In less than a week I will be flying off to Krygyzstan and China. My bag has been packed for...let's say...more than four weeks. I have been pretty excited, and I have played out my excitement and nervousness by being a bit 'anal' about my packing.
The other night my husband had a dream about me. Lovely hey? He told me that while I was overseas doing some work in a village one of my travelling companions had asked me for some notes. I pulled out my Lever Arch folders of uni notes I just 'happened' to pack in my suitcase, just in case they were needed.
I guess my packing and organising has leached over into the family life.
A friend of Chris' asked if I had prepared and labelled all the dinners for my family and put them in the freezer. Ummmm...no. That's not how we roll in our family. But I am hoping my children get vegetables while I am gone - sometimes I feel like the salad-pusher in our house.
I will miss my family terribly. But I think it is good to sometimes branch out from some of your life roles (muuuuuuuummmmmm) to concentrate on one thing - in my case this will be intrepid traveller, village visitor and speech pathologist being translated into Russian. My expectations are varied - I will see what the trip brings.
For the next few days I will be list making and final take off checking. My ski pants fit (yay!), my passport is stamped with a visa, and my pixie beanie is packed.
Onwards.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
My fun kid
Gabby has always made us laugh. As a baby she had a delicious infectious giggle and as a kid she has an incredible sense of comic timing. Is that kind of thing inherited? I hope I inherit some from her.
Seem recent Gabby gems include:
- while listening to classic FM in the car on the way to school (side note - I have never listened to Wiggles in the car. The driver controls the radio, and I plan to hold onto that for as long as I can) there was an ad on for a new album of opera arias coming out. Gab remarks 'I don't think I could do two hours'. 'What?' I say distracted by my own thoughts and driving. 'Well' she says 'I could probably listen to one hour of opera but not two. The ad said there was two hours of opera on the CD, so we probably shouldn't get that one.' 'Ok' I chortled.
- I was asking her to get ready for school one morning that I was also trying to get to work this week. I said 'what can you get done while I am in the shower?', trying to fire up a competitive spirit and make things happen. 'This sudoku', she replies deadpan.
Hmmmm.
She is a joy to have around.
Except when she is whining that she is hungry.
Seem recent Gabby gems include:
- while listening to classic FM in the car on the way to school (side note - I have never listened to Wiggles in the car. The driver controls the radio, and I plan to hold onto that for as long as I can) there was an ad on for a new album of opera arias coming out. Gab remarks 'I don't think I could do two hours'. 'What?' I say distracted by my own thoughts and driving. 'Well' she says 'I could probably listen to one hour of opera but not two. The ad said there was two hours of opera on the CD, so we probably shouldn't get that one.' 'Ok' I chortled.
- I was asking her to get ready for school one morning that I was also trying to get to work this week. I said 'what can you get done while I am in the shower?', trying to fire up a competitive spirit and make things happen. 'This sudoku', she replies deadpan.
Hmmmm.
She is a joy to have around.
Except when she is whining that she is hungry.
Friday, February 15, 2013
too much drama
Yesterday I popped into a friend's house after school to practise a short drama for church on Sunday. It was all going swimmingly - we learnt our lines, we had a cup of tea and a nice chat, and I started saying things like 'I must go now and start rustling up some dinner' (side note - have recently discovered Jamie Oliver - only about 15 years later than everyone else - but I am very much enjoying cooking my way through 15 minute meals. Not that I would say I was a cook by any stretch. But I am competitive and I like seeing how close I can get to doing the meal in 15 minutes. Last night's took 25 minutes - but I had not defrosted the meat and had to wait until the microwave did it's work).
Anyway, just as I was about to leave I noticed Scooter (who I had brought around to play with their dog) was sporting a brown ruff instead of a white one. And there was a malodorous miasma wafting from her direction. I put her into the car - but then realised there was no way we could possibly drive home and breathe the same air that she was inhabiting. We searched around for the cause of the stink.
The dog had tipped over a container of Charlie Carp (liquid dead fish) and rubbed herself all in it.
Ugh.
Usually Charlie Carp is diluted a capful to twenty litres. Our dog had about 250 ml adorning her neck. She smelt like she had been dragged up from the dead fish sewer.
We decided to bath her - a wet dog in the car is slightly better than a very stinky one. While we were bathing her the girls were waiting for me on the grass out of the front of my friend's house. Where Gab got two stings by ferocious greenants.
So I had a wet still smelly dog, a crying child, and hungry bellies.
We quickly made our exit, wafting Charlie Carp down the streets of Brisbane as we drove home.
It was a little too much drama for one afternoon.
Anyway, just as I was about to leave I noticed Scooter (who I had brought around to play with their dog) was sporting a brown ruff instead of a white one. And there was a malodorous miasma wafting from her direction. I put her into the car - but then realised there was no way we could possibly drive home and breathe the same air that she was inhabiting. We searched around for the cause of the stink.
The dog had tipped over a container of Charlie Carp (liquid dead fish) and rubbed herself all in it.
Ugh.
