Negativity

I have found myself being rather negative about a lot of things in my life lately (mostly work but what's new there?) and have been trying to work out why. It finally hit me today that all the things I'm being negative about are things or changes I can't control.

• new ordering system at work (which would work if everyone did things the way they're supposed to),
• people with a good work ethic applying to be transferred because they can't stand the inept management any longer (take me with you!!!!!),
• children growing up (and developing attitudes!),
• other people's attitudes (and lack of working brain cells),
• the neighbour's stupid little yappy dog that has taken to barking every night at 2am,
• not enough hours in the day (even with daylight savings),
• etc, etc, etc.

So I have decided to practice what I preach to so many others and use the 'rule of fives'. Will whatever I'm being negative/stressing/sarcastic about, matter in five minutes? Five hours? Five days? Five weeks? Five months? If the answer is yes, then take five deep breaths and deal with it in an appropriate manner. If the answer is no, take five deep breaths and ignore .. oops I mean deal with it ... in a humorous (if possible) manner.

I will not be a control freak .. I will not be a control freak .. I will not be a control freak .. lather, rinse, repeat as often as necessary.

Sounds I didn't want to hear this morning ...

• Peter's alarm going off at dark o'clock .. aka 4:15am .. so I could get up and take him to the airport, because he decided he's going back to fly in/fly out instead of driving to work.
• Peter's car stalling in the very long and impatient queue to get out of the airport drop-off-lane while I try frantically to restart the damn thing.
• The always pleasant sound of two cars' bumpers meeting in a not-so-pleasant manner, with the ensuing horns and yelling .. luckily not the car I was driving 'cos there is no way I would have gotten out of the car to assess the damage once I saw the other driver. He was huge and very, very annoyed. I was just waiting for a tyre iron to make an appearance!
• Arriving home to Alex's alarm clock being loud enough to be heard over the stereo in the car .. outside! Poor neighbours!!
• The sound of something tearing then "oops". Luckily for Alex, I have plenty of tea towels to replace the one he 'accidentally' tore while playing silly idiots in the kitchen.
• Laughter (good noise), then crying (oh well, at least there's no blood), then "I'm sorry .. I'm so sorry .. I didn't mean it .. I'm really sorry".
• More crying with a unidentified dripping sound .. which turned out to be blood .. which Bradley managed to get in the grout in at least 5 places .. aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!
• Alex complaining because I had the audacity to tell him to clean up the blood while I dealt with Bradley. "You made the mess .. you fix it!" "But Bradley made the mess .. it's his blood!" "Just do it .. before I make you bleed too!!"
• "There's nothing for lunch." "But I don't like ... " "Where's my ... " "I can't find ..." "Give it back!" "It's mine!" "I hate you!"

Sounds that make it all better ...

• "Love you. See you in two weeks."
• "I'll help you."
• "Here, I found it for you."
• "Thanks Alex/Drew/Brad."
• "You give the best cuddles."
• "Thanks Mum!"
• Laughter
• "Love you Mum!"

Wow .. that's old!

I am 13,049 days old today. I knew I felt old but 13,049 .. man, that's old! I think I'll stick to 35 years .. doesn't sound anywhere near as bad!

I'm still younger than Peter. He's 14,747 days old. He's 1,698 days older than me .. the cradle robber!

Found out how many days old you are here.

Today is the first day of daylight savings ..

and I have a feeling it's going to be a looooong summer.

I know some people, approximately 50.5% of Western Australia's population, love daylight savings and can't wait for it to start. I, however, am in the 49.5% who either don't like it or can't understand why we need it.

In summer our days are hot enough and long enough already, so the idea of spending more time outside in the hotter parts of the day just because the clock says to, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. The kids are coming home from school at the hottest part of the day, as are a lot of part-time workers and the power grid couldn't cope with the demand for air conditioning last year. What's it going to be like this time?

It was supposed to be a trial for three years with a referendum to be held at the end of that time but with the change in governments, both federal and state, I wonder if it will just get swept under the rug. Have to wait and see, I suppose.

OK .. I'll climb down off my soapbox for now .. crack, creak, moan, groan .. getting too old for this!

The gods were kind on Friday ...

I wasn't feeling very happy with the world but went to work anyway only to find out that my current arch nemesis (my direct boss - aka "the micromanaging cow") wasn't going to be in all day! I split my lip from smiling so much (the split lip had absolutely nothing to do with having a blocked nose and breathing through my mouth all night OK? It just didn't!)

After finishing my happy dance, I had quite a good day except for the sour-faced killjoy who once again tried to wreck the Christmas party. There are currently only two members on the social club committee and we were informed by aforementioned sour-faced killjoy, quite snarkily about a month ago, that we were supposed to be having monthly meetings complete with minutes, have at least five committee members and that we had to get unanimous approval for the Christmas party that we had planned. If there was no meeting and approval, we couldn't have a party. After wondering who died and made her God, we dutifully tried to arrange some more members and a meeting, but finally gave up when everyone else refused to 'volunteer' for the committee. So the two of us organised a party anyway and if anyone has their nose put out of joint by it they can kiss my shiny white backside!

The thing that annoys me the most about the whole thing is that sour-faced killjoy has never attended, and has stated she will never attend, any of the functions organised by the social club but is the first to complain if something isn't to her liking. How can you criticise something almost everyone else is happy to have someone else organise and that you have no intention of participating in? Her logic, or lack thereof, boggles my mind. What's that saying .. put up or shut up? Fits like a glove here!

The boys were all invited to a sleepover on Friday night .. more evidence of the gods' benevolence .. and we didn't have to pick them up 'til 10am this morning. Can anyone guess what happened this morning with no kids around? Get your minds out of the gutter .. can anyone say sleep-in? It was glorious to not have an alarm go off in my ear at 6am or to be woken up by the sound of fighting and because Peter is home I didn't even have to get dressed and go and get them .. he went and got them for me!

