Friday, January 17, 2014
Day 16: FMS photo-a-day - sun
I've taken a few photos of the sun for FMS-photo-a-day in the past, and here wanted to show the effects of the summer sun. Our once green grass is as brown as brown now, in high summer.
Day 15: FMS photo-a-day - black + white
I was a little late with Wednesday's prompt, also, only taking it at the RTBG on Friday morning. I love how it turned out, there's something a little spooky about the bright light beyond the deep shade of the observer.
Day 14: FMS photo-a-day - three things
Three rolls of washi tape I bought at Salamanca before Christmas. I actually really struggled with this prompt, but then last night (several days late) dreamt of taking pictures of my washi tape rolls. Well, why not?
Day 13: FMS photo-a-day - makes me smile
As I checked on Rohan before I went to bed, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. After we'd said goodnight, at some point, he'd gotten out of bed, grabbed his giraffe puppet-blanket, and snuggled up with it on his hand. For some reason the giraffe was holding one of Rohan's mittens in its mouth. Just thinking about it still makes me smile! (Posting this one four days late!) in fact, I almost always grin when I check on Rohan at night, he always seems to be doing something quirky!
January 14, 15, 16: oh dear, it's a slippery slope
Golly gosh, I missed one post over the weekend and my blogging week fell apart. I think I have a new tactic, so we'll see next week whether it has helped :-)
Tuesday
Come Tuesday, the weather forecast was for a hot hot day, so we began with a plan of staying home with all the curtains and blinds closed!
Pascal managed to wake and get up early early early. By the time I hopped out of bed, she was already at the table drawing pictures of the ninja turtles and April. She drew seven or eight, then after breakfast she joined them all in a line with sticky tape and then went looking for somewhere to put it on a wall. We ended up blu-tak-ing the whole thing to the wall in the hallway (it's probably time it came down....).
As soon as the kids were breakfasted, I braved the outside world to feed and water chickens, water the garden super-deeply and (while I had the hose out) wash out and refill Josie's water table ready for a hot day's splashy fun.
While I hung a load of washing, Josie joined me outside to start splashing. She was ever so industrious carrying spoonfuls of water from the water table to a nearby tub. Before long, Rohan joined her and it was time of a change of clothes!
Josie came inside for a fruity snack, then was off to bed, and Pasc and Roh helped me to make popcorn for morning tea.
The afternoon, being so hot, was a lazy one, except for tidying our room (dust bunny eradication) and changing the sheets. Pascal and Rohan have also been asking to change their covers, but I told them their rooms need to be tidy first. I thought I should follow my own rule. After this I was too worn out to even think about hassling them to help me in their rooms, so theirs will be for another day.
While waiting for our pizza to heat, after Luke arrived home, Roh went back to building his Turtle van and Pasc started the small set she received from Santa's helper at Dee's Christmas Party, Mia's Bedroom. She's really improving at following the Lego instructions, and hardly needed any help at all.
We ate our pizza for dinner, so glad to not have to cook!
Over the last few days, with all the Lego building the kids have been doing, we've been thinking about sorting all of the loose Lego into sets so they can easily be rebuilt, and so that only the mixed tubs are used for creative building (Rohan is a very ingenious builder, he creates some amazing vehicles). So after dinner, we threw all of the Lego we could find into tubs ready to start. Oh my goodness. What have we done??
Before we began, we went out (as soon as the kids were in bed) to refresh the garden and check the chooks. I looked up from outside the garage and saw Pascal standing in our room, asking to go to sleep in our bed........ok, I say, then another voice comes from Rohan's room asking to do the same. Sigh, ok. It was 10pm before they ended up going back to their own beds and finally sleeping a little while after. It's easy to be cranky with them, but I still remember such hot nights as a child where it is impossible to sleep. Poor things.
With no real idea where would be the best place to start with the Lego, we began with one of the biggest sets, Rohan's fire truck/boat/buggy set (after sorting the bulk of it into obvious Friends Lego and everything else). By 11pm, we were maybe 1/3 of the way through, with plenty of things on the can't find list. We continued to an easy-to-remember-where-we're-up-to spot, and headed to be way too late at midnight!
Wednesday
We'd originally planned to pop into town today, because of a forecast cooler day, but on seeing that Thursday was looking even cooler, we postponed to then.
We kept today another quiet one.
Rohan saw all the tubs of Lego on the stairs (the gated stairs up to our upstairs rumpus room, aka, the Lego and yarn room!) and really wanted to play with it, so when Josie went for her nap, I brought down the little suitcase of Lego that Nanny gave him for his latest birthday. I wanted Pascal to have something to creatively build too, so I had the bright idea of reuniting all the pieces of Pascal's little Brickmaster set. I thought it would all be very easy, but I just ended up doing a lot of sorting, and very little reuniting. It did get us a few steps ahead for the night's fire truck continuation, though! Luckily, Pascal wasn't too disappointed. Being my little couch potato, she was happy flumphing around!
We made banana and date muffins for morning tea, and managed a little of the tidying we needed to do in Rohan's room.
In the afternoon, we were a little lazy, but that's what school holidays are for, right? Except for Josie, she kept scaring me with her couch acrobatics!
Luke brought home an easy-to-cook dinner for us. He visited the supermarket and bought some battered and crumbed frozen fish and crinkle cut chips. I normally shy away from such things, preferring to crumb my own freshly bought fish and chip potatoes for myself, but there are times when the easy road is better. And you know what, it was actually quite delicious.
In the early evening, I started the knitting for the Mystery KAL I'm taking part in. I think I've already mentioned it? I didn't get very far before it was Lego time! We did manage to complete the fire truck. There are a couple of pieces still to find, but nothing too rare or expensive (if we end up needing to order pieces). And we also caught up with the second part of the show on the chap in England who had so many newspapers stacked up he needed to crawl into his house. These programs are hard to watch and hard not to watch. You have to feel for these people, such hoarding tendencies are a real sickness.
Thursday
Today, we ventured out (relatively) early to go visit Daddy at work. The kids just love going into Luke's office and seeing him at work.
We parked in the Argyle Street car park, and this was the first time I'd parked our new car ("it's not a car mum, it's a van": Rohan) in one of the city car parks, and even though I knew we were ok for height, because we fit under the maximum height 2m sign without bumping it, it was a scary drive. I kept ducking my head, because it really felt like we were about to scrape on the beams! Eeks!
