said no-one at school talks about it. I guess his friends are all around his age or younger, so perhaps it's just not something that interests them yet. I think I did okay. He listened with interest, with just a little chuckle when I explained the actual mechanics of how a baby is made (and I agree, it's a pretty funny concept!). I also had a book for him called Puberty Boy (which I bought NEW for the daylight robbery price of $29.95) which looks pretty comprehensive. I told him he might find it interesting now, or it might be something he doesn't want to read or think about for a while yet. He was kind of interested but mostly non-committal. That's okay, I've done my motherly duty now. :)
And as we lay in his bed, me watching him absorb the new and interesting information I'd just given him, I cried. My baby is nearly 10. That little boy who would bravely fight sleep at all cost, loved his Cookie Monster toy, wanted to be a paleontologist at age 3, and is still full of the innocence and joy of childhood, is heading always closer to becoming a man. It's cliched and we say it all the time, but where oh where have those TEN years gone?!

I also see the passing of time in Bethany. As well as 'seven being the hardest age' as I've been told, she is having friendship issues at school. It's very hard to see your sweet innocent little girl having to make choices and begin to understand some of the less pleasant aspects of human nature at seven. She has one friend, who some of her other friends are fond of calling 'fatty pants' and teasing in other ways, and she really doesn't know how to handle it. She doesn't want to speak up against her 'cool friends' but she also likes the 'daggy friend'. She is a great pacifier, one who likes to keep the waters smooth and have everyone like her. She doesn't understand why the others would want to be mean, but is really worried if she says something they will be mean to her as well. On a slightly different level, her two closest friends also take turns being friends with her or being mean to her (although to be fair, I suspect she participates in this as well). There's also another girl who is particularly disruptive to the friendship groups, largely due to jealousy I suspect - but how do you explain these concepts to someone who is seven?

And the thing to look forward to? TWO MORE girls who will have to deal with these problems in the years to come. Anyone want to borrow them for about the next 10 or 12 years?

Counting the carbons

2008-07-01T20:53:00.003+09:30

Kyle over at Green with a Gun has created a spreadsheet to measure consumption, using a unit of measure he calls the carbon.
His post on it contains all the details, but basically he's averaged out what each person in the world should be consuming (in terms of carbons) and then also crunched a bunch of numbers to work out what all sorts of things are worth in carbons.
It's then relatively straightforward, you put in your numbers for the month and it tells you how you compare to the the rest of the world and also to the ultimate goal, which is carbon-neutral.
I had a look at it tonight and put in some guesstimates for July and we come out at -75 carbons per person for the month. The aim is of course to be at 0 or in the black. Average Western consumption is -1000 carbons, average world wide is -312. So we are not doing too badly at all. But mine are very rubbery estimates, particularly on things like food consumption - I bet that ends up way more than I guessed, when I actually measure it. It will be interesting to see how we track.
Of course, keeping my children malnourished and hypothermic sure helps to keep that carbon expenditure down - I knew there was a reason for it!

Lucy's birthday

2008-06-29T20:41:00.003+09:30

Lucy's birthday and party were today. Everything as expected. Lots of excited children, happy adults, yummy food, a very cute birthday cake and a gorgeous birthday girl.

All the cousins.

And earlier in the day, I sent my kids to play outside. This is what I found them doing. Which is hilarious if you are aware what I spend much of MY free time doing!

Last week I put all the kids hair in little tiny buns to try and make it curly. Even Ryan wanted in on the action. As you can see, it worked! For a while anyway, until it reverted to its normal dead straight.

Celebrities

2008-06-28T21:26:00.003+09:30

We are currently local celebrities, being stopped in the streets for autographs and just so people can gaze upon us.
Well perhaps not quite, but lots of people have commented about our latest appearance in the local paper.
Sophie and I appeared near the front of the paper in relation to a Cycling and Walking Plan that I was involved in developing
.

Bethany appears in the photo accompanying the writeup of the school production. It's a bit hard to see but she is just to the right of centre in the front row. You can also see the back of Ella's head in the audience as she watches.

A Hannah funny

2008-06-28T21:06:00.002+09:30

Hannah is on the SRC at school - they have two children from each class and Hannah nominated because she knew Ryan was already on there. At SRC they decided to have a charity fundraiser to raise money for the people of Burma. She was so cute for a while trying to pronounce Myanmar. After I explained that the name Myanmar had been imposed by the violent ruling junta, we decided that we should refer to the country as Burma. Anyway, the fundraiser they decided on was Spare Change Week. She's been reminding us for weeks that Week 10 is Spare Change Week for Burma. We are just about to enter week 10 so she was trying to work out exactly what to do. 'Do we wear our school uniforms?' she asked. I explained that it wasn't Wear what you want day so yes she'd have to wear her uniform. 'But when do we get changed?' she wanted to know. Bringing spare change to school of course meant a spare change of clothes! We explained what was meant and she gave a little laugh, 'oh THAT kind of change' (although I don't think she's probably ever heard of coins referred to as change before.

New mountain bike

2008-06-22T20:19:00.003+09:30

As you can see by the pic (and probably deduce from the title of this post), last week I did buy a new mountain bike. An Orbea Sherpa. The child I already owned.

As much as I love it, there is a whole bunch of buyer's remorse associated with it. Of course, there is the fact that it is NEW, to start with. Not to mention I spent approximately 50% more than my budget. Oops. And then, there is a whole lot of other buying of things that is required for a bike. For example, I need a bottle cage for it. I pilfered one off a child's bike, but it is too little and won't fit a fullsize water bottle on. I also need a bike pump holder (I can swap the pump from bike to bike though). And it didn't even have a rear reflector (illegal to ride on the roads). I pinched that off an old child's bike too. I knew there was a reason I had a shed full of bikes!
And I'd really like a bike computer for it. So I know how fast I'm hooning down hills and how far I've travelled. While I'm wishing, I'd actually like a GPS for it. Well, it is a MOUNTAIN bike.
Seriously, it would come in useful. Today my mountain-biking friend Amanda and I went to Cudlee Creek National Park, where there are lots of trails. We cruised around for a couple of hours, having no more than a vague idea where we were at any one time. We randomly took a turn that actually ended up right back near the start, but we could just have easily roamed around in the bush for days.
And a way cool mountain biking story, especially for my overseas readers. Well, I thought it was very cool, the kids were a little less excited. But then they'd been at a circus this morning so I guess they were over animal antics.
While we were out in the middle of nowhere today, Amanda nearly got knocked off her bike. By a kangaroo! Well, three of them actually. I was ahead of her and saw them hopping along to the right of us. I stopped at the bottom of the hill to wait for her and watched them still hopping along. They caught sight of me and changed direction, right across the trail! They jumped down off the hillside, the first one in front of Manda, the second over her head and the last one behind. I guess I'm glad she didn't get knocked off, but what a cool story she'd have to tell about her injuries.

Little drummer boy

2008-06-19T20:58:00.006+09:30

For the last I don't know how many weeks, the kids have been working hard at school on a drama production. The school is extremely lucky to have a very talented drama teacher, who is well known for his large scale spectaculars so we were all awaiting this one with anticipation. The performances were today, and the show lived up to the hype.

Bethany was a love dancer and had a quite complicated dance to remember.
Ryan was a sprite/drummer and had, well, a drumming routine that we all got to remember very well after he's practised it on every surface over the last couple of months.

Even though I've heard the drumming over and over and over and over and over again recently, I was amazed during the actual show, about how great it sounded. And totally totally amazed by my son. Up there, playing the drums, holding the beat, enjoying himself. I was so ridiculously proud it's kind of embarrassing. But at least I was sitting next to Paul, who was possibly even prouder than me.
Bethany did beautifully as well, remembered most of her dance and smiled at the audience.

Bethany before the performance.

Ryan and friends at the wild, crazy after-party. That's right, playing chess.

Bethany dancing. She's pretty much bang in the middle.

I'm being an indulgent proud mama and putting up three videos of Ryan drumming. These were taken by my mum at the evening performance (there were three performances in total today, although the kids tonight were quite buzzing and were hopeful they'd get a chance to do it again tomorrow).

I willn't be two any more!

2008-06-17T21:09:00.004+09:30

Sophie turned three! I guess I need to stop calling her my baby now, huh? She's a big girl, and we better not forget it...
The usual extended birthday celebration ensued - dinner at the Gawler Arms on Sunday night with 'cousins' and nana and papa, and then dinner at Fasta Pasta with Paul on Monday (her actual birthday).
The winner present was the trampoline. I was going to get her a bike, but by chance, the chef at our cooking class this week was talking about this way-cool tramp she bought for her little girl, so in an unusual bout of acquisition lust I rushed out and bought one straight away. I set it up in the lounge room and it has been jumped upon many times. Although we haven't yet set up the slide from mum and dad, and that might come close.

Sophie was so ready to be three. She is incredibly precocious, but fortunately incredibly cute with it. Her current favourite thing is to sing the national anthem, first AND second verses.
Most of her cute pronunciations have disappeared over the last little while, but there are still a few around - 'willn't' instead of 'won't' is my favourite.

Sophie and Charlotte with Sophie's icecream cake at the Gawler Arms.

All children assembled for a photo. Business as usual...

Sophie with her daddy, and her 'three balloon' which came to dinner with us.

One for Adam and Eva: Lucy meets Huck for the first time.

Sophie on the trampoline!

Buy Nothing New update

2008-05-31T21:52:00.002+09:30

Since we are rapidly approaching the middle of the year (what, you mean Sophie is three soon? And Lucy is ONE??!!!) I thought I might just ramble a bit about not buying stuff.
I've done very well, I think, with not buying stuff. Some of my happy finds are the big new tv for $70, and the child seat for my bike for nothing (thanks Freecycle). Although I still haven't fitted it to the bike...
One thing that is really hard is the non-immediacy of not buying new things. For example, Hannah wanted some black long sleeved tops to wear under her school t-shirts. Normally, you'd just head down to BigW and pick something up. But I have to just keep it in my head, and keep an eye out when I hit the op shops or garage sales for something that fits the bill. Children's clothes in general are difficult. Kids will keep growing, and the seasons will keep changing. I've bought some things on ebay which I've found a bit frustrating - when I do actually win something, I feel like I pay more than I would at an op shop (but of course less than I would new) and I'm not exactly sure that posting things across the country really fits with the general environmental theme. With op shops, most kids stuff is hideously daggy or of course, never the right size. I'm doing better about buying out-of-season clothes though, if something looks nice and will approximately fit a child of mine, I'll buy it generally, but I do still have a mental block about looking at shorts in winter.
One thing I caved and bought for myself after a long time of looking is a pair of tracksuit pants. I was after something with narrow legs that I could wear on the bike when I didn't want to get all dudded up in the lycra. I didn't want to go with parachute pants, or anything with bands around the bottom, so that pretty much ruled out everything in any op shop I've ever ventured into. In total fitting with this year's Back to the early 90's theme, I ended up buying a surf brand (although not Rusty or Stussy, which would have really fit into the retro theme). And it still took me trying on approximately 400 pairs in a sports/surf shop to find some that were okay, and then paying an exorbitant price just because they have some glittery logo plastered across the butt. But they are nice and narrow-legged, and very comfy. I can see why some people wear trackies all the time!
The next big purchase I see looming is a mountain bike. I've been thinking that I would buy a second-hand one, since for the same price I could get a better quality bike, but Michael convinced me (admittedly it didn't take much convincing) that the problem with a 2nd hand bike, particularly a mountain bike, is that you don't know what's happened to it in the past. It might have, for example, thrown someone off and caused them to roll down a mountain breaking both their shoulders or something. And then sit there all innocent looking just waiting for its next victim. Plus I don't know enough about the components to know what's a good bargain secondhand. All this, tied in nicely with some bonus money from work, points me to buying a new bike. Soon. Of course I don't know where I'd put it as the garage is full of bikes already. Scarily, for a family of five, we own nine bikes!

I love my kids

2008-05-11T21:48:00.005+09:30

It's so much fun having the kids old enough to get really excited about things like Mother's Day. They had been secretly planning my breakfast in bed for a couple of days. There were even a bowl and cup left in my room so they could do practice breakfasts.
I couldn't decide whether we should go out for breakfast (pancakes!) or have breakfast in bed (cold toast and soggy cereal). In the end, sentiment won out over taste...
There was no sleep-in to be had of course, Hannah was awake at about 545 as per usual, and she was out stirring up the other children soon after. I lay in bed listening to muttering and clinking noises. Soon afterwards my grand feast was brought in. All on plastic dishes, to reduce the risk of breakage while carrying them. Very sensible. And yes, cold toast and soggy cereal. And juice and water in (plastic) wine glasses! But all very delicious and beautifully presented. Ryan was of course directing the show, Bethany and Hannah brought the food in,

Photo: Bethany and Hannah with the feast. You can't see the time, but it's about 6:07am at this point!
then Sophie brought my cards in (on a plastic platter, naturally). These were gorgeous, of course. I think there were about six cards, the kids had all made some at school, then one at home signed by all of them, and some others they'd made at home as well. My very favourite bit is on Bethany's card, on the very back. It says 'BLURB. a card from the love of Bethany to mum'.

