Things I know...

Playing along again this week with Shae over at Yay For Home! for things I know.

This week I know I am tired and that this will probably be a short and rather uninspired list. Sorry.

I know that this morning a teacher at the pre school had to tell me this weekend is a long weekend because I had no idea.

I know that I am annoyed that the clowns who have been gunna get the pool up and running have spent six weeks failing to do so and have finally been sacked.

I know they have been replaced by a reputable pool service company.

I know that the new company took one look and said, "Whatever you do don't swim in it, it's dangerous and needs repairs".  Duh, I have been saying this for six weeks...

Can you see it? The clowns couldn't...
Maybe because they didn't clean the leaves out...
Or maybe because they let it go green...

I know I am annoyed that it has been six weeks and it could possibly be repaired by now if the clowns had not been involved.

I know that the Workaholic has a lot of household jobs to do this weekend.

I know that the Workaholic will resist doing said jobs and probably get less than 1% completed himself and then call in someone else to do the rest.

I know I am about to put the Munchkin down for a sleep and will probably hit my own bed for a couple of hours.

I know I have a birthday party to plan for the end of next month and I don't even have a theme.

I know I am more interested in organising a weekend away with the Workaholic, sans kids, than organising a birthday party.

I know that this is pretty much all I know right now.



Have a wonderful weekend and check out some other things people know over at Yay for Home!

Thankful Thursday

On Tuesday, for about 45 minutes I thought that I had been robbed while two adults and five kids were on the property. 

Somehow the fact that we were here makes it just so much worse in my head.

I am so thankful it turned out I was not.

We had had a good day.

My friend N (I'm very thankful that we reconnected last year, around 24 years after we last clapped eyes on each other at the end of year 10 Geez, we're OLD), was over with her three kids.  The kids were running feral in the back yard (just how we like them) and we were having a good catch up chat in between tears (theirs) or requests for food and drink.  Then the barracuda in the pool got stuck, so we headed out to the yard so I could work out what was going on with it and N went around to the side yard to check on the suddenly quiet boys.  They had discovered a mulberry tree.  We were all very excited.  N and I were reliving our childhoods and introducing the boys to the joy of the mulberry tree.  I must say I'm pretty thankful for that timely discovery.  The berries are just ripening. Nom Nom.

We all pottered about for a while and then headed back inside.  N, realising it was almost dinner time went to start to pack her car while I made food for the hungry hoard and discovered the front door was wide open.  Her bag was right next to it and nothing was missing.  The boys all denied opening it and so we wandered through the house looking for anything missing.  My wallet was on my bed where I left it this morning, credit cards and cash in tact.  It looked fine.

It took a while longer to get the kids moving and into the car (when doesn't it?) all the while I was puzzling over the front door.  Then it hit me, LAPTOP.  I rushed down to my bedroom and there was the power cord, but no laptop. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.  Probably the only thing in the house I would be truly upset about losing.  I kept thinking of everything on it.  All of the photos I had uploaded from the camera but had not backed up or printed.  I was devastated.

Oh how I love thee...

We sat on the the front steps and puzzled over how it could have happened.  We just couldn't believe someone had been so brazen or that we had not noticed anything.  We remembered hearing a noise and regretted not investigating it more thoroughly.  Eventually I sucked it up and phoned the Workaholic and had a cry.  He was not very sympathetic.  You see since we moved into this house six weeks ago he has been constantly telling me to deadlock everything, at least until the alarm is installed and the security doors are on.  He reminded me that he had told me to back up at least 10 times in the last month Nah nahny nah nah....Also, he just didn't believe it had happened (Grrrrr).

I sent N home with her exhausted and unruly mob (thanks for the offer to stay, Why weren't we friends at school again?) as it was getting seriously late and came inside to get mine into the bath and bed, so I could sit and wallow in self pity mourn the loss of all those photos and phone the police to report it.  While the bath filled and they undressed I went through the house room by room looking for anything else that may have been taken and what did I find in the Munchkin's room?  My laptop.  Embarrassed and puzzled but soooo relieved I phoned the Workaholic and texted N that it was found. 

I have no idea how it got there.  I have no idea why the front door was open.  These are destined to remain mysteries and quite frankly, Who cares? I did not lose my laptop!!

