We've got chickens

First of all Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you've all made your resolutions for 2010 and are all set to break them too. No point making them if you can't break them occasionally.

It's also our wedding anniversary today but as usual, we'll be celebrating it at home. Going out on NYE doesn't really appeal to me because there are always too many people around which takes the excitement out of it for me. Dodging hot sweaty bodies is not my idea of fun.

We finally got around to taking some photos of the chicken coop lovingly built for me for Christmas by Ben and the hens we managed to track down finally. It seems that the local supply of chickens had miraculously dried up over Christmas. We had to drive a bit of a distance to get these beautiful girls but they've proven worthy of it. They've eaten almost every snail in the garden and already given us an egg each day. I'm about to try them out for breakfast!

It's rained here everyday for almost two weeks now. This has been very welcome because of the drought conditions but now I'm a little tired of it. The backyard is muddy and the clothes dryer has been working overtime. The grass and plants however have loved every minute of it.

It will probably all stop when I return to work next week - of course the sun couldn't show it's head while I was on holiday could it?

Best Feast Ever!

Each year at Christmas my mother spends at least one whole week cooking. She lays on a three course meal several nights in a row for her friends and family. Last night it was our turn. She is a perfectionist - nothing is left to chance - not even the table decorations. We were served a lemon, feta and ricotta tart for starters, roast pork, turkey, vegetables and a delicious polenta cake wrapped in proscuitto for mains. This was all followed by a wonderful home made Christmas pudding. We all come home so stuffed full of great food that we sleep like angels. And last night, despite us agreeing to not buy any presents for each other this year, we all scored something small but meaningful.

Today I will begin preparations for our own Christmas lunch. It won't be anywhere near as extravagant as my mother's meal but it will be lovely all the same.

I'll be home for Christmas

I know I promised to update this thing more often and if updating it once every three months is more often then so be it. The thing is, life is hectic, busy and full of stuff. Henry, at five years old is much more demanding than he was at even 6 months. As well as being bored ALL the time, he never shuts up. For every second that he's awake he utters a word. Every second! He barely stops for breath and the minute I sit down to do something at the computer, he's suddenty in need of everything he didn't need two seconds before. I know I'm not alone here and that every parent the world over is, has or will be suffering in the same way.

What have we done to the house since we moved here in Sept - not much. I've not even managed to completely remove all the wallpaper glue from the walls in preparation for painting. Ben has built a chicken coop however and it's grand and ready to house some chickens, problem is, the house repayments have left us wondering where we'll get the money to buy the chickens. Plus, it's Christmas time and it seems all chickens stop breeding around this time because no one has any.

It's rained an awful lot in the past few days which is nice but we've not caught any of that water in our tank because we lacked a diverter until yesterday. Ben and his friend installed one but it's not really done the job it was supposed to do. I did however manage to catch three bucketfuls of water and pour those into the tank so that's a small start.

Christmas will be here in a few short days and we're looking forward to being able to celebrate in our own home. It will be quiet and we're planning on a ham and seafood lunch. The rest of my large clan have all gone off to join the families of their partners this year so it's just us. Ben is as excited about that as he would be if he received an extension ladder for Christmas but Maya and I are all "how boring" - it means the quiet will probably kill some christmas spirit in us because despite the chaos that 23 extra people bring it's preferable to us. We love it when everyone is talking at once, the spilled champagne all over the unwrapped presents, The Pogues singing Fairy Tale in New York at 6AM, the mountain of discarded wrapping, the water fight after lunch and the evening wind down after everyone has drunk their fill of holiday cheer.


What would be more preferable still would be to have all of our American crew come join us for an Aussie summer Christmas or for us to join them for a white one. That would make this Christmas perfect. Still, watching the kids unwrap their stash will be joy enough as will watching Ben's face contort in disgust when I put on Randy Travis' Christmas album as I open the first bottle of champers on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas everyone. Whatever it is you're doing I hope it brings joy and happiness to you and yours.

oooh looky here.

I know, I know, it's been an age since I last updated this blog. I didn't think anyone really missed it until I recently received a few emails asking me what the address of it was so they could check out our latest happenings. It seems maybe someone cares after all.

There's been a lot going on but all of that can be compacted into one sentence; we spent a lot of time trying to buy a house and then finally bought one.

