...new laptop
...new wireless connection
....finally back online
...and Vox is on it's way out....man, as usual my timing is impeccable!!!!
CC is slack...CC is slack...CC is slack...
"sigh"
09/05/2010
02/06/2010
Not had time to spit...
...let alone blog this week.
It has been hectic!! Have barely had time to sit down and not had a chance to sit down in front of the PC.
First full week back at school and, on top of that, a couple of days moving and re-organising furniture - I'm exhausted.
I start at TAFE tomorrow - woah, am a bit nervous but am looking forward to it. All the kids are on notice - they have to be helpful and, at the very least, agreeable or, quite simply, the usual level of chaos that exists in this household is going to escalate dramatically.
At this point in time I am completely organised and everything is under control....just hoping it all doesn't go pear-shaped come tomorrow morning.
The boys have exceeded expectations today!!
They've excavated their bedroom and study themselves - WITHOUT me having to nag!! *shock horror* They've even vacuumed under their beds and removed every trace of rubbish; have put away all washing; actually made their own beds; and, more astonishing, have even helped the girls do some of their chores as well.
I'm enjoying it - know it won't last (under no illusions whatsoever)
The cat - one day we will name her - has found herself a new place to sit. About a metre from me on the only spare piece of shelf on the bookcase. at this point in time she is sitting and glaring - she wants her dinner but hasn't got to the point of climbing on top of me to remind me not to forget her...5 minutes. It's not as if she is going to starve - she only had a snack a little while ago. The kittens are getting bigger - mum seems to do anything she can to avoid spending any quality time with them. A cursory lick and clean every now and then about as much attention as they get now... maybe they are why she has chosen the bookshelf for a perch - they can't get up to her there...hmmmm.
Italian meatballs for dinner - found a recipe that is slightly different to the one I usually use so trying it - plenty of fresh parmesan involved!! And tomatoes!! Lordy me we are overrun with tomatoes.
The girls each took a carrier bag full into their respective school canteens last week - I am now down to only one overflowing bucket on the bench in the kitchen....and I don't know how many more that will need to be picked in the next day or so...
I do love home grown tomatoes but we are all getting a little bit tired of them...apparently I am going to have time one day this week to make up a big batch of relish....
I refuse to give up any sleep time.....think I am going to need 26 hour days...
01/30/2010
Hmmm...
...vague ramblings...
We're suddenly at sunday. Early evening. Waiting for a pot of water to boil to throw in spaghetti. Bolognese sauce cooked and ready to go. Nice and simple meal - typical of our sunday nights (except during winter when I do produce a roast) - and enough sauce to put a container in the freezer for later in the week. There will, no doubt, be an evening when I won't feel like cooking fairly soon...
Went out last night - for the first time since last August!?! A proper evening out with no kids in tow.Given that other half works most evenings and particularly weekends it isn't surprising it has been so long. Was his sister's 40th birthday and we went to one of the local restaurants for dinner. Only about 40 of us in total but enough that the whole restaurant was booked out for the evening. (Incidentally not the restaurant hubby cooks at.)
Neither of us had eaten there before and, well, to put it bluntly, we'd not go out of our way to eat there again let alone recommend it to anyone.
I expected hubby to be super-critical about the food - he's pretty much a perfectionist - but, quite frankly - apart from the creamy garlic sauce that accompanied mine the rest was well below average.
Poorly cooked steaks - tough and bordering on well-done rather than medium rare. Not hard to cook a steak properly! (Note: we were the only two who ordered steaks so the "chef" should have been pleased to have something different to prepare...)
I would have sent mine back except that we waited well over an hour and a half for our meal to be served - I wasn't going to wait that long again.
I'm not fussy but if I'm paying good money for food I want good food...it's simple.
Friday afternoon - Master 15 comes home from first day at senior college armed with a multitude of notes...pretty typical for a new school year.
And I was amazed (I think that is the word I should use). One note - for the school swimming carnival - yep, pretty standard...to be held next week please fill in permission form and send us x amount of dollars. But then....attached....they are having a live band performing for the first time. Now, maybe I am getting old and well out of touch with things but is it normal for schools to have live bands performing at their swimming carnivals??