We took some time after the food was delivered, to remember Poppy, who died on Mother's Day last year. I had got the phone call from Paul just as I was eating my soggy cereal, in fact.

Photo: Sophie delivering my cards.

Photo: Me enjoying my juice in bed.

After the cards, all the kids sang 'Happy Mother's Day' to me.
And then Ryan got the good job - giving me my present. Which well and truly rocked. Wii Fit!! I was obviously pleased with the gift, but more so that the children had thought of it as something I would like. Ryan was at great pains to reassure me that they got it for me, not for themselves. And I am also pleased that Paul is quite happy to help the children buy gifts for me (and of course to pay for the vast majority of it). It is so important for the children to be able to show their love of both parents without feeling that they have to take sides or we resent each other. Choosing and purchasing gifts for a parent is an important development ritual and I am so glad it can be done in the right spirit.
On with the story...
In a true bit of serendipity, we'd only discovered the day before that our tv was not working (we turn it on very infrequently) and I'd happened upon one at a garage sale that was in good condition at a great price, so I'd picked it up in case our old one was unfixable (it's been fixed plenty of times before, I figured my luck's bound to run out one day). So, essentially, it could have been a sad present because we might not have been able to play it, but it all worked out in the end. Well, kind of, since the new tv doesn't fit into our tv cabinet, so it is currently on a coffee table in front of the old cabinet, making the lounge look messy. Yes, it's only the new tv making it look messy. Not the dozens of clothes strewn over the chairs, or the cups left on the table, or the papers all over the computer desk, or all the school bags in a pile in the corner, or the ladder in the middle of the room. All those things just add to the character of the place. The tv though, that's messy. I digress. Here's a photo of me happy with my new toy. I was pleased to see it was packed in with folded cardboard inserts, not styrofoam. Yay, Nintendo.

Photo: Sophie finishing off my cereal.

After the tv setup drama, we had a play on the Wii. And it is so much fun. Highly amusing watching Ryan trying to keep a virtual hula hoop spinning by wiggling around like a maniac. Or Sophie trying to header soccer balls. Or Hannah and Bethany going for a jog on the spot. Oh, Sophie was a classic at jogging. She could not jog on the spot and so ran four steps forwards and backwards about a million times. Highly amusing. I'm sure it's not amusing in the slightest to watch me trying to ski slalom or do the Tree yoga pose.
After much play it was off to the playground at the Aquatic Centre for lunch with the family. Besides the usual suspects we had Tanya's parents and Eva's parents which was nice. Oh, and Emily's boyfriend. Who seems very nice as well. Ha ha ha Emily has a boyfriend!!

Photo: Charlotte and Sophie taking high tea. Note Charlotte's pram full of stuff that must come with her everywhere.

Photo: Which one is the tree? Haunting impersonation.

Photo: Great Nana and her kids (with Jake standing in for Tony). This is the first photo I took and everyone is smiling! I didn't need to take seventeen extra ones after this.

Photo: Miscellaneous people eating and talking.

Photo: More people eating and talking.

Ryan must be growing up, he didn't want to play on the playground much. And he hadn't brought a book, so there was nothing for him to do except ask every 2.5 minutes whether it was time to go home yet. I gave him the camera and he took unannounced profile shots of everyone at lunch. I will refrain from posting any, but suffice to say, not one of them is flattering!

Making yogurt

2008-04-27T21:15:00.002+09:30

I realised that one way we generate a lot of waste is by eating so much yogurt. First I stopped buying those little six or twelve packs and just stuck to the kilo cartons but I'm not so sure there is any economy there as it still tends to get all eaten at one sitting!
I thought I'd give making yogurt a go. I had a look online and there were tons of people saying how easy, cheap and delicious making your own yogurt is. It's a fairly simple process, making it from scratch: you boil some milk (to kill any nasties in it) then let it cool to blood temp, add some starter culture (other yogurt), and then keep it at blood temp for 8 hours or so. Fiddly, but essentially simple, right? There is a contraption out there that is supposed to make yogurt making Easi (geddit?), and I managed to procure one of these from the Freecycle list (have I explained Freecycle before? you can list things you want to get rid of that are too much hassle to sell but too good to throw out. you can also ask for things - I asked for the Easi-Yo as I figured it was the sort of thing people would have sitting in the back of their cupboard).
First I tried to make yogurt from scratch as described above, using the Easi-You to maintain the temp as required. It didn't turn into yogurt. Fine, perhaps I didn't let the milk cool enough, or maybe the starter yogurt didn't actually have any live cultures, whatever. I tried again. Still no good.
Then I bought the sachets of yogurt starter from Easi-Yo. These are pretty foolproof - add water, shake, put in the contraption (basically a big thermos) with boiling water around. Easy, right? Well, I got yogurt. But it was sour. I snuck it into smoothies and things but there is no way you could eat it straight. I tried this a couple of times, always sour. Then I wised up and figured maybe there were some bad bugs living in the plastic container you make it in. So a good scrub, and soak in vinegar. In the meantime Nicole gave me a whole bunch of the starter sachets she had at home (yes, she's one of those with a EY sitting in the back of the cupboard!).
So these, I can't get to work either. One time I got something that was kind of like cottage cheese, another time I got essentially just a lot of greenish whey. At least they're not sour. The sachets are just out of date (early April?) but you wouldn't really think that would make a huge amount of difference, right? Sure it's live cultures in there, but they're freeze-dried or something. A couple of weeks isn't going to make much difference, surely.
I can't believe that I, master of following instructions and cooking stuff, can't even make yogurt! However, I will bravely soldier on. I won't let ten or so failed attempts stop me. One day, I will make my own yogurt, and it will be DELICIOUS!!

Oh my god, it's raining!

2008-04-27T21:10:00.001+09:30

A Day at the Zoo

2008-04-24T20:30:00.004+09:30

Today we went to the zoo with a family we are friends with from school. The three children are the same ages as my oldest three, and in the same classes. Very convenient.
I was really motivated to get to the zoo these holidays after Sophie started asking a bunch of questions about how a zoo worked and it was clear she didn't remember at all the last time we visited (to be honest, I don't remember how long ago it was either). Sophie is very scared of animals though (will not let me put her down when we are at a house that has a cat, even if said cat is outside, for example) and she was a bit worried about all the animals that could be at a zoo. Of course a zoo without animals is really just a fancy garden, but she would have been happy with that, I suspect. The only animal she thought she would be happy to see was the hippo. I didn't have the heart to tell her they are actually extremely dangerous. She made me promise not to go anywhere near lions or tigers, even after we talked about cages and fences.
We had a lovely day though - the weather was perfect and all kids behaved extremely well. We didn't see all the animals, but we enjoy our visits there much more now we don't try and race around to see everything.

Sophie kept matchmaking every group of animals - 'look, there's the mummy and there's the baby. where's the sister?' and remained convinced the crocodiles were fake. Okay, they weren't moving, and they were 'silver, not green' so I can see why she thought that.
She was pretty happy to see the hippos early on in the day - they must have just cleaned out the tank and were just filling it up again, so the hippos weren't hidden underwater.

I got my first surprise when she didn't freak out at the siamangs, which were very noisy as usual. She had a great time watching them and laughing at the funny noises they made. I don't have any photos of the one that was hanging right out of the tree as far as it could reach to get as close to the humans as possible. Hannah was taking photos at that time and there are a lot of the lovely lush trees but none of the actual monkeys.

Sophie happily walked through the rainforest exhibit spotting different birds. I commented to Sonia that she must have not realised that there weren't actually any barriers between us and the birds.

We were totally astounded when we made it to the children's zoo and Sophie happily patted rabbits, chicks and a quokka. She loved the quokka, although I didn't get a photo of that.

And, yes, in the photo following you can see my totally animal-paranoid daughter standing right up next to a kangaroo and patting it with both hands! Amazing. Next to her is Hannah, and in the foreground Toby.

We made it to the lions, which are in quite an open enclosure, and she was even happy to hang out watching them for a while. I think she finally realised they couldn't actually get out!
The tigers were harder to find - they have built these gorgeous plant-filled enclosures where you are slightly elevated above the ground, but of course it's ridiculously hard to find the actual animals. Bring back the days of a lone tiger pacing back and forth in a barren cage, I say. At least you can actually see them! But we did catch a glimpse of the one tiger's stripy back way back behind the trees if we ducked down and looked under the railing. And in the other enclosure you could see some movement way back at the back of the enclosure behind the trees which was presumably the tiger.

Photo: Ryan and Mitchell ham it up in the rainforest walk.

Photo: My biggest baby all worn out in the pram.

One cool but gross thing we saw was the ghost bats in the nocturnal house eating. They were eating chicks, hanging upside down, holding the chicks around the necks and eating their brains out through their beaks. Actually the nocturnal house was the only place Sophie got spooked. It was dark and there were lots of kids running around, so it's understandable.

And a funny - Sophie kept asking the keepers if we could buy the animals. Fortunately she wasn't too ambitious with this, her favourites were the guinea pigs and rabbits.

Double century

2008-04-20T20:58:00.002+09:30

This weekend, two 100's. The second was filling my car with petrol and having it total $100.77. What?! That is just wrong.
But the first was way more exciting - I rode my first 100k ride on the bike. Actually it was more like 120k in the end, but I set out to do 100. It was a beautiful day and I headed out well. I rode my standard path into the city, through DSTO and then back streets, to avoid Main North Road, then I headed down the linear trail along the Torrens, then along the beach to Semaphore (where I bumped into Dianne, walking down Semaphore Road), then back through Port Adelaide to home. And because I'm a geek, hopefully the map I made will work. I had two punctures, the first times ever I've had a puncture I've had to fix on the road (the other couple of times have been slow leaks I haven't noticed until later). I was out on the bike for about 7 hours, but my computer told me I spent 5.5 hours actually riding (I also stopped for some lunch). I averaged around the 22km/hr mark which I was very happy with. The roads are almost all flat, but there was a headwind coming home, which made the last 30 or so km slower going.

Rachel's 120

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Hannah is five

2008-04-10T20:45:00.005+09:30

Hannah's birthday, and as always at our house, a party-alooza. On her actual birthday we had dinner at the Bluegums with Paul (essentially overpriced pub fare) and an icecream cake later at his house. The following week (when I'd finally got my act together) she had her party. She chose bowling, which turned out to be lots of fun. Dad and one of the other dads stayed and helped out, leaving mum and I and another mum free to sit back and chat. Much fun and sugar was had by all (the best party ever, again, apparently). And her cake was well received. Well, actually not really, it was a caramel mudcake whale, not high on kids yum list apparently. But Hannah and I liked it and that's the main thing really.

The other photo here is of Hannah's class presenting assembly, which was very exciting. She also got to go out the front for everyone to sing happy birthday. There is a little video here too, of her speaking into the microphone at assembly.

A 'How To' for less junk

2008-04-10T19:53:00.002+09:30

I'm really impressed with myself lately for the amount of rubbish I've been able to reduce. I put my green bin out tonight - for the first time in NINE weeks! That's right, me and four children took nine whole weeks to fill up a little bitty green bin. And these are not your standard big green bins, ours are only 120L little things.
And my recycle bin is not going out this week either. This is a bigger 240L bin that goes out every other week, but it's only half full. And that's after two children's birthdays as well.
I wanted to post a neat post from Colin at No Impact Man. This is his list of 42 ways to reduce your rubbish. I do quite a bit of it and aim to do more. I really need to start buying many more things in bulk.

Some more photos

2008-03-21T22:07:00.003+10:30

Dad and the giant sunflower.

Lucy discovers toes at the beach. Much tastier than eating sand.

Hannah the cyclist.

Bethany's birthday cake. How on earth did she get seven already?!

The house across the road from us has put up a new fence. Now it looks like a construction site when I go out the front door. There are no big dogs or children to keep in, so what's the guess? Dope house or meth lab?

Photos from Melbourne

2008-03-21T21:29:00.004+10:30

It turns out I actually only took photos while we were in Wye River. So no photos of Michael and not many of anything else. Of course, there wasn't much new and exciting in Melbourne itself anyway. Who needs another photo of a tram? We've got our own here now, thanks very much.

This is the view down the hill from the place we stayed at Wye River. Note the inconveniently placed house right in front of our balcony.

Our house was somewhere up the hill to the right. Everything is way way steeper than it looks too.

We had crimson rosellas and king parrots come visit us as soon as we arrived. In the house was a big jar of sunflower seeds which kept the birds (and humans) occupied.

Steve: thinking deeply or napping?

