Saturday, February 21, 2009

Update Update....

I know I'm still slack. Its just been so busy around here.

School Update: Its going well. We are still part of this social programme group. The kids part is great but the parents part is not. I spoke up last week about how I don't think it really applies to us and she agreed but as the hour went on one of the mums admitted she has no control over her kids and she just gives in to keep the peace so maybe the programme will help her. One of the other mums decided to remove her child. Her child was included cause she was initially very withdrawn and quiet but her parents are going thru some major issues with the courts involved, and strict visiting schedule/DOCS etc so I think she was just more scared than anything else. Her mum is finding the parenting programme offensive so...

Anyway other than that school is great. I've put my name down to be a regular reading helper and I'm also in the canteen every few weeks. I'm loving my time in the classroom, its great to see DD interact with her class mates and also to get to know them myself.

No shampoo: So tomorrow it will be 8 wks and frankly I'm disappointed. My hair does not feel any nicer than normally. The yukky oily stage is gone but my hair still feels rather dry but now its also super curly and I mean super curly. My future SIL is a hair dresser and she said obviously this is my natural hair - and I don't like it. I'm not sure where to go from here. Maybe I should try the bicarb wash and apple cider rinse. I'm truly tempted to go back to the chemical filled products I was using before. I miss my No Frizz Serum. If anyone has any ideas..

House Update: Wooden floor was laid this week. The laundry was installed (which will be the temporary kitchen while we building the rest of the house). The plasterboard is just waiting for the final sand down. The tiler just laid the flooring in the bathroom and will be back next week to do the walls. Only thing that can slow us down is our painter lives in a area that is currently cut off due to flood and he has a few jobs to do before ours so we are left waiting on mother nature. ((On a side note, how bizarre with a huge part of VIC burning and only a few hours away parts of NSW flooding and then again more flooding in QLD, Australia is a very weather diverse place at times)). Anyway we are on track for a late March move in.

Financial stuff: Is going terrible. I'm even more behind. I have bills overdue to be paid, money spread over various bank accounts at both banks. I need to find time to sit down and transfer money, close the accounts from the old bank and pay bills. Then once again get stuck into MYOB so I can finish our budget.

Coming Week: Once again a busy school week, Monday is my only free day. Tues is the social programme at the school, Wed DD#2 has her sports class, Thurs is reading in the class and canteen, Friday is DD#2 swimming and speech therapy. Saturday I'm meeting some old school friends for lunch, I haven't seen them for ages. And finally on Sunday we head off for a 4 day break, my parents bought a package for us at a lovely resort, so as long as the weather is nice we are going to swim and dolphin watch and generally relax. The accommodation we booked has a full kitchen so we can keep the cost down by taking our own food. We think we will have breakfast and dinner at the accommodation and eat out for lunch while doing our sight seeing etc.

Family: We are all a bit sick. Just coughs, sore throats, runny noses etc. So hubby is pottering around at the house today doing little things which won't tire him out too much and the girls and I will sloth on the lounge I think. I'm re-reading the Twilight series again (for the third time) I'm about a quarter of the way thru book 3 so that's my plan for the day.

As for my weight loss/get healthy plan well.... nothing. I've really fallen off the wagon with a lot of things... eating healthy... exercising... meal planning... saving money... living simply...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Its been so long

12 Days since I last posted. How slack.

Being a school mum is hard work and tiring, I find. Of course Kinder kids are still being picked up a bit earlier so its a very short day. Its been going very well on a whole. She had 2 bad morning this week and I spent one day with a cramped stomach worrying about her. She has been selected for this social programme with 3 other kids from Kindergarten, which is perfect for her but while they run the kids programme they run one for the mums. Which isn't so good. Its ultimately aimed at parents who struggle to control, discipline and deal with their kids. Which isn't me. DD#1 has had regular therapy for her autism for 2 years now. Any problems or ways of dealing with her has been worked thru long before now. And I don't think I'm the only mum struggling with the parents programme - 2 of the others mums are. But I'm sure we will keep doing it cause it only last for an hour and then the last hour is spent with the kids. And the parents bit is only 6 weeks.

Anyway I have alot to do today the last 2 days have been spent in a foggy mess. My brain is tired and run down. I've barely moved after getting home each day so the house is a mess. The laundry is overflowing and I have a huge folding pile and iron pile of clothes. So thats my saturday.

Like most Australians I've been glued to the TV. The Vic fires have been very sad and devastating. I know alot of people who live around the areas where the fires were, they are all safe. But there are many people who aren't. Schools, whole communities, lives and families have been lost.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Scary Saturday

I know its Monday but I wanted to tell you what happened to me on Saturday. I've mentioned before I'm terrified of spiders. Well....