We met Luke up at the office, and headed out to Oomph for a coffee. The kids all enjoyed babycinos, Luke a flat white (it was their Romeo blend, and he really loved it. I might need to buy that next time I buy ground coffee, just for a change. I usually buy the Tiger Bean), and myself, a dark hot chilli chocolate. It was ok, but I prefer their Hot Mexican, I think. This one didn't have enough of a chilli hit.
We saw Luke back off to work, headed to Beauty and The Bees for shampoo and conditioner (unfortunately, we missed seeing Lani, she's away at the moment) then I made the mistake of taking the kids into the ABC shop for a browse. If I hear the words I want... again, I may scream.
From there, I wanted to head to Target for school socks, but the direct route goes through the Cat and Fiddle Arcade. Pascal is still terrified of the Cat and Fiddle wall (for those not versed in the joys of the Cat and Fiddle Arcade, there's an animated Cat and the Fiddle scene which operates for about fifteen seconds on the hour, every hour and enacts the nursery rhyme. If you think about it critically, it's not that flash, but it's a Hobart institution, and a fondly remembered part of any Hobart adult's childhood) but I didn't want to go the super-long way around, so I snuck us though Harris Scarfe (I still call it Fitzgeralds, after goodness knows how many years!) and out to the upper level into Target. Poor Pascal, she freaked out when she realised where she was. I wish I knew what to do to help her get over it. When I ask what's so scary about it, she says she doesn't like the way it looks. Ok, I admit it's a little creepy to look at, but as a kid, going to see the Cat and Fiddle was one of the highlights of a trip to town with Mum (as well as a visit to either the Fitzies or Coles cafes or, before it burnt down, the cafe whose name I just can't seem to recall right now, where Sportsgirl is now) .
We got our socks (which I've since sent back with Luke to return after I found better socks at half price in the supermarket just half and hour later), and some new undies for the kids (TNMT and Barbie), and then to the supermarket, after a snack and a quick play on the play area in Wellington Walk.
Spot the children!
Poor Roh was complaining of a "funny tummy" as we got to the supermarket, but after weighing up the options of him possibly vomiting in either the car or the supermarket aisle, we chose the supermarket. I let him sit in the trolley, and he seemed to improve. And yes, I broke my resolve of not going back to the supermarket with all the kids these holidays. I just didn't get around to organising an online shop. Sigh.
After we were done with the shopping we had a super-long wait for the lift back up to the car, but finally we were in one and on our way. Josie hit herself a big milestone right then, every time the lift door opened onto a level in the car park, she pointed out and really distinctly said "Car!". I gave her big smiles and claps. It made everyone else smile, too. It made my day!
Home, then, for lunch and a snooze for Josie. And me. I lay on the couch for a little rest at about 3.30pm and ended up going to sleep, with Pascal lolling about on me. I woke after 5pm! Oops. But clearly I needed it!
We took the night off Lego, instead catching up on a little telly. :-)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
January 13: daring Josie
On Friday night, Luke cabbed it home, so his car was still at work, and he asked us to give him a lift in to work, aiming to leave home at 8am. I do hope it isn't a preview of back to school in a few weeks time because it was a huge fight getting them to eat their breakfast, get dressed and clean their teeth ready to go, even with the promise of an early trip to the Train Park with their scooters.
We did eventually manage to get out of the door, and had Luke dropped off by 8.30am (just). From there, it was straight to the nearest drive-through coffee shop for a coffee for me and soon we were parked up at the Train Park. Pasc and Roh took their scooters in and the first thing they did was scoot around the little track. Soon they were ready to start sliding. Josie was keen too. She scaled all the steps up to the big slides and her first trip down was a bit of an accident. She crawled on and ended up heading down head first on her hands and knees. I caught her at the bottom, and she was squealing with delight, all ready to go again! Next she came down with Pascal, and boy were they fast! The first time I kind of caught her before she went flying off Pascal's lap. Next time, Pascal held onto her as they reached the bottom, but they both ended up face first in the soft fall. Josie was filthy from head to foot, but she still thought it was awesome fun!
I got her cleaned up and we all ate our bananas, and Pasc and Roh took the bubble wand out on to the grass with Josie.
Josie began to get tired and started trying to raid another family's lunchboxes of food, so it was time to go. We grabbed some milk and watermelon on the way home, and the kids jumped straight into the bath. After their bath we had an earlyish (for us) lunch and Josie went for her nap.
While I (disastrously, but it was all ok in the end) made laundry liquid, the kids played quietly. I had the grand brainwave after I'd heated and dissolved the soap flakes and washing soda to add a cup or two of Sard oxy-action powder (or whatever it's called) to the mix to add to the cleaning power. I've done it before, a long time ago but put it in the mix at the start (I usually grate about a quarter of a cake of Sard Wonder Soap into it, but I'd forgotten to buy more). It seems adding it to the hot liquid causes an ever-so-exciting chemical reaction, and I had a bit of a witch's cauldron effect. Oops. Finally I had everything cleaned up and all settled down and decanted into containers, but it took about five times longer than it usually would to make it. Lesson learned.
Pascal was keen this afternoon to build the garden of Olivia's House, so once I was all tidied up, that's exactly what we did. Josie was all awake and out of bed, so she had a little practice at amusing herself (with Rohan's help). With the house all built, Pasc set about playing with the three characters, Olivia, the girl, Peter, the dad and Anna, the mum. It's really funny, for some reason Pascal has given Peter a layabout personality and he spends most of his time lying around watching television, except when he's BBQing. She calls him Lazy Peter. :-)
I made pizza for dinner tonight, with the prospect of not having to cook tomorrow night especially appealing! After Luke arrived home, he did some Lego building with Rohan, then we ate and scooted the kids off to bed. It was a hot evening so it took a while for everyone to drift off. Poor Pascal asked if she could go to our room to go to sleep because Josie was crying so much, even after having her nappy changed and hopping back up for more drinks and cuddles.
I watched yet more Downton Abbey, then Luke joined me for dessert and a Scrubs. To bed and I stayed awake too late finishing off The Casual Vacancy. Hmmm, what to read next? I have a couple of holds ready at the library, so probably one of those.