I am so thankful that some thief do not really steal my laptop, that no stranger had been wandering around my house and so relieved that I now have a chance to back up my data.

Just after we moved in someone stole our much loved and very heavy concrete giraffe (Gerard is so sadly missed) garden ornament. The movers left him in a pretty inconspicuous spot at the top of our driveway rather than in the garden because he is very heavy and they had had a hard, long day.  He was not very obvious unless you came through the front gates and up the driveway.  We had planned to move into his new home in the side garden as soon as we had two men around to lift him, which is easier said than done here with the Workaholic working all the hours he possibly can of course.  It had made me a bit jumpy about security but our rushed and unexpected move has left us strapped for cash and extra security stuff was prioritised behind other important things like eating...

So very good things came out of the scary 45 minutes when I believed that someone had stolen my laptop.  It has increased the priority of the security measures for the house to the extent that the Workaholic has booked in the alarm installation and has agreed to close the gate when he goes out or comes in (something he has not bothered to do the entire time we have been here and has annoyed me no end).  But best of all it has given me the kick up the bum that I needed to get back into a backup routine for my data and photos and it has made me sort out some better password protection for the laptop and for the sites I use.



Nothing like an imaginary burglar to whip up some action at the House of O.

On this Thankful Thursday checkout what everyone else is thankful for by visiting Jess, from Diary of a SAHM  who is hosting for katesaysstuff this week while she is off having a family holiday (lucky her).

Wordless Wednesday

Allergy Boy - AKA the Munchkin shows off his peeling hand.

I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys & faith hope and a whole lotta love for Wordless Wednesday.

 

I've Chosen a Boys School...

and the OPO's (Other Peoples Opinions) are coming thick and fast.

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You may have noticed, the Little Man starts Big School, Kindergarten here in NSW, in 2012.

There has been lots of blogosphere discussion lately about school choices and making choices for your individual child and your family.

We have chosen an independant, religious, all boys school.

This and this, in part explains why I have always thought single sex schools were a good idea for high school.  Choosing one from Kindergarten is something I had not previously considered. 

I had no idea how controversial we were being!

I've mentioned before how we had some enlightening moments last year at his pre school when he rebelled against a teacher (and her regime).  The then Director, had a chat with me about rethinking our school plans for him.  I had already been going down the same path.

Our original plans were pretty much the same as our own educations - the local Catholic primary school followed by whichever Independent Catholic High School they got into.  This would most likely have been a boys high school (again, like us).

The Workaholic had been nudging me for a couple of years to apply for the school we have decided on.  He saw only positives in this school. I was resistant as I saw no reason to change our plans and it is not Catholic.

I obviously changed my mind and applied to the school once the pre school weighed in.

Since we decided on this new route, I have had a niggling worry about the lack of girls in primary school especially since my boys do not and are not likely to have sisters.  This has been exacerbated by the dreaded O.P.O (other people's opinions) which come thick and fast without any invitation from me.

Last week it was all highs and lows on this front.

It truly amazes me how people feel it is their right to give me their opinion on my son, the school and our choice to spend so much money on the boys education with no guarantee of genius at the end (WTF??!!).

At this point I would like to say that I went to a couple of independant girls schools.  At great sacrifice by my parents.  We had very little money and lived in a tiny terrace house in Enmore (before it was trendy) but they chose to spend money on my education because they saw the value in it.  I have always been grateful for the opportunities and perspective it afforded me and never had a doubt that I would pay for my children's education, if it were at all possible.  My reasons for this is a whole other post that one day soon I may just get too.

But, this is MY opinion and I have no need to comment on or judge other peoples choices.  Just the same as I wont tell you that removing all of the vowels and replacing them with y's in your child's name will not make her unique, it will just make her curse you everytime she has to spell it for someone, for the rest of her life or until she changes it by deed poll. Oops, sorry, my internal judgmental voice is showing...Resuming normal transmission.

Anyway, this week I have been bombarded by opinion, including a barked over the shoulder (I swear it was scary, agressive), "THOSE PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 20 YEARS AND WILL BE FOR ANOTHER 20" to which myself and the mother of ex students of the school, who I was actually having the conversation with, across the room, raised our eyebrows and did not mention it again.  As I later worked out what, his "problem" was, well, I think anyway, that there are no girls in the primary school.  This man did send his own boys to said school from year 5 though, so I could be wrong, but I certainly did not want to find out what his point was! I also found out later that he had taught there...

