Vain veins and misc Stuff

I consider it must be time I posted something as both Julie and Liz have recently written on my Facebook Wall. I must say, I haven't gotten into face book. I far prefer emails and blogs.

What have I been doing? Last Wednesday I had the veins in my left leg treated. This involved at least 30 needles! Small injections into the veins. I felt like a pin cushion! I am now wearing a compression stocking (I had to wear it constantly for the first 48 hours, now I'm allowed to take it off at night, but I still have to wear it during the day until a week after the needles). It takes me about 10 minutes to get the stupid stocking on, and when you go to the toilet you have to be really careful how you roll it down or it's like a tourniquet. I also have to walk for at least 30 minutes a day, which has been a great incentive for me.

What else have I been doing? Well, Hannah was invited to Emma's birthday BBQ on Saturday. I decided (as it was at Wentworth Park) that I would take my daily walk in that direction and say hello. I was really glad that I dropped in as I got to catch up with Steve and also with Dorothy and Collin. Julie's chocolate cake was great, but it would have been so much nicer if Julie had of been there too (isn't it a shame when work gets in the way of a good time?).

I've been helping out at Girls' Brigade this term. We have been teaching the girls about fishing. Now we tend to take it for granted that all families get out and do these sorts of things, so it was rather a surprise to find that over half the girls had NEVER BEEN FISHING!!! So we organised a fishing outing at Cremorne last Friday. Andrew took small groups out in the boat; while the others played on the beach, got very wet, cooked damper, toasted marshmallows, got eaten by mozzies and had a wonderful time. I think Andrew ended up making about 5 trips in the boat. Each boatload returned with at least 2 (often 3 or 4) flathead which were cleaned and cooked over the fire. It felt really good that we were able to offer this contribution to Girls' Brigade and I am sure it left a lasting impression with some of the girls who just don't get those sorts of opportunities normally!

For the last few months we have been attending Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. I THINK this is a good move for us. The style of service is different than the Southern Presbyterian Church, but the preaching is still very biblical; and there are lots of families and lots of children, and also a lot of young adults who are very good role models for the teenagers. This is an opportunity for us to extend our christian circle of friends.

Other than these highlights; life's a circle of cooking, cleaning, shopping, taxiing children, attending school assemblies, helping in the school library, etc, etc.

What Constitutes a Party?!

We have 6 birthdays within 9 weeks, starting on the 16th June, and ending on the 18th August. In order to maintain our sanity, we only have one children's party per year - and it is rotated as to who gets the party. Those not due a party get to select a family outing. The question is "what constitutes a party?"

This year Hannah asked if we could have a family outing to Zone3 for her birthday, and could she please invite a couple of friends to help make up the teams. As this was the first such request, Andrew agreed. We booked Zone3. The only time slot we could get was 6pm. So we planned an early tea for our family, but then the friends also needed an early tea. The easiest solution seemed to be to invite them for tea before Zone3. With tea so early, our children would need something else to eat after Zone3. As Hannah's friends were having tea with us and travelling with us - guess what - we ended up inviting them for supper as well.

So what started out as a family outing ended up being party pies, sausage rolls and savoury fingers for tea; then off to Zone3, with chips and fizzy between games; then back to our place for Lemon Meringue Pie for supper. BUT THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!

One down, Rachel's next .......

Rachel really enjoyed Zone3 and decided that was what she wanted for her birthday too. We relunctantly agreed as it seemed unfair to have said yes to Hannah and then to say no to Rachel. So Rachel invited three friends. This time we ended up with a 5pm timeslot at Zone3. Instead of an early tea, Rachel's friends were invited for tea AFTER Zone3 - so we ended up hiring videos and having her friends collected around 9pm.

THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!!!

Two down .........

For Keziah and Rebekah we booked the local Guide Hall, sent out invites to all the girls in their class (plus a couple of others) and had a PARTY.

It was a "Pink and Purple Party", with everyone asked to wear something pink and/or purple. We decorated the hall in pink and purple, complete with helium balloons. There was continuous chips and fizzy and party games run by Hannah (Pass the Parcel, Limbo, a Quiz to test how well their friends knew them apart, Dance competitions, Pinata, etc). Andrew provided BBQ hamburgers and sausages for lunch.

Next year we will be more careful with the non-parties!!!!!

Blogger vs Facebook

Can someone please shed some light on why we use Blogger, yet some of you also have Facebook accounts?

I have just set up a Facebook account, but am not sure why. I did it mainly because Grandma told me Madalyn is on Facebook, and I thought it might be a good way to keep contact with what she is up to.

The not-so-new New-Do

OK, do you know how much I hate photos of myself? I am only posting this because of the number of requests I have received.

16th June 2009

Prezzies .......

"Happy Birthday To You" .........

Cake and Cards ......

The wording on the cake said "BEST MUM EVER".

What more can I say?

Unwelcome Visitors and Hair Driers

I have been investigating why some members of my family have some unwelcome visitors and some have escaped this plight.

The common factor among those that don't have these visitors is the hair dryer! I have looked into this, and although no so called experts will back up this theory, there is evidence that the lowly hair dryer may indeed help prevent unwelcome visitors.

This would explain why this is a much bigger problem among primary students than among their teenage highschool counterparts.

Scratching your head? You may have unwelcome visitors too.

