No resolutions just things I am grateful for…

New Years resolutions always end up being broken here and on glass half empty days that’s just another thing to beat myself up about.  So instead I thought I would make a list of random things for which I am grateful.

Here we go with the things that I am grateful for today, in no particular order just because I want it that way.

The internet – because without it all my lovely readers would not know me and I would not know them.  And that would be sad.

 

ModCons, especially Washing machines. I’m not sure that I am cut out to wash clothes by hand.  Especially if that involves beating clothes on rocks but the nearest river.

Medical / Vet Care. This year Girl Child had her adenoids removed and now at age 6 sleeps through the night.  Smiley Dog has had chronic ear infections since he was a pup but this year it has been BAD.  As regular readers would know he has had a major operation to fix that issue.  So I am grateful that we have medical and vet care.

My children. While some days (especially school holidays - LOL) the kids do my head in, I am extremely grateful that I have two reasonably healthy, happy children. I am privileged to be about to see them grow and change into wonderful adults.

Books.  I love to read and really appreciate a good book.  Okay I even appreciate not so good books really it’s just the story and hopefully happily ever after that I enjoy.

 

What are some things are you grateful for?  My list is just short today.  There are so many other things that are on my list but as I don't want to bore you so that’s it for now. 

Just your stereotypical blonde… or perhaps not

Smiley Dog is a considered to be a golden Labrador.  I’d consider him to be Cream but apparently Labs are only Black, Chocolate and Gold.  Anyway I’m digressing….

Smiley Dog has always been one of those Ditzy type blondes. In fact Silly Smiley would be what he was called more often than not.  It was a though he just had no common sense or more likely never out grew his puppy phase.  Not bad for a dog who turned 8 last week.

Since his operation, he had continued with his silly behaviour doing things like ripping out some stitches (the vet had to redo 3 stitches two days after he came home)  and walking into the fence, the door, the walls and me because he is wearing an Elizabethan collar to stop him hurting / scratching his wounds.

But the best one was getting stuck in the kennel because of the collar.  He had obviously managed to get in but couldn't get himself back out in the morning.  Mr E and I thought it was very funny and poor Smiley Dog has not been back into the kennel since… obviously he isn't as silly as we thought!

I’ve been scouring the ‘net to find stuff about training deaf dogs and even though both Smiley and Serious Dog passed obedience neither have responded very well to hand signals – perhaps they were unclear or I wasn't as focussed on using them.

Tonight I was trying to reinforce and modify the hand signals so both dogs would do what they were asked.  It was Smiley Dog who sat quickly when asked.  So I’m thinking with a lot more time Smiley dog will be doing what I ask of him.  Maybe he is not the ditzy blonde we thought!  Yay, Smiley Dog!

The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award

Christmas is our house is done and dusted so I thought I should go back to life as we knew it before the Silly Season started.

Jacinta from livemorenow awarded (probably over a week ago now - sorry Jacinta) me the:

I am very honoured to accept this award.  Not sure what I have done to deserve it but I’ll happily accept it!

To accept the award you must write ten things about yourself that nobody in the Blogoverse knows about yet.

Given I have only recently done this I thought maybe there would be not much to say.  Then I realised I’m such a newbie Blogger (this is post 46 but I have 16 Followers already – how cool is that?) people actually don’t know much about me so it should be relatively easy.

1. I drink both Tea and Coffee.  But I can’t eat chocolate with tea.  If I have a cup of tea I have to skip the chocolate.  The tastes together do not work for me.  On the other hand coffee works wonderfully well with chocolate and most other sweet things.

2. The weirdest comment I have heard in my house today (so far) is “Oh look, I got butter on my nipple.” It was Girl Child while buttering bread and not wearing a shirt so please get your minds out of the gutter.

3. I’m a very poor correspondent.  If you have email you are likely to have way more contact with me than if you only have snail mail.  But that contact will still be quite intermittent.

4. While I know we don’t need any more animals in our house, I so had to restrain myself from getting an animal from the RSPCA when we were there the other day – see this post.  I have this need to rescue and/or fix.

5. Mr E. calls me “the Queen of No.” I am the person in our house who exercises restraint when it comes to spending money on what I deem to be unnecessary items, etc.  and this my dear children is why you did not get a Wii for Christmas and why Mr E. does not have a LCD TV.

6. I have not seen various cult movies because they are too violent or would upset me.  Pulp Fiction is one of these.  I also walked out in LA Confidential and have no desire to know about the bits I missed (the majority).

7. I spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about how much I’m screwing up my kids up.

8. When Girl Child puts on an American Accent it does my head in yet apparently Boy child always speaks in one and I don’t notice.

9. I am one of those strange people who actually like Fruit cake and Fruit mince pies.  Especially when heated up and served with Custard or Ice Cream but just served plain is fine too.

10. I’m thinking it’s time to up date my blog background / layout.  But I’m inept whit it and so far have only used blogger layouts that just happen.  I’m thinking learning how to modify layouts etc should be on my list of things to do.

Yay that bit’s done.  Now to pass this award on to some lovely people out there in Blogland.  Here we go:

Renay over at The Day I Lost My Mind.

Melissa from Suger Coat It.

Melissa who blogs wonderfully at The Things I'd Tell You and deserves all the awards available.

Cate P who will Think of a Title later.

And finally, Pink Patent Mary Janes.

I’m stopping there because otherwise I will be adding blogs all night.

Please accept this Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award as you are all Fabulous!

It’s a dog’s (and cat’s) life…

On Monday Smiley Dog had an operation.  It’s called a Total Ear Canal Ablation. The link is to a article which explains it and the reasons behind it without any gross pictures.  For those who want to see the gross pictures / detail of the op there is actually a YouTube video if you search Ear Ablation.  The video only goes for about 2 minutes but the real procedure takes a lot longer.

I had to drop him off on Monday morning and we were supposed to pick him up yesterday (Tuesday) evening.

His surgery (on both ears) occurred on Monday evening.  Smiley Dog is also known as Freaky Dog because when he had allergy tests recently it was discovered he was basically allergic to lots of things but surprisingly not allergic to two of the main allergens dust mites and moulds.   So the freakiness that is Smiley Dog continued into his operation.  The first ear took a long time mostly due to the facial nerve was actually in the cartilage.  Nowhere it should be.  Luckily for his lovely vet Dr C.the second ear’s anatomy was actually the way it was supposed to be and that side took half the time.

