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!

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!

A Rose By Any Other Name

It is funny how sometimes what you are saying really means something else. "I love you" is said so many ways other then using those exact words. Ask any man what "fine" means in an argument with his wife. No scratch that, ask any woman what "fine" means when she says it to her husband! There seem to be a few men who still don't seem to get it. Any parent knows "You sleep in. I'll get up and look after the kids" means "I love you more then anything. Thanks for everything you do for our family".
My family is not the sort of family that celebrates anniversaries. I don't know why not. (Although I am sure you have worked out by my love of celebrations I am not one of these people!). We are also the sort of people who believe in "moving" birthdays to the most convenient weekend rather then doing anything on the actual day. Well, except for saying Happy Birthday and presents and cake. But "house family" stuff, not proper family stuff. My Dad forgot it was his birthday one year! Sometimes I wonder if I really am related to these people.

Despite this, for the last twelve years I have not ever forgotten to text my mum and wish her a happy anniversary. Not really because it is her wedding anniversary (Although clearly I mean the sentiment!) But it is the message to her that I haven't forgotten another anniversary.

Thirteen years ago today my little brother died. Unexpectedly. The day after my parents' 20th wedding anniversary. Ironically, it was the first time they were planning on celebrating it. "Happy Anniversary" really means "I haven't forgotten" it means "I am still hurting too" it means "I am thinking of you and I am thinking of all of us and we won't forget". Thirteen years later it is still too hard to find the words to start that conversation. Not that we don't talk about him. We talk about him all the time. We celebrate his life. He has four sisters who remember him and two sisters and hoards of nieces and a nephew or two who don't, but know lots of the stories. It doesn't change the fact it is still hard. The pain may soften, but it is still there.

Today Mum asked if the flowers are the cemetery were from me. They were. I went yesterday. Aimee is now fairly certain we should leave Hawaiian leis after seeing some on some of the other graves. I admit I always pick the flowers carefully because I don't want to get something too girly. Mum thought the leis were a nice idea. I think because it was Aimee's! She may have thought it was a little odd if it was from me. But we might do it for his birthday in a few weeks. It will save me the flower issue.

Erin the practical

I know! Two posts in a day. There is a reason for this though. Please keep reading ...

We are going to Augusta (a town about 3.5 hours South of Perth) tonight to spend the weekend with the girls' great-grandparents. When we were talking about going Aimee asked if Daddy was coming too. I told her I didn't think so, but that I hadn't asked him so she could invite him if she wanted to (they are his grandparents after all!). I did also say she shouldn't be too disappointed if he couldn't make it.

Erin's contribution to the conversation was that inviting Daddy was a great idea, but that when we asked him it should include on the condition that he take his own car. She didn't feel they should be any more squished up then they normally are!

I love Erin. She was really born to have a super organised, ultra neat mother. I feel a little bad that she has to make do with me. However she does cope. Most of the time.

From an earlier trip to Augusta.

PS Reason for the double post is that I am not going to post for another few days at least now, so I don't feel like I am inundating you too much. Have a great weekend!

Running on empty (or caffeine)

Argh! I am beyond tired! So I thought I would have a little whinge. There are some good reasons and some not-so-good reasons for this.

Good reasons:
1. Erin had an EEG today (hopefully the last test she will need! She really is ok now) and she had to be kept up until 11pm last night and woken up at 5am.
2. It is really hot.
3. We are just all over the place with school holidays.
4. There was a lightening storm last night.

Not-so-good reasons:
1. I drank way too much caffeine yesterday knowing I had to stay up late then couldn't sleep.
2. I had the brainwave that if I was keeping her up until 11pm her dad should come round and do the wake up at 5am. He decided to come round in the middle of the night instead and kept me up. He is a light sleeper and while I normally sleep really well having him up and down wandering around all night with the storm didn't help my sleeping. (Jury is out as to whether it was worth the usefulness of him being here in the morning! But he tried so I figure he deserves points for that).

Just for the record, but "good" I meant reasonable reasons. Most scary of all is that this was my last day of leave from work, school goes back in 1.5 weeks, dance/guides the week after and uni a couple of weeks after that. A few short weeks ago I could run on minimal sleep. After today I am not so sure I can do this anymore!

The purpose of this post? Nothing really. I am just trying to keep up with regular blogging and at the moment all I can think about is sleep. Bed (oh and a book) here I come!

