Growin'

Tomorrow my first born turns ten. Double digits! I'm in shock.

Tonight at dinner I looked across at my three munchkins and was shocked by how big and grown up they have suddenly become.




Elora turned four last month. She started preschool this year and is loving it, with only a couple of clingy days in the first week. She has her little group of friends, loves to go to music and the library and has such an incredible understanding of everything that goes on. She is observant and a little bit bossy, a little "mother" at times. Nearly as tall as her next brother. Smart, funny and gorgeous as all hell. I know we will be fighting off the boys when she is older. Or maybe her brothers will do that. In any case, it has already begun. The other day when I dropped her off she was almost immediately surrounded by three little blonde boys and yesterday she informed us that Matthew is her boyfriend.




Atti turned six at the end of January and is now a big Year One kid, loving school (with a terrific teacher once more). He is reading everything in sight and asking for more challenging maths problems. Our boy with hidden talents is coming out of his shell, academically speaking.




And that ten year old I mentioned earlier. Dante. He's only half a head shorter than me. Working hard this year with the prospect of high school looming not too far off in the future. Struggling with his emotions, causing me to struggle with mine (especially my patience, wearing thin lately). He talks and thinks like a typical teenager, to a certain extent. Or perhaps he just talks back. At times he causes me unbearable pain, somewhat like he did all those years ago in that labour room with the wood panelling and the hospital bed. (Room number 8, I recall. Lucky in Chinese.) At times, in all honesty, I just want to send him away to boarding school.

And yet at other times, I am bursting with pride at how clever he can be. Mature, gentle and calm. Patient, caring and helpful. Not always at home around me, but at school and around others. I want the world for that boy. I want him to succeed and be happy and everything a parent wants for their child. I want it more than anything because of his potential. I don't want him to waste his talents. Am I projecting my own regrets into him? Of course. Because I have the benefit of hindsight. I just hope that he'll appreciate it one day.

Procrastinatin'

I've always been a bit of a world champion when it comes to putting things off. Seriously. My entire life I've never been able to shake this undesirable trait.

But I feel like today, this week, this month, it's getting a bit ridiculous. I've been trying to write my resume for four weeks now. At least. I have a shell but no details. The clock is ticking. I have ten weeks to find a new job.

Normally when I have something that big and important I find other more interesting big and urgent things to do. Like sewing quilts or knitting booties for newly arrived babies. Or any other craft.

However I'm so deep into my procrastination rut that I'm even putting off the fun stuff. Instead this weekend I did laundry. Every single item of dirty clothing or bedding washed, hung out to dry, folded and put away in cupboards. All in two days. Unprecedented.

The kitchen is clean. Dishes done and put away. I have even done the dishes from tonight already.

I rearranged some furniture in Elora's room. I vacuumed. I ironed. The house would be spotless if it wasn't for the very busy, very chaotic, very efficient little munchkins who reside in the house. And their three cousins who visited yesterday (but they did all get along so marvellously while they created havoc).

At least it's productive procrastination, right? Maybe I'll get onto the resume tomorrow.

Learnin'

This is my new home on Tuesdays for the rest of the year.




It is Building L at the TAFE Sydney Institute. The carving above the entrance says "Engineering".

I have enrolled in a Certificate II in Electronics!

Eight hours a week for one year. The "two" part of the title indicates how complex a course it is. This one has no prerequisites and few hours. It's not too involved!

Last week was our first day. Basic atomic structure and electrical properties in the morning and OH&S in the workshop in the afternoon. Pretty dry but a good easy introduction to get my brain in gear again. It's been nearly twenty years since I did any of that theory!

Gawd, I sound old. I feel it a bit. A couple of the kids in the class (and there's only six of us!) are fresh out of school. I'm nearly old enough to be their mother. They are certainly closer to my own kids' ages than mine! Eek. I think I'd better get off that train of thought. It can only lead to despair. Well, not despair, but something unhappy!

The hands on stuff in the workshop was good though, if a little scary. I would say that I have a "healthy respect" for electricity, especially after all the teacher's terrifying "anecdotes". It was great to finally get my hands on the equipment I've seen used every day in the mechanical workshop at my work!

So why electronics? I've been getting that question a lot.