The vet who did the operation is absolutely lovely.  Smiley Dog loves her and that is probably because after his vaccination earlier in the year he had a major reaction which needed antihistamines, fluids anti inflammatories and an overnight stay.  Anyway Dr C. Called me to let me know how Smiley Dog was before his op, once the first ear had been done and once the second ear had been done and he was awake from the anaesthetic.

In the morning I rang to check on him and I was told he was “insanely happy” for a dog who had had that operation.  When Dr C. came in to check on him (on her day off) she said he could come home.  this was about 5 or 6 hours earlier that expected.  He was just waiting to go home and so we went and collected him.

So Smiley Dog used to look like this:

He looked like this yesterday when he came home.  He is now completely deaf but we are hoping that he will follow Serious Dog (his half brother) around and that will help him until he adapts. His head is shaved (he kind of reminds me of a sheep now!) and he had drains in both sides.

  

He wasn’t allowed to be with his brother for a few days but he cried so much we gave in at 3.30 am because we thought the neighbours would be upset.

He seems to be recovering well which is wonderful! I’m sure he will be happy not having constant ear infections and needing medications and ear cleaning every day. Hopefully Smiley Dog’s life will be better which brings me to the other part of my post today.

At Christmas time we buy treats, food and toys (or whatever is needed) for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The holiday wish list for the animals is here. Today was the day we dropped the things off.

Now before we get out of the car I always say: We are NOT getting any animals today. Now there are a couple of reasons for this: Firstly me.  When I feel (as a friend recently put it) feel the need to nurture, I tend get a baby animal. Our last animal a rabbit  (the one in my Blogger picture in fact) came from there and Girl Child is always on the lookout for something else to bring home.  At the moment she wants a kitten.

Today there were at least 30 kittens.  All cute and playful but 30!  And they were just the ones available to adopt today.  Yes it’s Kitten Season in Australia at the moment.  I’ve never seen so many kittens in the one place before.  What was worse to me was that the lady in the cattery said they were full up with cats too and that’s partly due to people surrendering their animals so they can go on holiday. I guess that’s better than just dumping them somewhere which I’m sure has happened to a number of animals.

Now this is where it happened. My heart started going it’s only a kitten (or when Girl Child decided the many bunnies were our boys siblings - a rabbit).  Thankfully my brain kicked in with Smiley Dog is deaf and we need to work out how to deal with that.  So we left animal free and me with a sadness in my heart.

Why don't people get their pets desexed? How many of those kittens are going to be impulse bought and then discarded when no longer so cute or when there owners are going away? Normally I try to see the good in people but seeing those kittens today made we wonder what, if anything, some people think.

It’s now 2.30 am and I should go to bed.  Rant ending here.

Early Christmas Wrap-up

We went away on the weekend to have early Christmas with the extended family.  Okay, my extended family.  My Grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins, spouses, their cousins, their children etc.  All up 32 people! It sounds daunting but it was lovely.  Relaxing.

There was lots of food.  Good company.  No opening expensive bottles of wine as happened last year but it was nice.  The children all played together and there were no major issues. 

Well there was me raving about Oprah.  Yes I was raving about the  Jenny McCarthy Mother Warrior thing and then the O Magazine publishing an article which is less than supportive of Jenny McCarthy which I kind of find hypocritical.  Anyway I did rave at my cousin in law about this which was kind of funny in hindsight because he didn't know who Jenny McCarthy was or that Boy child had an ASD.  It was at that point he decided he needed to play table tennis.  Probably mostly to escape me! Poor B.

Anyway, the early Christmas was good catching up with relatives, watching children open presents and play together and just being. 

Then we went to stay at my Grandmothers over night.  Normally I’d watch the Carols but as we were guests I wasn't sure we were going to be able to.  Grandmother was happy to watch them with us so we all sat down to watch but Mr E. went to bed about 30 minutes in and Girl child  went to bed as soon as the children’s part was over.  I followed not long after that. We drove home again the next morning as Mr. E has lots of work on.   In fact he worked about 12 hours on Friday but still had time to pick up the DVD I wanted.  He didn’t want me to blog about what a bad husband he was he told me. The power of the blog!

So we came home.  Having seen a photo of myself with my grandmother I decided I was in dire need of a haircut.  I had also just been given Boy Child’s Christmas Wish list I figured it was my last chance of child free shop and I ran away to the shops.

One haircut (I no longer feel as though I am going to have a mullet – thank goodness) and some shopping later I was home.  Poor Boy child’s list was mostly unfulfilled but he has some more stuff now than I had for him.

Not long now and soon it will be 2010.  Time flies when you are having fun.

What Do You Want from Santa this Year?

I stole this from Psych Babbler from Over Cups of Coffee who borrowed it BlogDumps.

Keeping with the Holiday theme, what would you like to have this Christmas? I know we all want World peace and good will towards men and this is a time of giving, but what’s the one (or two or three) items you want for Christmas this year? Lets have some fun ~ even if you exaggerate.

Well I’m pretty sure I’m not getting anything for Christmas from my family despite hinting (well actually saying ) I want the DVD of P!NK’s funhouse tour.  Mr E. is busy and well Boy Child and Girl Child aren’t old enough to be let loose by themselves.  Plus Boy Child doesn't like shopping.  I do have some presents under the tree both from my Sappy Romance Readers Group (Boy Child’s description). One is a Secret Santa present and the other is some books that we each contribute to during the year.

Here we go:

1. Someone to make Chocolate non fattening.  Oh wait why not just make everything healthy but still with the same great taste.

2. A better year for friends and family.  This year has be okay for us as a nuclear family but has sucked for so many people we know.  In the extended family there was a terminally ill child and miscarriages. Friends have had depression and other mental illnesses, family members extremely ill, family members having life saving surgery, etc, etc.  I would hope that 2010 is better for everyone affected by death, illness, injury etc this year.

3. A magic wand or cooking and cleaning fairies.  Either would be great.  I’m happy to use the wand and get a clean and tidy house although I’m sure fairies would be a bigger hit with Girl Child.

4. Yes the DVD. Hint. Hint…I was at one of the concerts and I loved it.  Now to relive it all again.

5. Sleep.   Girl child is now sleeping through the night at 6.25 years of age, I would really like some more sleep to make up for the sleep I have missed.