Darren, our friendly neighbourhood koala. Steve, the resident koala-ologist, managed to spot not just Darren, who hung out in the trees right near our house, but three of his mates as well. Me, I mostly looked at the ground.

Travelling girl

2008-03-20T21:46:00.002+10:30

Thanks to the always amazing mum, dad, Nicole and Raff, I got a leave pass for Five Whole Days to go visit friends in Melbourne. I gather that those that remained in Adelaide had a reasonably good time, both Sophie and Charlotte managed to survive intact and everyone else enjoyed themselves. Ryan churned through even more of the Harry Potters - if Raff would get his act together, he'd have them all finished less than three weeks after starting the first one.

And Melbourne was, well, fabulous. The weather was lovely, a lot nicer than what Adelaide was getting, and of course the company was terrific. I spent two days in Melbourne (Carlton actually, with some visits out to scenic Ringwood) and three days in a little town called Wye River, which was just lovely. Beautiful scenery, cute little house (although the driveway was a tad steep, like we nearly had a heart attack every time we climbed it, not to mention all the stairs at the top of the driveway too) and a great beach.

There were many highlights: World's Best Butter Chicken (tm) at Westfield Ringwood in the car with many exhaust pipes, the longest trip ever from Carlton to Hawthorn via somewhere really far from either place (blame the driver), the bear in the pub, completing the crossword, being taunted by all that chocolate, breakfast at Sugardough, and of course the catamites (don't look it up, it won't help you much and will just make you wonder what really went on!).

I ate a lot, laughed a lot, read a lot, talked a lot (really?!) and perhaps complained a little too much (that stupid Earth Hour!). One thing I didn't do was take a lot of photos. I did take a few but right now the battery on my camera is flat plus I've been shaped. I should get some up soon though.

I am really so grateful to my parents and sister for 'letting' me go - I had such a fun time. And grateful to Steve for letting me stay at his place and wash his dishes - hopefully I didn't get in the way too much ;) and to Michael for cooking me dinner and a whole lot of Awesome.

Swimming

2008-02-28T21:33:00.003+10:30

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

2008-02-28T20:59:00.002+10:30

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!

2008-02-19T21:51:00.002+10:30

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

2008-02-14T20:08:00.002+10:30

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

2008-02-11T15:57:00.000+10:30

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.

Hannah goes to school

2008-01-29T20:38:00.000+10:30

Today was Hannah's first day of school. She was so excited - she's been looking forward to this for about, oh, three years. I bought her a new school bag and shoes a week or so ago (yes I know I'm not meant to be buying anything new, but it's her First Day of School). She wanted to pack her bag and lay out her clothes right there and then. I persuaded her to wait until Sunday (Monday was the Australia Day public holiday but we had a wedding job on so Super-papa was looking after the kids). She laid out Beth's old school uniform and then packed her bag, with many little containers of food - watermelon, dip and crackers, muesli bar, and so on. This morning she was up before 6 and all the other children followed soon after. They were not as excited to return to school, but still eager to see what the new year holds. Everyone was dressed, breakfasted, bags packed and ready by 7am! Except slacker mum who didn't even get in the shower until 730. Kids pushed me out the door just after 8 (we normally leave about 830) and so we got to school nice and early. Did the dropoffs, first Ryan who has a seemingly very organised and efficient female teacher (they do dancing for fitness twice a week, the horror!), next Beth, except her teacher, true to the form we came to expect when Ryan had him two years ago, was still running around like a mad thing getting organised, so she couldn't get in the classroom. So we took Hannah next, she was the first one in her class, just about busting out of her skin as she found her table with her name on it, put on her name badge, took out her fruit snack, found her tray and put her bag on the racks. All the things she's helped Bethany do so many times before, now she was doing it for herself! Her teacher seems lovely, I've heard very good reports. Unfortunately she has the infamous Bronson in her class, who was in Ella's class last year - hopefully this teacher will be better at controlling him. Then back up to Bethany's classroom, where it was smiles all round, as Sinead, Sammy, Lucy and assorted other friends appeared as well. Back down to Hannah's class (Hannah's is at the front of the school, Ryan and Beth close to each other and right at the back) where Hannah told me I had to wait for Nana, who'd put in a surprise appearance but was off visiting Ella (whose classroom is right up near Beth and Ryan). Hannah was still excited, diligently colouring in as directed by her teacher. Sophie was a bit out of sorts, she's desperate to be 5 and at school too. After many hugs and kisses we finally left, without a backwards glance from Hannah who was busy sitting on the floor listening to the teacher.
I did well too, considering my little helper is now off and away. I did have a little tear as I took the photo above, of her at the school entrance. She looks so little and so proud in that uniform. Considering she's starting school while still 4, and in a Reception/1 class, she is nowhere near the smallest child, in fact I'd say she's one of the biggest, not bad for the one we tend to think of as our little one. After school, she told me she'd had a great day and was happy to do it all again tomorrow. All the kids had a good day, although Ryan and Beth were a little less keen for the repeat performance.
So, hmm, only one left at home. They are relentlessly growing up. I still can't believe my little Hannah-bear is a school girl.

The photo below is of the children proudly displaying their school memory books, which Nana traditionally gives them for their fifth birthday. Hannah got hers a bit early as she is not 5 until March. It was hard to pick who was more excited about her book, Hannah or Ryan!

Touring Down Under

2008-01-20T20:36:00.000+10:30

Ryan and I did the Fun Tour today as part of the Tour Down Under. We joined tons of other people in our matching sky blue tshirts and rode from Adelaide to Glenelg and then did a lap or two around the track they used tonight for the TDU Classic. They do 25 laps of the 2km course, took the winner just under 1hr 10. The fastest lap I did was 4min49sec. If I kept that speed for 25 laps (ha!) it would take me just about 2 hours. In my defence though I had to weave through all the much slower riders. And I didn't have lycras on, just a baggy tshirt. Not very aerodynamic at all... Would have shaved at least, oh, two minutes off my time, I'm sure.
Ryan did very well, but struggled a bit on the ride home (since of course we then had to ride back to Adelaide as our car was there). He said he would happily do it again, as long as we didn't have to do the homewards leg. We did about 30km which is pretty big for his little legs.

Too inspiring not to post

2008-01-17T12:34:00.000+10:30

http://casaubonsbook.blogspot.com/2008/01/making-case-for-self-sacrifice.html

Speechless

2008-01-15T23:57:00.000+10:30

Scott Hayman now! Universe, send me Alex Sumpter please...

Photos

2008-01-14T21:23:00.000+10:30

Mostly these are from my old camera, I just retrieved them from the card with the new one.

The nice juicy pile of horsepoo right in front of us at the pageant. Source of endless amusement.

Sophie's latest trick, cross-eyes (though this isn't as extreme as she usually does).

Ryan loves his cricket clothes.

One of Ryan's very first bowls - and caught out!

And a big shout out to Michael who has resurfaced. Yay again Facebook!

We have vision!

2008-01-14T21:04:00.000+10:30

Finally, a new camera! Woo-hoo. A Panasonic Lumix like mum and dads only the newer model. Not sure how this really fits into the Buy Nothing New challenge, since it was an insurance replacement for my old one that Sophie trashed.
Speaking of such things, the BNN challenge is going well. Okay, I know it's only halfway through January, but even so.
It's been nice to be totally switched off buying things. Normally I get the junk mail and have a flick through in case there's some real good deal on something, now it's straight into the recycling. Also my compulsion to sales shop, especially this time of year. I am finding it very liberating to just walk right on by instead of popping into shops just in case there's an offer too good to be true.
I've managed to avoid some big purchases, and some little ones too. Sophie needs a bed for Paul's house (not technically my problem of course - and Paul was on track to buy one) but one came up on Freecycle so I grabbed it. I'm not quite prepared to take a Freecycled mattress for her though...
And I avoided having to buy some new hooks for calendars by the ingenious use of paperclips and blutak. Hannah had a birthday party to attend - I had a book lying around that I'd picked up a while back, and then some cash (which Hannah was very excited to give), so no buying there either. Used recycled wrapping paper too of course.
Bethany was after some new shorts so we popped into the Salvos (which was very well-stocked, must be the post-Christmas house cleanouts) and got a bunch of stuff, plus some trinkety things for the girls (so we still accumulate junk, it's just old junk now :) ).
Went to Maccas the other day, no Happy Meals so no crappy little bits of plastic (actually we've been doing this one for a while).
My next purchasing dilemma though is that my New Internationalist subscription has come due, and technically I guess that's purchasing something new, but I like to read it, and I like for them to get some of my money. Perhaps I can just look at it as a donation with a pleasant side effect? I was happy to see that the library now has a cycling magazine amongst its collection - one less thing to miss out on.

Resolution Time

2008-01-03T21:32:00.000+10:30

Well, it is the new year. I don't normally make resolutions (although last year I made a pretty big one!). I've been inspired by reading some greenie blogs though - greenasathistle, who is adding (or subtracting) a different thing from her life each day to reduce her impact on the environment, and also noimpactman, who is just generally trying to reduce his family's footprint, and also by watching the Story of Stuff (if you haven't already done it, go download the 50MB 20min video NOW).
So, this year's resolution is (drum roll please...) : Buy Nothing New.
Of course, this is not a new idea, by any means. These guys made news all round the world a couple of years ago (apparently, I don't recall it) when a group of 50 friends in San Francisco set a pledge to not buy anything new for 2006. And of course now there's even a yahoo group for it which apparently has almost 9000 members. I found some neat rules for the challenge here which fit pretty closely to how I think I'm going to try and make it work. Of course I don't drink coffee so I don't have to get the guilts about those cups (or sugar packets!).
Just for amusement's sake I will try to run a little sidebar on the blog with a list of the things I've had to buy new. Of course if it gets too long I reserve the right to stop updating it. :)
The other cool comment I liked which is aimed right at those of us who find it all too hard to know what are the 'correct' things to buy and do (or not) to be thoroughly green, was on No Impact Man as well. I won't give away the punchline, but I like it a lot.
Wish me luck! Of course I'll also be doing my usual things to reduce our footprint as well, this just sounded like a neat thing to attempt.

Auld Lang Syne

2008-01-03T19:45:00.000+10:30

It's the season to relive the past obviously. After catching up with Steve before Christmas, today, again very surreally, Sam Warren and her kids came around for lunch and a play. It must have been 12 years or more since I've seen her as well. She's the same as ever too, it was nice to have a good long chat about what we've been up to for so long, and also swap little updates on old school mates. It was funny to see her being a mum - I'm pretty used to me being a mum (although it does still take me by surprise sometimes!) but to see a friend that I last knew as a slightly wild teenager nursing a four month old took some getting used to. :) The kids are very cute and well-behaved, Perrin is five and Jack is the four month old. Perrin was happy to see some kids his age as they've been here (visiting from Perth) staying with Sam's parents for a couple of weeks - lots of grown-up attention but not much kid-play. I found some old photos so we had a bit of fun laughing at what we used to think was stylish fashion (and stylish friends, ha ha Brett B with a perm!).
So now I wonder who else will rock up - Lisa Johnson maybe? [neighbour from Ingle Farm for those who don't remember!].
No photos on account of my camera being broken (stern look at Sophie).

If wishes were horses

2007-12-31T12:08:00.000+10:30

We played a game invented by Ryan yesterday. First we had to write down what we would buy if we had unlimited money and the person that wrote the most things won (always got to be a competitive element with him). Then we had to write down what we would wish for and again the person that wrote the most won. It amused us for about 15 minutes, but I really liked the wish lists - here they are:
Ryan - world peace; 1 trillion dollars; no poor people; everyone has computer; no-one dies a painful death; my room is permantly clean; no global warming; every non-living thing was made of chocolate or lollies, when you ate something it would come back; everyone was nice; I could see what the future would be like; I could see what the past was like; I am realy strong; no one breaks the law; I have super speed; I can go invisible; I can create forse fields; I can strech really far.
I love the way it starts well and then degenerates into superhero envy :)

Bethany - Sammy Sinead nice [even at six, girls can be right nasty at times]; me not to ever dye [this then crossed out - because, she said later, and Ryan agreed, that she didn't want to put this cos she didn't want to be alive at the end of the world]; be rich one day; Sophie never scratch; Sinead changes from Ms Gregory to Mr McKay; not be a drout [drought]; never dye [crossed out again]; me get the most counters [our reward system at home]; me grow up fast [no, please it's already happening too fast!]; tomorrow xmas again; we live in snowy place; me in guniss would record [guiness world records]; baby born do poos [ha ha!].
Bethany's is a lot smaller world, but an interesting insight into the mind of a six year old.