It's amazing how much time that process can take up really. Just prior to us buying a house we had a wonderful visit from Grandma Mary who flew all the way over from the US to help us celebrate Henry's 5th birthday. While she was here we spent a week at the Bunya Mountains, relaxing and communing with nature. The very weekend after we waved her off we put an offer on a house, it was accepted and then life became a little stressful.

We're relatively settled in now. We have most of our funiture stored in the large "man shed" in the back yard and we're trying to complete odd jobs around here (see Henry mowing grass above) as we find time. It's kind of never ending and no job ever feels complete but I'm guessing life is going to be like that for some time so I just need to relax about it a little.

Henry starts school next year and yesterday we picked up his uniforms. He is very, very proud of the way he looks (see photo above) and can't wait until Christmas is over and done with so he can start making plans to play with all that wonderful stuff in the classroom.

I plan to write here more often now that I've rediscovered it. Later I'll provide a much more informative post but for now, I have to go set up a machine gun on the lounge so Henry and his friends can blow away the plastic army men lying all over it.

Transform and Roll Out

Target had these on sale the other day and I tried to get one in a covert operation to hide away for Henry's upcoming fifth birthday. Since he was with me there was very little luck in the way of keeping it hidden. He saw it of course and it hasn't left his body since. Transformers are his latest obsession.

This child is hilarious and I only wish I'd had more time lately to record more of his antics but I've had some lovely feedback in the last couple of days. One from a mother of one of his kindy friends. I wasn't expecting anything positive when she started the covnersation by telling me she had something she'd been meaning to say to me for some time. I was pleasantly surprised though when she told me Henry was just so lovely, even when he's cheeky. She said she just loves him and has a real soft spot for him because he is so charismatic. Today one of his kindy teachers told me how delightful he was and how bright he was and how she could listen to his stories all day. That warms a mother's cockle shells.

Just tonight in the shower he was talking about eggs and Maya learning to drive. He told me that she had to learn to drive just like I did when I was a kid. He then told me that Maya was just a small kid when he was just an egg (this followed from a conversation he and I had the other day about how old he was when Maya was 4). His words:

Yeah you just laid me in the yard like an egg outside your body like a chicken does, or did you just get me out of your bottom?

I had to tell him that it was a bit of both but that he hadn't been dropped in the backyard like a chicken egg. He then asked me if I'd left any chocolate eggs from my bottom for the Easter bunny!

conversation between Kindy teacher and my son

Teacher: Henry, I'd like you to sit over there and think about what you've done

Henry: No, I can't. I'm not a thinker, I'm just a kid.

Cooking

While searching some second hand shops the other day for a key for our old wardrobe (Henry lost the last one) we came across this fabulous cookbook for kids. Henry spent hours studying it before announcing which he'd like to try to make. We've tried the rainbow slushy and the green turtle, neither of which he ate but he had fun standing beside me telling me how to do it.

The Snake Saga Continues

Henry and I just spent the weekend with my sister and her family in Toowoomba. When we arrived my sister came running out to tell me she had a "surprise" for me. By the way she and the kids were behaving I was expecting to see that their kitchen had been beautifully renovated or that they had set out a lunch of delicious deli-meats and pickle vegetables but no, it was another snake. A beautiful snake but one my sister was beside herself about.

This snake was very safely tucked in an old football boot which was safely tucked inside a clear plastic container with the lid firmly taped shut. It turns out my brother in law was working in his shed with the thing just inches from his face. Once he saw it he jumped in alarm causing the snake to fall down from the rafter and onto the table in front of him. It then slithered its way into the footy boot making it easy for my brother in law to scoop it up and place it somewhere safe. It's a carpet snake whose job it is to help keep down the mice and rat population but my sister won't hear of it. I tried to convince her to let it loose again in the shed to do its job but she said if she knew it was in there she would never set foot in there again. He's harmless as far as snakes go and he was very dopey and docile. My brother in law called his cousin who is a Steve Irwin wanna be and he just picked it straight up out of the box and was instantly in love. He believed it may have been someone's pet because he seemed used to being handled and was healthy and looked very well fed. He took it with him to let it loose in the bush where it will hopefully enjoy a long and healthy life right where it should be.