6. My backpack handbag is broken.  And it’s pretty much the only bag I have used in the last few years unless I have had one of the children’s backpacks.  Zipper no longer does up or undoes for that matter so a new bag would be great and helpful.

7. If I can’t have a magic wand or Housework fairies could I get a babysitter / housecleaner? Then we could have a clean house and Mr E. and I could got to a movie or something occasionally. Romantic dinners, here we come.

8. A crystal ball to see into the future.  It would be very handy to know how much or little we are screwing our kids up. Or to see what effect different choices we make could have on out lives.

9. A new me. One who is fitter, healthier, stronger and less neurotic.  A decent haircut would help too. LOL.

Finally 10. As so aptly said by Gracie Hart aka Gracie Lou Freebush: And I really do want world peace!

I have a Blog Award!

The lovely Stacey from Say Something Stacey has awarded my blog an award. 

Thank you Stacey!  I am very honoured.

Receiving this award means I have to share 10 honest (apparently also little known facts to those in my blog world) facts with you.  Once that is done then I get to bestow the award on 7 awesome bloggers.

Wow this is going to be tricky!

1. I have had my head shaved.

I went from

This

 

to This.

 

2.     I joined Face book earlier this year to keep up to date with family (everyone lives interstate) and spend most of my time there playing Farm town and lately Treasure Madness as well.

3.     The only broken bone I have had in life was as an adult.  It was a broken bone in my toe and I walked on it for over a week before I went to the Dr.

4.     I have read Twilight and seen the movie. And have absolutely no desire to read or see any more. *Ducking for cover now.*

5.     While I grew up as a only child depending how you count it (steps, halves, possibles etc) I could really be one of 7 living siblings.  Confused?

6.    I would love to get flowers from Mr E. but he doesn't give them to me because Dad only gave Mum flowers when he did something big he needed to apologise for and I worry that Mr E. has done something I won’t like or that will make he sad. Neurotic much?

7.     I have attempted to learn 3 instruments in my life... piano, guitar and the flute.  I appear to be completely lacking any musical ability.

8.     I had a “challenging childhood”.

9.      My mother didn't think Mr E. and I were moving fast enough and sent us off to look at a Bridal show in the hope we would get engaged.

10.     I’m not sure I would have received a ring if there wasn't a deal at the jewellers where you got a TV when you bought an engagement ring.  My Dad even mentioned the TV in his speech at our wedding.

Passing the Honest Scrap award was a really tough thing to do as some of the blogs I love have already been given the Honest Scrap award or most other award in recently.  So I took those off my list just in order to share the love.  I follow about 25 blogs so if I follow you I enjoy reading your blogs and you are all terrific.

Here are bloggers I am passing Honest Scrap on to:

Quixotic from Quixotic Life.

Madmother who posts here. 

Alliecat from In a beautiful pea green boat. Alliecat’s most recent post is a tearjerker.

Solnushka at Verbosity.

Tabitha who is Heading in the Right Direction.

Stacie from Buried the Lead.

Anella who posts at  Things I say and Pictures I take.

Check out their blogs.  And once again thanks to Stacey!

I have Christmas Spirit!

I was over reading Quixotic’s Blog a few days ago… more specifically I was reading her post about Gingerbread when I decided I really truly needed mince pies and shortbread. these are the two things that I really like for Christmas and the Gluten Free versions available in the shops are fairly expensive so i have taken to making them myself.

So what better to do on a Saturday afternoon but bake.  So  I started to make mince pies and Girl Child joined in.  Eventually we had 11 mince pies and 3 trays of shortbread.  We have shortbread angels, Santa’s, stars and snowmen.  Yes I let Girl child choose what shapes we had. Some of the angels have unfortunate accidents and no longer have hands, and some there may be a snowman what a leg but things mostly turned out well.

The mince pies on the other hand should look like this:

Or this:

the ones we made today have pastry that is a little dry and quite crumbly. Thankfully they actually taste okay just look way less than ideal.  I think mine look a little like they have been run over in the driveway.

Of course no one will be eating them except me so it’s all good. 

Let’s hope someone in the house has some restraint and there will be some left for the Carols we watch on TV.  Unfortunately we will be interstate staying with a relative next Saturday so we may miss watching the Carols in the Domain but here will still be the Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. 

I love watching the Carols.  I’ll sit and watch them even if everyone else is doing something else, just me and my candle and my shortbread and mince pies.

Now I have some Christmas Spirit.  Not sure how long it will last for but it’s here for now.

School stuff

I was planning an upbeat post for today as the last one was just downright depressing!  Thanks Stacey and Clarissa for supporting me in my whine fest. Just for the record, donations of chocolate and other comfort type food are much appreciated during my moments of ranting / raving / crying etc. Thanks!

I think I may have mentioned it but I spend a lot of time at our school.  Boy Child and Girl Child go to the local school.  It’s government run and has about 500 or so students there.

Last night was their end of year concert. There were lots of performances: the preschool, the kindys, the 1/2’s, etc.  And the school  Brass band – Year 5 and Year 6, the choirs, senior and junior and the children who had been dancing one lunchtime a week with one of the teachers. 

I find school concerts  are one of those things were people tend to watch their child but manage to talk through acts that their child is not involved in.  I’m not sure if those people frustrate me more or less than the people sho just show up for their own child’s act and then leave.  Probably more because the people who leave give you more space and generally don’t talk through the acts.

My perhaps not so upbeat thought of the day is that we may have another 12 years of school concerts to endure attend. 

Anyway the concert was a nice family event.  Chatted with a lot of people and watched the performances.

While I’m on the whole school discussion thing one of the things I have spent most of this year doing is listening to and helping some Year 5 and 6 children reading.  I started in Term 2 and have probably spent about 100 hours listening to various children read.  I started with 3 children permanently and one occasionally with another parent helping.  One student got to a good decent reading level and was about the same time as the other parent couldn't make it anymore.  Then I was asked to help / check a number of students from one class.  So all in all I had 6 students read consistently generally twice a week some every day and listened to a number of others occasionally.

It was great to see these kids progressing, moving up the levels and getting it!  One child broke my heart in Term 3.  I was asking were their parents aware that they were reading with me and how they thought they were going.  The answer blew me away.  “I’m not stupid anymore, I can read now.”

