Today I am thankful for StEPS

Thank goodness for Statewide Eyesight Preschooler Screening.

Today was not a regular pre school day for the Little Man but because there was a vision screening today, I made the effort to get him in to be tested, even though I had no worries about his eyesight at all.

Man, was I wrong!

He could not read anything below the third line.  I took my glasses off and could see all but the bottom line quite clearly and my eyes are pretty pathetic.

His response?

"Well I can see small things up close, it's just silly expecting me to see small things that far away."

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/initiatives/steps/index.asp

The lady sent him off with a teacher to have a very serious chat with me.  If I wasn't so pragmatic she would have scared the pants off me.  I guess that was the idea.  She informed me that they get about one child per centre referred on for further testing and 12% are discovered to have a serious undiagnosed sight problem.  At this point I was thinking, "OK, it's serious shes inferring that's him", then she went on to tell me that next week I would get the letter telling me to follow it up with either, an Optometrist who deals specifically with Kids, get on the waiting list for the free clinic at RNSH or get my GP to refer me to an opthamologist.  She then cleared her throat and suggested I take the last option, again forcing me to realise how serious this is.

The good news is that finding out at 4 or 5 increases the possibility that it can be helped by exercises.  Later discover would definitely mean glasses.

And to think, I had no idea and I almost didn't bother going in for the screening! 

Have you had your pre schooler's vision screened?

Today I'm participating in Thankful Thursday with Kate says stuff.  Check out what everyone else is thankful for today.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my Mum.

Mum and Dad
(at the Munchkins Mad Hatter party - she doesn't usually wear a silly hat!)

We had planned to meet up somewhere between our homes today.  She looks after my niece on Thursdays and I have both of my boys so we like to do something together every couple of weeks.

Anyway, this morning I rang her and said I was too headachey to drive, but she was welcome to come here and we'd take the kids to the park, have lunch and they could head back ahead of school 40 zone time.

She did.  Even though it meant her driving across Sydney.

It was great.  The boys were entertained.  I had help with the boys at the park and getting my floors washed  Also her being here meant I remembered to eat some lunch.

On top of all this greatness, she also arrived bearing gifts.

A box of cookies she had made this morning for the kids.

A big Aldi bag full of assorted clothing she had bought for the boys, full of stuff they just love and I would never buy.

And my personal favourite, two brand spanking new 1000 count cotton sheet sets for moi!  Just because she knows how much I love them.

What a Mum!

I'm so thankful to have my Mum around to help out.


What are you thankful for this Thursday?

Linking up with Kate from KateSaysStuff…for Thankful Thursday.

Somewhere along the way I lost my Pollyanna

It has been a rough time in the House of O.

But I forcing myself to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There has been the stress of the drama of threats against us from the crazy now ex-client of the Workaholic leading to us moving house, again.  Moving is a MASSIVE stress in itself, without even considering that this is our 7th house the Little Man has lived in in his almost 5 years of life, the financial strain of moving or the ongoing issues this old house has thrown our way (drains, pool, security...).

There is the Workaholics ridiculous hours that he has agreed to in his new job, leaving me for all intents and purposes a single parent.  OK I know he is the bread winner and a real single parent would be working as well as parenting, but I am feeling the lack of any support or assistance, so let me feel sorry for myself for a minute.

There is the ongoing family drama swirling around in the Workaholics Drama Queen laden family.

There are the financial issues of changing to monthly pay, moving expenses coupled with INSANE power bills ($273 for 10 days of electricity, WTF??) which just seem to go on and on.

I have become bogged down in insignificant details, worried about all the things I can't control and getting feral over the house cleaning because I can lay claim to controlling that!  I'm tired, I can't get out and have some much needed child free time to myself. 

To be honest I can't even start to convey exactly how much I have been crumbling under the strain.  What I have written is so insignificant.  It makes me sound so whiney...

So why am I whining on Thankful Thursday?

Well something happened this week.  It was a slow burn and had a massive tanty in the middle of it, but it happened and it is positive and I am thankful.

Last week my friend N had a bit of a go at me for the name of my blog.  "BTW -Polyanna? PML!" was the exact text message.  It made me realise how far off my normal baseline I actually was.  It made me think about it, alot.  I've been so negative and angry lately.

Then we had a totally awful long weekend at home.  The Workaholic and I had the most massive fight, I don't remember one as bad.  He called me LAZY and said I yell at the boys too much.  I walked out of the room and spent the rest of the weekend in bed with a very real headache, so he could see just how lazy I am.  Guess who spent a good chunk of his time alone with the boys yelling at them?  Very satisfying.

Anyway, I am so thankful that these things occurred.  I have switched my brain around and am back on my way back to my normal, positive self.  Taking a step back has really made me realise why I lost it.  This has been such a protracted period of crap, the only way out is to look at the positives that have come out of it and be so thankful that my boys, the Workaholic and I have all remained healthy and together.  The boys are happy and actually like the house that I had started calling the house from hell...

Now I just need to keep positive enough to get through a birthday party at the end of the month and somehow organise a child free weekend away for the Workaholic and I, and I will be back to my Pollyanna self (OK I know I may be deluding myself but that is sometimes what being positive is all about).


What are you thankful for this Thursday?

Linking up with Kate from KateSaysStuff…for Thankful Thursday.

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).