Definitely fueled by work. Our electronics guy retired at the start of the year but before he left I started contemplating the possibility of taking on his role, or some of it. It turns out my work is looking for an "advanced" electronics person so I don't come close to fitting the bill (unfortunately) but the seed was planted.

My eldest brother always tinkered in electronics (how many boys do you know with oscilloscopes in their bedrooms) and eventually became an electrical engineer. I like to think (and hope) that some of that skill rubbed off onto me, and plus, it makes me think of him. I still miss him, after 12 years.

I was also inspired by another woman at Uni working in IT who did this course a few years ago. She told me about it with such relish that I never forgot it, and decided that if Jenny (that was also her name) could go do Electronics at TAFE then so could I. Perhaps I should email her to let her know how she inspired me. Perhaps I'll wait until I'm doing well enough to know that I won't flunk it!

Anyway, that's one of the many things that I've been up to of late. Getting my learnin' hat on. Gotta start somewhere!

Caught in the headlights

We are well into the new year already! Both 2011 and the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. It's my year this year. Jen the bunny. Turning a multiple of 12.

I feel a bit like a rabbit, lately. Caught in the headlights. Frozen in fear, trepidation, anxiety, worry, stress. You've heard me go on about it before. My life is still in limbo. My father's illness. Work (or impending lack of work) stress. Raising three boisterous children. Every day I think about blog posts to write, things I want to share or get off my chest. And the words, they appear in my mind and then flutter away before I can do anything with them. It makes me sad - I love to write and create - but I just haven't been in the write headspace for it.

Things are gonna change, though. I've found a new iPhone app called "blogpress". Allows me to write and save drafts locally and online. I could just use the regular blogger interface but this one seems a lot more user friendly, plus the font size is much kinder to my deteriorating eyesight (which is not really that bad, thank you very much). The main advantage is that I can now write anywhere, anytime because I carry my iPhone with me everywhere. So if a thought occurs to me while I'm in a lift or on the loo (is that too gross?) I can write it down straight away. A big bonus, in my books.

So expect more posts from me in the near future. There's been a lot going on and I want to write about it!

December

The month of December has gone in a flash, somewhat like the fireworks going off around my suburb and around my city as I write. Work and all that associated stress. Recovering from Dante's Schools Spectacular weekend of horror (which wasn't too bad in the end). Dan going overseas to Saudi Arabia and Jordan for two weeks. The end of the school year. Christmas and presents.

But really, for us, December this year has been all about this man. My father.


In November I went away for a weekend's respite. On the last day I found out my father had been admitted to hospital. Two days later we found out he had a large gastric ulcer that had been bleeding.

A week later we found out that it was actually a form of stomach cancer and my father was readmitted to hospital for an exploratory gastroscopy. Following that and a visit to an oncologist it was decided that he'd have surgery followed by chemo so a week later he was back in hospital for the big operation. Two thirds of his stomach was removed.

His recovery was good to begin with but slowed due to his age (he's 78) and a few complications. After two weeks we thought he'd be home but then another setback kept him in hospital for a few more days.

Finally, though, he is home. He came home on Christmas Eve afternoon after three weeks in hospital. Frail, weak but home and never happier to be here. A great Xmas present for us all!

I sent out calls for good thoughts (and prayers if that's your thing) via Facebook and twitter and all the good will was wonderful. Thank you, all, for your supportive words and hopeful wishes.

The new year will still present many challenges for us. My father still has to undertake a round or two of chemo. I've got to find myself a new job, unfortunately, probably. Elora will be starting preschool. Dante heading to the more serious end of primary school (Yr 5) with thoughts of high school looming. Atticus, well, he's doing pretty darn well. And hopefully everything is gonna turn out okay.

Here's hoping 2011 brings you much joy and prosperity. Thank you for sticking with me as I try to sort out this hectic thing called life and neglect my poor ol' blog here. Every year I say I'll try harder to write more but I think I know not to make such promises this year. I honestly don't know what lies ahead. Hopefully more good than bad! And hopefully I will take more time to share it with you and record the moments of my life for posterity like I originally intended.

We shall see.

Work - an update

A few folks have asked me how things are going with the whole work situation. I just thought I'd update y'all.

