Day 110 Christmas 2011, meet Christmas 2012!

I was looking at a catalogue today and asked Sean if it is too early to start Christmas shopping. I tend to buy bits and pieces throughout the year and save them up for Christmas presents. It makes for some pretty spectacular presents and keeps me busy. 

Last year, both kids got furniture for Christmas. Declan got a new double bed and all of the trimmings, however in the spirit of the season, I wouldn't let him have it until Christmas Day. So when we unboxed it and put it together I thought that it didn't look right. 

When the shops reopened after Christmas, I went back to see the display bed and I was correct, it was the wrong bed! The salespeople were most apologetic and promised to replace the bed when they came back in-but it was not expected until mid February! 

In Feb, I called and was told that the container had been held up and would now not be arriving til mid March! 

At the end of March, still not having heard anything, I went in again to enquire and was informed that they were due on 14 April (there was also a heartfelt apology as the owner thought the issue had been sorted out and how she was embarrassed as no-one has ever had to wait this long for something to come in before!)

So today I got a phone call from the store to advise that the bed would be delivered today! I am so happy that I stuck to my guns about this as the extra 30cm (or so) in height to the bed head makes a huge difference to to overall look. See the original bed here.

So while we have finally finished with Christmas 2011, I am thinking about Christmas 2012 already!

Day 109 Some not so subtle medication.

For some years I have been taking medication to help alleviate the pain in my knees. I take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, glucosamine and fish oil-and more recently I had to add regular panadol osteo to the mix. 

In the lead up to my surgery last week, I was required to give up all of the meds except the panadol as they cause issues with clotting- ie they don't allow clotting. Interestingly though, in the aftermath of surgery, I require injections for 10 days of anti clotting meds! 

In hospital, the nurses gave the injections, but when I left hospital, I am required to give myself the injections. They come pre-primed and all I have to do is insert the needle and inject the whole contents. I still have numb spots in my tummy from last year's surgery so I don't feel the needle go in but about 30 secs later, the medication stings as it disperses. 

I am looking forward to Sunday when I will have the last of these..it is definitely NOT one of the easiest ways of self medicating!

Day 108 That's my spot!

Now that I am home from hospital, I have assumed my 'spot' on the lounge. As Sheldon chose his 'spot' on Big Bang for reasons important to him, the reasons for my choice of 'spot' are currently relevant to me.

We have a lounge with a chaise, but added extra cushions so that it can be used as a corner lounge. I usually prefer to sit on the lounge in the position that the chaise was originally designed for. BUT as it is my right leg that is currently immobile, I need to reorient myself accordingly. 

I have my laptop on the cushions of the lounge to the right and the tv is also in sight to the left of my field of view. I often have control of the remote (when I can reclaim it from Sean). I am a short hobble from the loo (although the geometry off fitting an unbending leg into such a narrow room is a whole other dilemma!), a short hobble from the kitchen (although I have issues carrying anything on crutches!) and within earshot of most of the house (although people have to be listening if I am to ever get any responses)!

Thankfully, as the new ratings season seems to have begun, I have quite a wide range of tv shows for my viewing pleasure to keep me company!

 Lets see if I am as happy with my spot after 6 weeks of keeping my leg immobile!

Day 107 The view from here.

This morning when I looked out of the window of my hospital room, I saw two hot air balloons. I found it interesting that although in plain sight, the balloons were quite large, through the lens of my camera, it required 4x zoom to get anywhere near a decent view of them. 

In person, the larger one in the picture, quite clearly was a Questacon balloon...I am still not sure what was written on the other one. It was a lovely view to see on a very clear morning.

Day 106 Their enthusiasm is overwhelming!

This afternoon when Sean brought the kids to the hospital to visit, i just had to snap the above pic. 

They were chatting occasionally but this pic just captured their enthusiasm at being at the hospital at all. They are happy to see me, but would prefer time at home...or probably any other environment than the hospital...as can be seen by the above body language! 

The up-side is, I should be going home tomorrow!

Day 105 Ouch!