Luckily two things happened last week that outweigh all of the negative feelings I have had and the negative opinions I have received.

Firstly the Head of the school spoke to the parents at an orientation session and ran through the school's approach and benefits for the boys.  I loved that he told us to expect physical confrontations and very dirty school uniforms.  I especially loved that he is so hands on and knows this new group of boys already, after just two sessions.  Best of all though was his statement "You've chosen this school, a boys school for your child.  Now, back off, trust us and leave the education to us".  It's hard to explain why this impressed me so much, probably because it is something I would say one of my pet hates is people who don't take the ball and run with it, be it in reality or metaphorically.  I expect them to know what they are doing, they have been doing it for a long time.  I'm not being lazy and shuffling the responsibility onto the school, I just expect a school full of boys to be pretty good with , um, Boys.  It definitely reconfirmed my own opinions about raising and educating boys and I came away feeling so sure that we have made the right choice. 

Then, my Uncle, who knows about this stuff because he taught in boys schools for his entire career and still, now in his 80's, writes the textbooks that Aussie kids are using for maths in all sorts of schools right now, was visiting from across the country, so we had a really good chat yesterday.  It was he who gave us the our family reference and convinced me initially that I wanted my boys at this school for their 13 years of education when I was baulking and considering what year to apply for.  He directed me to some wonderful studies on boys schooling and educational psychology for boys as well as some brilliant ideas for my take over of bringing up at the Parents Association.

At this moment I am so thrilled that my boys are going to have an education tailor made for boys and how they learn.

I'm not so excited by the prospect of fees and uniforms for the next 16 years...


So where do you stand with regards to offering and receiving OPO's??

I Hate Weddings

 

I've always hated them.

It's probably why I took so many years and so many proposals before I weakened and one Sunday night turned to the Workaholic totally out of the blue and said, "I suppose it is time we got married".  He in turn, leaped up and herded me out and into the car so he could drive us over to the parents houses to announce the news before I changed my mind. (My parents thought it was a joke and took no notice till 4 weeks later when my brother, who was still in high school and living with them, asked why he wasn't told - but that is definitely a whole other post...).

They make me uncomfortable in so many ways.

I hate sitting through the actual ceremony bit.  I have an uncanny knack for knowing at that moment exactly the fate of the union (if I don't already know).  It's a family thing from my Mum's side.  She always knows the sex of people's babies, well before they do, that's her thing.

When I was 3 or 4 my Uncle got married to my now ex Aunt, I was supposed to be their flower girl.  I refused to walk down the aisle.  They divorced not long after.  I remember feeling like I just did not want to be involved.

When my childhood, besty got married I got physically ill on the way from the church in Kensington to the reception at Vaucluse and had to go home. She and I have basically not spoken since. She knows about my psychic ability at Weddings.

Sometimes I know in advance.  I actually sat my sister in law down a couple of months before her wedding (to a guy I liked and had no grudges against - I just knew), and asked her some very pointed questions, trying to get her to work it out for herself.  Everyone in her family was telling her not to do it which was making her even more determined, so I hoped I might get through to her.  It was just after they separated that she came to me and thanked me.  She had realised while the marriage was falling apart that I had asked her all the right questions but she wasn't ready to answer them honestly.

I went to five weddings one year and walked out knowing 4 would be divorcing within a couple of years.

My best buddy, eloped and didn't even tell me she was doing it because among other things she says she couldn't stand it if I knocked back her bridesmaid request and then went all weak at the knees during the reception... They are actually great together and I would have happily been her bridesmaid.

I. always. know.


My strike rate is impressive.  The Workaholic always asks me for the verdict after the ceremony and again after the reception.


Do you really want me at your wedding??


I totally hate the guilt ridden invitation.  I have no right to expect to be at your Wedding.  Nobody does actually, not even your family if you don't want them there.  It's your day.  I may be your cousin/best friend/person who introduced you/daughter of your Mothers best friend, but if you don't want me there, that's fine.