My first thought - it was a group of the kids at the school who wanted experience performing in a safe environment in public. No, the band performing is coming from Newcastle - they have been performing for a number of years now (around Newcastle, Sydney and Central Coast) - they were a part of Triple J's unearthed and have supported groups like Frenzal Rhomb. Punk rock band called Genius (I've checked out their Myspace and FB pages...yeah..they've done a bit.)
I've come to the conclusion that the school is trying every tactic it can to encourage the kids who would rather be wandering the streets to attend (truancy is a big issue out here) and, well if this doesn't work I guess nothing will.
Alas, the carnival is on on one of the days I will be at TAFE all day - I might be old but I'd quite like to go!! (Needless to say Master 15 relieved I won't be able to...."you're so embarrassing mum!")
Pasta is cooked...the natives are getting restless....starving as usual so had better feed them...
01/28/2010
Back to school...
...*phew* we survived the holidays!!
I actually can't believe how fast the school holidays have gone - it certainly doesn't feel just shy of six weeks since the end of last term but it is!! The last few days have gone particualrly fast - thank god!!
Both girls have been counting down the days until they returned for a couple of weeks. Last night, well, they were more excited than they were on Christmas Eve (strange children!?!)
To quote Miss 6 - note: girls went to bed before 8pm and she was singing and chatting for ages until she finally emerged just before 10pm to declare:
"I'm so excited I just CAN'T sleep!!!"
Needless to say she slept...
I took the precaution of setting my alarm last night - guarantee it would have been a morning I'd have overslept if I hadn't. Was up, nice and early and wandered out to the kitchen to find both girls dressed in uniform, sitting at the table and wanting their breakfast - well before 7am. Yes, they were excited!!
Now this year slightly different to all previous ones. For the first time, none of the kids are going to have a sibling at "their" school. Miss 6 at infants; Miss 8 at primary; Master 13 at junior campus and Master 15 at senior campus.
Herein lies a logistical nightmare - Miss 6 and Miss 8 both start at the same time in the mornings and finish at the same time in the afternoons - their schools 3 blocks apart. A good few minutes walk from one to the other. Master 13's school is directly opposite Miss 6's - he finishes 10 minutes later than the girls but starts 10 minutes earlier. Master 15 - well, senior campus is on the opposite side of town - a good 15 minutes drive in morning traffic. He starts 20 minutes later than Master 13 in the mornings then finishes only 10 minutes later in the afternoons. Except on Fridays when Master 13 finishes 45 minutes before the girls and an hour before Master 15.
Simple?? Clear as mud I expect!!
Tomorrow morning I will attempt to drop all off in the right places at the right times - and likewise pick-ups in the afternoon. It's going to be a tight schedule with no room for anyone forgetting anything - heaven forbid we don't get out the door on time...that would be disastrous!
Thankfully it won't be a daily issue - bus passes will be issued soon....the bus driver can worry about it (and I just have to make sure they are all standing at the gate in the mornings to be picked up!
Incidentally - today I have enrolled in a course - 2 and a half days per week at the local TAFE ....Financial services certificate 3...which means I too am going to have to be at certain places at certain times ...I get the feeling chaos may reign before we all get into a regular routine!!
I guess it is all a good test of time-management skills...hopefully will pass!
01/25/2010
Lazy day...
...loved it!!
Horrible day outside - stinking hot and windy - so I have had a gloriously lazy day!
Have watched some tennis; Finished the book I started yesterday - that in itself a minor miracle as I usually get interrupted every five minutes as soon as I pick a book up to read. And, generally, done very little.
Kids complained of boredom - so they were allocated chores (well, they were given the choice - work and stop arguing and niggling each other or you will each be sitting in a separate room for the rest of the day...it worked, they worked and arguing ceased.)
Ended up with an extra 2 kids after lunch.
Hubby's sister has 4 kids and her ex-husband dropped 2 of them off to play for a couple of hours.