Luke has also started instructing me in the ways of the Rubik's Cube. I would say I am a slow learner, but I will need to follow the advice I give the kids.....the way to get better is to practice.
I haven't been snapping many pics over the last few days. Normal photographic programming shall return soon ;-)
Monday, January 13, 2014
January 11 and 12: a fun weekend
Oh, dear, so much for my resolve of blogging every day. Somehow there just didn't seem to be time over the weekend. Saturday started a little slowly. Luke was home late on Friday night and I was silly enough to try to wait up for him :-). I ended up falling asleep reading my book, but I woke up enough when he did get home to register that he'd brought home the Downton Abbey season 4 DVD that he'd ordered before Christmas and was so disappointed hadn't arrived. But yay, it came!
Late Saturday morning we finally took down the Christmas tree. Everyone joined in, which wasn't necessarily helpful! After that task, Luke made a grilled cheese and relish lunch which was delicious, especially eaten outside. For some reason (lack of sleep, maybe?) I was super-tired after lunch and headed off to bed for a nap (nothing like a Nanna nap!).
I needed to duck out for a few things from the supermarket and Luke had a little shopping list for Sunday's dinner, so in the late afternoon, I scooted out for a 'quick shop'. Hopefully writing it down here will remind me that I should never visit the supermarket on a Saturday afternoon. It's crazy-hour.
As I left for the supermarket, Pascal, Rohan and Luke were setting themselves up to make pop-up cards, which Pascal had just seen on Mister Maker. They were just finishing up as I got home (it was the 'minute make'!). The end result was just great!
After a simple dinner (eggs, cocktail snags and salad for the kids, the last of the leftover curry for us), the kids went to bed and I got to sit down to my first new episode of Downton. Of course I enjoy the story, but the costumes, the sets, all so sumptuous! After that Luke joined me and we put in his Christmas DVD of The Bridge, a Danish/Swedish collaboration crime drama where a body is found on the Øresund Bridge joining the two countries. Gruesome, fascinating and I can't wait to enjoy some more. It was interesting that even though we were reading the subtitles, it was still frustrating to have the volume a little low. I guess it is all to do with the need to hear context within the speech, even if you don't understand the words being spoken.
Sunday morning saw us up early to do some tidying ready for Luke's mate Perry and his son Jamie to visit for breakfast (Perry's wife and older son were camping for the weekend). Pasc and Roh were very excited to have Jamie coming over to play with.
We had our fluffy pancakes outside (yum, with rhubarb and yoghurt is my favourite), enjoying the mild summer weather. The kids played everywhere. Despite Pascal complaining yesterday that there was bird poo on the trampoline (she's been calling the starlings, which are in huge flocks at the moment, poo-birds because they poo on the trampoline!), it didn't seem to bother them today! If they'd told me they were heading down, I'd have organised to check it and clean it, but by the time I realised it was way too late! Oh well. They also enjoyed Josie's water table, and even sat down quietly to do some drawing.
After our guests had left, there was Lego to build! Luke and Rohan worked on Dogpound's van (Rohan's Christmas TNMT Lego set) and Pascal and I worked on Olivia's House. Once it had started, we put the first One Day International cricket match between Australia and England on in the background, and had a lovely afternoon. Pascal still finds some challenges in the Lego building endeavour. There are times she gets really frustrated, but also times she finds it an absolute breeze. She was talking aboutt as having her "easy brain" on. :-)
A new innovation, Sunday night is Luke's night to organise dinner, and tonight was marinated prawns on the BBQ with a dipping sauce, and salad from the garden (but bought tomatoes, we're still waiting for some of our tomatoes to ripen). There were also snags for the kids and to bulk it out a little for the grown-ups. It was a perfect BBQ evening, and the food was delicious.
Our evening was spent with the cricket, more Lego and knitting. Luke had gotten the taste for building while helping Rohan so he found a medieval scene set to put together. After the kids had gone to bed there was a little bouncing out, and one time, Rohan popped up. He looked at the box of the set, and said "Wow, how are you going to build all of that in one night??". It was very cute!
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
January 10: fun in the sun
Today, being Friday, was Mums' Group day. I love that the Mums' Group I joined when Pascal was only twelve weeks old is still going strong. Six of the original eight mums still arrange to meet every week, and we are making plans right now so that we (and the kids) still keep seeing lots of one another as our once-babies head to full-time school.
Today's meet-up was a quiet one, and with lots of us on holidays either here with visitors or away, there was only one other mum, Katja and myself. We still managed to bring along five children, though! The five of them had a wonderful time. Josie shared herself among us grown-ups and the older children. She spent a lot of time having me call out to her to be careful, or to stop there, or to come back. I also spent a bit of time chasing her. I'm definitely no helicopter parent, and Josie is very bold and not afraid to see what she's capable of, but poor Katja spent a bit of time quite concerned for her! She did manage one spectacular tumble, from a low seat to the concrete floor of the gazebo we were sitting in at the Botanical Gardens. A small bump on the head, a little cry, a cuddle and she was off again.
Pasc and F, both girls, are only eight days apart in age, and Roh and J are about six weeks apart, so they were very well matched as a play group today. The four of them stuck together most of the time, playing a game (probably) of Pascal's making where she was a princess awaiting rescue (or something). They spent a lot of time with Pascal lying on the ground and the others fawning all over her, only to move to a different spot to do it all over again.
As we headed off, we paused to look at some of the sculpture in the Gardens at the moment. Near the gazebo there are some new-ish almost-spheres constructed of firewood which are just great. These complement the larger work siege (see my day 10 photo-a-day entry) which is close to the lower entrance. I've enjoyed these for the past nearly-year, and will be a little sad when they're deconstructed in a few months time. The kids love to go through the archway into the turret.
Partway through the morning, Pascal realised she'd lost her (blue plastic) ring which came with her Cinderella Barbie at Christmas. She was certain she'd lost it on the big grassed area, but there was no sign of it when she looked then, and still no sign when I had a look around as we were leaving. She was very upset. I kept an eye out on our way back to the car (though I was hoping it had fallen off in the car) and there it was, just off the path in the car park. It had fallen under the barrier at the back of a car space only a few metres from our car. I wouldn't have spotted it if I'd not been looking for it, because it was in shadow. We might leave that one at home from now on.