Spiderman

Henry's latest obsession is Spiderman. He has spent many hours studying just how Spiderman positions his fingers while using his webshooter and if he shows you how and you don't get it right he gets very upset. He's wanted a Spiderman costume for some time and so last week we scoured ebay. We put in a bid on the one he's standing in for $4.50 and then promptly ignored it. No one else bid and so it was ours. He sat beside me while I went through the process of paying for it and alerting the seller to the fact that I had paid for it. He was looking around the computer everywhere and I finally asked him what he was doing - "waiting for my costume to come. Which part will it come out of?"

I had to explain to him that the postman actually delivered it so he ran immediately down to the letter box and came up crying because it wasn't there. An agonising week went by before it got here and he has had it on almost 24 hours a day since. Now he insists on getting Spiderman gloves and shoes just so he can look like the Spiderman in the picture on the packaging. Don't know where I'm going to get those.

New kid on the block comes back

So today, while driving the car out of the garage I spotted him again, lying smack bang in the middle of the road in the sun warming himself up in order to more easily digest whatever that is he ate. We're thinking it's probably a possum.

New kid on the block

We have a variety of wildlife in this neighbourhood, including some lovely carpet pythons. Just the other morning Ben woke to the chorus of some butcher birds singing a warning sign from the tree just outside our bedroom window. When he went to investigate he found this beautiful python all curled up in what appeared to be a birds nest. He remained there quite happily for most of the morning. I went out later and he was still there when I left but when I returned home he had gone. We hadnt' seen him again until today...

Making chocolate brownies

New Family Members

Henry and Maya are now the proud new parents of two yellow budgies - Tropical and Dud. Henry's wanted a pet for quite some time and we've put off the idea for several reasons - money, time and lack of space. A pet bird seemed like a good compromise. We have no room, time or money for a dog and the cat...well they cost money too. We figured that a bird would do for now.

We wanted to get an Indian Ringneck because they tend to respond well to human interaction and Henry could train it to sit on his shoulder and teach it to speak a little. It turns out however that it's best to get them in about September, when they're still young and can bond better with their owners.

A friend of ours supplied the cage and a couple of hours later we had the birds, sourced from the local paper. All the way home Henry and Maya argued over names and which bird belonged to who. Henry of course wanted whichever one Maya wanted. As I suspected though the novelty wore off pretty quickly for Maya. She dumped it and ran because people were calling her on Myspace. She'd been gone for at least a half an hour from the computer while we collected her new pet.

So Henry has decided their names, despite Maya's protests, are going to be Tropical Bird and Dud Bird. He loves them but wants them on his shoulder like RIGHT NOW!

Just so I know it's all ok.

Every parent dreads hearing the words "Is that your child?" It makes us want to immediately cringe and defensively respond with "yeah, what's it to you?" There's a fear that they're about to tell you that your child did something to theirs or that they said something terribly hurtful. I've heard that phrase twice in three days but both times it was followed by praise. The first time was during our short break at the Gold Coast this past weekend. Henry had been playing on the playground equipment with Charlotte and McKenzie while another lovely volunteer parent supervised for Carla and I who were busy cooking dinner on the communal barbeque. When I came to collect the kids she asked me if Henry was mine. I told her he was, not sure what to expect. She then followed this up with a whole bunch of praise for his "kindness and helpfulness". I wondered if she was sure we were talking about the same kid. She pointed to him as reassurance. I wandered away feeling proud as punch, knowing that my young boy could indeed be helpful and kind, even when it wasn't expected of him.

It happened again today when I picked him up from after kindy care. The director of the kindy, who is hands on with the "downstairs room" more so than his room, was assisting the after care co-ordinator. When I arrived she asked me if Henry was mine. Again I was a little apprehensive, waiting to hear about what he might have done but all that came out of her mouth were words of adoration for what a wonderful, smart and kind boy he was.

Today, although I am tired because of the 3.30AM start he caused, I am feeling proud as punch of my youngest. Like my daughter, people have nothing but nice things to say about him. I feel like I must be doing something right despite my constant misgivings.

Wisdom

Just tonight I was talking to an old friend on the phone. I was complaining about how tired and old I was feeling. She said to me "yes but with age comes wisdom. Just today I was looking at a photo of you when you were 17. You were on the beach in a bikini and you were beautiful but you weren't wise. Now you are beautiful and wise".

I love her and now I feel remarkably less tired but not less tired enough to want to tackle the pile of washing, rubbish and dirty dishes.

I am bone tired

You know the kind of tired that sinks into your bones and gets you to the point where you feel you can't quite move because your body just wants to sleep or at least stop dead still for maybe an hour or two.