This child had thought that not being able to read well meant stupidity.  They felt that they were dumb.  This child’s self esteem had risen so much because reading was becoming easier.  My response was ”Oh, mate.  You were never stupid.  You just needed practice.”

That child was my inspiration and reason to keep going. Even when some kids didn't want to read with me and played up.  When a particular child would refuse to go with me to read and would only consider it with the other child from that class went first. 

Having the opportunity and time to read with these kids was a high point for my year. Knowing that spending one on one time just listening to someone reading can change how they feel about themselves.  Spending one on one time with another child who could read well but is the eldest of 7 and apparently doesn't seem to get much time to read with an adult seemed to help that child.  I think the devoted adult attention helped that student too.

All the kids I read with improved.  Even if they only read for 10 minutes once a week they still moved through the levels and their comprehension improved. I’m proud of them all. 

Loss, grief and general pissedoffedness (yes I know it’s not a real word)

Okay, I’m having a weird day.  I have felt as though my brain has been in neutral most of the day.  And then I read some stuff and had this urge to cry.

Maybe its the obscene amount of junk I have eaten lately or maybe it’s the whole dealing with the extended family thing which almost always does my head in.  Or maybe it’s just the end of the year and I’m tired and grumpy and just generally blergh.

The whole grief and loss thing started when I was reading Stacey’s blog with the whole 5000 questions thing. 

121. Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye?

132. Were you ever with someone while they died?

Oh yeah… Most days I could answer those questions easily but I have been feeling edgy.  I have been told that what I describe as Edgy is actually anxiety but I prefer my version.  Of course now I have Bruce Springsteen lyrics running through my head….

Right back on track or as on track as I am going to get tonight and No I have not been drinking alcohol!

So those start the whole grief/loss train heading away from the station and then while surfing the net I find this article An Inconvenient Youth: Raising Children with Autism.  And that just rips me up inside. 

Maybe it’s because in 8 days it will be 5 years since Boy Child’s Aspergers Diagnosis (he was in his first year of full time school just as Girl Child is) or the fact that those parents have people to talk to about their children, or maybe because my Grandmother kept referring to Boy Child as Those People on the weekend. “Does Boy Child have any friends? So and So has said Those People have trouble with that.” “So and So said that Those People have issues with having their hair cut.”

Really Grandmother?  I didn't know that. I’m sure that having lived with an ASD child for over 11 years I must have missed that one.  Dripping sarcasm here.  I think I have just jumped from the whole whiny loss / grief thing into the pissed off part of my blog. I just find it amusing that information that I have given her isn’t true until it is said by someone else.  Of course they have worked in the area so they obviously know so much more than I do (probably very true as I really only know my boy) but I think I may know more about what effects Boy child more than someone else.  But then I am only a mother!

Way definitely over the sad part of this blog now.  So here are just a few of the things that I am feeling pissed off about today in no particular order:

• The TV being on in our house. It seems like it is on all the time. Yes it keeps life calm here but it still bugs me.
• Having cleaned the house and Girl Child has trashed it again.  Seriously I think I should just throw the things she leaves around in the bin!
• The amount of junk food we, as a family, eat.
• Smiley Dog needs an expensive operation to make him feel better.
• The fact that I’m tired and grumpy and should be in bed asleep but am blogging instead.  Yes I do need to get my priorities straightened out.
• I comfort eat when I am stressed, sad or angry.
• If I want a Christmas present I will probably have to buy it myself and Mr E. is just to busy at work to have the time.  And he probably hasn't thought about it anyway.

Right. I really need to go to bed or I will be even grumpier tomorrow.

My Christmas Spirit has gone AWOL

It’s sad really.  Only 18 days until Christmas and I have no motivation in the whole event at all.  I have presents to buy, mince pies to make and kilos to lose but no motivation to do any of it!

I need to buy gifts for:

Boy child,

Girl child,

Mr E.,

Probably my grandmother,

Probably my aunt and uncle,

Two nieces, and

My various cousins children – 4 girls. Thankfully I have something for the youngest.

So at least 6 presents need to be bought by 18 December.  And If I am getting the adults presents as well that’s another 3 by the same date.  And I have no idea what to get anyone.

Mince pies – I have the pastry mix and even have the fruit mince but couldn't be bothered making them for when we put up the Christmas tree.  Luckily I found GF shortbread at the supermarket.  So I ate that while we put up the tree yesterday.

Tree decorating did not go smoothly.  Boy child and girl child have different decorating ideas and co-operation is not part of that.  Boy child even suggested that he decorated the tree and then Girl Child could decorate after him.  This did not go down well.  However, the tree is decorated and no blood was shed.

This is NOT our tree. I wish it was. In fact ours is much smaller and looks more along the lines of this:

 

Only slightly taller and overloaded with decorations.

Mr E. has wandered past and suggested we drink lots of Strongbow (Cider) in order to have this tree next year.

I can see blood being shed if either Girl Child or Boy Child got near this tree. At this point taking up drinking to get enough bottles seems like a good idea.

But that would also ruin the whole kilos to lose plan unless I gave up eating and just took up drinking alcohol.  Perhaps that would work. No, maybe not.  Anyway I had had a grand plan of being fitter next time I saw my extended family but it has not happened.  Which is sad and makes me feel quite self conscious. But there is no healthy way of getting a lot healthier and fitter in 12 days so I think I should just give that up as a lost cause.

So everyone whether you do Christmas or not, please send me some motivation or my family will be very disappointed!

Thank you.

Back again…

Wow NaBloPoMo is over and I have already gotten out of the habit of posting every day.

So what have I been up to?  Mostly spending lots of time thinking about cleaning up because my Grandmother was coming from interstate to stay overnight and see the kids dance concert. Then there was a whole bunch of stuff including but not limited to discovering where the message to Boy Child was lost on Tuesday, repainting the tap shoes (the right colour this time) and taking Smiley Dog back to the vet.

There was also the actual cleaning up part.  Yuck.  I feel as though I have spent hours and hours cleaning. The house hasn't been this neat and tidy since June. Which is good and but it’s own way rather disgusting!  Let’s hope we can actually keep on top of it this time.

So my grandmother arrived Friday lunchtime.  The Dance concert has 3 shows, Friday evening, Saturday Matinee and Saturday evening.  We had tickets to see the Friday show.