It was a hot day today, forecast to hit 30°C and by the time we were heading home (12.30ish) it was certainly up there. Unfortunately we had a few quick stops to make on the way home, but we got it all done, and when we arrived home I was very glad we'd left all the blinds closed in the living area. The house was actually quite cool, while outside was energy sapping.
After a quick kip in the car, Josie woke when we got home, had some lunch and then was off to bed more than willingly. While she slept, Pasc and Roh bummed around (why not on a hot day?) and I went to check on the chickens and give the garden a water.
Later in the afternoon, Pascal got creative again, building a house for her toilet roll family. I thought she was just going to put a door in a shoebox and be happy, but suddenly she was building upwards, adding a pitched roof and attic rooms. Kids really are creative little beings!
Chicken curry for dinner again (I love how a curry improves with age), after the kids went to bed. It took Pasc a while to drift off but she got there in the end.
I'm getting excited for a new mystery knit along (MKAL) for a shawl starting early next week. I haven't bought the pattern yet (yes, I'm buying a pattern that I know almost nothing about!) and have made a deal with myself that our living areas need to be presentable by Sunday night for me to buy it (the price goes up £1 as the first clue is released on the 13th, UK time). I am, however looking at yarn colours and am probably going to use a light teal striped with a bold orange.
I will add that I've been burned by MKALs in the past, but I've also had good MKAL experiences. I like this designer, Ysolda Teague a lot, so I'm trusting (hoping) that the resultant design (which is being pitched as a kind of Choose your Own Adventure knit, because there are different continuing options at each clue release) will be up to her usual standard.
I'm still plodding along with the boring part of Josie's Crocket cardi, and I hope the MKAL will provide a little diversion through those boring bits!
Day 10: FMS photo-a-day - manmade
This turret constructed of firewood is part of a work entitled Seige at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
January 9: splashing (and creating families)
Thursdays, last year, were traditionally our 'at home' day. Pascal's school week finished on Wednesday, and we were always out on Fridays for Mums' Group so Thursdays just became our day for some down time. Until school begins in just less than a month (yikes!), we might keep to our traditional Thursday schedule :-)
So today began with no plans of going anywhere. Josie continued her clingy morning routine, and was off for an early nap again (the trouble with the early nap is that she gets grumpy again just before dinnertime, and only sometimes do I manage to sneak her into bed for an extra 45 minutes kip before dinner).
After Josie was in bed, it was chore time for me, and fun time for the kids, just amusing themselves with a little tv and a little crazy running around. Pasc and Roh were excited (as they always are) to have popcorn for their late morning snack. They're getting better at deciding amongst themselves which jobs they'd like to do while helping, which makes for a much more pleasant experience.
Because it was a lovely, sunny, warm day, I'd promised that we could take Josie's new Santa-delivered water table outide and fill it for the first time after Josie was awake in the afternoon. Even though it was a warm day, I knew there'd be great temptation to soak each other, so I filled it with warm water. Josie was first for the soaking. I think Roh dumped a bucket of water over her head, but it turns out she didn't mind at all.
I had set them up so I could see them through the window as I folded yet another basket of washing (and watched part of the first episode of Lark Rise to Candleford) but at one point Pasc and Roh went out of view. That didn't worry me until I heard a thud on the concrete and realised Josie also was out of view. It seems that as well as swinging toys in the fitted sheets I had on the washing line, Rohan was giving it a go as well! I think a lesson was learnt!
Later on, after watching the afternoon Play School on telly, Pascal wanted to make a toilet roll family. I was busy making a chicken curry for dinner, but helped her out once I had it in the oven. We went upstairs and she had free rein over the dk yarn tub to choose hair and the fabric stash to choose some fabric for clothes. She was surprised (and very appreciative) that I wasn't limiting her choices.
We got back downstairs and Rohan (who'd been busy doing something else when we started out) wanted to help as well, and wanted to use the fabric Pascal had chosen to make her boy. All was chaos until we set Rohan up with his own family-to-be.
At bedtime, the families went along with their makers to bed. Pascal's sat on her bed head, and Rohan's Daddy and Boy snuggled into bed beside him.
Day 9: FMS photo-a-day - natural
This stunning bloom was one of many just the same in a garden bed in the school car park. I hadn't noticed them until one day I chanced to park right beside them (I do believe we were running late that day). At the time I lamented that there were no upcoming photo prompts which would fit this snap, so naturally I thought of it when today's prompt came up.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
January 8: quiet but busy
Today was a quiet old day, yet somehow time seemed to slip away from us very easily.
Josie's been a little clingy and cranky in the time between breakfast and her nap for the last few days. While Pasc and Roh were happily up at the table painting, drawing and sticking, Josie was clinging to me like a limpet, so there was no sense trying to start the jobs I wanted to do for the morning (I really wanted to empty out the pantry and tidy it), so I arranged the beanbags in front of the telly, plopped her down on her green one and we settled in to watch the morning's Play School. It wasn't too long before there was a larger audience ;-)
She had a lovely time watching and dancing, before her concentration waned and she'd found her way to the Christmas tree, possibly suggesting to be that it should be taken down by now by taking off bauble after bauble and bringing them to me. How kind.
After this, Josie went off to nap, Rohan and I fed the chickens and checked the mail, and a little bit of housework followed.
After lunch and once Josie was awake and had eaten (a bit later than the older two), we needed to zip out to grab a few things from the supermarket. We did a little window shopping at the same time, mostly in the ABC Shop, where Pascal kept finding things to add to her birthday list, as did Roh, but since his birthday is so far away, I suggested to him that he might like to start earning money to pay for some of the new Octonauts things he's coveting.
I've decided I'm not particularly keen to go back to the supermarket these holidays unless I'm either on my own or only have Josie with me. It's as though the second we walk through those self-opening barriers, the crazy descends on my children. Yesterday we'd barely made it through those gates when people were staring at me because I was barking at the children. I made them listen to me as I spoke calmly to them, and repeat back to me the supermarket rules (no running, no jumping on the trolley were the main ones), but it still didn't seem to work so well. It was only in the cereal aisle that the perfect ammunition presented itself. Pascal asked for Milo Flakes. We have a rule that we only buy these for holiday-time and when they are on special. Unfortunately both of these conditions were filled yesterday, so I created a new proviso. They could go into the trolley, but if anyone ran, or jumped on the trolley or otherwise didn't do as I asked, they were going straight back on the shelf. It was a relatively pleasant remainder of the visit.