PS And of course the second I finished this, I thought of much more interesting topics! Now you will just have to come back tomorrow to find out what they are ;)

Memories

Some memories don't just happen by chance. Some memories are created. Well, I think they are anyway. You know, the things you did that when you were younger that you want your children to experience. Whether it be a regular Sunday roast at the grandparents' or a favourite book or holiday destination. In my case we will often have a big puzzle which lives on the main table that is an on-going work in progress. I actually don't really like jigsaws. But I love the memories of them being something we did as a family during school holidays or on rainy days. I want my girls to have those same memories of 'family'.

I can't remember if I have mentioned it before, but I grew up (until I was 13 anyway) on a sheep station in the middle(ish) of Australia. As in a 600,000 acre and 20,000 sheep type station (and those numbers are right, I double checked!). This means that a lot of my favourite childhood memories are a little, or in some cases a lot, different from lots of my friends and from my children's.

In the last year or so I have become friends with a farmer who lives about an hour and a half out of Perth. It is so very cool. She invites us out lots and my girls have now got to do some of the things that were such a part of my childhood. Playing in a shearing shed. Picking mulberries straight from the tree. Catching yabbies from a dam. Riding in the back of a ute. You get the idea. Clearly it is not the same, but it is a taste! And it is awesome. The friend has also said in a year or two when they are a bit bigger they can go and stay during part of their school holidays while I am at work and really get to do stuff. Wonderful for me, but such an amazing opportunity for the girls!

We spent the afternoon up there today. We picked mulberries. The girls got to do this last year and they have been dying to be able to do it again. Then we spent two hours cutting bulrushes out of a dam! Knee deep (or in my case waist deep) in water cutting and pulling and carrying. Real farm work! They are learning to earn their keep. I got some serious exercise in today. My friend got to do a job in an afternoon that would have taken her all week. We will all be sleeping very well tonight!

Memories. Hopefully these will be some that my girls will want to re-create for their children one day!

Grandma duties

I would like to begin by saying that I do not have any pets. I do not need any pets. I have three children and an ex-husband. I am pretty sure this is enough for any person. I am not against the idea in principal. I think they are great for kids and I think I would like one, one day when my nest is empty.

The girls however have a rabbit (Misty) and goldfish (assorted names). My ex has a budgie (Boris) who lives with me (short version of a long story, we used to babysit the budgie when the ex went away and one day he just moved in. The bird, not the ex. There was slightly more discussion before we moved in together).

I am very fond of the pets overall. It is nice coming home and finding Boris there being very excited to see us. Misty is very cute and I have always wanted goldfish. But they are not my responsibility. The girls do a great job of looking after them and I think I have posted before about them leaving notes for me to remind me what to do when they go away. This is fine! Grandma duties :)

We went away for a few days. I arranged for a friend to come and feed and water them and to play with the rabbit and talk to the bird. I even left him in front of the TV so he didn't get lonely. He didn't talk to us for about three days when we got home. Seriously. When we spoke to him he put his head under his wing (and I have never seen him do that before!) or would turn his back. For three days we all, me included, attempted to get him to speak to us. He did. Eventually. But not before I felt bad! Isn't mother-guilt bad enough? Now I have pet-Grandma guilt!

But wait ... there is more! Our rabbit may or may not be pregnant. Sadly through the girls being responsible pet owners and taking her for a play in the backyard. Unfortunately the next door neighbours rabbit was there too. My colleagues thought it was hysterically funny listening to me trying to work out what was going on when Erin called me at work (my little sister was babysitting by the way).

And in amongst all this, my ex is talking about buying a dog ....to keep at our house. Hmmm ... my theory here is he can foot all the bills! But I have been broken into several times in the last couple of years so I am not actually totally against this. However I take pet owning seriously and this is a big call.

His latest plan is thinks the girls might like chooks. The might. But all I am saying is "I don't think so!!"

Tales from an absent blogger

31 August 2011 since my last post?! Wow. Really?! .... I am way too embarrassed to read the last blog I actually *did* post. I am sure it was full of promises I wasn't going to stop again. So if I repeat my excuses it will either sound very genuine or like I am totally waffling ;)

I have really missed blogging and I have missed reading blogs, but it did just fall off the radar. Uni got insane. I decided it was irresponsible to blog at work (how grown up am I getting?!) and my darling daughters' dancing schedule takes up so much time! [Side note, after swearing black and blue I was not goin to put up with the same dancing timetable as last year, this year has gone from 4 days to 5 days! Not sure how this has happened, but I actually think it will work better. Strange but true - I hope so anyway!].

My big thing was Erin getting sick. Quite sick. It has all been resolved now, but I seem to have spent months in doctors' surgeries, at the children's hospital, waiting for test results, organising baby-sitters and updating people whether it was by text message, phone or email. Some lovely people just got the "she is fine, but can I tell you in person? I am too tired to explain it all again!". Short version she is fine now and hopefully will stay this way. It was huge for us and our family, but through the whole process it all just made me feel so, so lucky that overall my babies have been happy and healthy. So many people are not this lucky.