Just so we are clear,

To anyone getting married - I am so not offended to not be on your guest list.  I don't need you to explain, it's YOUR wedding, enjoy yourself. You will be kicking yourself for spending so much money on it in years to come anyway.

Same goes for being bridesmaid. 

I HATE being in the bridal party.

This is a chore, not an honour or a pleasure for me.  Please don't ask me, because you will get this response,"No thanks, please ask someone who would really enjoy it".  I finally got the courage to knock back requests after years of "Oh, I'd love to, it would be an honour." sometime after the hell of having my own somewhat unwilling but obligatory bridesmaids.

I hate the whole looking for the dress and shoes (No, I really WONT wear it again and NO $550 is not a bargain).

I especially hate the crappy functions you are forced to attend when you are in the bridal party, or even worse, you get the honour of ORGANISING them.  Did the fact that I never actually got Engaged, never had a Bridal Shower, Kitchen Tea, Hen's night (eergh) or Baby shower pass you by?  I hate these things.  Oh please don't invite me to those either, you can, but I will definitely decline the invitation, please don't be offended.  I wont feel left out or hold a grudge if you leave me off the list all together, in fact I'll think much much better of you for knowing me so well.

The worst part for me though, about being in the bridal party, is that I don't get to sit with the Workaholic and enjoy a night out (even if it is a Wedding).

These days I only accept invitations to Weddings I truly want to attend and I enjoy them so much more.

So, the reason for this post?

To my young friends getting married next week:

Thank you for not inviting us.  I sense you have felt some guilt and have been a bit awkward around us, but be assured nobody here is offended or feels that we have been snubbed.  We don't know your friends, probably couldn't get a babysitter  anyway and by the way, don't need an invitation to still buy you a kick arse gift ;) .  Please enjoy your day and I hope you have a wonderful life together (I'm feeling positive).

Lots of Love,

From all at the House of O.
xxx

What are your thoughts on Weddings?

Yeah I know, blatantly trawling for readers...
Linking up with Where's my Glow.


The Workaholic out does himself

He starts work at 6.30am Monday to Saturday.

And now the Workaholic has told his new boss he will work every night till 8pm and every Saturday till 2pm.

How is this cutting back on working and spending more quality time with the family?

As well as these insane hours driving me mental and even though I know he is earning more than he was 4 months ago, I seem to be seeing less of it.

Now to top it off he is spending Saturday afternoons way across on the other side of Sydney helping to build a house for an acquaintance, for free, so we wont see him today before the boys are asleep either.

What is wrong with this picture?

How's your work life balance?  Ours is totally SHIT.

Allergy Boy

The Munchkin gave us a scare this week.  The Workaholic squeezed me into his busy schedule and we hit the local Italian for a quick dinner (I was not allowed dessert :( ).  While we ate we had a chat about the Munchkin who has been a bit off colour the last couple of weeks.  As we listed all of the symptoms we both realised that all these little things could add up to something pretty big and serious.

I took him to the Doctor the next morning and am very relieved to report that it is allergies and probably fairly minor, just happening all at once for the poor kid.  After spending a fortune on a variety of prescriptions at the pharmacy we are waiting it out for the next two weeks, before looking into further tests.  He looks much better today but still slept for 3 hours this afternoon.

I always figured one of them had to have allergy issues.  The Workaholic and my Dad have terrible skin conditions related to contact allergies and food intolerance's.  I also am prone to hives if I over indulge in strawberries. 

Genetics can really be a pain!

Wordless Wednesday

We love our Barilla in the House of O...

I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys & faith hope and a whole lotta love for Wordless Wednesday.

Scrapbooking Workshop Rejuvenation

It was that time of the month yesterday - my monthly scrapbooking workshop with my SWANKY Gals.

I did 6 pages and had a fabulous time with this group of women that have become such good friends over the last 15 or so months.

On the day after these workshops I am rejuvenated and frankly this month I desperately needed some rejuvenation!  I am so glad my friend D, dragged me along with her last year when she wanted to do baby albums for her kids.

On this beautiful Sunday the house has reaped the benefits of my getting away and getting tactile with some photos!  I've cleaned and organised up a storm and have even found time to read the newspaper and now sit down with a cuppa and read some blogs. Ahhhh!

What's your activity that never fails to rejuvenate you?

Things I know...