By the time we made it home, it was time to think about dinner, which was meant to be a chicken curry, but tonight I opted to use leftovers from last night and postpone the curry so that I could manage a little extra tidying. Then Luke was home. We fed the worms in our new worm farm scraps for the first time, then Josie came over while I fed the chickens again and Luke was busy repairing the irrigation connections to the tap near the chicken run. She had a great time using one of the garden beds as a sandpit!
Back in to pulled pork dinner, stories and bedtime for kids.
No cricket tonight (and we were most disappointed with the Hurricanes last night, they managed to lose the match that seemed unloseable), but we did get sucked into a scary program or two about hoarders. I usually avoid this kind of television, but tonight I couldn't resist. There was a man who had to crawl into his house over piles of 'newspaper archives'. I'm not sure if these programs make me feel better about myself so I can relax, or make me more determined to declutter so that these things can never happen to me.
And our unit is on the market! The first open home is on Saturday, I hope someone loves it and buys it!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
January 7: making inroads
Lists. I need to make more lists. I began today with an easy-to-accomplish list, and it was all ticked off by 2pm. This is almost unheard of as I have a terrible habit of leaving everything until the last minute and dashing around the house doing everything in the last couple of hours before dinnertime, which is crazy, because that should be the part of the day for a bit of relaxing.
The first thing on my list was to set up the pork shoulder for slow cooker pulled pork, my latest favourite thing to cook. We'll have it tonight in rolls with some salad on the side and the leftovers on Thursday. Maybe there'll even be enough for a lunch roll. I can hope.
Next on the list was Pascal's reading time (we call it Panda time) with her special training specs from the optometrist. I like her to own these sessions more and more as time goes on, and yesterday at the library she chose the book to use for this week, and sat down with me very willingly this morning. I think for a while, she forgot what she was doing, and was just enjoying the story (it is actually quite hard work, and it tires her eyes easily), so that's a great step forward.
Just before Pascal's Panda time, I popped Josie off to bed for her nap (she was particularly clingy and grizzly this morning, so an early nap was what we all needed). A little while later I found her all asleep, with her socks neatly off to one side :-)
Last on the list (I told you it was an easy-to-accomplish list) was reclaiming the loungeroom. The loungeroom tends to get littered with toys, and it hasn't had a good tidy since Christmas Day. There were still Octonauts boxes around and presents which hadn't yet found a home. Just before Christmas I bought a different coloured small tub for each of the children for tidying away their things at the end of the day. Today, I sorted everything I found from the loungeroom into these tubs and handed them over for putting away. Roh just took his entire tub to his room (I'm ok with that) but Pasc actually sorted everything and put it all back where it belongs. A sweep of the detritus and it was all done. Fairly superficially, the surfaces could all do with a dust, but that can happen later.
While I tidied the loungeroom, I sent the kids outside for some fresh air. They were clearly very busy doing something and they'd collected milk cups from the kitchen. I was interested to see what would happen......
They came in after a while, with cups full of leaves, and soft fall (pine bark) and flowers and grass, and both collected their little art kits (which have paints, crayons, pencils, oil pastels and various bits of stationery) and set themselves up at the table. Pasc asked me for sticky tape and glue and they both set about making pictures with the things they'd collected. I was impressed for two reasons. When I sent them outside to play I actually expected them to just bounce on the trampoline, so I was thrilled to see their exploratory sides show themselves, and I was also excited to see Rohan doing crafty/arty things independently. Ok, he wouldn't have been doing it if Pascal hadn't driven it initially, but he was doing his own thing, rather than copying Pasc. That is a big step forward.
Pascal's:
Rohan's:
Josie continues to astound me with how much she knows. This afternoon, she found last night's books still on the dining table, collected one, and walked it over to the bookshelf, where she tried to find a spot for it. What a clever girl. She was thrilled when I gave her a clap for it, and even more thrilled when I gave her the next one to put away. The only catch is that then she proceeded to pull about a dozen other books off the shelf. :-/
Late this afternoon (after I'd cleaned a couple more windows, our sliding doors this time. Unfortunately I'm running low on windows which are easily accessible from the outside, so the next results won't be quite so awesome), the kids headed over to the swings and slide for a bit of a play. I seized the opportunity to grab a couple of photos for the photo-a-day prompt of upside down. Despite not doing much on the monkey bars of late, Pascal hasn't lost any of her ability to go all the way across the bars. If anything, it's become easier for her. I should probably organise her a term or two of gymnastics.
I didn't manage to snap any pics of Roh this afternoon, it was all video of him.
Dinner of pulled pork buns was simply delicious, with a little salad from the garden on the side.
I'll be hitting the kitchen in earnest tomorrow, but I've begun to form a new habit of making the main work surfaces of the kitchen neat, tidy and accessible after each meal. It hasn't been taking too long, and I feel a lot more in control for doing it.
Now it's time for knitting and dessert (I couldn't resist a tin of half-price Desobry chocolate covered biscuits just after Christmas. It's win/win. The biscuits are delightful, and the tin is lovely, and without any branding on it whatsoever. Perfect for storing Christmas treats in next year.), and I've found a Twenty/20 cricket match on telly, with the Hobart Hurricanes needing 142 runs to win off 107 balls at present. That will be good knitty viewing, I believe.
Monday, January 6, 2014
January 6: easing back into normality
The children were all sleepyheads (Josie did that freaky thing where she was in exactly the same position she'd been in when I checked on her the night before), so we ate breakfast with just the two of us, still enjoying the rhubarb I cooked up on the weekend. The kids started stirring as Luke was about to leave, a little before eight.
After Luke had left, I helped myself to a second coffee while the kids enjoyed their milk, and soon enough it was Weet-Bix all round for them. Perhaps I'm not feeding Josie enough, because after she'd finished her one and a half Bix with a generous helping of rhubarb and left the table, she demonstrated her new reaching-up-to-the-table skills and pulled down Pascal's abandoned bowl to finish hers off. We always used to find Rohan in the pantry finding snacks for himself, and perhaps Josie will be the same!