Take a look at the entries on the ABC Talking Health blog:

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2008/06/11/2271382.htm

Easter Stumbling Block

My New Year's resolution for 2009 was to weigh less than my husband before the next New Year.

There were two possible approaches to achieve this goal:

1. Lots of cakes and goodies to increase Andrew's weight.
2. Diet and exercise to decrease my weight.

Although I was really tempted by option 1, it wouldn't help my situation in the long run. Shopping for clothes would remain depressing, and my children would continue to out-walk me.

I've been working on option 2. To date, I have lost 9kg (that's about a third of the way there).

The Easter stumbling block was causing me some concern. All that chocolate!

Solution:
I bought myself a "chocolate bunny". When the others were consuming their Easter chocolate, I got out my "chocolate bunny" so I didn't feel too hard done by. My bunny is actually a chocolate scented plush bunny which sings "Yummy Yummy Yummy I've got love in my tummy" when you press it's hand. The best thing is that I will still have my "chocolate bunny" long after the others have finished their Easter chocolate!!

It's Always My Fault

We went to our shack at Lake Leake for the long weekend. The kids had a great time with their Lake Leake friends. They went bike riding, swimming, demolished part of the out-house (deliberatley, as it was already falling down), used the timber to make a raft, cooked damper, etc, etc,.

I spent Friday at the supermarket, buying the food required to keep the hungry army happy. I supervised the kids as they packed their clothes. I packed the bedding, toiletries, towels, teatowels, games (actually Hannah organised the games), etc, etc,. So guess who copped the blame when we got up there without any sunhats? That's right - ME! I still haven't heard the end of it as Hannah and Rebekah still have sore scalps.

We are going to Mt Field this weekend. I have already packed the sunhats. What will I forget this time, I wonder?

Oh, by the way, Andrew and I had a very relaxing weekend in-between the kids activities. I think "couching" is Emma's term for it!

Reports from the First Day of School

To get Hannah's perspective on her first day of grade 8, visit her blog (abagofcarrots.blogspot.com).

Rachel had a good first day, catching up with her classmates from last year. They didn't really do any work. It was basically a meet your teachers, discuss class rules, and stuff like that, type of day. They started a cover page in their "Projects" book, which Rachel has finished at home tonight. She brought home a stack of books which we have covered this afternoon.

Keziah and Rebekah enjoyed their first day. Here are the diary entries that they wrote during class (I will copy their writing exactly, complete with spelling errors):

Dear Diary,
This is my first day at school. Before today I was home schooled. I am in Ms. Watson's class. She's a great techer. I've found out that Chloe and Ella are in my class. At recess I found Kiarni. Before recess we made name tages to put on our desks, after that we made rules for our class. School's great I wish I had come earlyer. We had lunch then we went outside to play. Bye for now. (Keziah)

Dear Diary, Today is my first day of school. I'm really exited. At school, our teacher is Msz Watson. My friends are Chloe, Ella and some others I can't remember their names. We said good morning to Msz. Watson, then we played silent ball, it was fun, then we talked about rules and made some rules for the class, then we had morning tea and I talked with my friends. then talk about going to the toilet and about a school diary, then we had a quick esemberly, then we had lunch, and had a run around, then we played mine shafts. (Rebekah)

My day was very quiet. I cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the floors, put some clutter away, and then collected the girls from school.

Signing off for now.

The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

It's back to school for our scruffy bunch of State School Kids today.

Everyone was up early, lunches packed, pancakes for breakfast, cat fed - all before 8am. We were then left with time to spare so we sat around the table for a time of prayer, took some photos and twiddled our thumbs until it was time to leave for school.

Hannah, ready for the first day of grade 8 at Clarence High School. She knows that her two best friends are in her class, but other than that we have to wait and see.

Rachel, ready for the first day of Grade 6 at Howrah Primary School. She is back with basically the same group of kids she had in her grade 5 class, plus some extras.

She has the same class teachers Hannah had in Grade 6.

Keziah and Rebekah, ready for their first day ever at school! They are starting grade 4 at Howrah Primary this year.

We walked to school together this morning, found their classroom, put their bags away and then Keziah and Rebekah chose where they wanted to sit. They are starting off sitting together. A couple of other girls came and sat with them- Ally Gregg (Jordy's sister) and Rain (one of Maddy Doust's cousins and I am not sure if that is how it is spelt, but that was what it sounded like)

My goal today is to clean the house and have a special afternoon tea ready for the girls afterschool!

Regatta Day

We went to the Regatta this afternoon. Nothing was happening on the river, so we spent time on the sideshows.

We finished with Fairyfloss.

(can you guess what colour it was?)

Lizard Lingo

Dear fellow bloggers (especially those who call me Mum or Auntie),
I can attempt to use current technology and can even lower myself to use abbreviated spelling on occasions, yet I cannot endorse current teenage lingo. When posting to this site, please use what I am terming "Lizard Lingo". If you wouldn't say it to my face, don't post it on my blog site! Better still, if you wouldn't say it to your Pastor, don't post it! You know the words I am talking about!

Getting Started

My daughter (a bag of carrots) is making me learn about blogging!! I am typing this under sufferance and supervision. Apparently my spelling is not to her liking! She wuld hav me mis al da duble leters nd half da vowels!