Not going to even start on the background with this situation but I wasn't at all surprised when he didn't reappear to pick them up again until just before 8pm. Has the manners of a rock - didn't even bother to get out of his car let alone offer any thanks for having them for so long and feeding them etc etc. Wasn't expecting any thanks...
Hubby, of course, has been at work for most of the time they were here...gotta love family - they really know how to take the piss at times.
Not going to let it get to me...at least he just didn't forget them and I didn't have to provide bed and breakfast as well.
Did receive a message from my sister earlier. her husband had taken their 8 year old to the hairdresser to get his haircut before school goes back. Unfortunately her Master 8 refused to have any cut off because he wanted to look like my Master 13. Oh dear...
las time they saw each other was over Christmas - and my Master 13 had spent several months fighting against going near hairdressers himself so he looked like he'd just stepped out of Herman's Hermits - definitely not a good look..and not one my sister wished her son to emulate.
I have now been able to produce photos of Master 13 - who did have his hair cut last week (number 3 all over) in an attempt to lessen the rift. If it doesn't work...it's not my fault!!! Will just have to add it to the last of things I do that are not acceptable...hahahaha.
Anyway,
I'm off to the lounge room - it has aircon, this room doesn't....tennis is on and have dragged another book off the shelf to read.
ciao for now :)
01/23/2010
Boys are home...
...and I think I'm actually glad to have a really noisy house again!
Both boys have been on "holidays" to my mum and dad's place for the last week.
(Holidays to grandma's for two teenage boys is something akin to selling your kids to a passing slave-trader - but legal...no money changes hands. Grandma always has a list of chores that she can no longer do and granddad well beyond doing but which are well within the realm of two active teenagers. Fair deal - they get paid in food and she gets gutters etc cleaned.)
Misses 6 and 8 are hardly quiet little girls - in fact Miss 6 is as loud as the other 3 all put together - but there is a big drop in noise levels once the boys aren't here. I've enjoyed it - a week of no girl v boy bickering is a bonus; particularly as we are now getting to the end of what has been a pretty hot school holidays.
The peace is now over...and it all feels normal again.
Has been a great few hours - only one lot of tears thus far but no serious battles. Tears are relatively low on the scale of damages in kid warfare in this house so nothing to be concerned about. When there is the potential that blood might be spilled I will step in - and order guilty parties outside - no way am I scrubbing blood off floors and walls. But today - well, only this afternoon since they got home - has been a very pleasant one. I'm under no illusions - 3 full days of holidays left yet so plenty of time for them all to hate each other again - for a few hours at least.
Sibling rivalry is normal and healthy. I was listening to some talkback on local radio a few weeks ago (often have it on in the background when there is no one else here just to break the silence) and an "expert" came on to discuss child-rearing. A lot of experts out there and I will often argue out loud with them - to myself. My favourites are the ones who come on and espouse their theories concerning discipline - I have had to live with four 2 year olds and I can quite categorically state that calmly saying "no" when they are about to run onto a road or climb on top of the stove is nowhere as effective as a good smack to the butt!
But anyway, I digress...this one expert I actually agreed with! *shock*
he was discussing sibling rivalry and his main point was that parents are too ready to step in and resolve fights between their kids for the sake of peace. They are not giving the kids the chance to work issues and problems out themselves which kids are capable of doing. Yes, step in if there is the chance of things becoming out of hand and too violent but otherwise, hang back and let them deal with stuff which invariably they will.
I have always worked on the same principle - after all, everyone needs to learn how to deal with other people in every stage of life and if you're always having others fight your battles for you as a kid the real world is going to be a shock to the system as an adult.
Sisters and brothers are probably among the toughest critics anyone will ever have - learn to deal with them and you'll be fine.
01/22/2010
A lesson learnt...
...not by me!
We have a bowl on the bench in the kitchen.
It's for putting in the odd ripe tomato, chilli or anything else from the yard for washing etc.