Charlotte's birthday tomorrow

2007-12-24T20:41:00.000+10:30

I've been teasing my kids at bedtime, saying I can't wait until tomorrow because it's Charlotte's birthday. They're horrified I forgot it's Christmas as well. They worked hard to set up their little table for Santa - the photo is bad cos it's off my phone. There are some biscuits (we had intended to make letter biscuits today to spell SANTA but ran out of time so had to raid the cupboard), homemade eggnog (yum! a new tradition I think, only next time I'll remember the brandy to add to the adults one!), some carefully chosen ornaments, photos of the children (to make sure he knows he's at the right house) and a note (complete with pen for reply from Santa).
I have strict orders to remember to put carrots out for the reindeer (they forgot before bedtime) and to turn the lights on the tree and outside.
The other photo is the kids and our other tradition of new pyjamas on Christmas Eve. Normally they get them just before bed but today they opened them in the morning and made a good attempt at wearing them all day - Hannah even wore them when she went next door to play, but later came back and changed.
The children spent much of the day playing next door which helped the day pass quicker for all concerned, and had the added bonus of tiring them out for an easy bedtime. My wonderful parents called by with dinner (*that* can become a new tradition too, thanks!) which was exciting and noisy but also helped tire them out.
So a few more bits and pieces for me to do here (like put those carrots out!) then I have to be to bed early too so I don't keep Father Christmas away.
Merry Christmas to all, particularly those who are not here to share it with us. Talk to you tomorrow guys!

Yay for the interwebs!

2007-12-24T20:26:00.000+10:30

How did we ever survive before there was such a thing as the world wide web? Specifically such wonders as Facebook. Recently, thanks to FB, I got back in contact with my friend Steve who I spent a lot of time with at university and then promptly lost contact with. We had lunch on Sunday which was a very cool and surreal experience. It was very strange to be chatting to someone who looked so familiar to me (he hasn't changed a bit, and was kind enough to say the challenges of all those children hadn't aged me either!), but who was also so unfamiliar, since a lot of things have happened in the last twelve years. Although, other than the catching up on what we've both been doing (only five minutes of course, I mean, how long does it take to discuss marriage (me), four children (mine of course), un-marriage (me again), various jobs (both of us, him more so) and traversing around the world (him, darn it)?), the rest of the time, it was like we'd been hanging out forever still. Talking rubbish and getting picked on, mostly. :P Oh and drinking chai lattes (yay, a convert!). It's a shame he lives a million miles away (what's not to love about Adelaide? some people...).

Running hot and cold

2007-12-24T20:16:00.000+10:30

Sophie and Charlotte have a real hot and cold relationship. Most of the time they are best friends, but occasionally, a rift opens between them. Usually when we first get together, they size each other up to determine what mood each is in. Sophie has taken to asking me 'Charlotte not sick today? Charlotte not tired?' to help gauge the reception she'll get. If one or the other has that dark look in their eyes, the other steers well clear for a while, otherwise it ends up with pushes, scratches and sometimes bites. Never for long though, and soon afterwards they will be playing happily together again. It just means we all need to be on the watch, trying to prevent a serious injury suddenly occurring. The other day, Sophie somehow managed to draw blood from inside Charlotte's mouth... At Charlotte's party on Saturday, at one stage Sophie belted Charlotte with a plate causing tears, and then moments later, they were happily outside together setting the table with said plate. As they get more verbal, the arguments get more amusing. Again on Charlotte's birthday, one of them was cranky with the other. 'You're yucky' they started. 'No, you're yucky', back and forwards a few times until it escalated a little. 'I'm yummy, you're yucky'. 'No, me yummy, you yucky!' and finally, 'Nana yummy, Nicole yummy, Mummy yummy, me yummy, you YUCKY!' had all the adults laughing.

Bad for your elf

2007-12-15T13:29:00.000+10:30

Everybody's doin' it...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1412758052

Calling Father Christmas

2007-11-21T22:02:00.000+10:30

The kids sat down to write their Christmas lists the other day:
Ryan (typed up on computer with a Christmas tree border)
Christmas List
- drum set
- a sim card for our mobile phone [my old one he seems to have adopted]
- a battery for our mobile phone
- a helmet for cricket
- a thigh pad for cricket
- Epic Movie on DVD
- The Simpsons Movie on DVD
- All (or most) of the Simpsons seasons on DVD
- Ben Ten Season 3 on DVD
- The Simpsons Game, Sing Star and V8 Supercars on Xbox 360
- Another Xbox 360 controller

A boy of simple wants...

And Bethany's (handwritten in many colours and decorated)
Things I want for Chrismas.
Take Care of Your Pet from Girl Tech (some tamagotchi like thing I think)
Cat Alive
Big Bubbles
Tidy room
The whole set of the Pet Keper Fairys [books]
Two Beanie Kids
AND OTHERS

Hannah's (written out by Bethany, then copied by Hannah and the two pages stapled into a book)
What Hannah wants for Chrismas
High heel shoes
Kids cooking book [she already has a number of these, but wants more, just like her mum!]
Tidy room
New clothes and pjs
Bratz book
Alion like Ryan [a test-tube alien like Ryan got for his birthday]
AND OTHERS [this one is there to cover anyone else who wants buy presents apparently!]

Tonight too, the kids made me some Christmas cards. The girls want to give theirs to me on Christmas but I got a sneak peek (since they left it right here on the computer table). The words inside say 'Mum I love you for the beut you do. [I think this is meant to be beautiful things?] I love you however you are - but for this special day I am happy to say: Merry Chrismas and a Happy New Year. With a Chrismasy lot of love from Bethany and Hannah! And then a picture of Mrs Santa.

Ryan's was great:

Dear Mum,
Mummy, I love you
For all that you do
I'll kiss you and hug you
'Cause you love me too

You feed me and need me
to teach you to play
So smile 'cause I love you
on this fantastic Christmas day
------------
My mum is very sweet and always caring
She worries about me when I'm in school
She makes sure I get where I am going
On time so I don't feel like a fool
She cares whenever I pick on my little sisters
She cares when we get hurt
She cares whenever I hit a wicket in cricket
She cares about the buttons on my shirt
--------------------
But best of all, my mum loves all of us
who live with her, both when we're good or bad.
She makes me happy with a hug and kiss,
and holds my hand whenever I am sad.
So Merry Christmas Mum, like every child wishes.
--------------------
I love you and I know you love me, we both enjoy Christmas and the holidays, but thanks for comforting me at those times and I know you will this Christmas. Thanks for everything Mum and have a merry Christmas.
---------------------
Mum has four kids, works hard all day
Undoing the damage of time, wind and clay
Makes the whole world want to stop, sigh and stay.

[end]
So, wow. I was all teary by the end of that, such lovely sentiments and well written too. Then of course he adds 'I wrote some of that, the rest is Mother's Day poems off the internet'. Ha ha, still sweet though. He wrote the one that mentions cricket and the words about comforting him at Christmas (!).

Ah kids, love 'em. I'd upload some photos but I got shaped and my connection's waaaayyyy toooo slow to even consider it for another week or so.

Cycling fiends

2007-11-08T21:59:00.000+10:30

In my attempt to get the children hooked into cycling as well, I took them on the Big City Ride last weekend. It was good fun. The ride was marshalled, well signed and off the roads for the most part, so Ryan was happy he could race ahead of us. People we know from school were also there, so Ryan rode with them a lot of the time. Bethany pedalled hard, but there was so much to see that it was hard for her to concentrate on riding a lot of the time (and 'KEEP LEFT!'). The ride was 19km (supposedly, though my bike computer said it was 16km), two hours or so, and mostly through the parklands and along the river. Very nice way to see a different side of the city. The kids loved it and are very keen to do it again next year, but with better bikes (cycling is a fun hobby, but expensive!). Beth's bike is a single-gear, and some of the hills were a bit steep (we walked up three I think, me only in sympathy with her).
The other part of the plan was for me to tow the two littlies in my newly-acquired bike trailer, but after a test drive the day before, they decided it was too uncomfortable for an extended period (and it's a bit frustrating for me too - the clamp that joins the trailer to the bike slips under too much exertion, like hills or bumps or if I decide to go fast, and then I have to get off and jiggle the clamp around). I might look into getting a different sort of connector thingummy.
The littlies ended up staying with mum and dad, and then they all came in and met us as we finished the ride.

Sophie's birth story

2007-10-28T19:09:00.001+10:30

As promised to Lee, here is Sophie's birth story, exactly as written just a few days after her birth. This is a long one too, another cup of tea is in order.

On Tuesday 15 June (when I was either just overdue, or a week over depending
on accuracy of dates) I had an appt with my dr. We discussed induction and
other options and decided to wait one more week before making a decision.
He did my first internal exam of the pregnancy and said I was just a
fingertip dilated, and did a sweep of the membranes.
That day too, I had run out of the naturopathic remedy I had been taking to
prepare for and help bring on labour so I was trying to organise getting
another bottle made up.
I had no reaction to the membrane sweep, no spotting, no cramps, nothing.
On the Wednesday, I had appts for chiropractic and a remedial massage. My
chiropractor also does acupuncture, so I got to sit with five needles in me
for 20 minutes (hands, inner ankles, pelvic bone, if anyone cares). She
said it should take effect in 1-12 hours. The masseuse was a bit nervous
about giving me an hour massage after I’d just had the acupuncture but I
promised not to go into labour for him. :-) Afterwards he predicted I would
have the baby by 10:15 that night (ie 12 hours after I’d had the
acupuncture). I didn’t, but at about 10:15, I did have my first
contraction.

I had a few contractions overnight, nothing regular, I wasn’t even quite
sure if they weren’t just stronger Braxton-hicks. When Paul got up for
work, I told him I’d had a few contractions and probably sometime that day
or night, something might start to happen. I found it hard to believe that
I was actually in labour as I’d never started spontaneously before
(inductions and c-section). I was very non-committal with the approximately
400 people who I saw at school and preschool as I dropped off the kids
(‘aren’t you sick of that baby yet?’ ‘when is that baby coming out?’). I
spent most of the day with my mum, we did some grocery shopping and other
bits and pieces. I was kind of keeping track of timings but they were quite
variable depending on my activity level. Sometime during the day I had a
big globby mucus show, which we figured was a good sign. While we were
shopping ctx were about 8 minutes apart, but I could walk and talk through
them. Mum said she would pick up the kids for me so I could try to
sleep/rest, since we thought I was probably in for a long night of labour.
I went home and laid down and the contractions stretched out to about 15
minutes apart, but I didn’t get much rest as I had to get up to empty my
bladder after each contraction. There were a couple of quite strong ones
while I was resting, I used the pressure point the acupuncturist showed me
(between thumb and forefinger), which seemed to take the peak off the
contraction (I experimented, using it with one, not with the next etc). At
this stage though, I was thinking an epidural would probably be a good idea
if I was going to do this all night. :-) About 4pm mum brought the kids
back home and we tried to decide what to do.

We decided to pack all their things and go to mums house, and wait for Paul
there and then maybe head to the hospital. After we got them all packed up
we headed out. As we were leaving the driveway I decided that maybe we
should go to the hospital straight away, and drop the kids off at my sisters
instead (I’m so glad we all live close by!). So we dropped the kids off
there, Bethany was very upset (she’s been finding it hard to separate for
anything lately). We debated whether to bring Ryan up to the hospital with
us, but figured mum could come back and get him a bit later. So we headed
up to the hospital and got there about 5.15pm. I let Paul know I was just
getting checked out and for him to meet us there. He was just heading home
from work. During the walk from the car to the hospital I had to sit
several times for contractions. Mum was surprised at how close together
they were. But they certainly weren’t very intense – I could definitely
still talk through them and could keep walking, it was just much more
comfortable to sit. :-)

We went into an exam room and met Michelle the midwife and Kate the trainee
midwife. While in the toilet (did I mention I went to the toilet about a
million times that day? Any pressure in my bladder was extremely
uncomfortable so I didn’t drink any water for the whole day either) I had a
contraction that felt a little bit pushy with some forward pressure.