Remember my post about not being cut out to be a dancing mum? Well surprisingly Friday’s makeup and hair went remarkably well.  There was no yelling, swearing or tears from either Girl Child or me.  The concert went well and both children had fun despite their nerves. My grandmother enjoyed seeing it as well. We have ordered a copy of the DVD that was taken so then we will be able to watch the concert over and over again!

This morning we dropped my grandmother off so she could go back to here place with another relative and things were going well until….. hair and make-up were required for the first concert today.  Yesterday I had said that hair would need to be brushed out last night before bed so it could be redone for today’s performances. Girl Child and my Grandmother both insisted that it would be fine and so stupidly I left it.

It was not fine! Grandmother had added extra hair product to it while I was in the shower this morning and for a while it looked okay.  so I started the make-up. It did not go well.  Girl child was grumpy, I was tired and grumpy and lets just say it involved shouting, tears and swearing.  And that was just me. Girl Child had tears which of course lead to makeup running which meant even more time to fix it. It was not nice. I think I behaved worse that she did and I am not 6!  Then we had the hair issue!  How hard is it to do a high pony tail with 2 plaits? Extremely difficult with a non cooperative child who won’t let you touch their hair. We got to the theatre and I went to redo the hair and Girl Child just lost the plot. 

I had taken it out too so it wasn’t like it could just have yet another layer of gel/mousse and hair spray on it. There was so much gunk it in I couldn't brush it which then to lead to a stand off between me and my child.  Yes another childish moment.  But I managed to get her to the stage door and talked to into letting me redo the hair.  It wasn’t as neat as Friday’s but it was better than it had been when we left for the concert.  However I felt that I need to take up drinking.  And Mr E. later referred to me as psycho.  Both low moments in this whole mothering gig for me.

Anyway both of today’s concerts went well. Both children enjoyed themselves and are deciding what dance classes they want to take next year.  Boy child want to do Tap or Jazz to his Street funk / Hip Hop and currently Girl child wants to do Tap, Tap and Tap.  We shall see!

I’m thinking we might put up our Christmas Tree tomorrow but I want to have shortbread or mince pies to eat while we do that and I need to make them.  I’m not sure if I am up for cooking tomorrow.  I think I might just want to sleep the day away.

Child? Lost? Lost child? Scary Moments

Today I lost Boy Child. Or rather he wasn't where he was supposed to be. For those who don’t want to to read a long winded, angst ridden post feel free to run away now knowing that the story has a happy ending.

Now lets set the scene:

Boy Child is 11.  He is quite responsible and so he has been allowed to walk, scoot or ride his bike  to school for quite a while.  But he is 11 and he also is a diagnosed Aspie (see this post for some more info). Girl Child goes to the same school so normally he waits near her class to discuss whether he goes home by himself or with us.  If he is going home and we are not he MUST call me on my mobile once he is home.

To some our routine may seem over protective or perhaps too permissive (each family is different) but that’s what has worked for us. And it had actually worked quite well. He gets to school early enough to play while I wrangle Girl Child and attempt to get to school on time.

Today was no different until Girl Child complained of sore tummy after Boy Child had left for school.  Given they had had a long dance rehearsal and I had had a meeting and was tired and feeling a little off myself she stayed home.  I rang school to let them know Girl Child was with me but forgot to ask them to let Boy Child know that he was to just walk straight home.  First mistake.

Remembered about 1 to call school and ask them to pass the message on.  Briefly thought about calling friend T with children in both Girl Child’s and Boy Childs classes to let Boy child know but thought school will let him know as they have in the past.  Mistake 2.

Now Mistake 3 the Perfect Parent Brigade will probably hound me for.  I lay down and fell asleep.  Yes I left my poor not so sick (“Mum I think maybe I should have gone to school”) 6 year old alone in the house and fell asleep.  Now she was supposed to be asleep / resting as well but it was about 2.30 and Boy Child was going to be home between 3.20 and 3.30.  Besides the house is already trashed what damage could she do? LOL.

If I’m asleep and Girl Child is wandering around regardless of who is home she will always come to me. So she came to a few times to chat.  Then she comes in and says “Mum the clock has 3, 4, 7 and Boy child isn't home”. Uh, oh.

Up I get and grab the phone.  Rang T. No Boy child there and no recollection of seeing him.  Then one of the children suggested they saw Boy Child leaving school the way he normally does. Okay, then he has probably walked home with a friend and stopped to chat at the friends house.  Boy child has no real concept of time so that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. T says “Call if you need any help.”

Girl child gets shoes and we start to walk in the general direction of that friends house.  He is new to the school and I don't know his surname but I know someone who walks that way too.  Call directory assistance and get put through.  Boy Child was last seen at school waiting for us.

Okay.  Now the School’s number goes to answering machine at 3.30. Start walking to school and make the phone call to Mr E.

“Hi. Have you got the Principals Mobile number?”

“I think so, why?”

“I’ve lost Boy Child.  He hasn't come home. I was asleep and Girl Child said Mum it’s 3, 4, 7 and No Boy Child.”

“Oh ‘insert expletive here’. Do you want me to come home?”

“No it’s fine we will just walk to school and check but I might need her number. See you.”

Continue walking and then remember I have a fellow dance mum / teacher at schools mobile number.

“ Hi K, it’s me are you at school?”

“No, sorry at dance.  Why?”

Run through the saga and she offers to come ad help look.  I thank her but say it’s fine.

Ring home just in case we have missed him in our travels.  No Boy Child. Leave a message in case he gets home while we are looking. Get to school and Boy child waves at me.  He is waiting near Girl Child’s classroom and talking to kids he knows at after school care.

First thing out of his mouth was “What took you so long?” Apparently he didn’t get the message to walk home and had no clue what time it was.  He seemed surprised when I told him it was after 4.  As I said earlier no concept of time.

So he’s happy and fine and I send texts to people saying he is fine, just been waiting at school. Everyone is relieved. Boy child is concerned that I might not let him walk to home tomorrow.  He did hear the message I left at home.  He said “Were you crying? Why were you crying?” I explained I was worried.

I seriously don’t know how I feel.  I’m relieved he is okay.  Actually, given there were a spate of attempted child abductions near schools in our city earlier this year, I think maybe relieved is a major understatement. Plus I saw a movie about teenager with Aspergers yesterday Ben X and in one scene he didn't come home from school either.