Miss 8 came inside a while ago with the front of her t-shirt bulging with cherry pear tomatoes - in the bowl. They are tiny and a really bright red. In the bowl already were a handful of chillies I'd picked earlier - about the same size and colour as the tomatoes.
Miss 6 knows everything needs washing before it gets eaten but she tries to sneak the odd thing...and, well, the tomatoes far too tempting...
She's just done one of her run-by, grab and eat routines....followed by a very loud screech and bolt to the bathroom for water....didn't grab a tomato that time!!
Facebook...
...hmmmm!!
I use Facebook. For the most part I like it. It serves a purpose but it has it's limits.
The good - yes, have caught up with a lot of school friends as well as a lot of other people I've not seen for decades; in the last few weeks there has been a sudden surge of people appearing from the neighbourhood I grew up in. These kids were a constant in my life from the time I could walk until I turned 13 and our family moved from the town. These kids are now adults too, with kids of their own - and, in one case, a grandparent. Knowing that one girl I played with, just a year older then myself, is now a grandmother of six is strangely horrifying...I'm sure as hell not ready to even contemplate the thought of grandchildren let alone six of them!!
I have a fair few family members on my friends' list; my mother being one of them. She turned 80, she joined Facebook. Of course, what else does an 80 year old do? My sister is on my list. We "speak" more now than we have in decades. I think we actually get on ok these days...maybe.
Of course, given we grew up in the same house and therefore the same neighbourhood we now share a lot of friends - we knew the same kids of course.
My hubby doesn't use Facebook - and for that I am thankful.
My mother and sister think he is the best thing since sliced bread - of course he is the perfect man.
The one time I slipped and forgot to censor my status so it wasn't visible to family members I was interrogated for days as to why I was whinging about him - Guantanamo Bay "interviewers" have got nothing on my mother and sister!!
This is where it starts getting complicated...
Anything written publicly is there for everyone to see - forget to use the censor button at your peril!!
There is no anonymity on there - hallelujah, thank god for blogs - the people on there really do know you!!
Is amazing though, they only want to know the easy things - they don't want the bad stuff. They don't want to read any of the real stuff unless it is all completely wonderful. A rather false view...
Yes, there are friends on there who are fantastic for offering advice when there is crap going on - but don't ever let the people who know you best see it.
I've considered culling my friends' list...not really possible given the ones I would cull - too many links to others who would remain. So I grin, bear it and pretend that all is perfect in the "real" world...
...and save the venting and otherwise for my anonymous self.
01/21/2010
Given the cow issues...
...I have been doing some research!!
It was my mum who gave me a suggestion for dealing with the cows getting in the gardens. She told me of farmers in India and Africa who use chillies to deter elephants from destroying their crops.
So I've been doing some reading this morning.
(Now, we already grow several varieties of chilli in the vegie garden but I haven't noticed if the cows have tried eating them/eaten them or totally avoided them. I've also not noticed any cows suddenly taking off at high-speed mooing loudly while crapping so I think is safe to assume that not have been consumed at this point in time.)
Back to the research...
In the Northern Congo region it has been found that burning chilli-dung is an effective method of deterring elephants.
Now, I'm not to sure this would really be my first choice as it is, after all, the middle of summer so fires not allowed. Burning dung is, however, supposed to be effective at also keeping mosquitoes etc at bey so would be worth thinking about...
The aroma? Hmm, well maybe not what one would normally associate with the Australian bush - I can only imagine the smell - I'm not sure the neighbours, even though they are some distance away would appreciate.
Probably not an ideal solution...
Onto Elephant Pepper.
And I have found the most fascinating websites!!
and their related site
I've spent the last hour or so having a browse and reading - and it's good stuff.
I have no idea if the concepts would work with cattle but the work being done by these organisations is wonderful.
I have tried to estimate the distance around our fence line - to attempt to make some sort of paste to spread and given that it is approximately 150m that is a hell of a lot of chillies.
Worth trying? Maybe, maybe not....
....I think I can be safe in knowing that no wandering elephants would cause a problem though...
Marigold-fed beef...
...has a different ring to it than grain-fed!!
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