They did a quick check on baby’s heartbeat and then were going to do an
internal. Kate the trainee had never done an internal and said she would
prefer to do her first on someone who had an epidural :-) particularly since
they would have to have another one done by a ‘real nurse’ afterwards. They
asked if I was happy to have her do it, I diplomatically said I would have
the real nurse do it, and if it was okay, Kate could have a go too. They
thought that was a good answer. :-)

So Michelle begins to do the internal and says ‘I can’t find the cervix. Or
the membranes. Here is an anterior fontanelle though.’ Hmm. I had a
contraction during the internal and she then could feel the cervix and bag
of waters. She said I was about 8cm. Mum quickly rang Paul to tell him to
hurry up, while I did a quick run down the hall to the delivery room. When
I was on the bed I had a contraction that was quite pushy-feeling. I had a
discussion with Kate about how pushing was like vomiting. Sometimes you’re
nauseous and not sure if you are going to vomit, sometimes you have no
choice in the matter. I said that I thought I could manage not to push but
I would have to concentrate very hard on it, so she called out to everyone
that I was ready to push. They ran around getting everything ready while I
had a nice strong pushing contraction. I called out that I could feel bag
of waters or head coming so they all started to pay attention to me. :-)
Mum came back in (she’d been running around frantic trying to find Paul) and
held up my leg (I was on my side). Paul came in and held my hand. Then I
had the only really painful contraction. I think it might have been the only
one I had to vocalise through (I pretty much whimpered loudly) – that ring
of fire!! Suddenly the pain/ctx stopped and all was silent and painless.
It suddenly dawned on me ‘did the head come *all* the way out then?’. Yes
it did! I was expecting quite a few pushes to get to that point. Her cord
was wrapped quite tightly around her neck so they got Paul to cut it. I
think he was a bit shell-shocked, he’d just walked in and now he was cutting
the cord! I don’t even really remember another contraction, but I guess I
must have pushed to get the rest of her body out, and at 6.03pm on June 16
Sophie May was here! She was pretty pale and limp so they gave her some
oxygen (her Agpars were 7 and 9 so it wasn’t too bad). I was just laying on
the bed going ‘oh my god, she’s out, she’s here, I can’t believe it!’ and
just generally being amazed and laughing that it had all gone so quickly.
They wrapped her up and gave her to me (all still shaking our heads and
laughing incredulously – ‘she’s out already’). We waited a little while and
then the midwife started to pull the cord to get the placenta out.
Unfortunately she managed to break off the cord and the placenta got stuck
inside. Oh, about this time, the doctor finally made it. He stuck his head
in for a minute, told the midwives they were doing a good job, congratulated
me on a successful trial of labour and went again. Anyway, the midwives all
took a turn to try and get the placenta out, boy that hurt! They got the
gas and air ready so I could have some for the pain. I didn’t end up using
it though. We got Sophie nursing in the hopes it would help the uterus
contract, but no luck. The placenta of course was too slippery for them to
get a good grip on. In the end, Michelle, who’d broken off the cord,
obviously was feeling terribly guilty and frustrated and basically stuck her
whole hand in and grabbed it out. Interesting feeling, that one! My dad
brought the kids into the delivery room about then so everyone had to have a
nurse of her. The midwives were so patient – they were probably itching to
get a good look at her and clean her up but they just waited while all the
kids had a cuddle. Because the cord had been cut around her neck, it was
still quite long. They let Ryan cut it to the right length, he was very
happy about that. The midwives really let the kids be involved. Kate even
held Bethany up so she could see Ryan cutting the cord better. After all
the chaos my parents took the kids home (it was about 7pm by then I guess
and they hadn’t eaten or anything). Paul stayed for a while longer and had
his first peaceful cuddle of Sophie (he’d held her for a little while
earlier but just before the kids got there). After they all left I was
ready to get up and have a shower but they took my blood pressure and said
it was very high (160/100). They dithered around for a while about what to
do (first guess was that I was bleeding too much, not the case though). I
really wanted to get up and walk around since the bed wasn’t the most
comfortable and my shoulders and back were achy, plus I had the shakes.
They figured it might just be I needed to go to the toilet combined with
shock so I had a long shower (although not the warmest), couldn’t believe
how much my bladder emptied, then got dressed. They took my blood pressure
again and it was much more normal for me (100/60 ?). We packed
up all my stuff and walked around to the ward. While we were in the
delivery room we’d overheard them discussing room allocation – ‘give Rachel
the big room, she’s earned it’. So we got the private double room with the
double bed and sofa. Michelle and Kate came in and asked how I was feeling.
I felt really great, no pain except a bruised feeling stomach. Michelle was
amazed ‘I had my hand in there…’ but I said that that head had just come out
of there so a hand was nothing! Kate thanked me so much for the lovely
birth, she’d seen some really crappy ones as part of her training and this
was the best one.
I really did feel hardly any pain, just a bit swollen and tender, but that
was gone by the morning. My stomach was quite sore though – the first night
I couldn’t move around without holding it, because it felt like it would
fall out! This was my stomach well above where my uterus was by then, so I
think it was just basically pulled muscles.

I still can’t believe how quickly and easily the labour and birth went. I
was so sure that the contractions I’d been having were too weak to do much,
and I thought the baby was still quite high so not doing much to get the
cervix dilating.
I realised this was the first birth I’d had with *no* medical intervention,
no pain relief, I didn’t even get an oxytocin injection to expel the uterus.

Today (day 4) I feel better than I did while pregnant – I feel totally
myself again (except for the milk coming in this morning, ouch!).
I came out of hospital on Saturday, later in the day than I expected, but
only because my mum and Ryan finished cleaning my house before they came and
got me. My mum sure is good value!! Sophie was kind enough to mostly sleep
that afternoon, so the kids and I got to get back to some sort of normality.
Paul has a long tough stretch at work (13 days straight, long days too) so
he’s mostly working and sleeping, but he has had some nice cuddle time with
his newest princess.

Oh, her stats – she weighed 3.78kg (8lb5.5oz), was 51.5cm (20.3 in) long and
head circ of 33.5cm (13.2in). She only lost 100 grams and is back over her
birth weight already.
We already had her first outing, to my cousin Bella’s 1st birthday party
yesterday, and then today (Monday) I had to do the grand tour of the school
and childcare showing her off to everyone.

Headless

2007-10-24T21:17:00.000+09:30

Amongst much consternation, Ryan and his friends Lachlan and Mitchell went to Friday night rollerskating at the rec centre. It was a Halloween themed night and there was a chance to win a PS2. Of course the boys were keen as mustard for this! Lachlan's mum was quite worried about letting our poor innocent 8 and 9 year old lads loose for the night, but in the end we talked her into it (ah, peer pressure). I ended up staying for the evening (thanks mum and dad for minding Bethany and having her sleep over too!), and the other mums came along for a while too just to see what it was like (tame and safe, of course). Not everyone who was there dressed up, and those who did dress up, went mostly with the store-bought masks or skeleton outfits. Not my boy, of course. He thought about it long and hard and had a grand plan which he explained to me in great detail, several times. I thought it had no chance of working, but we ended up giving it a go the night before, and what do you know, it actually ended up looking okay. He stuck his head through the middle buttons of a shirt, put a pillow up his back and went as some headless guy.

The people organising the skating thought he was great, but the person picking the best dressed (just a parent they pulled from the crowd) didn't even wander to his end of the line and instead chose one of the generic mask-guys. Ryan was pretty bitter about that. And then they came so close to winning the PS2 door prize as well (well, the winner was green F96, and Ryan was green F45, that's close enough!).

How crazy am I?

2007-10-12T20:22:00.000+09:30

When I agreed to Ryan having five (five!) friends for a sleep-over for his birthday, I forgot that not all boys are lovely well-mannered angels like mine. And certainly not once they reach a certain critical mass. Actually the boys have been generally well behaved although perhaps a little boisterous. We had one altercation during a game of lemonball. That's not the usual lemonball (which is like baseball only substituting lemons for balls), but the lemonball that's more like paintball. Which was all good fun for quite a while until one lad began throwing lemons a bit too hard and at too close range, so the others decided to all show him what it felt like. Up close and very hard. It all ended okay in the end, the one who started it apologised and they all ended up friends again. Right now they are all starting to quiet down, watching some show called Ben 10 that Ryan got as a gift. I will put a video up in a while of Ryan's cake.
The girls are off sleeping at friends and cousins, although Sophie stayed here - she is off tomorrow too with the cousins, while I take the boys to the movies (Underdog) and skate park.

Time flies

2007-10-06T20:52:00.000+09:30

It's amazing how milestones seem to slip by without you really noticing it. All of a sudden you take stock one day and realise, say, that your baby is no longer a baby but really a little girl. Two things have happened lately with Sophie. During the current school holidays, Paul and I have been playing musical children, which is great fun as it's nice to have different combinations of children, you get a totally different interaction happening. Somehow, Sophie and Bethany ended up here, and Sophie slept in Hannah's bed, rather than her cot. She slept there quite well, and over the next few nights continued to do so. Next thing you know, we've assembled the spare bed, moved Bethany's stuff into the playroom and suddenly Sophie is sleeping in a big girl bed and sharing a room with Hannah!

Here's a photo of Sophie sleeping in the big bed the first night (the bed is meant to be the top bed of a bunk, hence the railings; the older girls argued one too many times about who was going to sleep on the top - neither of them wanted to! - so the bunks got disassembled)

Secondly, a few weeks ago mum asked when I was going to night-train Soph (she's been day-trained for months). I said I wasn't going to bother as she was still waking up very wet in the mornings. But as an aside, that night I suggested to Sophie that she shouldn't wet in her nappy during the night but instead should wait until the morning and use the toilet. And what do you know? She did! She's been dry every night since (although I still put a nappy on her).

Other photos:

It's school holidays! That means a stand selling fresh-squeezed orange and lemon juice was in order. They didn't sell any but we all enjoyed drinking it afterwards.

Bethany has a bath fully clothed.

Sophie finishes off a round of camembert, the kid has good taste!

Don't question why there is a wet naked fairy at the computer.

When friends argue

2007-09-26T21:21:00.000+09:30

A long time ago we bought a fish that moved in with Huck. They got along great. They seemed to even provide some companionship for each other. They would swim together and share the fish food we rained upon them. In general they would ignore each other. Until something changed. Several days ago a child called out 'the turtle is eating the fish!' and sure enough, the turtle had a grip on the fish's tail. I quickly threw some turtle food in the tank which distracted Huck. The fish ended up with a much shorter tail, but everything went on as usual (with me vowing to feed the turtle a little more frequently perhaps). Today another call - 'the turtle's got the fish again!'. Only this time it was too late. The turtle only had half the fish, the other half already being in its belly. The kids all watched in disgust as the turtle pulled the fish apart and ate it up. Beth was a bit sad for a little while, but the grossness of watching the fish get eaten was a decent distraction. They watched on and off over the afternoon, always commentating on how gross and disgusting it all was, but watching all the while. The coolest bit was when a thing that I assume was a flotation bladder of some sort was, well, released from the fish - it looked like a big bubble and it floated. Until the turtle ate it.
I still can't believe that Huck ate his buddy. [Photo added to prove it - note the half-eaten fish hanging out of Huck's mouth]

Where's that tooth fairy?

2007-09-21T20:40:00.000+09:30

Bethany wrote this note today for the tooth fairy:

Dear tooth fairy, you didn't cellect my tooth last night and I feel bad (I don't want to be ruled [rude]). Please cellect my tooth. It's my 7th lost tooth. From Bethany.

That's right. The tooth fairy didn't come. Can you believe it? We figured that maybe lots of children lost their teeth last night and so she was running late. And sure enough, Bethany put the tooth out in the sunroom (so the tooth fairy wouldn't be scared off by us) with this note, and somehow she snuck in and took the tooth and left some money! Phew.

2007-08-26T20:43:00.000+09:30

Good to see my subliminal training about how you can still love a person even if you don't like the particular thing they are doing seems to be working. The other day Ryan was really really angry at me. 'I hate your actions!' he screamed at me, and then stormed off. Too cute.

A new era

2007-08-20T10:38:00.000+09:30

Something totally exciting today... I'm blogging from work!!! We just got all upgraded to new amazing computers running Vista, and best of all, internet to desktop! Way cool! Can I fit any more exclamation marks in this post?!!! I'm sure I won't really blog from work much, I'm not here often enough and I'm too busy when I am here, but by jingo, it's a cool thing.

Fat Bob rocks

2007-08-15T21:08:00.000+09:30

It's been well over a week since the Cure concert, and I meant to blog about it much earlier than this. Oh well, what can I say? Life happens.
First, thanks to mum and dad for giving me the ticket and for mum for keeping me company.

Fat Bob is of course Robert Smith, who was not so fat this time as he was in 2000 (yes, it's been 7 years since they've been here). He also wasn't as boring as last time. In 2000, they played far too many songs from the albums of the time - Bloodflowers and whatever the other boring one is. Actually, I just checked the setlist from that concert and it doesn't really seem they played that much from those albums - I guess it was because I was pregnant with Bethany that I fell asleep (yes really!).
Anyway, this concert rocked! It was the first concert I've been to in a very long time (maybe the Cure was the last one too?). As you do, being Adelaide, we bumped into people we know - Tanya and Marco. Still together, happily building boats (and even selling them these days!). The strangest thing for me, not having been to a concert for many years, was seeing all the white illuminated squares in the audience. That would be people's mobile phones. Of course I also got sucked in to taking photos and videos. All very crackly and blurry, but still neat. I even captured the 'peaceful bit'! Aaaahhh......