Friday night we went out for dinner to celebrate a wonderful first day at school and seeing it was so hot I took them down to the waterfront for a quick swim first, so I totally forgot to get my last load of washing off the line. Saturday morning I headed out and two of my tea towels were twisted up together so I casually lent over and pulled them straight and then hung a wet towel on the line next to them, and thats when I saw it. The biggest huntsman I've ever seen - on the tea towel I just touched . Now I know all the Aussies out there are going to all go, 'just a huntsman, suck it up princess' but they terrify me. Of course it was sitting right next to the peg so I couldn't even just remove it from the line and I couldn't just walk away, what if it moved onto another item and I couldn't find it.

I had this perfect plan to use a broom to brush it off and remove it else where but I honestly couldn't even get close enough for the broom to reach. I felt like vomiting everything I saw it. Then the wind blew and it moved and spread it legs to stablise itself, oh my... it was even bigger than I thought. Argh.. In the end, knowing my husband was not going to be home for hours I ended up calling the guy across the road to remove it while I hid on the verandah.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Week In Review 26/1 - 1/2

This past week has been a real mixed bag. The funeral was on Wednesday and it was horrible to see my grandmother so upset and frail. I really fear she will be next and so does she, she mentioned its her turn next a few times. She is 77, she sister was 81 and their brother is 75.

Before going to the funeral we went to visit my cousin in hospital, that was a horrible experience as well, he looked terrible, his body was a shaking mess which he had little control over. We only got to see him for 10 minutes cause they decided to rush him in to get a series of test cause breathing is becoming more and more of an issue. The results weren't positive, he is looking at a minimum of 6 wks in hospital. He is only about 33. Because of the problems with his heart and the blood clots there is a real risk of death or serious complications. We are still keeping his problems a secret from my grandmother because we truly don't think she will cope at the moment and have no real answer or hope to give her at the moment anyway.

On the positives it was a great first day at school for #1 and also two great days for #2 in the 'big' room at preschool.

The real estate contacted us and although we know them very well they have to do a rental inspection, we've been lucky and had 14 months without one but the timing couldn't be worse. The office is a total mess, I mean a total mess, a cleared space for a walk way thru it and a small cleared space at the desk for hubby to sit. We have been using it for not only office stuff but for mine and his clothes, the kids misc. bits and pieces they don't use all the time and all my avon selling stuff. Overall the house needs a total clean and yard needs a huge clean up. I really didn't want to put too much time into it cause I'll be packing up stuff in a month or two in preparation for our move but now I'll have to tidy, clean and declutter this week.

No Shampoo: Is going ok. Actually the day of the funeral my hair was great, mum commented on how soft it was but as the day went on it got a lot worse and Thurs/Fri it was a matted mess of knotts again. Today it is oily but manageable and with my dry frizzy curls it doesn't look oily, I could easily wear it out if I want to, but I can feel the oily when I touch it. Its now been 5 whole weeks since I washed it. I'm hoping for umm... something in the next week or two. So far my hair has been no better than its been in the past. Obviously I've been avoiding those few days of frizzy breazy mess I get for the first 3-5 days after washing but I've not gotten a lot of great hair days. I do wonder what I'll do in the future about colouring over grey, I do colour it every6-12 months, I don't get a lot of grey but at 31 I'm sure that will increase.

Meter Reading: I didn't end up taking reading last week so this will be a fortnightly update
Meter #1 29183
Meter #2 31935
A total usage of 430 and a daily usage of 30.7. I really need to do some research to find out what I should be aiming for. I'm sure this daily usage is bad, we've been running the airconditioning alot over the last fortnight, like most people who live in NSW, I'm sure.

Water 59609, which worked out to be a daily usage of 117 per person.

Garden: Here are some photos, I have strawberries coming on which is really exciting. And the lemons are not getting bigger but are starting to turn yellow a bit. I ended up pruning the lemon tree a bit and trying it to a stake cause it was heavy on one side and leaning well over. I also cut off two of the smaller lemons. It just seems to be really struggling to support itself and 10 lemons in this heat so I cut some branches and the 2 lemons off, I'm not sure if its the right thing to do but the tree is still young, only a bit over a year old and the first time its produced fruit. I just wanted to lighten its load a bit.


Coming Week: Busy week for us. The first full week of full time school. #2 starts a sports programme tomorrow, I have a heap of avon deliveries to drop off and I also have my first day of volunteering in the school canteen on Thursday.

I'm hoping to get some baking done this afternoon for lunches and morning teas. I'm going to look for stuff I can bake and freeze and just take out as I need it.

Finally: I want to thank everyone who has been visiting my blog, I love seeing how many drop by and where they are all coming from, its exciting to see all the international visitors as well. Please leave a comment to say hello next time you drop by.