We also had an idealic few days down South with one of my sisters and her family. Had a visit from another sister and my nephew who lived interstate for Christmas. Survived another semester of uni and I am now entering my final year! (Admittedly I will be completing it over 18 months, but this is not the point). Reanna graduated primary school (with much crying, mostly by me but she had her fair share of tears on her last day).

I am sure more has happened, but these have been the key points in a nutshell. There may be a few later posts with retrospective tales!

Happy New Year everyone and I am looking forward to much blog reading and writing in 2012.

The Day after Sunday .... and our Harry Potter weekend

Click the button to join in with blogs tea & me for 'The day after Sunday' linky. If you don't like Mondays what better way to start then by sharing the special moments from your weekend? And if you do like Mondays this can only make them better!

I have to admit that on this 'day after Sunday' I am on holidays so I definitely have all sorts of rose-coloured glasses on at the moment! Even more then normal ;)

So our weekend consisted of:

Friday: getting all my children back under one roof, nacho picnic in the lounge and Harry Potter 1.


Saturday:Sleep in followed by Saturday morning "cartoons" (what is with there being real life things on these days instead of cartoons?) Harry Potter 2, making the clown fish out of dried apricots and white chocolate that we saw on Saturday Disney (totally awesome by the way) Harry Potter 3. Breakfast-for-dinner with a couple of friends. Harry Potter 4 (are you sensing a theme). Emergency trip to pick up my nephew! It was great to have him, but the reason for the surprise visit was my niece breaking her wrist quite badly and needing to stay in hospital over night which was less good :(

Sunday: I dragged myself out of bed early to go to the park for a circuit class. Harry Potter 5. The kids played schools and my sister came to collect her son and so my niece could show off her cast. Harry Potter 6. I ordered "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in Latin for a different sister's 30th and Jo returned for Harry Potter 7!

Weekend over!!! Soooooo lazy, but just exactly what I needed. I read and napped through lots of the movies. I cuddled my babies and chatted with friends. Other then the broken niece it was a fabulous weekend. Although my final day-after-Sunday comment .... I should have stretched last night .... I am soooooo stiff today!

I may have stopped breathing ....

I just went for 48 hours without reading a single page of a single book. I do not remember the last time this happened. You will be pleased to know I have checked. I am still alive. I am happy about this!! I read. A lot. Every day (well usually). I read so much I have a whole separate blog about reading which you can find here if you are interested.

The weekend was busy though! Very busy, but so much fun. I love birthdays :) My (I mean Reanna's) cake look fabulous and her party went well (check out my photo of the week in yesterday's post). The adults may have ended up emotionally traumatised, but that is normal with 12 and 13 year olds right? The girls all had a good time and this is the main thing! Aimee loved her little presents and literally bounced all day. Count down is now on for Miley Cyrus next Saturday. This long awaited event is her "party" and her "big" present all in one.

AND to top it all off, I realised this morning that I had contact with all five of my nieces and nephews in one day! I saw four of them and spoke to the fifth one on the phone (he lives in a different state).

Hope your weekends were all as fabulous as mine, and I hope everyone has a super awesome week.

Can I just say I am excited?

*Warning* this is a long post!! (But if you can bother sticking with it it is a nice snapshot to our life and the way my brain works. And possibly the reason why I should blog quickly and on the run instead of via edit and with masses amount of thought).

Once you get to know me a bit better you will find out I get excited easily and some would say excited over not very much. Personally I am ok with this. I would rather be the person who is happy and excited rather then the person who does nothing but complain and never, ever seems to be happy (I didn't realise how many people lived like this pre-facebook. It is really sad).

Anyway. Today I am excited about lots of things:

1. It is Friday And I love Fridays. I love the anticipation that it is almost the weekend. I also love that it is casual dress day at work and it means I can wear jeans. I love my jeans. I did mention I work better in pyjamas (I love pyjamas even more then I love jeans) but apparently even for casual dress this is not acceptable.

2. The weekend and this weekend it is not just any weekend here in Western Australia. It is a long weekend for Foundation day. This means that unlike other long weekends where there are things we specifically do to celebrate/commemerate events this weekend is just extra long!

3. Pyjama party The girls and I are sleeping over at my parents' place tonight with two (or three) of my (lots younger then me) sisters. Mum & Dad are away. I am not baby-sitting. Just hanging out. It should be fun! We live 45 minutes away from my family (not counting my sister and nephew who live in the Northern Territory) which is close enough to see them at least every two weeks or so, but I miss being a part of their everyday lives. Now just to see if we make it through the evening fight-free!