Mum told me about an interview Robert did where he said they were going to play all old songs, give the fans what they want, and they certainly did. I actually knew every song played (I was a bit worried there might be too much newer stuff as I haven't really enjoyed it so haven't listened that much). They played for three solid hours, coming back for two encores. I found a setlist here but it doesn't really capture the total rocking-ness of the concert. Because there was no keyboard player, and two guitar players (three if you include the man himself), the dynamics of a lot of the songs were quite altered. For the better. Of course the music was way too loud (and a little tinny at the top, I thought) but it was still great. Never Enough was just amazing - totally pumped up and freaked out. Way cool. Robert actually moved around the stage for that one!
He was his usual shy self, apparently there were lots of his Adelaide-based family members in the audience so maybe he was extra nervous. He only made a comment or two, always hard to decipher as well.
The encores were cool, especially the last. Who expects to hear Fire in Cairo live?! The whole 2nd encore was from that album (Three Imaginary Boys?) which was really neat.
There were even a couple of songs from Head on the Door, my favourite album, which was kind of him.
All in all, a fun night. Though I left shaking my head at the total waste of electricity and energy, pumping out that level of sound for three hours, never mind the shipping around the world of all that equipment. Tut tut.
But at the end, he did say 'See you again!' so perhaps I'll make it to one more concert...

Oh I almost forgot, worth the price of admission was watching a very drunk young lady diagonally opposite us totally get into the songs, acting them out when possible, and pumping her fist when not. Her boyfriend sat stony-faced through the whole thing, though another male with them faithfully and energetically played the air drums all the way through. Just great.

That crazy bag lady

2007-08-15T20:58:00.001+09:30

Bethany's mind really fascinates me. Tonight, in the bath, she commented that when Andrea shouts her voice sounds kind of blurry. (Andrea is a friend of mine, we don't hear her shout all that often; it just sounds normal to me when she does). She said Andrea's voice sounds kind of blurry and it reminds her of Andrea's skin, which is kind of smooth and kind of blurry. (It's just normal skin). She said when Andrea shouts, she thinks of/sees grey, and blurry windows, and Andrea's skin. Totally peculiar. We did see Andrea today, but she didn't shout...
Oh, when I mentioned to Paul my comment about her being a great author or crazy bag lady, he kindly reminded me it's possible to be both. Great.

Some funnies

2007-08-02T18:27:00.000+09:30

A couple of snippets of our conversations today:

Me to Ryan: I know it's important to you to invent a hovercraft, but not before breakfast please.

Bethany to no-one in particular: Oh, I just nearly had three pairs of knickers on! I was still wearing two from yesterday and then I put today's over the top as well.

Hannah: Blaze is so naughty.
Me: Really? Who calls him naughty?
Hannah: No-one, they just call him Blaze.

Surprise! It's my birthday

2007-08-01T21:07:00.000+09:30

I turned 33 today. I still look forward to my birthday, such a kid I am. A birthday is always a time to reflect on the year that's passed and indeed your life so far. I'm so happy and settled at this point in my life, it's a lovely feeling. Happy with my achievements so far, looking forward to the future which offers so many opportunities, the everyday pleasures of my beautiful children, ah life is good!
Speaking of beautiful children, these guys have been so great about my birthday, Ryan especially. Paul took them shopping on the weekend and they chose presents (cookbooks, what a surprise!) and a card. Ryan wrote a cute poem for me:

Dear mum,
You've laid with us at night;
You've made our breakfast at light;
We're thanking you right now;
We're making a birthday cake,
Not missing a bit;
Happy Birthday!!
We love you mum!

PS We love you!!

He apologised for the poem not rhyming at the end, but I still think it's pretty darn good.
The other great thing Ryan did was decide to organise a surprise party for me. His organisation of it mostly consisted of coming up with the idea and then inviting my friends. He invited Andrea first (who also conveniently happens to be the mother of his best friend), who asked the usual details, like where, and what time. Ryan didn't have answers to any of that, so Andrea suggested he better talk to an adult about it first, like maybe my mum. So he spoke to mum who said it was a great idea. She asked how he was going to supply the food and what he was doing for a cake. He was a bit stumped at that. She kindly offered to help. :)
So between them (well, mostly mum) they came up with a great party. I did have an inkling it was happening as mum warned me he was planning something and then the big giveaway was a cranky Hannah this morning yelling 'No, I don't want to have a surprise party for mum!' when the kids were whispering away. I pretended to be deaf for a little while just then... Everyone else did a good job of keeping a secret, especially Vicki who sounded very surprised when I mentioned it was my birthday.
At very short notice, with not many free hours, mum whipped up plenty of delicious food as always, as well as a tasty cake (decorated with a bicycle, ha ha).
They all did a wonderful job of making me feel loved and special.
I also got some neat presents, some interesting books and Cure tickets!! Woo-hoo! I wasn't going to go to the concert because I couldn't justify the expense, but when my parents are paying, of course I'll go! It's next Monday which is great timing too.

Fourth time's the charm

2007-07-28T22:31:00.000+09:30

Some tired snow bunnies.
Our snow kangaroo. Yes we really made it, not just posed with someone else's sculpture!
Four cute kids off to sight Mt Kosciuszko (Ryan thought we were going to climb it, bottom to top; perhaps a bit optimistic with a toddler in the middle of winter).
We saw lots of signs of the drought in our travels. This is one of the most obvious.
We made a slight detour on the way home to go through Glenrowan to visit the giant Ned Kelly. Cool, huh?

Back the third

2007-07-28T22:22:00.000+09:30

The absolute highlight for me was learning to ski. We only skied for a day and a half but it was great! I could have stayed there for weeks. It took me a little while to get going; after the first day I was somewhat ambivalent but Ryan took to it like a duck to water and insisted we do it again the next day. I'm so glad we went back for the second day. Everything seemed so much easier (I guess we were less tired too). Neither of us fell down and we had so much more control over everything. And we had so much fun. The ski fields were pretty deserted (weekday during school term will do that) so we could pretty much do what we wanted. We were at Selwyn which is really geared to family and kids. We did a couple of really long runs and even made it unscathed down a blue run a couple of times (they go green circle (easy), blue square (medium) and black diamond (really scary)).

Photos of the kids skiing plus the view from the chairlift.

Back part 2

2007-07-28T21:56:00.000+09:30

I wasn't sure how long I could make my blog before it fell in pieces around me. Although I've seen some mighty long blogs out there. Not naming names...

Ryan got all kitted up for the snow before brushing his teeth.

Our first glimpse of snow.

Four very happy kids.

Sophie hiding from something.

This is the Big Trout in Adaminaby, near where we stayed for the snow. Good trout fishing there in summer apparently.

We're back!

2007-07-28T21:20:00.000+09:30

Back from our fun-filled, action-packed, non-stop adventure holiday. We really had a great time. The weather was great, the kids were great, everywhere we stayed and went was great. Most nights I went to sleep with a smile on my face, just feeling good about the holiday and life in general.
Ryan promised he will put up his own blog of the holiday so I will link to that when he does it. I'm not sure what I will put in here - I actually wrote a travel diary and kept it up for the whole two weeks, no mean feat for me... I could conceivably type it all in here. Or maybe not. I think I'll just put in some photos for now.

Bethany found this place in Mildura.
Our second night we stayed at Burrinjuck (or something) National Park, just outside of Canberra. The kangaroos were very friendly and came up to us as soon as we got there to see what goodies we had for them.

Giant pears at the National Gallery.
Sophie very happy at an adventure playground in Tidbinbilla (or something) National Park. This area was devastated by the bushfires in 2003, it was interesting to see the way the bush has recovered.

What am I doing?

2007-07-12T22:21:00.000+09:30

Sometimes you have to just stop and ask yourself, what the heck am I doing?
Why am I sitting here, at 10:30 at night, freezing cold and sleepy, yet messing around with changing the style and colour of this blog? Why?! It's not like it's something I have to do, or something that needs to be done, just something that can be done. Why am I spending my time thusly?
If I could answer that, I would probably be a much more productive person in life!

No business like snow business

2007-07-12T21:25:00.000+09:30

So very soon we head off for our long awaited 'snow trip'. We leave as soon as everyone is up and ready on Saturday morning. That could mean 5am, it could mean 9. We'll just have to see...
I think we're pretty much all organised (or at least as organised as I'm ever going to get).
A few weeks ago, we went to a secondhand ski wear sale and picked up mittens, jackets, snow suits etc. The weird thing is that earlier that day, I had picked up some cash for a catering job, $366 to be exact. Then we went down to this ski sale and spent $361 without even trying to match the amount. Here is a photo of the kids all decked out in their snow suits and mittens.

And then an amusing photo of Sophie licking oatmeal off the floor. It's often best not to ask why when you see photos such as this.

The last few days we have been working out what quilts or sleeping bags we should pack (space is limited in the van and there are lots of us with lots of stuff). The kids are testing the sleeping bags tonight on the lounge room floor (the last gloomy photo).

Most of my photos will be gloomy from now as the flash appears to have broken on my camera. Joy. But Paul did get some (unintentionally) speccy photos on Sophie's birthday due to the lack of flash (another post).

How did this happen?!

2007-06-20T21:38:00.001+09:30

Sophie turned 2. How did that happen already?
She had a fun day, we had a little party at our house with the family after she scored all things Shrek for presents. A photo here of her in her new Shrek pjs and holding her new Shrek doll. On the cake you might also see a Shrek decoration. She continues to be the most adorable child. Today's cute word addition is 'holiday' which sounds unbelievably cute when a two year old says it!

Tonight's funny

2007-06-18T20:56:00.000+09:30

Tonight we were talking about Hannah's day at kindy. For some reason Bethany started asking her about her friend Taylah (did I spell that right?!). 'Does Taylah ever not want to play with you?' (yes, sometimes she says only her and Ella can play). 'Does Taylah ever say mean things to you?' (yes, often). Bethany couldn't really tell me why she started asking these questions though, an interesting line of questioning to come out of nowhere though. Anyway, after answering the questions and thinking for a while, Hannah said 'I need Ryan to come to kindy and make her stop'. So cute to see the big brother as rescuer. When I asked what Ryan might do, she didn't have any ideas, just knew he could make it stop.
I told Ryan about it later and he laughed, pleased. His suggestion was that he would pay Taylah to make her stop. Five cents if she stopped for a year. Not sure if that's a workable plan though.

PS Glad to have mum and dad home!!!!

Farewell Kristine

2007-06-05T20:43:00.000+09:30

I was shocked and saddened today to receive an email that my friend Kristine in the US died today. Kristine is one of the mums on my oct98 list that I joined when pregnant with Ryan, so I've 'known' her for 9 years or so. Kris was a loving mum to three great kids, Granger, Kayla (Ryan's age) and Walter (just a day older than Bethany). She was a thoughtful person who always had useful insights and advice whenever someone on 'the list' had a problem or question. She struggled at times to feel comfortable with herself but always her love for her kids shone through. I don't know yet why she died but she had been complaining of chest pains (although she had tests and they'd found nothing).
It seems a bit phony to be crying about someone dying on the other side of the world who I've not met, but I did know her, and I know her children through her emails. I am so sad for them - Granger, the teenager who will now grow up so much quicker than he should, and Kayla and Walter, who will never again get a cuddle from their mummy.
My children got plenty of extra cuddles tonight, that's for sure.

One nice thing is that Kris blogged, so her kids will always have memories of her and how important they were to her through that. Our list, I'm sure, as we did for Adele who also died, will make copies of Kris's relevant emails and make a little memento book for the family. This is difficult to do (re-reading all those emails) and I daresay it's something that they wouldn't be able to read for quite some time, but again it's a nice picture of the sort of person Kris was.

As Beth said when she let us know:
She was a wonderful person, a generous friend, a loving and playful mother. She was
always full of life and ready to help anyone, anywhere.

Goodbye, Kris. I'm so sorry for those left behind.

The Queen of Cute

2007-06-04T21:04:00.000+09:30

Oh, man, Sophie is so cute! All my kids are cute, but Sophie is really the Queen of Cute as we call her. Her latest cute thing is to sing 'Happy Birthday' or the Pooh Bear Song. They sound pretty much the same, although she invented the Pooh Bear Song. If you listen carefully you can distinguish them. The Pooh Bear Song goes 'da da da Pooh Bear, da da da Tigger, da da da Piglet' and so on, while Happy Birthday just goes 'da da da, da da da, da da da'. And she does a cute Stevie Wonder thing at the same time where she has her eyes closed and throws her head around.
She is also saying some really cute things at the moment. The latest ones are 'dank-oo mummy' for thankyou, as well as 'sorry mummy/Ryan/Hannah etc' and 'silly mummy', also 'puh-lee' insistently for please when she wants something. She also has this really attitude-filled way of saying yes at the moment. Even if it's to answer a question like 'do you want an apple?' the yes is just delivered 'yeah' with a total of course that's what I want attitude. It's so funny.