The above pic is a bird's eye view of my leg. I particularly like how the surgeon has initialled my leg (AB). Apparently tomorrow I will be getting a brace and crutches but for now I am flat out in bed not allowed to move or bend my leg. With the amount of pain meds on board, moving is probably not a good idea anyway!

Day 104 A big day.

Today was quite a big day for a number of reasons...

1. It is the day when I finally got to have the knee surgery I have been waiting for.

2. The kids were coming home from 3 days at camp.

3. It is my birthday.

As I went through the steps of admission, I had to give my name and date of birth. As each person realised it was my birthday, they seemed rather perplexed that I was positive about "giving up" my birthday to have surgery. However, as I kept explaining, it was a great present as I was getting the surgery I had been waiting for AND I had people waiting on me and topping up my drugs as needed!

Further to the above, as I came out of the anaesthetic, I found that the recovery staff had created me some birthday balloons too...how sweet was that!

Day 103 When the kids are away...

With both kids at camp, it is amazing how unstructured our time is. 

This evening, we ducked out for a bit, then came home to a call from Mum, and I only got around to cooking dinner at about 8.40pm. Dinner, though, was a little different to when the children are home. 

Sean and I are generally happy to eat similar things, whereas kids being kids, they don't like or won't eat certain things. So it was quite refreshing to cook the sirloins (that I had stashed in the freezer) and have a simple salad with them...no fuss, not much mess but VERY tasty for minimal effort. 

When the kids are away....feed the man meat! (or is that mixing my slogans?)

Day 102 Meeting Aiden.

Last year when I was in hospital, I meet a lady called Sarah who was about 3-4 months pregnant but had Gall issues. Over the few days we were in hospital we found that we got on well and shared similar views on many things.

Fast forward to January this year (21 January to be precise) and Sarah's baby was born. 

Due to time constraints (and hopeless communication on both our parts) I did not meet Aiden...until today!

Aiden is an extremely giggly boy, who loves a chat, loves poking his tongue out (at times, WHILE giggling!), loves his toys friends and loves his mummy (daddy??...oh you mean the guy who went to work this morning, yeah I'll love him unconditionally when he gets home but mummy is right here next to me)!

Congrats Sarah and Warwick, your baby boy is just gorgeous, and it was a pleasure to meet him!

Day 101 If you leave me, can I come too?

This evening Illi asked me if I could double check her packing for camp to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. 

While we were doing this (no warm jamies or sleeping bag-she was gonna pack the jamies she was wearing and 'kept forgetting' to ask Sean to get her sleeping bag from the shed) we kept getting interrupted by Angel and Caramel. They seem to think that Illi needed a reminder of them while she was gone, cos they kept rolling all over the lid of her suitcase (while it was open) I joked that they were trying to get packed so they could go too!

The interesting thing is that they both turned camera shy and it took over 1/2 hour to get the above pic and Illi ended up sneaking up on Caramel to get it! 

Oh and the answer is, no kitties, you can't go too, you will have to make do with staying home with Sean and I (much warmer than camping in this weather anyway)!

Day 100 Some sage advice to a teenager!

Lately, Illi has been a little temperamental. I know that teenagers go through this, I know that girls are reportedly worse than boys. The thing is, when you are living it, you can hardly believe that the sweet gorgeous little girl you once knew, has become some weird being, totally ruled (possessed even) by hormones that turn their personalities ugly at times.

Today, we went shopping as Illi has grown out of most of her clothes from last winter and also needed a new pair of shoes. While we were out, we had noodles at an Asian noodle box type takeaway place at DFO. They had fortune cookies on the counter and as they were only 50c I agreed that Illi could have one. When she cracked it open, the fortune inside was as in the above pic.

"Gestures of love to a family member will prove worthwhile"

Sometimes I think all kids need reminding of this, I find it tends to reign them in for a little while. I reckon that as long as we can find the fun-loving, sweet girl from her younger years periodically, that is what will sustain us until she is of an age that she evolves into a mature, fun-loving girl who is a pleasure to be with more often than not.

Day 99 The bunny brings chocolate eggs.

When you really think about it, can you make the connection from Christian festival, to eggs (got me so far-new life and all that) to chocolate (starting to lose me but if you want to involve chocolate, who am I to argue?!) to rabbits who deliver the chocolate (OK I will take the chocolate but can NOT see the connection here)!