Playing along with Shae over at Yay For Home! for things I know.

I know that:

- even though I thought the idea of travelling 15 minutes up the road for a weekend away was madness, it was actually pretty relaxing and fun.

- I am feeling rather ambivalent about the benefit of the Little Man attending school orientation sessions.

- even with sunscreen applied I managed to get burnt on Sunday while enjoying a Spring day at the beach.

- my phone dying (again - why do I keep updating the software?) and not allowing me to text meant that I received a lot of emails asking R U OK?  which is kind of ironic considering my thoughts about the intense focus of this event yesterday.

Great camera, terrible software...

- I am looking forward to my afternoon and evening of child free scrapbooking with my gals tomorrow.

- I need to go and get some photos printed so I have something to scrap.

- getting used to getting paid on a monthly basis after years of self employment has been a very difficult transition for the Workaholic and I.  We think we have mastered it now though.

- I cannot get enough of the McFeast since it returned.  I just wish it was a permanent option so I had something to eat on Fridays when I take the boys for their Happy meals.


Have a fabulous weekend everyone and make sure you check out what others know by visiting Shae.

I did not plan to write an RU OK Post...

Firstly, I am not a person prone to depression, but we have had a fairly bumpy ride in the House of O just lately so I am a little more mentally fragile than my normal baseline. Secondly, even without the other dramas, we have just moved house and it has been exhausting, especially as our bedroom windows face east. Finally, I have a parent who suffers depression, the Workaholic has anxiety related issues and I have two cousins who suicided. So please bare these things in mind while you ponder my reaction to R U OK? day.

I have been reading lots of blog posts about R U OK? Day over the last week and have found myself getting rather down about them.  This made me wonder, not about the concept of asking the question but about intensity of a particular day dedicated to this cause.  I know it has made me feel more introspective and I have just realised made me isolate myself today.

I am totally behind the concept.  I am a natural talker (yeah, I talk waaaay too much) and am not particularly private.  I tend to chat about the stuff in my life and it helps me make sense of it all and even though I am a big talker, I can listen too.  People have always come to me to talk about their stuff.  When I was a teenager I used to flounder around thinking if they came to me, they must think I have the answer and then freak out a bit because I realised I did not.  As I matured I realised people probably came to me because they knew that I was comfortable talking about pretty much anything and I learned to just listen and summarise what I heard to help clarify that they were getting their point across.  I think this is the core of U OK?  It is good.  No doubt about that.

My personal experience this year with R U OK day however, has not been great.  I have read and digested the personal stories people have posted online and I have found that my mood has suffered dramatically.  I have not left the house today.  I didn't even let the kids play outside.  I didn't make a conscious decision to hide away, it was just the way I was.  It has made me wonder how many other people have been adversely affected by today?  I'm sure it is a lower number than the number of people it has helped, but I wonder if such an intense focus for one day is the best thing.

To make matters worse for me today, my mobile phone is receiving texts but not sending them (every time it downloads a software upgrade there is some glitch that takes me a few days to work out).  This sounds pretty minor, but I usually send texts all day, a lot of texts (The Workaholic calls me and my network of texters, The Text Mafia).  I am on a plan that is pretty much Facebook and Texts only.  Even if I had not isolated myself, my phone did it for me.  About 15 minutes ago I realised it had not gone unnoticed.   I picked up my phone to put it on the charger and since 6pm when I last checked my phone I had 16 texts, all genuinely concerned RU OK? enquiries.  I jumped on Facebook  to let people know that, Yes, I am OK, I just have a stupid phone.

The couple of people I phoned back told me they had had a similar feeling today about the intensity of the Day.  I believe in the cause, I am just feeling ambivalent about today.  I am not even sure I have managed to actually explain myself here...

So, my question is, has this intense focus on asking and sharing on R U OK? Day had a negative or positive effect on you?

Wordless Wednesday

On Thursday due to the case of the missing phone cable...

A Spring Day at the Beach

I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys & faith hope and a whole lotta love for Wordless Wednesday.

Thanks for dropping by.

Big School Orientation Sessions

What is it with these sessions?

The Little Man has four sessions. They are making him apprehensive. I guess it could be worse, on the weekend I heard from another Mum (of one of his friends),  that her son had to attend 9 compulsory sessions!!