At the beginning of October we had a big meeting and determined that we would have a month of "data collection" to see just how much work was out there for my colleague and myself. That ended last week. I thought it went quite well. We were quite busy during that time and I managed to enter a fair few number of jobs into the system. We hadn't heard anything about how things were going though.

Then today, just before lunch, the manager asked me if I can attend a meeting with him and the Head of School next Monday at 3pm. Just the three of us. No indication of why, but anyone with a bit of a brain (which surprisingly includes me!) can guess that it's about "The Restructure" and my Women's Intuition tells me it ain't gonna be good news.

So, yeah. I'm about to head off on a "girl's weekend" with some other mothers from the kids' school. 48 hours of child-free, husband-free leisure time in a freshly renovated historic house in the Southern Highlands. And instead of relaxing, now it will be a stress-filled teeth-clenching grey-hair-making two day wait to find out if I have a job or not. What timing.

Wool. Giant balls of wool.

There was a sale. I couldn't resist. I bought a bucket load (or a very large bag, anyway) of 200g balls of wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills last month. Curse them and their discounts. (Still on sale until the end of November, by the way!)

It was wonderful seeing the package waiting for me on the door step after a treacherous drive home on a very stormy Sydney afternoon. I couldn't wait to rip it open.



"Ginormous balls of wool," Elora exclaimed when she saw them. Followed by "The pink ones are for me and the blue ones are for the boys."

Right she was. 5 colours for a blankie for Atti, 6 for her. "Luxury" 8ply 100% wool 200g balls
For the boy: Leaf, Ice, Ghost, Lake, Junior Navy
For the girl: Frost, Lavender, Purple Storm, Baby Pink, Ruby, Pink.

My intention is to make squares from my new book, 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans by Jan Eaton (bought from Better World Books - I highly recommend them) to make blankets for the two youngest kiddies. I feel a bit bad that I'm not making one for the biggest boy, but, he's nearing 10. He's not so keen on my hand made items anymore (except for Halloween costumes... more on that another day I hope).

Tragically, in my eagerness to open the packet, I got a bit overzealous with the scissors. Wah! I cut up my gigantic ball of wool! Well, a few strands.


But I think I can live with it.

Now to get to the crocheting!

Snail mail

Back in June I took a photo of what our mail looks like when I hadn't checked it for a few days, or a week. Or two.


Pretty funny, I thought. Proper "snail mail".

But in recent weeks the problem started getting worse. Possibly because of Spring? I don't know. I took this photo inside the mailbox today. Those junk mail leaflets had only been in there for a day, two at most. It is mostly unreadable. Some other mail was barely holding together it had that many holes!


Now, I'm not a fan of snails. I absolutely detest slugs, and snails are pretty much slugs with shells, right? Eeyuck! Eeyou! I HATE them.

Something had to be done.

So I went into the pantry and found a 1kg bag of cooking salt. And poured it into the mailbox. Not all of it but probably about half. There was a good 5-7mm thick layer on the bottom. So pretty, like snow.


No more snail mail for this family.

First Tues in November

There was some big horse race here today. I was feeling crook this afternoon, so I sat in the comfy chair in my office and played a highly addictive ipad game instead. Naughty, naughty, but why should I be working when everyone else in the entire country downs tools for five minutes or so at 3pm?*


* Just so you don't think the worst of me, and in case my boss reads this (ha!), I actually put in for a half day of sick leave today - around lunch time I realised I just couldn't take it any more, with my throbbing head and twisting insides. But I had to stick around at work since Dan wasn't able to pick up the kids after school (well, not without major inconvenience) and heck, I can catch up on some blog reading and writing while I'm here, as well as curling up in my comfy chair (which isn't really that comfy but good enough when you're feeling unwell)!

Busy times ahead

November: second last month of the year.

Month of the NSW Schools Spectacular which Dante is dancing in for the second time. Lots of early starts culminating in three long days with two extremely late nights...

Which coincides with Dan going away to Saudi Arabia for a couple of weeks for work (hopefully with a chance for some sightseeing included - so close to Petra!)...

Which means he'll miss the annual Thanksgiving lunch which his family have celebrated for the last twenty three or so years...

But will be back in time for December - the craziest month of the year.

Fun times ahead for this gal and her brood.