Visits to the library are usually a bit crazy with Pasc and Roh zipping around and collecting books and DVDs willy nilly. I don't often limit the number of books they choose (but I usually limit to two DVDs each for the older two), because I'm very pro-books, but I am getting a little tired of checking multiple library cards online to see which books are due for returning, or needing renewal, or are overdue. Today I decided they could select three books and one DVD apiece (also giving them some selection rights for Josie) and it was an amazingly calm, ordered experience. They seemed to make more considered choices. I did try to encourage Pascal to choose something other than the Max and Ruby book she'd chosen, but she was insistent (I'm really not a fan of Max and Ruby). Then I had a brainwave, she could borrow it, but she had to read it entirely herself. And she went for it! She's a great reader, but she still loses her confidence quickly if she stumbles on one or two words. What a great way to foster her confidence (I hope).
The kids were keen to get home to watch the Mickey Mouse Three Musketeers DVD which Roh had chosen, so it was home, lunch, then a little couch potato-ing for the kids. It was a cold and blustery day, so an afternoon slumping around in beanbags didn't seem too bad. It had even crossed my mind to light the fire (in January!), and I've been spending lots of time in a cardigan and ugg boots over the last few days.
A little housework for me while Josie slept (ugh, the ironing. Pascal likes to help and spray on my water-nd-fabric-softener mist for me which is sweet, but slow), including trying out my new Enjo window cleaner. I confess my windows are absolutely filthy. They're disgusting. I tried it out on one window, inside and out and wow! It's not perfect, but to go from ugh to oh-so-bright-and-shiny-looking in one or two sweeps is staggering.
Late in the afternoon, Pasc asked me to film her acting out a scene with her Lego Friends figures. I do need to brush up on my skills as I have a terrible habit of holding the iPad with my finger over the microphone.
Leftover homemade pizza for dinner (yum, and easy), then we finished reading Pippi Longstocking with the kids for bedtime stories. She's simply delightful, funny and feisty, and I dare say, probably very ahead of her time. I've heard mention that the Stieg Larsson Girl With The Dragon Tattoo main character (whose name escapes me just now) is possibly based on Pippi. I can kind of see it as feasible, but hadn't made any connection myself.
Kids to bed, then while Luke played a little Mass Effect 2 I watched my guilty pleasure (Neighbours). It really is not good television, but we all need a little trash in our lives! As I watched I knitted a little more on Josie's Cricket. I'm working down the body right now, with no interesting turns until I reach the pockets (about three more inches of mindless knitting before then), and continued knitting until Luke joined me on the couch and we cracked open Season 6 of The Sopranos.
The children, today
This morning I held out my hand for Josie to take to walk up the hall to her room, and my heart swelled with the eagerness with which she took it. It made me think it would be nice to do regular 'snapshots' of the children.
Josie (is 1 year, 4 1/2 months old):
- she's using a spoon proficiently. I have no recollection of when Pascal and Rohan picked up this skill
- she sucks on her fingers for comfort, and always has done
- she's following instructions really well. She'll go and find things if you ask her to, or give things to a particular person
- if we mention her going to bed for the night or for a nap, we know she's ready when she waves at us. This morning I was carrying her up the hall to get her dressed for the day and she was waving back down the hall to Pascal and Rohan (sorry, Josie-girl, we're about to head out to the library)
Rohan (is 4 years, 2 months old) :
- he would happily play Octonauts all day
- he loves to play with Lego. He's very creative with it, always building new 'vehicles'
- he likes his Weet-Bix without milk
Pascal (is 5 years, 10 months old):
- she still likes her milk warmed
- she was disappointed on the Monday after Christmas that it wasn't a school day again
- she loves to open the sliding doors on our new car
Day 5: FMS photo-a-day - found
Found! The crook (wearing the red bandana and the black 'bad guy hat') in Rohan's Lego Spot the Crook book. I love a good search and find book.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
January 5: sunday
Today was the first pancake Sunday of the year. We have a family tradition of pancakes (or their ilk) for brunch on Sunday mornings. We've been doing it for years, in various forms.....crepe-style pancakes, Bill Granger hotcakes (the berry and ricotta version or the banana version), and occasionally french toast. A few months ago something made me hunt for a recipe for fluffy pancakes. You know the ones, the McDonalds style hotcakes. It took a few experiments, but I finally found the closest to perfect recipe so far, at Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice. The batter was a little runny for my liking, so I use a little less milk, but the same egg to flour ratio. The kids have an incredible appetite for these things, so I make roughly a double and a half batch, which usually leaves a few over for quick kids' snacks for the following day. Except not today. Today every last scrap was eaten!
I offer a variety of toppings, berries and yoghurt, maple syrup and butter (in a stack of course), lemon and sugar and today there's rhubarb as well. What a feast! On these gorgeous summer mornings we take it all outside and enjoy the fresh air. It's the best way to start a lazy Sunday.
It was nearly midday by the time we were all done and tidied up so it wasn't too long before Pascal had to get herself ready to head out to her friend's birthday party. We selected L's present from our (IMO very cool) present stash and Pascal wrote the card while I wrapped the present. She wore the gorgeous dress Auntie Maur sent her for Christmas. So pretty (though I failed to snap a pic). At the party, Pascal enjoyed catching up with some of her school friends, and worked off plenty of energy bouncing and running and dressing up and climbing. I was disappointed to have settled down with my knitting while chatting to another mum only to find a broken needle. I'm hardly surprised, though, because that knitting bag has been thrown all around the back of the car (read: abused) through the Christmas season.
The afternoon saw plenty of rain, which was a pity since we were hoping to have a BBQ and eat outside. We did still have our BBQ but since it was still rainy and cold (brrrr), inside to eat it was. Not how I'd planned it, since I'd made a couscous salad, thinking all the scattered bits of couscous would just be cleaned up by the birds later on.......
Luke and I enjoyed the last of the quick-time express Test cricket after the kids shuffled off to bed. I'd seen the ABC news website and accidentally found out that it was all over that afternoon (with two days still available to play), but even with that knowledge, it was hard to comprehend England's second innings collapse!
To bed and I'm finally awake enough in the evenings (maybe it's more that I'm in bed early enough) to read a little of my novel. I've been slowly reading The Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling). I've been really enjoying it but haven't been able to keep my eyes open long enough most nights to read more than a page or two. I have plenty to go on with once I finish this book. Luke bought me Bill Bryson's At Home for my birthday, as well as The Cuckoo's Calling (JK Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith) and a book called Sovereign (the author's name escapes me at present) for Christmas. At my pre-Christmas rate of page-turning, these should see me through to 2016!