No matter if you make the connection, believe in the reason for the holiday or just accept days off and a reason to eat extra chocolate, you can't avoid the fact that Easter is upon us. 

As the children get older and their beliefs shift, I am finding so too do their sleeping patterns. What that means in real terms is that instead of the Easter Bunny visiting after the children go to be, he is able to pop in at a less busy time to make his delivery. This year I suspect he made our house his last stop on his way home on Easter Sunday morning. A time when small children would be bouncing about with excitement at the booty of chocolate that has been delivered.

The important thing, as far as my children are concerned is that the chocolate arrived. Interesting, though, is the discovery that they are Cadbury chocolate Easter Egg snobs. The green (mint) and gold (caramel) eggs in the above pic were not Cadbury brand and neither Illi nor Declan liked them...so as any responsible mum would, I 'took one for the team' and accepted responsibility for eating them! The things we do for our kids!!

Happy Easter all!

Day 98 A last minute arrangement.

A few weeks ago, Sean suggested that we do something tonight for my birthday seeing that I will not be in a state to celebrate on Friday (due to surgery). 

I didn't think any more about it until yesterday when he asked if I have given it anymore thought. So with the help of Facebook and SMS, we arranged to have dinner at APK Woden. 

As it was late notice on a public holiday weekend, many people were unable to make it, but Helen, Andrew, Ryan, Amy, Graham and Katrina joined Sean, Declan, Illi and myself. 

We had a lovely dinner, and as Helen said, if you can ignore the very average service, the food is lovely! 

Amy and Illi already knew each other, but Ryan and Declan had not previously met so it was nice that they got on and found things to chat about, while Katrina was extremely shy and only became sociable in the last 15 minutes of the evening. 

We were asked to leave the restaurant at 9 as they were closing, even though their hours are to 10 on Saturday nights. 

The pic above is of Declan and my leftover pizza. Declan had BBQ meatlovers, and I had the Marinated lamb, Sean had Tex Mex, and Illi had chips...yes, chips! Ahh well, at least with chips on the menu, we can got to a pizza restaurant and still keep her happy! 

Thanks to all who made it. The night was a lovely relaxed meal with great company.

Day 97 No whine...just wine.

Last weekend, when Declan went to Karate Grading, one of the Senseis spoke to me to let me know that even though Easter weekend was coming, that she would still be having class on Good Friday. 

 So this evening, after some resistance, the kids went off to Karate class. 

While they were out, Sean and I relaxed, watching TV (Better Homes and Gardens) and eating cheese and bikkies-I also had a glass of wine but Sean abstained until after he picked the kids up (a glass of wine is not worth it-especially with double demerits)! 

So instead of our usual teen whining, I swapped it for some wine...just what was needed on a lazy Good Friday I think!

Day 96 Don't forget the chicken!

When I was in primary school there was a book I loved called "Don't forget the bacon!" by Pat Hutchins. In the book the boy goes to do some shopping for his mum and has a list of things to remember, and last on the list is bacon...of course things happen and in the end he forgets the bacon (only) and has to go back for it!

Today was the last day of school for the term, and as I am not at school for the first few weeks of next term, I needed to remember to get the chicken out of the freezer that had been there for a few weeks. 

I used to buy this from Bibina (a warehouse open to the public that sells specialty foods) when I was in Newcastle, but have been unable to find anywhere similar in Canberra. When I spoke to Di in the canteen at school, she ordered some in for me but her supplier got the order wrong and only brought one bag instead of 2, so I took the first one home and a few days later she gave me the 2nd one. I put it in the staffroom freezer and kept forgetting to take it home! 

I took measures to ensure I remembered to get the chicken out of the freezer today. I put a post-it note on the door handle of my (shared) office. I asked Sue to remind me (I usually end up talking to Sue on my way out of school as her classroom is between my office and the front entry of the school). Sue reminded me multiple times during the day, but as luck would have it, I ran in to Belinda on the way out of school...not Sue! So, you guessed it, I forgot the chicken!! 