I went to the local Catholic primary school.  Mum took me in to meet the Principal and sign the paperwork sometime towards the end of  the year before I started school.  We were there a few moments and then we walked home via the local shop for milk and bread.  I didn't even get a treat.  Pretty mundane, but I have a memory for that kind of detail.

On the frst day of school I went straight into my class on my own and 13 years of my education began.  No one cried, now that is how I remember it, but thinking I might have been wrong I asked my Mum and some friends from my kindergarten that i am still in contact with.  They agree, it was only the parents who shed a few tears as they left us at the gate (they didn't even come onto the school grounds in those days).  Then about two weeks into the year a new girl started and she spent half of her first day crying, but she did not speak English, she had just arrived from Portugal.  Who can blame her?

These sessions are making the Little Man, less enthusiastic and more worried about starting big school.  He walked into his pre school on the first day and joined in with some kids and waved "Bye Mum" to me from across the room.  I expected the same from him for the start of big school.  Not now.  Now I have an agitated child on my hands.  He's scared and wants to know why I can't be there.  I know there will be clinging and tears.

So sometime in the last 35 years (yep I started school in 1976) these orientation sessions have become the norm, all schools have them.  I think it is funny because very few, if any of my classmates would have attended pre school or formal day care.  We were really just thrown in and it was a transition we pretty much all were happy to make (I'm not saying that was perfect, just the way  experienced it).  The kids starting school in 2012 are the polar opposite.  It's a good bet all of them have attended pre-school or daycare and logically seem to be predisposed to not requiring an orientation into attending formal education on a daily basis.

In theory I can see how they are a good idea, letting the kids feel familiar in the surroundings and getting to meet their class and teacher, but in our case I am wondering if they are a big mistake.

After discussing it with a few Mum's a birthday party on the weekend, my son's reaction is not an isolated incident, but there are other's who  have kids who just can't wait to start.  I also learnt about the activities for the parents.  Tears and tissues morning tea for example.  Maybe that points to the real reason for the orientation sessions - they are for the orientation of the parents!!

As it is my first child starting school, I'd love to know what you think.  Are the orientation sessions for starting Big School a good or a bad thing?  What's your experience?  Are they about the Kids or the parents?

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I'm flogging this post for FlogYoBlog Friday.  Go over the Where's my Glow? and check out what others are flogging this week.

Weekend Wrap Up

Well, the Workaholic convinced me to do it.  I went "away" for the weekend.

The car was so loaded I could not squeeze in the boys balance bikes.  He took one look at the load in the car and says "You went a bit overboard didn't you?"  Um no actually.  We used everything and I made use of the washing machine in the apartment.

The Little Man behaved atrociously about 80% of the time as expected, so I did not get a relaxing moment.  He is now so anxious about starting Big School next year (thank you excessive number of orientation sessions) that his behaviour is spiralling out of control.

I got sun burnt even through the sunblock as usual.  I was literally sitting on the beach for an hour.  The boys were with me and they did not get burnt.

There was some good stuff though.

- We did get to see more of the Workaholic than we would have if we had been home as he needed to be on hand while some extra work went on in one of his buildings and he flitted back and forth.  In fact the Munchkin got to stay with Daddy while the Little Man and I went to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

- I am now reminded exactly why we decided we wouldn't bring up our, at the time unborn children in a beachside suburb.  The apartment we stayed in was just down the road from the one we left 5 years ago.  Beer bottles, drunk and drugged up hoons, hoon and road noise (I slept with my ipod in my ears) and unrelenting wind.

- The Little Man went swimming in the surf in his undies.  He just spontaneously stropped off and took himself in.  It was hysterically funny and really cold but I was so proud that he had the guts to just go for it.  So out of character.  He didn't even freak out the first or 10th time he got dunked...

- I got to eat fantastic pizza.  It is one of the things we miss most about living near the beach.  The take away is so much better than where we live now which is a fast food/take away black hole in Sydney.  There is just nothing that comes close.  Nom nom...

Interestingly, I am actually looking forward to going again.  The 20 minutes of so drive is actually exactly the right amount for me after a weekend away.  I'm fairly certain the company apartments will see more of us this year.

Now I just need to get motivated to unpack...