And so one of my not-a-resolution resolutions is to make more time to read, in particular, alongside the children. I want to encourage Pascal to embrace independent reading, and I have fond memories of reading at the same time as my mother, who would pick up a book every afternoon, without fail, either sitting up at the table or in her armchair. I'm absolutely certain that contributed to my love of books today.
We return to early starts tomorrow. Luke is back to work, and I have an act to get together!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Day 4: FMS photo-a-day - words to live by
Semi interesting note: the background for this photo was an accidental iPad pic of my finger (or possibly one of the kids). I added the sunkissed filter in the Camera+ app and I had a background that really worked for me. Then I needed to download an app where I could write on a photo, not one I've needed in the past, but it's a cute and handy feature :-)
January 4: knitting cricket, watching cricket
Late last night as we decided we were awake enough to watch another episode of Scrubs (we're enjoying the first series again, hilarious and even a little thought provoking) I pondered my knitting drawer and really didn't want to go digging for something half done to work on. So the only option was to cast on my first new project of 2014.
I visited my Ravelry queue and saw Cricket, by Melissa Schaschwary on the list, with a note to knit for Josie for winter 2014......yes!! I've been hanging out to knit this since I received it as a freebie last year. I even had a yarn in mind to use for it. While I love the look of it knit in a light colour (particularly in the robins egg blue on the Ravelry pattern page), a light colour on a two-year-old is insanity itself. I was sent some BWM 5ply Classic in a deep red called Waratah quite a few years ago, and loved it, but never had settled on a pattern for it. As soon as I had the Cricket pattern, I knew they were made for one another!
(The second possibility on my list was the Hine, a short sleeve layering top which I'd like to knit for Pascal but she was sound asleep, and needs to have input into her knits these days or she just won't wear them.)
And so I was very excited to cast this on last night. I just adore the elegant simplicity of this style. It's a modern version of a classic nanna knit. I'm looking forward to working the pockets. I've never done pockets before!p
Tonight I worked on it while watching the cricket which we recorded today to watch in quick time when we had the chance. It tickled my funny bone every time I saw the pattern name at the top of the PDF. Sad, I know.
It was a quiet old day today. Started out with another sleep in (next week will be a shock to the system as Luke heads back to work), but I did head out to the garden in my pjs to pick some fresh rhubarb to quickly stew (with orange juice and zest and a little sugar) before breakfast to have on our cereal. The naughty chickens make a bee line for the rhubarb whenever we let them out of their run, and I've been meaning to fence it off, but we'll divide the crown and replant in a different (protected-from-chooks) spot when it dies back this year, so it's been easier to just keep the chooks within their run. The leaves are terrible for the chooks and the chooks are terrible for the rhubarb, and after being left to its own devices for a while, the rhubarb has never looked better. I harvested twelve or thirteen stalks and ended up with about 1.3kg of trimmed rhubarb ready to use. And it was delicious.
I needed to head out to the supermarket for some supplies for pizza tonight, so I sat down to write a vague menu plan for next week. One of my biggest day-to-day failings is failing to plan meals, so invariably we are sitting down too late to eat because at 5pm I still have no clue what I'm going to cook. There's nothing particularly special on the list, leftover pizza, a BBQ (with a nice salad) a chicken curry and pulled pork. I will take some time across the next week or so to dig out a few healthy old favourites and get them back into the routine.
I'm dedicating a lot of the early part of this year to finally get my act together with managing this house. It always just seems so overwhelming to begin. The photo-a-day prompt today was "words to live by"). I thought about it for a lot of the day. I'm not a big one for those little sayings. Well, not true, I like them in the moment, but I don't have a life's motto which I use every time I need a boost or anything. I was thinking about the apparent insurmountableness of the task I have set for myself, and these words came to me: every great journey begins with a single step. This thought is credited to Lao-Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism. (I didn't know this six hours ago.....). So with a little luck and a lot of hard work, in a few months, the house will be running like a well oiled machine. Watch this space!
I zipped out with my shopping list, which also included irrigation plumbing fittings, and Sopranos DVDs. It's amazing how quickly things get done without my gorgeous little cherubs in tow :-). As I was leaving, our front door was locked so poor little Roh couldn't get through the door to wave bye. Luke indulged him a little and let him call me and leave a message. He spoke so well I thought it was Pascal! Sometimes I forget how grown up he is.
Once home, there was time for a quick sandwich (late) lunch and a coffee before it was time to start the dough for the pizza. Once I had them all rolled out and ready to top, Pascal and Rohan came over to help and were given a pizza each to work on. Those kids sure can top a pizza!
After dinner and the usual bedtime routines, Luke allowed Pascal to set up a toys' picnic in her room and while I fed Josie, she and Rohan played for fifteen minutes and let off a little more pre-bed steam. Very cute.
Luke and I sat down to our quick-time cricket (it's almost like watching a twenty/20 match. Almost), with Lego and knitting, and there ends an easy Saturday.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Day 3: FMS photo-a-day - my town
January 3: around and around and around
That's how most of today felt. Before Christmas I'd promised Luke I would do the mowing next time. We'd noticed it had grown really quickly and poor Luke felt like he'd only just done it. He usually enjoys the task, but I think he relished the idea of a break from it. Time is running out before Luke goes back to work on Monday, and there's a windy day forecast tomorrow, so this was my last chance (I had no plans of using Sunday for it).
So after we were breakfasted, and I'd hung a load of washing and seen Josie off for her nap, out I went. It wasn't long before I was mesmerised by the monotony of it and enjoying some time alone with my thoughts. I won't bore anyone with those (even myself) but they mostly revolved around attempting to return some kind of order to everyday life. With any luck, this blog will have a part to play in that.
Around and around I went, stopping only occasionally to move large branches out of the way, until the kids ran out to call me in for lunch. As I was cleaning up ready to eat, I noticed two things. First, I'd missed putting sunscreen on my forearms. Oops. Second, I'd collected a hitchhiker in my travels. A fuzzy little caterpillar. As I showed him to the kids before putting him outside, Pascal commented that he looked like he was wearing sunglasses. Luke had pulled together (from our very bare fridge and pantry) a very serviceable lunch and there was the temptation to take more of a break then and threre to watch some cricket, but I knew my motivation to head back out would be lower with each passing minute, so I headed out to finish it off. After I finished all the after-mowing cleaning, Luke asked if I had any dinner plans (um, no) then he took me around to the back patio and showed me where he'd spent some time cleaning up our sadly neglected BBQ. Yum, BBQ for dinner!