Now that I no longer have keys to the gate and front door (see here) I can't pop back in to grab it, so I will have to find out when our GA, Elva, is in so I can pop in to grab it! 

Day 95 Lateral thinking.

This morning I was lying in bed, trying to ignore that fact that the radio alarm had gone off, that I had to go to work, that Sean had turned the stereo in the entry way on....etc....when the stereo went off. 

I assumed Sean had tired of the extra noise, but found out that it went off of its own accord. As did the power in half of the lounge room, the dining room, computer room and half of the kitchen (oh and the entry way). Unfortunately, the electricity to the instantaneous gas hot water (and the gas central heating) is also on this circuit, so it was a cold wash and some good deodorant needed to get through the day! 

This happened last year and we had to call the electrician. It happened on Sunday-but it restored itself within the hour. Today it didn't fix itself. 

I rang the electrician and found that our normal guy is climbing Mt Everest! So Darren (whose phone Ben's number is diverted to) came around this afternoon to fix the problem. 

After 2 hours of work, he was still unable to find the problem, let alone fix it! He advised he will be back tomorrow morning (we told him 7.30am is more than suitable) with another electrician ($$!!!) to keep working on finding/fixing the problem. 

As he was leaving though, he came up with a solution to the hot water issue...we currently have a very long extension cord running outside (had to trim a hole in the cat enclosure to put the cord through) from one of the working powerpoints in the kitchen (as seen in the above pic). 

Here's hoping they are able to find the problem fairly quickly, so that a) we are not up for a massive bill and b) so that we (Sean) can get to work at a reasonable time in the morning....fingers crossed!!

Day 94 The way country people do things.

As I have previously mentioned, in my current job, I drive to Gunning each Tuesday to work with a child. 

On the way home today as I came over the bridge into Sutton, at the T intersection, I saw this display and just had to stop and take a pic. It is actually out the front of a real estate agent, but I love how they have used corrugated iron and then painted it beautifully. It is things like this that end up on top 10 type shows, showing iconically Australian 'stuff.' Oh BTW the dog and sheep are always there, they have added the rabbit, eggs and bunny ears on the sheep and dog for Easter.

Ya gotta love the way country people do things!

Day 93 After the fact.

I find it annoying when I find something after I need it. 

Or find a better option of something after I have bought what I thought was the ultimate item...until I see a superior version after the fact. 

Or sometimes I see something that reminds me of something I have recently done.

Today while I was in the supermarket, I saw some "party glasses" that would have been ideal for Simone's party (shown here) and seeing them also reminded me of Simone, Alie, Steve, Nina, Josh...etc. They were already blinged and would have fitted over my glasses. Oh well, bringing a knowing smile to my face was the effect of seeing them, I wasn't quite compelled to but them though.

Day 92 Changing colours part 2...

Today it was Declan's turn for Karate Grading. He started the day as an orange belt, but finished it as a green belt!
There were a LOT of people at today's grading, by my count there were 37 students and 15 instructors! It was cool watching Declan sparring, first with Sensei Emma, who he usually trains with on Friday nights, then with another male Sensei I have not seen before (in above pic). It is also interesting to see how tall he is when sparring with adults!
At the end of the day, he achieved what he was there to do and changed colours from orange to green! Congrats Declan!

Day 91 Will the real Illi, please stand up?

Today when we were at Costco, Illi pointed out the shelf with with Illy Coffee. It was kind of funny to see that she really blended in as she was wearing the same colour as the cans! 

Unfortunately on the coffee, it is Illy, not Illi (however many people assume her name is spelt with a y anyway). 

A few years ago, I did a search and found there is a place in the USA called Illiana...well not so much a place, as an area. Apparently where Illinois and Indiana meet, there is a speedway and it is called Illiana Speedway. There was also a milk processing factory and they produces glass bottle stamped with Illiana too! I suspect though that while my girl's name is pronounced Illi-ar-na, that in the USA they pronounce it Illi-a-na. 

Whatever way others say/spell their versions, I love my Illi/Illiana!

Day 90 Welcome Teenager!

13 years ago, my baby was born. Now before anyone says she is not a baby anymore, if I am still my mum's baby, Illi will always be my baby!