But the other kids are so cute too. The big thing here is space and the stars. Our numerous space books that we have accumulated over time are getting well used at the moment. The kids love looking at the stars and planets and have the funniest conversations. The other day they were having a very in depth argument about whether Pluto should still be considered a planet or not. After heatedly discussing all the reasons it got voted out, so to speak, the conversation ended when Hannah vowed she was going to become an astronomer and lobby for it to be re-included as a planet. So funny to hear them discussing such things while they get dressed in the morning.
Hannah told me yesterday that after we're all dead, the sun is going to turn into a red star and the Earth will get sucked into it. This is true of course, but it's something like 5 billion years after we're all dead. Lucky she wasn't too concerned about it.
She can also list off all the planets in order from the sun, and in size order, as well as read their names and identify each of them visually. She can also explain why Uranus (or is it Neptune?) rotates with its pole pointing towards the sun (a giant lump of rock crashed into it and knocked it sideways).
All the kids like spotting constellations in the sky and identifying particular stars. We were very excited to learn that through June you can spot several of the more distant planets. Looking forward to Sophie's birthday when you can see Jupiter!

They also have a planets song, jointly composed by daddy (of course).

Oh Venus, it rhymes with penis
Oh Moon, it doesn't rhyme with penis
Oh, Jupiter, nothing could be stupider
And it doesn't rhyme with penis.
Oh Uranus, I think I see Uranus [said the old-style way where it's much funnier even if the kids don't get it]
Then you finish the song with a big old 'I-oh!!!' for Io, one of Saturn's moons.

Great, huh. At least I've mostly got them out of singing it in public places.

Mum will like Hannah's latest smart-kid moment today, when she decided the puzzles at kindy were too simple and started doing them upside down so she couldn't see the pictures! Without any prompting from me, I swear.

I guess it's winter

2007-06-04T20:57:00.000+09:30

It must be winter now. We turned on the heater for the first time tonight! That's a world-record for us. Last year we made it to May, this year it's well and truly June before we turned it on. We didn't even really need it on tonight (Ryan still had on just a t-shirt when he turned it on) but I wanted to check if it worked. Most nights we're too busy running around before dinner to bother with it, and then after dinner and bed I either exercise which warms me up, or I'm cooking, or I sit with a blanket on if I'm on the computer (and the heater doesn't reach there anyway).
The weather's just gotten really cold the last few days, although it's been sunny for a while, and I think that's helped the house retain its heat so well. We've had a bit of rain which is exciting but now I really need to mow my lawn unfortunately!

Vale Poppy Stan

2007-05-15T19:30:00.000+09:30

Mother's Day here was a bit mixed. As I was in bed being treated to cold cereal made by Hannah, the phone rang. It was Paul, to tell me his dad had just died. This had not been unexpected - Stan had been in hospital for tests for a week after he deteriorated rapidly, and had come home on Friday to die in his own bed. Paul had been spending a lot of time there over the last few days, helping his mum to care for his dad. He had been very scared of how Stan's final days would play out, but in the end, everything turned out as well as can be expected (if you can say that of someone's death). They got to make some peace, Paul helped his mum, faced a lot of his fears and made sure his dad died in his own bed just as he wished.
Paul and Jeannie seem to be coping okay. Stan's death has been a long time coming, so it's not really a shock, more an adjustment period, I guess.
The obits in the paper today were very nice. Stan was a much loved and respected person. He fought his unwinnable battle valiantly, I wish the children had had the chance to know him before he was mostly bedridden and so wrapped up in his own pain.

Fishy update

2007-05-08T22:07:00.000+09:30

On Saturday when I went to feed the fish, I noticed that Saturn, the little orange fish in with the yabby, was missing. Then I noticed half his body being chomped on by the yabby. So the yabby (Nipper, his name is) had the best plan - he ignored the fish after the first few minutes, lulled it into a sense of security for a few days and then had a feast!
Silver Dart is still going strong in with Huck.
We had a naming controversy over the fish too - Hannah wanted to name them Saturn and Venus (planets are the in thing here at the moment) but Ryan wanted to name them Silver Dart and Orange Something-or-other. Much tears and yelling ensued until we settled on the obvious compromise...

Fishy fun

2007-05-03T21:33:00.000+09:30

Today Hannah wanted to buy some feeder fish to keep Huck entertained for a little while. We went to the fish shop but they didn't have any little fish. Hannah was keen in investing in some nice brightly coloured things but I figured it was a bit steep to pay $6 for one's days food for Huck.
After talking to the lady in the shop, we decided to get some comets (fast goldfish) as they can often survive with turtles. They were only $2.50 too, which was a more reasonable investment. The lady chose the biggest comet, which is actually pretty big (although not as big as the perspective in the photo makes it look!). We also got a smaller bright orange comet for the yabby tank.
Coolest thing, when we got home to put them in the tanks, I thought for a second the yabby had had a baby, but it had actually shed it's skin. I wish we'd seen it happening. I fished out the old shell and it's drying on the sink right now.
Watching Huck with the new fish was hilarious. They just did laps and laps around the tank for a while. I put a few bits and pieces in there for the fish to hide in, but it didn't really take the hint. And been a goldfish, of the famous 5 second memory, it would race frantically away from Huck - ah! a turtle! - then just sit and relax - 'this is a nice spot', then 'ah! a turtle'. 'this is a nice spot'. 'ah! a turtle!' and so on. Too funny.
The yabby also chased it's little orange comet frantically for a little while then realised it was far more hassle than just waiting for other food to magically rain down upon it.
So both fish have survived for about 12 hours now, here's hoping they last a lot longer.

Food photos

2007-05-01T21:22:00.000+09:30

I keep trying to take photos of the food we make, but they never do it justice. I'm pretty happy with these though, of mini lemon meringues, and mini banana caramel tarts. Both have been auto-corrected with Picture Manager, they had real sepia tones before because of the reds and browns and the warm lighting, which looked nice, but I think they just look a bit more cheerful like this . I took about a million photos of some mini cottage pies I did too, but they just didn't work out the same. I couldn't get the camera to focus where I wanted - I think because there was too much white (I put them on a white plate).
The food was all yummy though of course!

Fruit salad of kings

2007-05-01T21:15:00.000+09:30

The kids decided to make fruit salad the other day. It was a real team effort. Even Sophie got in on cutting up banana. They got one of every fruit in the house (and there was a lot!) and chopped them industriously. Then globbed yogurt all over it and ate. The whole process took about an hour, I reckon, from cutting everything, sorting it fairly into the bowls, adding yogurt and then enjoying it.

Show us your knickers!

2007-04-11T20:57:00.000+09:30

Today, with the slightest provocation, Sophie was dropping her shorts and showing the world her backside. Because she was wearing KNICKERS!! This is day 2 and it's gone well so far. Imagine, no nappies (or at least a lot less nappies, she still wears them at night). It's been 8.5 loooong years, but there's finally light at the end of that tunnel.

Easter of course

2007-04-11T20:42:00.000+09:30

How could I let the chocolate fest pass unblogged. I'm sure it was less religious than, say, a Ghanaian Easter (and didn't we hear plenty from Ghana that day?!), but it was fun anyway. The kids had fun with their egg hunt and Sophie loved the fact that she could find and eat chocolate eggs to her heart's content.

We had a lovely day, we visited with grandpa first and then went to the other grandparents, where almost the whole family gathered, other than Tony and his mob, and the usual other dirty stop-outs. It was nice to see all Sandra's kids there (minus Scott of course) as well as Carmine's new girl Dee. Emily even ate a piece of cake! The weather was lovely, which was good as we could spread out into the garden, essential in that small house as everyone gets bigger. Grandpa was the most interested and involved that I've seen him in several years. He even took me aside to have a quiet word about Karen Carpenter. Do you think he thinks I'm too skinny??!!

We all ate way too much food and came home with way too much (mostly crappy) chocolate. Ah, Easter...

Tooth fairy strikes again

2007-04-11T20:14:00.000+09:30

Bethany lost a tooth today. Her third. She was very excited because she lost it at school, which means she got a certificate. She wrote a little note for the tooth fairy and left a little display for her.
The note reads (in Bethany's best little tiny writing): Dear tooth fairy I had a wobbly tooth and I had a rollup. I took a bite and then my wobbly tooth was super wobbly. At home I got ready the tooth with a hat and a face. [mum note: the little tooth holder you can see at the left centre of this pic] You open up the hat and then you get my tooth out of it and put some money in it. In the morning I will get up ealey and go strat to the tooth and open it up. Love Bethany.
Anything you want to write write it here [ then in the space, the tooth fairy wrote, very small: thank you! your tooth was nice + clean]
(Sorry about the changing coler thing [mum note: halfway through the note it changes from blue pen to pencil]. It is just becuase the pen ran out of ink so I changed the pen.)

How cute. Also in the pic you can see to the right the pen and rubber she left for the tooth fairy to use if she needed to. They have little paper labels: 'rubber' on the rubber, and 'thing you write with' on the pencil.

Farewell Lump

2007-04-04T20:51:00.000+09:30

Yesterday we said goodbye to my little kitty Lump. It is so weird to be sitting here at the computer without her on my lap kneading her little claws into my leg.
We made the tough decision to get her put down after she was finally diagnosed with intestinal cancer. She has been losing weight and vomiting since December - xrays and blood tests previously gave no answers. When I took her back to the vet last week, the vet could feel the tumours in her intestines and in other places too. We took the cat back home and discussed with the children what options we had - do nothing and have her get sicker and die anyway, or put her down now and put her out of her misery. Ryan was the hardest hit - he was overcome by the unfairness of it and just wishes she never had cancer in the first place. Bethany was also sad, but started planning getting a new kitten, while Lump was still alive! Hannah was just supremely confident that putting the cat down was the right thing to do "because then she won't spew on us any more".
We had the weekend to discuss the options and spend some special time with Lump (and clean up a few last piles of vomit for old times sake), and on Tuesday we took her to the vet. All the children wanted to come to the vet. Ryan and Bethany at first wanted to stay in the waiting room, but then decided they wanted to come in. The vet and nurse were very nice and patient, explaining everything that was happening and treating Lump gently and with respect. Although her death was peaceful it was still sudden - the nurse was supporting her as she lay, but she still flopped down lifeless. Ryan and Beth started crying which started me off too. Hannah totally missed that she was actually dead, I realised later when she asked me as we were taking her home "so when will she get dead?".
We had morbidly dug the hole earlier in the day while Lump was with us, but the kids wanted to wait until Paul was there to bury her. He was real impressed with that, not being the best at dealing with death... But we made a little tombstone and said a few nice words about her. Bethany and Hannah both wanted to see her one last time (the vet had wrapped her in a towel and put her back in the cat carrier) so Paul and Ryan moved out of view while we had one last look and pat (and Sophie gave her one last whack for good luck), then we re-wrapped her and placed her in the hole.
We were all pretty sad last night and there have definitely been moments today too. As she had got sicker over the last few months, she had stopped doing a lot of things, and mostly either lay around or meowed at me to feed her (she was slowly starving to death as she was unable to absorb any nutrients due to the cancer and vomiting), so she had been a less intrusive presence in our lives over the last month or so (except the vomit piles of course). She didn't have the energy to jump onto my lap at the computer, or up onto my bed any more. She could still make it up to Ryan's bed, and slept with him most nights (except the one night she slept on Bethany's and vomited on her pillow, the joy).
Ryan is very sad. Many times in the day he misses being able to pat Lump and cuddle with her. He has a hard time at night, when he says he can't stop replaying in his head the moment that her head flopped down and she was dead. I am taking the opportunity to talk to him about strong emotions and how they do fade over time even though it doesn't feel like it at the moment, and also trying to give him some techniques for dealing with that recurring thought or vision. I feel so sad of course that he (and all of us) have to go through this, but I am extremely grateful for it too - I am glad to be able to be having these discussions about an animal and to have them as a point of reference for when a grandparent/great grandparent dies. The circle of life and all that.
He talked about how he's feeling so miserable and he hates how bad he feels. I asked him if he wished we never had the cat, then he wouldn't feel this way, but he said no, all the happy times definitely outweighed this sadness, which is a good way to feel I think.
The photos here are of me, Ryan and Sophie with Lump on her last day. Bethany and Hannah didn't want photos. There is also a photo trying to capture how skinny she was. I was almost afraid to pat her for fear I'd break a bone or something. Tomorrow Ryan wants to look at photos of her as a kitten (he thought she was only grey because she was old). I will probably scan one of those to put up here too. If I was techno-savvy enough I'd have her theme song by Presidents of USA playing in the background of this blog too...

I'm glad my little girl is at peace now, it was awful to see her so weak and unhappy. She was my shadow for so many years, ungraciously putting up with those four scary noisy intruders, and just recently enjoying their company as they grew old enough to treat her with respect and love, always ready to jump on my lap for a cuddle and pat (when there wasn't already a baby there) and just as quick to run and hide when other people were here.

Farewell Lump.

And Hannah evens up too

2007-04-02T21:14:00.000+09:30

Hannah turned four the other day, leaving Sophie as the odd one out (literally, the kids now being aged 8, 6, 4 and 1).
Her day was fun as well, getting even more presents than Bethany as she opted to have a cheaper version of the desired Baby Born. Don't tell her the extra pressies were mostly garage sale finds anyway...
The day after her birthday we went to Snakes and Ladders with Nicole, Ella and Charlotte (and Mum until she went off to work). Hannah was very specific that she wanted to play there while the bigger kids were at school. Fair enough, I say.