We headed inside for a coffee (and a peanut butter Lindt ball, mmmm) and finally sat down with the cricket, the first day of the final Ashes Test from the SCG. As I watched, I finished sewing in the ends and adding buttons to the Tiny Tea Leaves cardi I've been knitting for Josie. I knit it in Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton in a delicious red called Pomegranate. I'm really happy with how it turned out, though if I were to knit another I think I'd start with less stitches at the neckline. It's been a fun little knit. I might make her another with long sleeves in something woolly for winter (this one has cap sleeves for layering across the rest of summer and autumn).
After this it was just about dinner time so Luke headed out to fire up the barbie. While things cooked, we had a try at twisting together old soaked leaves from our NZ flax plant to form ropes to use in the garden. We'd seen a feature on this on Gardening Australia during the year and wanted to try it out. We couldn't make their technique work for us, so ended up plaiting them. Possibly a stronger end result. Pascal and Rohan had a tug-of-war to test them out.....
All good!
While we were plaiting, the kids also found some chalk on the patio and set about doing some new chalk drawings. This is Pascal decorating near the new worm farm (old freezer).
And wouldn't you know it, it always rains after you mow the grass. Here at 9.45pm, the rain is pitter pattering down on the roof.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
January 2: we're all going to Bothwell....
We had a late start, thanks to a very wakeful night thanks to the crazy winds buffeting the house all night. All night. I spent most of it hugging pillows to my head so that the cacophony was muffled. I'm not good in the wind. My logical side knows that even if anything blows in or off or away, we have insurance and it's only a house, but my non-logical side freaks out every time.
So a slow start it was, coffee in bed (we're still in holiday mode after all), slow, late breakfast then readying ourselves to head off (a few snacks, a change of clothes for each of the kids, the scooters into the car), chickens fed and eggs collected, and recycling collected from all around the yard where it blew away last night. (Also three Barbies, and plenty of Octonauts with their Octo-ski made their way to the car. Rohan, after being strapped in, decided he wanted Peso, the penguin. I zipped upstairs to look for him, but he was nowhere obvious. I asked Roh again and he said very matter of factly "He's in the the toy oven". Now why didn't I think of that?)
Luke got the kids singing "We're all going to Bothwell, yeah, we're heading to Bothwell, we're all going to Bothwell, in the vaaaaan" to the tune of "We're Not Gonna Take It" (Twisted Sister, I believe) and we were off.
Josie was a little cranky as we set off and I was sure she would crash as soon as we were moving, but the bouncy joy (ha!) of Middle Tea Tree Road kept her awake and we were on the Midlands Highhway (that is, only about 40 minutes from Bothwell) before she nodded off.
She woke as soon as we opened the doors in Bothwell (I think the automatic doors are too noisy for her to sleep through) and we popped into the visitors' centre for a few local hints and a map. We were dismayed to find that one of the prominent local cafes was closed across New Year (who closes over what must be a fairly busy tourist season?), so we zipped across for a quick play in the playground until the wind drove us away, and then headed out to Nant Distillery to sample their wares and get ourselves a much-wanted/needed coffee, and maybe lunch.
The distillery appeared like an oasis out of the partially dry pasture surrounding it, but we drove past in search of "Hamish the Highland Cow" whom we could (according to the lady at the visitors' centre) see in a paddock just a little way beyond. Nope, no Hamish to be found, I think we'd been given a bum steer!
Back to the distillery, and (aaarggghhhhh!) their coffee maker is on the blink. Noooooooooooo! We stayed for a whisky tasting, and though the prices were a wee bit steep for us non-whisky-drinkers-except-for-special-occasions, it was simply delicious. I never realised whisky could taste almost sweet.
A little wander in the glorious grounds, with a little river running through to their restored water wheel, and an attempt at a photo of all three children (Josie always has other ideas) and we were off in search of lunch. Late lunch, at around 2.30pm but lunch nonetheless.
We ended up at the Devil's Den, a basic but very serviceable and friendly cafe in the town centre. The kids enjoyed the biggest babycinos I've ever seen (they were small hot chocolates, really) and Josie insisted on drinking hers entirely with her spoon. Fun indeed!
After lunch we used the map we were given this morning to make a little car-based tour of the town since it was so blustery (on a nice day, we'd have enjoyed walking it, like we used to do in country towns in NSW. We would make a point of seeking out the walking tour brochure and enjoying all the little towns on foot). We finished up at the Adelaide St Lookout, where Pascal decided to put on a show and have me video it. We need to work on her polish a little!
Taking a bow at the end of their show.
It was well and truly time to head home. We played a game of "cupcake" in the car on the way home. You choose something to spot out of the window, be it a power pole, a road sign, whatever, and every time you see one you shout "cupcake" until someone guesses what you've picked. The kids (and grown-ups) enjoyed it and it kept everyone involved in the journey (and kept Rohan from becoming carsick).
We are loving the space we have in the van, suddenly getting everyone in and out of the car isn't the huge chore it was in the Challenger! I wonder where we can day trip to next?
I found a sweet little bit of Pascal's writing when saying goodnight to her tonight. She asked for some paper to use, and I suggested she use a piece which was scrunched up on her bedside table. On it I found written:
Love
I love my dad and mum.
Awwwwww.
The shine was taken off it a little (and made me giggle) when I saw the next sheet which said:
Love
I love frogs.
Somehow, despite a big busy day, at 10pm both Pascal and Rohan are still awake! Hopefully that will translate to another sleep in tomorrow.....
P.S. Pascal has her second wobbly tooth! Hopefully this one will take less than the five or six weeks her first one took to wobble free. She would barely touch that one because she was scared of it coming out. When it was close, she would cry that she didn't want a gold coin, she just wanted her tooth!
P.S.2 here's a photo Luke took of me yesterday. I normally edit photos of myself to smooth out my skin and make myself a little,more presentable, but here I am as snapped. I'm not sure if the smudge on my nose is something on me or the lens, but I'm pretty sure it's not snot!
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