The schedule for Illi's party went like this....Most of the girls came home from school with Illi on the bus (one girl was dropped off around 5). 

They mucked around getting acquainted with the house and each other for a while, then I made pizza bases and chopped up toppings and they all topped their own pizzas. As the pizzas came out of the oven, they took them to the lounge room to eat while they watched tv. by the time all of the pizzas had been eaten, it was pretty much time to leave. 

I had previously made up lolly bags, complete with a little popcorn box and a bag of popcorn. They also grabbed a small bottle of fizzy drink out of the fridge and we piled into the 2 cars and traipsed off to Tuggeranong to see 'The Lorax.'

When we got home, we did the birthday cake thing before one of the girls who had an early start with sport on Sat morning was picked up. They then all climbed into sleeping bags and blankets and snuggled down in the lounge room to watch 'Hop.' 

I went to bed at this time and as one of the girls was already asleep, assumed the rest would not be far behind. 

However I found later that they actually all woke up and watched Barbie and  the 3 musketeers after Hop! They went to sleep around 1.30am, but considering the activities they undertook, I reckon it was a fairly low key late night. 

Happy Birthday Illi, I hope you had a fun night!

Day 89 Cooking to contribute.

This past term, I have been lucky enough to be at Queanbeyan High each Friday. 

Why lucky?? Because Friday is their morning tea day. So each Friday this term I have partaken of their yummy offerings. 

As I am not part of the staff based at QHS, I am not on the morning tea roster, so as tomorrow is likely to be my last day there, I decided to contribute to the feast for tomorrow. 

I made pizza scrolls and weetbix slice. The pizza scrolls are raw but being a high school, they get take to the home science classroom and cooked there so that they can be served warm. I am hoping that my offerings will be well received!

(BTW the party bags in the background are for tomorrow's teenage birthday!)

Day 88 Trouble...with a capital Purple!

Today our car had to go to the workshop, and they gave us a loan car. To be helpful, they said I could have the car from last night so I didn't have to rush to get in there this morning and this afternoon. When I got the car last night I was a little astounded to see the loan car was an XR6 demonstrator...in Purple no less! 

It was sweet torture driving this car last night, knowing I would have to give it back the afternoon, however I decided by the time the afternoon came, that it was best to give it back as I could get myself into far too much trouble driving it! So while it was a lovely treat, I think that seeing that I value my license (and prefer to spend my income on items of my choosing rather than traffic fines) it is best that I didn't get to keep the XR6!

Day 87 RIP radishes.

So today when I went to Gunning, I went with my student to check how the radishes were growing. Unfortunately, another class is now undertaking a planting project in the garden we were using, not knowing that were were trying to nurture radishes in the garden. The 4, 5, 6 class is growing snow peas and have built frames for the vines to grow on. 

To overcome the problem, I worked with my student to write a letter to the 4, 5, 6 class asking them to plant the remaining radish seeds with their plants in the hope that they will grow.

Day 86 Trying to be heard.

In my current job, working with children with Hearing Impairments, I work with a little girl who uses an FM receiver to hear the teacher (who wears a microphone with FM transmittor). 

Being a small child, the headphones she uses are a problem as they are the style we used to use when walkmans first came out...you know the metal headband with foam covered earpieces.....they are the wrong size for her head and as a result, they often fall off her head in class. 

I recently went out and bought some alternate headphones to use in place of them that may fit her head better. 

The first pair were ear bud style but they are mounted on a plastic ear shaped piece so that they hook behind the ears. These work well but as her ears are still very small, they fall off her ears easily. 

The second pair I bought are the behind the neck style  which hug the head, while these fit really well, for some reason they don't work with the FM receiver. They work with my phone and computer but not the FM. The only reason I can think of for this is if they require extra power from the source-like an amplifier. Both sets of headphones are made by the same manufacturer and carry the same specs on their packaging yet work differently.

 I also tried a pair of Phillips headphones, while they fit her head and gave great sound, they were noise cancelling headphones so all she could hear was the teacher's voice-she couldn't hear other kids, group discussion or the CD they were singing to! 

So at the moment, it is back to the original ill-fitting headphones until I can find something that is an improvement-not a sideways move to something that has its own issues.