Usually Charlie Carp is diluted a capful to twenty litres. Our dog had about 250 ml adorning her neck. She smelt like she had been dragged up from the dead fish sewer.
We decided to bath her - a wet dog in the car is slightly better than a very stinky one. While we were bathing her the girls were waiting for me on the grass out of the front of my friend's house. Where Gab got two stings by ferocious greenants.
So I had a wet still smelly dog, a crying child, and hungry bellies.
We quickly made our exit, wafting Charlie Carp down the streets of Brisbane as we drove home.
It was a little too much drama for one afternoon.
 |
| I thought I smelt lovely with dead fish around my neck. The perfume of the cods. |
Friday, February 8, 2013
how I got my girls to make their own lunches for school
It has been school time for the last couple of weeks again. Back into the rhythm of dropping and picking and organising. It gives the days a bit of structure after the long summer break.
A couple of years ago I found that the lunches I was sending into school were coming home again pretty much untouched. I had a mandarin that went to school and back seven times (I knew because I marked it with a pen. I'm cunning like that). I decided that if they made their own lunch they were more likely to eat it. And I didn't have to make it. Which gave me more time to sleep. Win win.
So I set up a chart (with picture symbols!) with options of what they had to put in their lunchbox and they had to choose at least one thing from each column. I have set it out below for your education. In case you have children who you need to make lunch for. Thank you. The columns were:
Breads and cereals
- sandwich
- wrap
- corn puffs
- dry breakfast cereal eg fruity bites
- vita wheats
- rice crackers
- corn thins
Fruit and vegetables
- apple
- banana
- stone fruit
- carrot sticks
- celery sticks
- fruit tub
- mandarin
- grapes
- watermelon
- whatevs in season
Dairy
- cheese slice
- yoghurt tub
- cream cheese dip
- cheese stick
Protein
- boiled egg
- piece of cold meat eg ham, chicken
- leftover rissole
Something else
- muesli bar
- leftover birthday cake
- hot cross bun
- popcorn
- sunflower seeds
It worked surprisingly well. They got used to putting a variety of things in their lunchbox for balance of colours, flavours and nutrition. And we have been cracking down on them making it the night before so there is no angst in the morning over there being NOTHING TO EAT.
Of course we have days where there is a carrot stick and two old crackers left in the cupboard. But mostly they have a fairly good lunch. The lest favourite choice is sandwich - which I can understand. A sandwich from a lunchbox from your bag that has been sitting on the bag rack in the sun for hours is not delicious. Not at all. I also make them put it all in little containers so we have no plastic wrap in the lunch box.
So there you have it. A boring blog post about lunch. I can hear you thinking - 'she hasn't blogged for ages and the best she can do is talk about lunchboxes!'. Well. There is other stuff happening in our lives at the moment, but tonight I am thankful they have made their own lunch for the first two weeks of school. And I am thankful for the small things.
Here is a lovely picture of Gab that Annika took.
Good school lunches to you.
A couple of years ago I found that the lunches I was sending into school were coming home again pretty much untouched. I had a mandarin that went to school and back seven times (I knew because I marked it with a pen. I'm cunning like that). I decided that if they made their own lunch they were more likely to eat it. And I didn't have to make it. Which gave me more time to sleep. Win win.
So I set up a chart (with picture symbols!) with options of what they had to put in their lunchbox and they had to choose at least one thing from each column. I have set it out below for your education. In case you have children who you need to make lunch for. Thank you. The columns were:
Breads and cereals
- sandwich
- wrap
- corn puffs
- dry breakfast cereal eg fruity bites
- vita wheats
- rice crackers
- corn thins
Fruit and vegetables
- apple
- banana
- stone fruit
- carrot sticks
- celery sticks
- fruit tub
- mandarin
- grapes
- watermelon
- whatevs in season
Dairy
- cheese slice
- yoghurt tub
- cream cheese dip
- cheese stick
Protein
- boiled egg
- piece of cold meat eg ham, chicken
- leftover rissole
Something else
- muesli bar
- leftover birthday cake
- hot cross bun
- popcorn
- sunflower seeds
It worked surprisingly well. They got used to putting a variety of things in their lunchbox for balance of colours, flavours and nutrition. And we have been cracking down on them making it the night before so there is no angst in the morning over there being NOTHING TO EAT.
Of course we have days where there is a carrot stick and two old crackers left in the cupboard. But mostly they have a fairly good lunch. The lest favourite choice is sandwich - which I can understand. A sandwich from a lunchbox from your bag that has been sitting on the bag rack in the sun for hours is not delicious. Not at all. I also make them put it all in little containers so we have no plastic wrap in the lunch box.
So there you have it. A boring blog post about lunch. I can hear you thinking - 'she hasn't blogged for ages and the best she can do is talk about lunchboxes!'. Well. There is other stuff happening in our lives at the moment, but tonight I am thankful they have made their own lunch for the first two weeks of school. And I am thankful for the small things.
Here is a lovely picture of Gab that Annika took.
Good school lunches to you.
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