But I am wondering what would have happened if Girl Child fell asleep when I did? Or why no one noticed him and wondered why he was still there? Or how long he would have waited before he would have worried? I know the teachers have meetings on Tuesdays at 3.15. And there are sometimes kids still milling around then so it wouldn’t have been odd that the hadn’t noticed him when they went.  But a spare kid hanging around outside Afterschool are and no one asking him why he was still there over an hour after school finished?

I have talked to him before about going to the Front office if I haven’t come to get him but I guess that hadn’t sunk in.  I think we will need to have that talk again.

So I have eaten chocolate, thought about alcohol and pondered a few of the possible scenarios.  I’m not sure if he needs a watch or a mobile phone or both.  Or will those things just give me a false sense of security?

NaBloPoMo Day 30 – Final Day

Well I have made it! Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
Now I’m wondering if my followers and commenter's are going to stay with me of whether now the month is up whether they will fall away?  I know I’m planning on keeping up but whether real life gets in the way of not I don’t know.  I must admit I will not miss thinking at 11 pm at night oh no I haven't blogged yet.  Instead I will happily crawl into bed and think I can do that tomorrow. 
As a reward for our efforts I think we all need something so please feel free to take something or all of the things here.
Some Daffodils

A rose

Cheese and Wine

Or red if you prefer


Chocolate Cake

Strawberries and ice cream 

And finally a trophy in recognition of all our hard work
So this is it. My last post for November 2009.
Farewell NaBloPoMo.  But only for now.

Pseudo self sufficiency

Now those who asked about the Easiyo.  I have only made the Strawberry one and I like it.  I like the the idea of having fresh yoghurt without having to boil the milk etc.  Plus there is a way of using some of the previous batch to make the next batch but I’m not sure how that would work with the flavoured yoghurts.  I will need to investigate that.

There were a few reasons I bought the Easiyo.  Girl child has had a fair few antibiotics in the last month and I thought she may need the good stuff in the yoghurt to help keep her tummy happy with good bacteria.

It was also so she would get involved with making the yoghurt.  and I was hoping she stop asking for whichever her favourite character yoghurt was that week / fortnight.  Whoever decided to market food with characters on it must have been declared a marketing genius.

It also means we will have less of the those little yoghurt containers in the recycling or stuff on things around the house as some sort of 6 year olds art project. and I use the term art very loosely in that context.

Plus it’s a step to pseudo self sufficiency.

Girl Child has developed a passion for planting and harvesting.  So earlier we planted potatoes and she regularly asks when we can harvest them.  We have also been given some herbs and I purchased some seeds so just maybe we can be slightly self sufficient and not be so consumerist.  We have a patch of weeds that both Mr E and Girl child have talked about making into an orchard or a vegetable patch or both.  Unfortunately if either of those happened (which I am actually in support of - just not the 3 years or so of why isn't there any fruit, when can I pick x, y or z) I feel as though it’s just another thing that will become my responsibility and that I will dismally fail at.  Just like the house work, cooking and other domestic stuff. 

So that’s the dream of pseudo self sufficiency and the little voice saying Fail! Fail!

I am tired, have a headache and seriously want to go back to bed but we are due at a BBQ in 90 or so minutes so I have to get ready for that. Whinge, whine, whinge, whine….maybe some WINE will help?  Paracetamol didn't!

NaBloPoMo Day 28

So it’s Day 28 of the NaBloPoMo for November 2009 and I have managed to post every single day so far. I have also managed to pick up 8 followers and better than that ONLY ONE is related to me! Which is pretty good I think. I have managed to discover a whole bunch of blogs from all sorts of places and I have managed to comment on quite a few of them. And I have apparently been the first person to give Melissa her first category. Go Me!
So despite all my good intentions I haven’t gotten fitter or cleaned the house much. Pretty slack really when all is said and done. In reality a lot has been said (well written actually as I have blogged every day, thus far) but not much has been done.
They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit and it seems as if I have managed that with my blog.  Now I need to expand it out into the rest of my life. 
We are having visitors on Friday so the first step will be to clean up the house. What scares me about this is I feel as though I just channelled Bear form Bear in the Big Blue House.  Those who have watched it enough will know that Bear has a clean up the house song.  Maybe that’s what I need to motivate me.

Or maybe not. I can see myself going slowly insane if I was listening to that.

Random thoughts for a Friday

I don’t really have much to say tonight so I thought I would share more of the randomness that is my brain.

• I have spent about 90 minutes this evening rubbing Girl Child’s Tap shoes with stuff.  Some leather stripper stuff and then repainted them…and I think I have the wrong colour. How much difference could there be between Camel and Dark Camel? Obviously quite a bit!
• I bought an Easiyo last week and made Strawberry yoghurt. Unfortunately Girl Child and I are the only people in the house who eat yoghurt and she got a tummy bug the day she tried it.  Now I have to eat it all by myself.

• While I love chocolate if I had to make the difficult choice between giving up chocolate or cheese I would give up chocolate.
• I don’t like the taste of alcohol so I drink stuff like Strongbow sweet to disguise the taste.

• Girl child has decided she wants a baby brother or sister and a kitten. I have told her both are highly unlikely.
• I really like Penguins and have since I was quite young. I like them so much we went to the Phillip Island Penguin Parade on our honeymoon.

 

• Boy Child got a haircut today.  It’s short, neat and best of all he likes it!
• I was still helping out at school at 1 pm two days this week.  Yes it does appear that I have no life.

Most important of all:

• If I don’t get at least 8 hours sleep a night I get very grumpy.

Thursday 26 November Thanksgiving – Part 2

I thought I should acknowledge Stacey who inspired the previous post.

Stacey’s post What Are You Thankful For?  I know there were others too but I can't find them anymore so just a big shout to out to everyone who had thankful posts.

As I said that my 5 could change at any moment will here is my revised list of things I am currently thankful for:

Rain,

Coffee,

Chocolate,

Love, and finally

A nice comfortable bed where I am about to go and get some sleep.

Your normal programming will resume shortly.

Yes sometimes I am so silly I even annoy myself.

