A long time coming

So this weekend just gone, we finally had the weekend I have been intending on having for the last few weeks! The first weekend went awry when my back got hurt. The second weekend went off target by an all morning shopping trip (so not my idea) on the Saturday and a very-day-after-the-night-before-ish day on the Sunday (totatally self-inflicted, but oh so worth it!).

So this weekend, what did we do?! You have two choices here. You can read through the waffle or you can skip to the last paragraph. I really don't mind which option you pick! I am nice like that.

We slept in on the Saturday. We spent both nights at home.

We went and watched Erin's first scratch match on the Sunday morning. She did so well! She is little and scary, in my opinion anyway! I was a little concerned that she tripped someone over in the first five minutes of play, but Reanna assures me this is how it works (Note to self: learn some of the rules. Also learn how long each half goes for. It is a little embarrassing to be asked to be time-keeper and then to have to ask how long it goes for! I was very enthusiastic about helping though. I feel I deserve points for that).

I went to bookclub on Sunday afternoon and freaked themt all out with the fact I read two books that weekend. In all fairness, I do read fast and both books were so awesome and unputdownable (I am keeping this word, I have decided I don't care if it exists). And while it isn't exactly uncommon for me to read more then one book in a weekend anymore, these days I am mostly too busy for it to happen. Totally different books too! 'The Help' which was our bookclub book and I really should have read earlier. Luckily I loved it and it was no effort to read in a few hours. The first couple of months of bookclub I read the book straight away and then had troubles remembering because I'd read so many other books in the middle. This is my excuse and I am sticking to it. I should really pay more attention when I read though. The second book was 'The Hunger Games' which I was reading under protest to decide whether or not Erin could read it. I have touched on this briefly in my review, and I will probably blog about the whole issue separately. But for now, let's just say as an adult I loved it and I am looking forward to reading the next two (probably some time this week if I am lucky!).

Highlight of the weekend was babysitting my friends 19-month-old. It took Aimee exactly 15 minutes of having her and about 2 minutes of being in the car with a crying toddler to declare she was glad she was the youngest! We had so much fun! I barely saw her though. The girls took it in turns in playing with her very nicely but I admit there was a lot of "She is not a toy! She is a person. A little person, but still a person!" Mama phrase for the weekend! It was very, very good for my spoilt youngest diva daughter though. It is the first time she has really shown any interest in a baby (usually she just wants lots of my attention) and the first time she has really helped with babysitting! My heart melted watching her carry the baby around! The plop on the lounge was followed by a very serious "I am not very good at the landings yet". Aw. So cute!

But as thrilling as my weekend sounds, you might be wondering whtat it was I actually had planned. The answer is actually nothing. Just a weekend at home to potter around and get stuff done. In addition to the fun stuff, I also have finally finished sorting out the playroom! One more tiny wall to paint and I will post pictures!! Yay!!! You have no idea how long I have been dying for a day at home to get this done. All the sorting and organising and it looks soooooo good! And it feels even better. (All the explanation marks in this paragraph were necessary to convey exactly how over the moon I am about this.)

So in summary: we played, read, cleaned, purged and talked (did I mention a couple of marathon phone chats with friends? I had to talk to someone! The girls were otherwise occupied). And really, that was it!

Loving *Lots* of Stuff

"I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is" .... linking in with the lovely Paisley Jade with things I am loving this week. Actually because I missed last week's link I am loving lots of stuff this week because I have been adding to this post for a fortnight now!



Tacos: We are living on them at the moment! Seriously, minimum of once a week and now I have worked out there are chicken kits as well often twice a week! They are easy, the girls eat a tonne of salad with them, I can make a lot of it in advance so they only take five minutes to get ready and with the Vegetarian One (aka Aimee) it is easy to do an option for her too!
2 minute  noodles: I haven't had these in forever and suddenly I have rediscovered them. Yummy and easy (are you sensing a theme). Although I would like to know if anyone actually adds in the vegetable sachets?
Mobility: After spending so much time lying with my sore back I am massively appreciating being able to move.

Walking barefoot through the grass: Because this is just awesome. And it is perfect weather for it now the ground is not so hot after you walk off the path. I do love Autumn.

My nieces and nephews: Did I tell you I am getting another one? My sister has fostered a second little boy. He arrives today :) They live too far away for me to see him, but this is not the point! I am so excited about this!

Rainbows and leprechauns and other green stuff for St Patrick's Day: Enough said!

Any random celebration: Pi Day! St Patrick's Day! Harmony Day! Celebrations are awesome! Not only are they fun, they are great ways to discuss different things with the girls. And eat and drink nice stuff. ie lemon meringue pie for Pi day, Irish cider for St Patrick's Day (obviously not the girls!) and the girls had all sorts of international stuff at school for Harmony Day!

Googling random things that I could study if I won lotto and could spend the rest of my life learning things instead of working: So I might have issues, but this is what I would do!

What are you loving this week? Click here to join in!

Did you miss me?