How was your weekend?

Things I know and a Flog...

Joining in with Shae from Yay for Home!  for things I know as well as Where's my Glow for Flog Ya Blog Friday this week.  Check 'em out.

I'm trying to get my blogging mojo back and these lovely linky's help a lot.



Have a great weekend!

***

- Getting back into a routine, in general and for blogging is really difficult after a fast and very disorganised house move.  The stress may be abating but there is just so much to do!

- Big School orientation finally kicks off this week and I can't wait, the Little Man is apprehensive and not at all impressed with the program because he knows that I will only be with him for the first session.  Suddenly he's shy and a Mummy's boy.  I'm fairly certain all will be well with him once he has actually been to the first session.

- I am going away for the weekend.  I got a phone call from the Workaholic this morning to ask if I wanted to go away for the weekend.  I thought, great they are sending him somewhere nice for the weekend.  It turns out to be 10 minutes up the road...  I honestly can't see the benefit in this plan. 

I pack myself and the kids everything that we need for 3 nights away, including the portacot as the Munchkin refuses to sleep in a big bed, load it all into the car, arrange for my cousin to walk the 800m to my house to feed the cats for the next 2 days, drive 10 minutes down the road and wait around for the Workaholic.  Finally I unload everything (by myself because the Workaholic will be busy working) and spend the weekend thinking of everything I should have brought with me but feel unable to drive the 10 minutes home to get because I am supposed to be away, enjoying the luxury (while the Workaholic spends the weekend working)... Hmm what exactly is wrong with this picture??

- My "indestructible" camera, turns out to be destructible.  Apparently they tested it being dropped from great heights and dropped it into water and snow but what they forgot was to test it on a couple of little boys.  Olympus, I can loan you some for testing any future cameras, if you are interested?

- Finally, If your newly minted 2 year old comes to you and tells you he has poo, it's a pretty safe bet that you should put down the laptop, leap up from your seat and race in to his bedroom and change his nappy straight away...  Gotta go.  Poo disaster awaits.

That's pretty much all I know this week...

What about you?

A week off

After having lots of recent dramas and culminating in moving house, I have been exhausted.  Mentally and physically exhausted.  My brain focuses on ridiculously minute details that are completely unimportant when I am stressed.  It's exhausting. 

I was stuck in a swamp of minutia.  I needed to break the cycle.

So, I just dropped out.

Out of my children's activities.

Out of grocery shopping.

Out of cyberspace.

Out of worries.

And best of all,

Out of my own stressed head.

It has been brilliant. 

I managed to do nothing until the day of the Munchkins birthday party for said birthday party and refused to be stressed about it at all.  After all all the guests are family and close friends.  They know we have had dramas and they obviously know that we only moved a week and a half before.  I felt the love and it all went of in relaxed and happy way.  He loved it and that is all that really matters.

I have only unpacked when and for as long as I felt like unpacking.  The Workaholic stepped up and relegated as many of the unnecessary boxes to the garage for me as he could so that it feels like we are moved in.

I have played with Lego, Magnadoodles and Play Doh, read books with the boys and watched lots of old Tom Baker years Dr Who episodes and old movies.

Not writing my blog or checking Facebook or even my email, has surprisingly been the most freeing.  I missed and I definitely had a peep at Facebook from my phone on occasion but basically I just disconnected.

Anyway, this last seven days has been cleansing.  I feel much more at ease and less stressed.  I think removing the structure in my week has done wonders.  I thoroughly recommend it.

I once read that if you don't normally make your bed daily, do it for a week and see what happens.  If you do, then don't.  Well I am a bed maker and have found it quite freeing to ignore the task of bed making daily and surprisingly it has not played on my overloaded mind at all.

Unfortunately the stress I had been crippled by seems to have finally caught up with the Workaholic, who has amazed me up till now with what he has been seemingly easily carrying on his shoulders.  He seems to have picked it up from where I dropped it.  Dropping out for a week is not really an option for him.  He really needs a holiday but unfortunately he has not been in his job long enough to have time off.

I'd love to help him the way my week off has helped me but I am out of ideas.  Do you have any?

Wordless Wednesday

I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys & faith hope and a whole lotta love for Wordless Wednesday.

Thanks for dropping by.