Some more photos

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

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

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

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

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

Long life lightglobes

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

Alright, menstruation!

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

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

Chip off the old block

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

School's so boring

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

Hannah goes to school

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

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

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

Speechless

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

Photos

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.