Thursday 26 November Thanksgiving

Americans celebrate thanksgiving today and I have noticed a fair whack of blogs which are about being Thankful. So always one to jump on to a Blogging bandwagon I thought perhaps I should join in. So my list of 5 things that I am thankful for – in no particular order will follow. Please note: some maybe be deep and meaningful and some may be light and fluffy. They could also change depending on my mood.

Good Health

Yep I am mostly healthy, and my family is mostly healthy too. While Girl Child’s recovery from her adenoidectomy wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, it could have been a LOT worse. Boy Child’s asthma has been playing up a little but not enough to need a Dr, Prednisone or Hospital.

Family and Friends

My own little family is made up of Mr E., Boy Child, Girl Child and Me. A nice neat little nuclear family.  My birth / family I grew up in is messy with steps, halves, possible halves and fosters. Clear as mud right?

Anyway it’s only been recently when I have actually been able to be in contact with my sister.  Which is nice but kind of weird. Now as adults, we are finally able to have a relationship. So I am thankful for being able to have a relationship with her and with my extended family.

I also have friends. A small number but still I have them. People I can and sometimes even will talk to about stuff.

Employment

Mr E. and I both have jobs. Given the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) there have been job losses but we haven’t been affected.  In fact I don’t think I know anyone IRL who has lost their job. Then again see the number of friends I have.

Gluten Free Lollies

Recently I have discovered GF lollies.  Not just a jubes or sour worms which i have found in the past but lovely 1 kg bags of mixed lollies.  Bananas, snakes, jelly babies, strawberries and cream…. umm I’m getting hungry now.  I thought they were going off the market so I saved a bag in the wardrobe.  Then I discovered they were being sold in a different shop but I need to see if they have continued to stock them.  GF lollies that even taste okay for normal people.  Really something to be thankful for!!!

Mr E. being a geek

If Mr E. wasn’t a geek then I wouldn’t have this shiny little laptop on which to play.  I won’t be blogging because it wouldn’t really have occurred to me.  And then I won’t have met all the interesting people who’s blogs I read and who read mine.

So with that I will leave you.  I hope those celebrating Thanksgiving have a great day.  For those of us who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving have a great day /evening no matter what you do! 

Putting things in perspective

Just little niggling things like a ‘discussion’ with a child about what flavour antihistamine they have been given, having to lug a large musical instrument around the school because renovations mean the easy way is now blocked off or waiting in the bank for 20 minutes only to be told that you can’t do what you were told you can do on the phone last week because rates etc have changed. 
And Stupid (yes it deserves a capital S) things like deciding to walk to school to pick up the the children from school without realising it’s 33.7 degrees!  Those were just some examples of what happened today but as I said just little niggling things.  None of which probably wouldn't have bugged me so much if I hadn’t gotten home form being company for a friend just before midnight.
So I was frustrated and did my usual coffee and chocolate comfort eat thing.  Today’s was a GF Chocolate Chip muffin from Muffin Break.

I got home to fine this gorgeous post from the lovely Melissa.  Thanks so much for that, it was beautiful and made my day.
But it was life itself that of course gave me a wake up call.
Finding out that a baby who recently had surgery is back in hospital.  It’s been almost 12 months of struggling for that beautiful little girl who really needs a break, as does her family particularly her Mum.
Then there was this post from Madmother about the fragility of life.  I could have sworn I had commented on that post but that’s not the point.
And finally there was finding out that a Face book friend’s Grandmother had died today.
So while I was tired because I had been with my friend who’s sister could have died on the weekend and has a long road to recovery, my issues could be fixed with coffee, chocolate and knowing someone was thinking of me. And that put everything into perspective for me.

White Ribbon Day

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The website is here.
I have noticed that 2 people on my Blogroll have blogs on this topic today. Melissa’s is here.  Renay’s story is here. I’m sorry if I have missed anyone.
Ten Common Myths and Misconceptions
Myth 1: Violence against women is an
issue that only concerns women.
Myth 2: There is nothing we can do to
stop violence against women.
Myth 3: Women should just remove
themselves from abusive
relationships.
Myth 4: Some people deserve to be
beaten by provoking the violence.
Myth 5: against women only occurs in
specific groups.
Myth 6: Violent people are mentally ill
or have psychopathic personalities.
Myth 7: Some people need the
violence, enjoy it or are addicted to it.
Myth 8: Violence against women is
caused by drugs and/or alcohol.
Myth 9: Violence only happens to a
certain sort of woman.
Myth 10: Violence only affects a small
number of Australian women. 
Please click on the link to debunk the myths.
Thanks!

Dresses

I was reading this over at Say Something Stacey when I was reminded of something.  I love looking at dresses.  Mostly summer dresses.  And generally red dresses. Maybe I was influenced by Chris de Burgh’s song Lady in Red.
In fact this was one I was looking at today at Rockmans only in garnet rather than the chocolate. I also like this:


And this from Myer:

Now if you ever actually met me you would know there are some issues with this.
Firstly – It is very rare that I go anywhere where I would be required to or even want to dress up.  Generally I will wear a dress to our work Christmas Dinner or to a wedding or perhaps a funeral.  Thankfully funerals are few and far between and all my cousins and friends are married.  We did go to a wedding in March and one in November last year but they likely to be the last ones we go to in a long time.
I have no life and unless you count our work dinner I have not been on a date with my husband in about 3 years or maybe more. So I look at these dresses and dream of Mr E. and I going out and having a proper adult dinner, just the two of us somewhere we can dress up and have adult conversation.

And maybe just maybe dancing… which would more likely be just swaying in each others arms. LOL.
Secondly – I’m so not a girly girl.  I’m sure my post about not being cut out to be a dancing Mum probably gave you that idea.  But it gets worse than that. I would probably spend about 99.9 per cent of my time when I’m not at home in jeans mostly with t-shirts and joggers.  Occasionally I dress up and where boots and a shirt / blouse but generally its jeans and t-shirts.  And to make matters even more woeful they are mostly IT (yes Mr E. is an geek) t-shirts that Mr E. has been given or outgrown along the way.
And finally I refuse to buy any clothes past a certain size.  And so I probably need there to be less of me in order to fit into a dress like those above comfortably without flashing my umm ‘assets’ at everyone.  Unless of course they have changed the size of clothing and the magic number I refuse to go past now fits perfectly.
Oh I can dream can’t I?