As you can see by the above pic, I am determined to find something appropriate for this little girl to use. Any input will be happily considered!

Day 85 Unplugged.

On our way home from Newcastle today, I suddenly realised that neither Illi nor Declan was plugged in to anything! 

On the way to Newcastle, Declan had my netbook with his external hard drive attached watching Manga, while Illi had the portable DVD player watching DVDs. When I looked into the back seat today though, Declan was building a model (yes...in the car...and successfully!) and Illi was doing Origami (making a flower ball). I was amazed...and even more so when the just ignored me taking pictures of them! 

Well Done you two! 

It just goes to show that they CAN survive when they are unplugged!

Day 84 Bling it!

 This evening the main reason for our trip north arrived. We were off to Simone's 50th birthday bash, with the theme 'Bling' your sunnies! ...and 'bling' we did! 

The above pic is of Ali, Simone and I blinging it up. 

Nina and Illi were occupied with craft making fluffy toys out of pipe cleaners and Sean bumped into people he knows, so it was a night enjoyed by all (even Declan who stayed home with Josh-both almost surgically attached to game controllers!)

Day 83 We're on the road to....

Newcastle! 

We left home a little later than planned, but better late than never! After a pretty uneventful trip (apart from McDonalds not having their signs turned on so I nearly missed the turn-off), we neared Newcastle. 

I took the above pic as Billy Joel came on the radio. We were I was singing along to Billy (We didn't start the fire) and nearing our destination...a sign of a great weekend to come I'd say!

Day 82 What passes as work....

Although I have had a hard time settling into my current job, Many aspects of it have been quite fun. The hardest bits are the bits I don't understand so it is quite motivating when I do things that are less pressured. 

One particular girl I work with, has her lessons based around life skills. She needs an opportunity to use language more and to gain confidence when speaking. The activities I have been doing with her generally gives her a lot of conversation and I always make sure we 'need' something in particular to complete a task, so that she has to approach an adult and ask for or offer something. 

Some of the activities we have completed include sewing a small stuffed toy (cat), scrapbooking, plaiting and braiding and cooking (we have made jelly bean fudge, frozen banana pops, cake cream cones [iced cupcakes on top of icecream cones] and pizza). Today's task was making funny face pizzas. We used pita bread bases, prepared pizza sauce, sliced cheese to cut out eyes (with capsicum eyeballs), capsicum eyebrows, tomato mouths, capsicum noses, chicken ears, and crumbled feta for teeth and freckles. The hair varied between pizzas but was generally a combination of tomato and cheese. Above is a pic of one of the pizzas. 

I only have 2 weeks left in this job as it is being filled permanently and I don't have the appropriate quals or long term experience to have applied for it. I will quite miss the craftiness that I have been able to pass off as work!

Day 81 A modern depiction of a hippy...

Last year, every time there was a school disco, Illi had Calisthenics and couldn't go. Calisthenics went 5-8pm, the discos go 6-9pm. 

This year as she has taken up Karate instead (which she trains on Tuesday and Friday nights) her Wednesday nights are free. 

Tonight was the first disco of the year and Illi's first disco of high school! The theme was Hippy (it was actually much longer winded but the gist of it was hippy). 

Last night while the kids were at karate, I popped in to Kmart and found a shirt on a reduced rack that was suitable for our cause. 

I did her hair before she left the house, but then I got an SMS during the night telling me I should take a pic of her hair when she got home for this blog...here is a pic, doesn't show much of the hair but does show the outfit that she deemed not too embarrassing to be seen in public wearing but different enough to be in theme.

Day 80 I'm having a shower...

You know how dads have sayings? One of my dad's sayings when asked what he is doing is "having a shower, can't you hear the water running?"

I wish that my children DID have a shower when directed to. 

The above pic is of a 15 year old boy having a shower..no really!! Sean and I both told him, about 5 mins before, to go and have a shower. Sean then told Illi to shower and she said but Declan is in there, so I went to investigate and found him sprawled in front of the TV. So I took a pic of him and told him that it was gonna be my photo of the day!

Oh and NO I couldn't hear the water running!