I was sort of wondering how I managed to go for almost a week without posting. Then I thought about it! It has been a little busy. Nothing bad. Nothing amazingly exciting. Just life. And nothing seemed to jump out at me at as a post. So if you are interested in reading about our adventures in the past week, please keep reading. If not, please pop back soon!

Work has been busy. Nice busy, not horrible busy. The girls have had their usual dance/Guides/soccer/school life. One slight change was Reanna swapping from contemporary ballet to classical ballet. This has meant she has gone back to Guides and Aimee and have a dedicated 'study' night at Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King). She is very excited about this. It is super cute. It saves me about an forty minutes of driving so definitely is working well so far.

Awful, awful photo of me. You can see how tired I am, but you can also see how excited Aimee is about our 'study group'.

I took Erin and Aimee to the beach and we saw the 'Sculptures by the Sea' exhibition. It was great! The girls absolutely loved it! Massive sculptures (I think there were between 60 and 70) all down one of Perth's beautiful beaches. Erin took so many photos. 

I even squeezed a night out in there. I think the last time I went out for St Patrick's day was when Aimee was about two and I definitely made the most of this night. I would like to complain about being asked for ID though. Seriously, I am 32. And it wasn't like they were asking everyone! Maybe I just looked a little too excited? Hmm ... maybe I should work on this?

Check out the proof of my big night out! This is your warning about halter necks ladies. Well least those of you who are well endowed. Was it worth it though? Yes! The top looked awesome!  And don't worry, the girls wore green and had their own celebrations during the day and had a fabulous night with my parents and various sisters.

Massive excitement of the week has been one of my closest friends graduating uni! Exciting on so many levels. I am excited for her. I am excited because it means the end is in sight for me. I am also very excited because it has meant she has been visiting Perth for her graduation ceremony!

Um ... what else? It has been study week at uni so no classes (yay! Please do not ask how much study I have done. I have caught up on some housework though. This counts right?). My back is finally better I think. 

I missed you all despite my slackness and I am very much looking forward to catching up on a week's worth of other peoples' lives! Happy Hump day everyone and enjoy the rest of your week :)

I cannot believe I just did that

I had the strangest experience today. I was sitting quietly at my kitchen table typing away, minding my own business when a mouse ran across the floor (in broad daylight! Stupid mouse). I squawked. Not squealed or screamed or yelled, squawked. I feel this may be the only thing that gives me some dignity here. Keep reading!

At the same time as squawking I jumped onto a chair. Seriously. Who does that? Other then me and people on tv??? (If anyone else has done it, this would be the time to share! At least then I will know I am in good company). I am not even sure why! It gave me a bit of a shock, but I had suspected there was one in the house and I have been putting traps out, but as much as I dislike having them in the house I am not afraid of them alive. My phobia of dead things is a whole other post. So is Aimee's freaking out about killing stuff. Very not  happy at the moment.

If you have any suggestions for scaring them away or keeping them away once this one has gone to mouse-heaven please let me know! Stupid mice.

What's on your shelf?

Chalk & Talk recently asked the following questions to find out what is on your bookshelf at the moment:

1. What have you just read?


2. What are you reading right now?

3. What are you dying to read next?

As I am unable to restrict myself to a three line answer, because I have serious issues about (a) talking too much (even via blog posts); and (b) only reading on thing thing at a time I thought I would just do a post of my own. It also saves me from thinking of anything else to write about today, plus books really are my favourite things! (After the children).

So the books I have just finishend are:

1.1 'Does my head look big in this?' - Really was a great read. Reanna is enjoying it too.
1.2 'I've Got Your Number' - It felt like I was waiting for this book forever and it was definitely worth the wait!
1.3 'Enemy of God'  - A different look at the King Arthur saga.


At the moment I am reading:

2.1  'The Universe Parallel' (Traci Harding). The second in her Triad of Being Trilogy. I think Traci Harding is the only author I really read that is science fiction (and only because I love her historical fantasy stuff so very much I am just hooked. I don't even read Marion Zimmer Bradley's science fiction books. Admittedly she has written a lot more).
2.2 'Vampire Academy' (Richelle Mead). This is part of number 16 on the 100ish books in 1001 days that I am doing.
2.3 'Eclipse' (Stephenie Meyer). I started re-reading the series when I was sick, but haven't got around to finishing it yet. But this one is on my bedside table with a bookmark in it so I think it makes this list!


What I am planning on reading next:

3.1 'The Light-Field' (Traci Harding). After waiting for years to start reading this trilogy I am greedy and want it all now.
3.2 'The Help'. It is our book club book for this month. Co-incidentially, someone gave it to me to read just after Christmas but I have done the right thing and waited for it to be the same month as everyone else.
3.3 'Mercy Falls' (Marian Keyes). Ok this one isn't actually going to on my "next to read" list as it isn't due out until September, but I am so very excited about this that I just had to include it!

What is on your shelf at the moment?