Things that appeal to me today

I thought I would find some things that could brighten my somewhat flat mood.  I know other people do this so I was wondering if it would work of me too.
So in no particular order here are some things that appeal to me at the moment.  All Photos are from OpenPhoto.net   Please enjoy.
A rose.
 
Fresh strawberries.
 
This picture.  I enjoy the way the flowers and leadlight highlight each other.

As always…..Chocolate!

Jellybeans…. the colours are bright and they remind me of fun times.
 
These marbles.  The colours, the shape, the smooth, cool feeling when you touch them.

And finally, rainbow of paint colours. Pretty.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and that they appealed to you in some way.
I really like the last 3 rainbow / multicoloured ones.  Now it’s time to go back to the real world!

Life…. sometimes it sucks and sometimes it doesn’t

Yes you read it right some parts of today in the world of E. sucks.

Why?  Well lets start with the fact that Smiley Dog has an ear infection.  Now Smiley Dog has had bad ears since birth.  But this ear infection has absolutely sucked for him poor boy. His ears have been a mess on and off since March. Last night when I was doing the regular ear stuff he cried.  More like yelped. Smiley Dog does not yelp.  Smiley Dog is happy 99% of the time even when his ears are grungy and gross.

This morning during ear cleaning there was blood.  Oh (insert appropriate swear word here). But Smiley Dog was happy and not a sound which seemed to be an excellent sign. Rang Vet and got an appointment.  Excellent. 

Got ready to take Smiley Dog to Vet and picked up my phone.  Had a text message from last night that I’d missed. A friend’s sister has had a bleed on her brain last night and is having surgery this morning. Oh (insert appropriate swear word here) again. When I am away from home my phone is almost always in the pocket of my jeans.  It’s very rare that I do not have it on me.  When I’m at home the phone could be anywhere, on the bench, on my desk or forgotten in the car.  I missed my friends message for 14 hours.  ARGGHHHH! Fortunately the surgery has now gone well which is excellent news. so here’s something to toast with.  Or to drown your sorrows / stresses.

Anyway get Smiley Dog to the vet and the blood was likely to be from scratching himself or maybe a grass seed that has now come out.  I mention that Girl Child had surgery and ended up with an infection etc so I haven't been as proactive about Smiley Dogs meds as I should have been. The lovely vet said that's completely understandable! That’s nice.  Because I do feel guilty about Smiley Dog.  But with Girl Childs issues Smiley Dog has been on the back burner a little.  So back to Smiley Dog.  He recently had blood allergy tests done to work out what he was allergic to if that’s what is causing the ear infection.  Unfortunately it seems that he is allergic to lots of things. I made the comment ”so he’s allergic to life, is he?” and the answer was “pretty much”.  Yeah it was just an off the cuff comment and response but seriously? We had seen an specialist from interstate about Smiley Dog and the results have been forwarded to her so at the moment we are just waiting for her to get back to us.  Plan - we need to just tweak his meds bit and he needs to go back in 10 days. 

On the plus side Girl Child’s blood noses finally stopped on Thursday night.  She had had after at least 1 a day (but mostly 3 every day) except for 2 days out of 8.  Maybe we are finally out of the woods and the adenoid beds are healing.

Life is all about stuff – some stuff sucks and some stuff doesn’t.  I’m glad Girl Child has stopped having blood noses but sad about Smiley Dog’s worsening ears and less than impressive allergy test results.   Most of all I’m devastated about my friends sister and I hope she can get of ICU in the near future (next few days maybe)and continues to recover.

Some days chocolate doesn't help much…

testing something here

okay everyone?

Just trying to see if last nights post can be edited without it changing the time because I did make the right date with it but it was soooo late at night (for me) that I think it might need some editing.

Oh yes it works!  Excellent. Now too grab coffee and reread my late night ramblings.  Wow I must need that coffee it’s taken 3 attempts to write late night.

Shopping and other things that bring home differences

I did grocery shopping today and wondered what other people thought of what I bought.  You see Boy Child doesn’t eat a big variety of food, part of him being an Aspie (he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (an autism spectrum disorder –ASD) when he was 6). Read this to see a unique boy child moment.

His day to day diet consists of Nutella or Promite sandwiches (school is a nut free zone),  cocoa bombs (a Gluten Free chocolate cereal similar to cocoa pops), chicken nuggets, hot chips and some biscuits. Oh and sometimes peanut butter. Yes that is it.

When we have other stuff in the house like chicken schnitzel, BBQ chicken, chips (aka crisps in some countries), pancakes, chocolate or vanilla butter cake, choc chip muffins, plain milk chocolate or caramello chocolate,

vanilla ice cream, he will eat those too.  But we don’t always have those in the house.  And if we are out he may get a strawberry or pineapple iced donut. 

What you say? He doesn’t eat any fruit or vegetables?  Well he is convinced he eats fruit because he has had bites of apples over the last year or two.  In fact in the last month or so he has eaten maybe a whole apple in about 3 sittings. Which is very impressive.  And today he ate a 1 cm piece of mango!  That’s huge for him.  We are talking about a boy who just stopped eating everything at 2.5 to 3 years of age so the fact he is slowly adding foods or even trying them without gagging or vomiting is exciting!

Anyway I was shopping today and I bought chocolate.  Caramello chocolate in fact. Note dear readers: while I love chocolate we actually don’t always have it in the house.  Really!  Trust me on this.

Anyway, the last time I went shopping with Girl Child she wanted to buy Fruit and Nut Chocolate. I told her we couldn’t because it wouldn’t be fair to her brother. So that set me wondering how much stuff she misses out on because of his issues.  Now, the stuff he doesn’t eat we don't force him to eat but that mean he generally has nutella sandwiches for dinner about 4 nights a week.  Now I’m sure that would freak most families out but he eats and that’s all that matters to us.  Plus he is adding things slowly.  Chicken schnitzel has only been food in the last 3 years and he will now eat homemade GF schnitzel. In fact that’s what he asked for for his birthday dinner this year.

But his dietary restrictions do mean that we as a family eat way more junk food than we should.  And that is something we need to work on.  But if he continues the way he is maybe by this time next year he will eat a whole apple and we could try to bring fruit and nut chocolate home for Girl child.

Let’s hope!

Note: anyone who read this post before 9.58 am Australian daylight savings time on 22 Nov 09 and is reading it again will notice some changes.  I thought I should clarify and also add in a few foods I left out.