I feel like I have no right to complain because there is always someone else who will be more tired, more worried, with many more things to be concerned about than me but just for this once I'm going to do it because it's going to make me feel better for maybe a minute or two and that will be enough to get me to drag my butt out to the kitchen to cook dinner.

I've been on the go, literally, for two weeks now. My trip to Cairns was not in the least relaxing despite the fact that I had a hotel room and a remote control all to myself. I put in very long days and clocked up over 1000 klms of driving. I got home and packed the car to head to Maryborough to celebrate my nephew's 18th birthday and then drove home again the next day. Then it was straight back to work Monday morning and the work I put in up north now has added to my workload back here. I only have three days per week but those three days are jammed pack.

Tomorrow I'm heading away for a few days with Carla. I'm so looking forward to it and I'm hoping the children will all behave themselves enough to give both Carla and I a break. If not I will book myself into a respite centre for a month to recover.

It's sites like these...

That bring home the grim reality of how many are dead and missing as a result of the bushfires.

The land of differences

Australia is certainly a land of extremes. While I was making preparations on Saturday to head to flooded North Queensland, a fire in Victoria was raging and taking lives and homes with it as it moved through bushland. So far the tally of the dead is 181 and expected to rise even further. It's estimated that over 1000 homes have been lost and more than 7000 people have been displaced.

The tropical Cairns district is so lush, wet and humid it's hard to imagine a fire up there would ever get a chance to take hold. Victoria had been suffering a drought for the past twelve years and the week leading up to the fires the temperatures had been up around 48 degrees (118F). It was dry and one small spark would have been all that was needed to create a bushfire. At least one person has been charged with arson but with those conditions all that would have been needed was a piece of discarded glass to light up a nearby dry leaf to create the same effect.

One great thing about Australians is their generosity in times of trouble. Even those in flooded Ingham have donated generously to the bushfire appeal. North Queenslanders in particular are known for their easy going nature. The supermarket shelves were, without exaggeration, bare because trucks carrying supplies had not been able to make it through due to the flood waters. Nearly everyone I spoke to up there had a "she'll be right mate" attitude. They're used to the monsoonal rains that cause things to rot and roads to flood. Their concerns were for the people of Victoria who had lost loved ones, homes and livlihoods.

We live a long distance from both these areas of natural disaster and right now I'm forever grateful that I was able to return home to my family whose only concerns have been to try to get themselves organised enough each day to get to work and school.

Tip of the day

If you get a bill for $32.80 and you pay it over the net using your credit card make sure the amount you pay is only $32.80 and not $3280.00. This is what I did when paying a phone bill just the other day. I didn't realise this until I checked my bank balance and almost died from the shock. I thought someone, somehow had hacked into my account and used my credit card to buy themselves something rather large.

It wasn't until I looked at all recent transactions that I realised my mistake. I made a frantic call to the phone company to try to correct the mistake. They told me they could reverse the transaction but it would take 8 to 10 days. This is unfortunate because now we have no cash and I have to go away on Sunday. I've had to ask my mother for a loan to tide us over until the transaction is indeed reversed. This totally sucks and I hope the phone company lives up to their promise and doesn't decide that I just have to keep that money in credit. Once I paid $100 more on my electricity account and asked for a refund but they told me they couldn't do that and it would just have to be used as credit on my next bill. If they decide to do that I will cry myself to sleep for the rest of my life.

40 days and 40 nights

I'm due to go here on Sunday but obviously I'll have to rethink that if the rain continues. I can't possibly go somewhere that might have a problem with it's beer supply getting through. I will be working but what's the point of going there even for work if the opportunity to lie on a bed with the remote all to myself is going to be hampered by a lack of liquor supplies.

Henry is most distraught that he can't go with me and while I will welcome the few hours each evening I'll get to myself I know that I'll be more than eager to return to the chaos of home when my four days away is up.

We thought about taking the family with me for a mini holiday but at this time of year Cairns has an average daily temperature of 39 degrees celcius, the humidity is high and it rains on average in February for 19.1 days of the year. On top of that there is no swimming in the ocean because of the stinger infestations. It wouldn't much be worth it if all the family could do is stay holed up in an air conditioned room. Tourist season up there is during the winter months when the temperature usually sits at around 25 degrees celcius, humidity is low and swimming is allowed so perhaps next time they can accompany me.