4. Hens' Night!!!! It is a close friend's hens' night tomorrow day/night. We get to dress up for the evening in fancy dress which I love. I am going as a girl from Gryffindor (my girls are in discussion over which one I am) and if I get to put my cloak into a cloak-room I am going to be doubly as excited as I am now!!!! Plus it has been a looooong time since I have been out on a girls' night out. Plus we have a hotel room booked so we are staying the night AND, just to top it all off I have 24 hours of childfree time thanks to a wonderful friend. I love my children! But I don't remember the last time I had 24 hours of me time**.

5.New information I have just worked out that blogger has a spell check. This is going to quite useful in my attempt to write good blog posts and sound semi-educated.

6. Dreaming v Goal Setting My first direct debit came out today which is another step to a BIG goal I am working towards (check out my other blog at Two Mummy Ducks).

7.Soup Croissant Express (a coffee shop chain) is selling soup again. I didn't bring lunch to work today in the hope that the soup of the day would be one I like (see previous post about me being a fussy eater). They are :)

8. Coffee I am not actually that excited by the coffee, but I think it might be the coffee that is making even more excited about stuff then usual. I had a jumbo capp this morning and my boss has just bought us a coffee. Hmmm. Despite my comments about caffeine addiction in my profile I have been working very hard at cutting back. This now means it seems to be having a fairly significant effect on me! (It has just occurred to me it means I have been to the coffee shop three times today when I would normally only go once or twice a fortnight! Never mind).

9. New stuff I have a bit of a splurge this week. I have been saving for a new dress, shoes, (play) jewellery etc for the upcoming wedding. And a fabulous friend is sending me a new bag to match the new dress! I also love surprises.

If you have managed to read to the end of this post ... thank you! Hope you enjoyed the insight into me :)

**Their dad works away and his roster isn't terribly consistent. When he is back he spends lots of time with them and has them sleepover and stuff, but we work more on flexible co-parenting at the moment rather then set 'visit' times. Even before he worked away they tended to go and stay once or twice a week rather then every second weekend. We felt it meant they get a better and on-going relationship with both of us. Plus I hate being away from them for more then a day so the every second weekend thing didn't really work for any of us. This changes as life changes but at the moment it works for us and the girls are happy. However, the times they have slept there recently have been uni nights for me which great is not quite the same as getting to go out. Not that I do badly in the going out stakes! I do actually have a fairly active social life. The girls are massive social butterflies. *Sigh* Now I have forgotten the point of all this. I think originally it was to make it clear the girls see their dad!! And that I am not complaining. Just excited. *end of waffle* (Although I am leaving this in as in a rambly way I think it is a nice little insight to our lifestyle ... and to my lack of abililty to stay on track!

Hmmm ... what happened to March?!

Ok ... so I may have missed March! And in all honesty I am not quite sure what happened to it. How did we get to April the FOURTH month of the year so quickly??

March for me was full of emotional ups and downs. The end of February was our wedding anniversary and strangely my ex took me out for it. I do realise this is very odd but it was a nice night and I am happy we are at the point we can do this. Then at beginning of March was year since he moved out and the 11 year anniversary of my brother's death. This still makes me sad, but I am ok with this. I never want to be at the point where it doesn't. March was also full of stuff with the girls, work (and I love my new position by the way), uni, friends, family and all the other things that fill up my world.

Now we are in April! Easter was great (admittedly it is my favourite time of year) and I had an amazing time with my cousins who came to visit me from South Australia.

I have also made a big decision. To withdraw from the unit I was enrolled in this semester. Stopping uni, even for a few months is a big thing for me. I am scared I will never go back, I am scared of being a "failure" and I am scared it will have long term consequences. It will show on my transcript as being "withdrawn" and this will be there forever. All this aside I think it was a good decision though. I was behind in everything and nowhere near finishing my assignment the day after it was due. So a lesson in humility, a lesson in time-management and a lesson in learning to say it is ok that I can not do everything all of the time! I am now excited about a week and a half at home with my babies (and various extras) with no uni to worry about and about having four months to concentrate on my house before going back next semester. Hopefully with an organised house and a rested mind. I will also mention here I have friends who mean the world to me! And validated my decision without a thought, without a hesitation and really helped me feel happy that I made it.

Finally, just to add to my list of things that just make me happy: Easter; hot cross buns; finding a car park right where you need one; chocolate; friends who know what you need even when you won't admit it.

PS I have no idea why these last two paragraphs aren't being shown seperately. It is going to annoy me forever but I will just have to live with it!