We usually try to avoid joint celebrations of the girls birthdays unless that is what they want, and this year they were happy to have the extended family (but not Adam and Eva, sadly) around on Sunday and have two cakes.
Bethany wanted a sponge cake but without cream (where did my kids get this abnormal cream phobia from?!), so I sandwiched it with pink and white icecream and topped it off very elegantly with a picture of Dora the Explorer. Hannah's cake was carefully selected from the Women's Weekly Kids Cakes book after many weeks of poring over the pages. She opted for the 4 shaped cake but with the decorations from the 5 shaped cake. She must have reminded me of this approximately six hundred times before I actually made the cake. You can't see the decorations in the picture very well, but there were some very cool meringue grubs, and some spearmint leafed branches on a pink 4 shaped chocolate cake. The joy! We also had 'our favourite things' as the food choice for the party, so there were mini-hotdogs, tuna mornay and lasagne. Does it get any better than that!!??

Hannah is very excited now that pre-entry has finished and next time she goes to kindy (after the holidays) it will be full-time kindy (or 'four-time kindy' as she interprets it, which makes sense as she will go four days a week). Her and Ella get to share a term until Ella heads off to school!! How scary is that!
Hannah has really grown into being four and is currently the most centred and calmest child in this family. Ryan and Bethany seem to be permanently tired and crabby, and Hannah is just the quiet voice of reason, getting herself ready in the morning, helping out with Sophie, piping up with 'I'm being sensible, aren't I mum?' as often as she can without the other kids bopping her.

Watermelon

2007-03-22T20:51:00.000+10:30

We eat a lot of watermelon in this house. I cut it into thin, skinny slices and leave the peel on for the kids to hold on to (and then throw randomly into the garden). The kids are always bugging me to cut the slices a bit thicker but the thought of the extra juice and mess always stops me. Then one time I thought I would make them as difficult as possible to actually eat, just to try and stop them requesting bigger slices.
It didn't work. They loved them this big. Even Sophie.

Bethany turns 10

2007-03-22T20:43:00.000+10:30

Today of course was Bethany's birthday. She told everyone who asked that she was 10. I think she had a good day. Her teacher is very good at making the birthday child feel special. They sang happy birthday of course, she got a special birthday card, and got to be teacher of the day, which means she got to call the roll, make key decisions in the day (what book to read at story time) and identify and reward good behaviour in other students. We had a few meltdown/freakouts but they are pretty much usual these days from the Artist formerly known as Bethany. The present booty was very well-received, including the Baby Born from mum (see photo below of her trying to recreate her own birth), a pink scooter from dad, a laptop! from nanna and papa, and a Dora doll from Ella and co. Our long inane conversation to Adam and Eva in Scotland was lots of fun too.
Bethany went to bed amazed that nana and papa had bought her such grown-up presents, and she is only 6.

Check out the tats on this bruiser.

Author: Bethany Feuerherdt

2007-03-10T16:37:00.000+10:30

Bethany found a bundle of papers in the scrap paper box that were already stapled together and then I think felt compelled to fill up each page with a story. She laboured away at it diligently for a very long time. I have scanned in the first page here, and typed in the rest of the story correcting spelling mistakes but leaving grammar as it is. We had some discussions on the appropriateness of some of the plot developments, but she reminded me 'it's a narrative! anything can happen in a narrative, it's all made up'.
And here is the story.
"Once upon a time there was a girl. Her name was Sally She was very polite. When she saw a fat lady, she said even though you are fat, you are pretty. the fat lady said thank-you so much. then she went not far and she saw the fat lady's sister she was fat as well.
She said to the other fat lady I just saw your sister she said was she fat I said yes but she is pretty. Then Sally said you are pretty even though you are fat. She said wow that's very nice. Thank-you so much. then she went not far and she saw the fat lady's brother. I just saw your sister. He said was she fat. I said yes but she is pretty. Really asked the fat man. I said yes. Well, hmmm, even though you are fat you are cool. He was really pleased that [so] he gave me a lollipop. She was very pleased too, that [so] she gave him a newspaper. You're very nice said the fat man. I think you are nicer. Then she went not far and she came to the fat man's brother. He said was he fat because he listened to all this news I thought that was funny. I said why did you say that straight away he said because I listened to all the news. I didn't care because he was fat but cool so I had to say you are very cool. He said I'm not cool I'm fat but he said it sadly so Sally said even though you are fat you are cool. Then at last he said I didn't know what to say I'm too pleased. So all what he said [was] [our address] is where I live and said please go there so I can give you a bike.
So the next day I went there. He gave me a bratz bike it was very pretty that [so] I gave him a scooter not one like the ones like this when you stand up and keep one [foot] still and move the other. The ones where you sit down and use it like a tractor [ie a gopher]. Them ones. When I said that to him when we finished it was late. I went home and put my pjs on. Then I gave mummy a hug and went to bed.
In the morning she got all ready and rode her new bike from the man and ate the lollipop from the man. Then her mum and her went shopping She went home with her mum after and unloaded the shopping after that her mum said you are so helpful that you can watch tv till 9:00 When it was 9:00 they went to the playground. At the playground Sally asked mum is she could go on the swing Her mum said yes so mum went on it Sally pushed the swing her mum said wee very loud. Her mum thinks that it is fun. When she finished, her mum said thank-you. After they went home dad was home too.
Sally gave dad a hug then got ready for bed and went to bed She dreamed about that she was a naughty girl she got smacked on the bum lots her dream was not finished when she woke up. She went to mum and dad's bed and they lived happily ever after. The end."

Techo cruising

2007-02-11T20:47:00.000+10:30

Tonight I feel like a real geek. I'm sitting in front of two computers, typing and clicking all over the place. One is my usual pc, the other is Paul's new laptop which Raff dropped around yesterday and I'm still fiddling with (it's so cool, I want it myself!). Raff hooked the two computers together so I am transferring all the important things over (that would be, 15gb of music, plenty of photos, and some games) and setting up all the bits and pieces.

We had a nice day today - it was the Flotilla for Kids at Port Adelaide raising money for Camp Quality which was kind of fun. We sat under a marquee and watched a bunch of boats sail past (well, technically I just saw a lot of masts). The kids found a free jumping castle they spent the day in and of course we ate donuts.

Everyone was pretty tired because last night was Lee's 21st and farewell. Paul stayed at home with the kids as well as Ella and Charlotte and we all went to the Kent Town (oops, sorry, the Tap Inn) for a great dinner and then on to First at the Richmond. We gave up after that but the younger and older (Julie and Karen B, looking at you!) went on to the Stag. The theme was Dress to Impress which meant we got to go shopping beforehand. Mum (of course) bought my dress (oh, I hope dad doesn't read this, she'll get in trouble) and I even invested in some little heels! It was pretty fun to be all dressed up and out on the town for a change. My kids were flabbergasted when I came out dressed ready to go. I'm sure mum will put up some pictures of us all looking spiffy (she certainly took enough).
It was nice to see Lee, and Paul who was back for a flying visit, as well as all the usuals (and Lee's new squeeze, Tobias who seems very nice). Paul's friend Ryan was quite impressed with Emily, who was, well, certainly dressed to impress. He was quite disturbed that she was only 15.
We did all think it was a bit rude of Adam and Eva not to turn up though.

The kids had fun sleeping over here, with Paul to oversee them. Needless to say, they didn't exactly get much sleep. But it was fun.

Thanks for a fun night, Lee and Julie, and best of luck Lee (whatever you're Ghana do!).

Hernia good jokes lately?

2007-01-27T15:27:00.000+10:30

How about the one about the woman who thought she'd fix her mildly uncomfortable hernia by having a very uncomfortable operation? Hilarious, that one.
Actually, it's not all so bad. I got a night of 'luxury' in hospital, a day of laying around home being waited on hand and foot (yes really) and then mum and dad had Sophie for a second night so I got an unbroken night's sleep (although I was still awake at 5am).
The recovery from this operation is pretty easy though, compared to the recovery from my caesarean. I feel better today than I did when I came home from hospital five days after that operation, and the extra bonus is that I don't have a newborn to deal with at the same time!
Sophie has been very cute about it all. I showed her the wound, which looks pretty impressive as they've only covered it with that clear film so you can see everything. She keeps calling it 'ssoorrss' which I'm not sure is meant to be 'sore' or perhaps 'sauce' from the blood. :) Any rate, she keeps well away from my tummy area and I had to reassure her several times that she could still breastfeed. Too cute.

Photos: Me looking suitably impressed at an extremely tall Lego tower the kids built.

Ryan, Bethany and Beth's friend Caitlin impersonating a human spider over Hannah.

Sophie loved the geese at Nanny's.

The other cousins. We visited with Paul's sister's kids this week. They were down from Darwin for a week visiting their dad's family and Jeannie had them for one day and night. They are lovely girls, bubbly, happy and polite. The kids all get along very well, although Bethany felt a bit lost, not quite old enough to keep up with Ryan, Ayla (11) and Holly (9). Ayla is an extremely talented artist, she was drawing freehand an ocean scene from the front of the pencil packet and it was just amazing.

With both parents such avid readers, is it surprising that this is a common scene in our house?

Calendar anyone?

2007-01-06T20:55:00.000+10:30

This year, for unique and thoughtful gifts from our children, various teachers and carers hit upon the novel idea of laminating a photo of a child and attaching a bunch of dates (not that sort!). Hey presto, a calendar! Only problem is, they're pretty useless. And for this year, we have three of them (plus some cute scribbles from the baby).

Sophie sharing Bethany's hot dog on a visit to the Elizabeth Aquadome last week.

Some sunburned girls after a day out to the beach with Papa today. Note Bethany's red butt as her bathers are too small so she has an almost permanent wedgie. But why was her bottom in the sun so much??? At least they had a fun day.

Another year almost over

2006-12-29T21:06:00.000+10:30

As amazing as it seems, 2006 draws almost to a close. It's certainly been an interesting year here... lots of things have changed, but plenty is still the same.

Our highlights: that wonderful holiday in Victor Harbor in January, Bethany starting school and having such a great year, Ryan's great year at school, the quick trip to Black Point,

Photo: Someone put Hannah- Barbie's arms on the wrong way

getting to spend so much time at Ikea (after seeing family off at the airport so often), having Huck join our family for a while, Sophie turning one, Hannah finally being able to hear again, and today, Sophie weeing in the potty for the first time (see how I snuck that brag in there? She's only 18 months!).
Our lowlights: well, who wants to live in the past? :) In a few ways, 2007 will be better, I'm sure.
Things I'm looking forward to: Our 'snow holiday' (details to be determined), a new laptop (hopefully), some new furniture and bits and pieces, Bethany having a year with Mrs Haines, watching Ryan mature another year, Hannah starting kindy, watching Sophie grow into herself (and therefore starting to emerge from baby-world myself), welcoming a new nibling into the world (thanks Beth M for creating the word! - I hope I get to use it and can't still get away with 'nieces').

As always, I am grateful for the continuing good health and great natures of those I hold dear. I am truly so lucky to be surrounded by such lovely and caring people (and that means you!). Roll on 2007!

Photo: Bethany displays her make-up skills courtesy of a present from Aunty Marilyn.

Hark the herald angels

2006-12-18T21:21:00.000+10:30

We went to the Gawler Christmas Carols last night. It was lots of fun. So much nicer with kids this age to go to a small country event rather than the big one in the city. There was room for the kids to play and run around, during 'Away in a Manger' and 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' all the kids were called up to the stage and almost all had a turn at the microphone (none of the Feuerherdt/Stomaci clan got a turn though. Perhaps they had been warned in advance...), at the end, Father Christmas turned up and sat every child on his knee (including Ryan!) and gave them all a present. It was just nice. The weather was beautiful too. We walked/rode/scootered there and it was good fun heading home at 1030pm. Mum and dad headed most of the way home with us, so it was the whole posse making our way home in the dark. Sophie had stayed home with Paul (awake for most of the time, oops), and the other three kids did great (and weren't even overly grumpy today).

Photo: Bethany, Hannah and Ella looking angelic

Photo: Ryan on Santa's knee

Angels

2006-12-13T21:14:00.000+10:30

Most mornings I end up with one or some or all of the children in my bed before we finally get up for the day. This morning it was Bethany and Hannah. We were just lying and talking and stuff, when Bethany asks Hannah 'Hannah, do you know how much I love you?'. Hannah thought for a second and answered 'So much?'. 'Yes, that's right!' exclaimed Bethany, 'how did you know that?'. 'Because that's how much I love you', was Hannah's delightful reply.

Photo: Sophie getting her first ever face-painting at the Gawler Christmas Street Party a few weeks ago.