Science v Art

Today's post is dedicated to International Pi Day. The one day of the year I embrace my Mathsy genes (and my love of pie).

Yes I am pretty sure I have Maths genes and I am pretty sure in my case they are very well hidden. My Mum's official title is "Post Graduate Research Fellow". In actual terms she does statistics for some medical research. It is what she did her PhD thesis on, but that is all I can tell you about it. I do actually own a copy of her thesis and it sits very proudly on my bookshelf, but in all honestly the only bit I understand is the dedication (which I helped write) and the acknowledgments which from memory I proofed. Dad lectures in Maths at uni and has a partially written PhD  floating around (I really have no idea what his is on). Sister #2 (who is three years younger then me) just finished her Maths degree. Mum and Dad were mature aged students so I feel there is some excuse for them, but I am not so sure about my sister! It is bit odd being in a family where being half way through a law degree is a bit of a let down ;)**

Law, I feel, is one of those subject areas which clearly divides those who are science students at heart compared to those who are arts students at heart. You can pretty much tell this, but which subjects they like. Hard and fast statue based classes = science. Lots of discretion = arts. Just in my humble opinion, but it really seems to be the way it works. This is backed up by (a) what they are doing in their other degree; or (b) what they did in their first degree; or (c) what their favourite subjects were at high school; or (d) all of the above.

In high school my TEE (tertiary entry subjects) were a fifty-fifty split. But the subjects I aced were History and English Literature. The double Maths was mostly because my parents assured me they would be easy marks (see how naive I was?!). It wasn't, just for the record.

To this day I still don't know what fish breathe out and why (in my head it should be Hydrogen and I can't work out why not? This has been confusing me for seventeen years now). And don't ever get me started on imaginary numbers (I know they are the square root of negative one but I am sorry you just can't make up something to make things work I don't care often Mum assures me you can). Admittedly this is probably more proof that I need to get a life then anything else!!!

But in my home we like to celebrate all sorts of things! And I do like to prove to my parents I am expanding my children to all sorts of things not just artsy stuff***.  So Happy International Pi Day everyone!!!

Our International Pi Day dinner. Homemade (aka heated) with love! We did also discuss 'Pi' as opposed to 'Pie'.



** Just in case anyone is worried about my self-esteem, this is a joke! They are all very proud of me.
*** Not that they are against artsy stuff. They are the ones who taught me to love reading and history!

Why I don't understand my children (and vice versa).

People always stop me to tell me the girls look just like me. And I mean all the time, not just people I know or people standing next to me in the check-out queue, but random people will actually stop to tell me this. I mean they do look like me, but they are mine! But more to the point, I do find the concept of walking up to a stranger and stopping to tell them this is strange. I have decided to take it as a compliment though, because in my humble and highly biased opinion they are all very pretty. The girls I mean, not the strangers.
It is also funny, because despite their similarities, different people who actually know us will each have which one they insist looks the most like me. These opinions are pretty much equally divided up between the three girls. The consensus is agreed that they all look like me not their father though (with the exception of his step-mother which is understandable!). Funnily enough, the one strangers pick as looking the most like their dad is Erin, because they are both darker. However, she is not actually biologically his!

For all their similarities they are all quite different. I have always said the difference in their personalities showed most clearly in how they would react if they were upset or got into trouble as toddlers. Reanna used to just be devastated and would cry. Erin would sulk (and just for the record it is really hard to study with a two year old sitting behind you with her arms crossed and glaring at you). Aimee would have a massive tantrum. Her first through herself down and cry tantrum was the day she sat up.
Not that I ever expected them to be the same as each other or like me. However, I thought I had a few years left of understanding them (until we hit the teenage years). But they still continue to surprise me and the following are just a few reasons I don't think I will ever understand my children, and why I think they will never understand me:-

- Reanna refuses to write properly on facebook or in text messages. This drives me insane. And yet, she insists on writing "sad face" or "smiley face" rather then using symbols.

- That they all love sport and play voluntarily at school (and not just to get out of class) and they are all talented (not to mention co-ordinated) dancers.

-They can do cool things with their hair. My talents pretty much stopped at pony-tails and plaits. Yes, three girls were wasted on me!

-They don't love Enid Blyton - wasn't this what we all grew up reading? And Enid Blyton stuff was old when I was little. Admittedly they like her stuff, and they have more options these days, but still!

- Aimee doesn't eat meat. Enough said. Although I understand the ethical reasons.

- Erin has an amazing networking ability already. She can talk to anyone whether or not she has been introduced.

-Reanna wants to do a fun run. Really wants to do one. I have agreed but only under sufferance. When mu personal trainer was suggesting I start the C25K program he asked hadn't I always wanted to run a marathon. My answer was most definitely no. No urge whatsoever!

The big question is, if I don't understand them ... how is anyone else supposed to?

(This post is intended to balance out all my pround mama posts. I am a proud mama, but doesn't mean it is smooth sailing all the time! Admittedly this list isn't really life ruining, but it does make for fun conversations with lots of eyerolling).