On another note, the boys are going well back at school. I haven't had any phone calls reporting bad behaviour so either it's not happening or the teachers haven't noticed. I'm leaning toward the first one myself .. much more positive! Alex is getting some support from the special education centre this term which he has welcomed with open arms .. so far! I think he's managed very well without a special needs teacher's aide for the last couple of years, but am glad he is accepting help now when it is obviously needed that bit more.

Andrew got caught out trying to search for porn on the internet on Thursday .. don't think the teacher wanted you to research that for homework son! After a few questions as to why he did it, what was he looking for, etc, he finally broke into tears and wailed "I just want to know what's going to happen to me when I get to puberty". Well honey, you won't look like that during puberty 'cos I'm pretty sure 12/13 year old boys don't get back, sack and crack waxes; not to mention that the girls wouldn't look like that during puberty either. Due to the Net Nanny, he didn't get very far in his quest for knowledge via the internet and we soon had a 'come to Jesus' talk about trying it again. (Just in case you're wondering, yes I have had 'the talk' with him before now but this has now prompted Peter to have a little chat, as well as giving him some appropriate reading material).

Brad is just being his usual self so I'm thinking about getting him hypnotised to see if that will help with all the tummy troubles and 'accidents'. I've tried just about everything else and it's still not much better so I suppose it's worth a shot.

I'm starting to think seriously about Christmas presents .. and by 'think seriously', I mean 'seriously panic"! Not long now and I haven't even worked out what everyone's getting this year. The main problem is that most of the people in our families can afford to buy what they want, when they want it, so working out what to get them is difficult. Add in the fact that I"m one of those people who doesn't like giving gift cards and we have a bit of a dilemma. Any ideas for what to get for those sort of people?

Oh, and if you've finished your shopping and wrapping and are twiddling your thumbs while you're waiting to put up your Christmas tree so you can put the wrapped presents under it, please be quiet while the rest of us do our best headless chook impersonations! (Or for those who aren't into beheaded animal impersonations, try doing a blue-arsed fly impersonation instead!)

On that happy note, I'm off to spend some quality time with my husband .. when he gets home from the pub!

Meh ...

Nothing much happening so far this week. Same old, same old with work, except for trying to organise the work Christmas Party and dealing with all the 'politics' and backstabbing that goes along with that.

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The kids are being their usual selves .. mostly good with a bit of attitude.

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Overall this pretty much sums up my mood:


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Hope everyone else's week is going well!

I got my fix!!

I finally got to meet Mackenzie today!! Oh that new baby smell .. inhale deeply .. mmmmmmm!

I know some people think that all babies are beautiful but there are an equal number that say all babies look like Winston Churchill. I have a one foot firmly each side of the fence in that I believe that all babies are beautiful to their mother but there are some who just aren't 'pretty' or 'cute'. You know the ones .. where you're searching for something 'nice' to say .. "Oh he looks just like his father" .. bald, fat and red in the face! No such problems here .. Mackenzie is one of the cute-to-everyone babies. Beautiful dark blue eyes, long eyelashes, a little rosebud mouth, a full head of beautiful hair and calm into the bargain .. what's not to love??

I got to cuddle her for nearly two hours and the boys all had a turn too. I even changed a poopy nappy .. while Lachlan (5.5yo older brother of Mackenzie) laughed at me trying to put the tiny little nappy on an even tinier behind. "You can't do it Aunty Donna. I do it for you. Do you know how to 'cos I can show you." Bec replied "It's OK Lachlan. Aunty Donna hasn't done this for a loooong time. She'll work it out!" With his 'help' (!) I managed OK with the nappy then had some more cuddles.

I really can't remember my boys ever being that small and all three of them were smaller than her. I left them all laughing at me because I stated I was going to have to have words with Peter about why he doesn't make girls!

And as I expected, it took Bradley all of twenty seconds once we were in the car to put in his request for a baby sister. Look out Peter .. I told him to ask you for one!!

What shape are you?

Spotted this quiz on Lee's blog and thought I'd take it just for fun. As usual, comments in italics are mine!

You are a Square (hey .. watch it!!)

• Squares don't always choose the square as their symbol, but that won't stop you from recognizing them (they're the geeks in the corner snickering at everyone else's perceived lack of knowledge!)
• Squares are organized, logical, conservative, loyal, analytical, task-oriented, and knowledgeable(even if their knowledge is random, useless facts that have nothing to do with the topic at hand!)
• Squares will not tolerate sloppy work and need structured settings. (can we say autistic tendencies anyone?)
• Squares believe in following the manual. They live by the 3 P's: policies, practices, and procedures. (should be 4 P's - add in pissing people off by being pedantic!)
• They are data collectors and will not make decisions without a thorough analysis of the data. If your boss is a square (as opposed to just being a dork!), be specific. They need things in writing, preferably with numbers (all on an organised flow chart with pretty colours and lots of arrows!).
• They have calendars and lists everywhere. They have a plan for everyday (get up, survive, go back to bed). They plan A, B, C, D (and panic when Q or V shows up unannounced!). Why, because they are the most linear thinkers (and have no life!)
• However they are not the strongest team players because a square tends to be a loner. Meetings just mess up their day. (oh how true .. especially when I'm stuck with the two biggest wafflers of all time!)
• On the positive side- squares are loyal. They are the person to call if you need bail money (unless of course, they're in there with you!)
• Squares are totally committed to friends and spouses (as opposed to committed by friends and spouses!)
• The motto squares live by is if you want a job done right, then do it yourself. (unless you have majorly annoyed them in which case, stuff you, you're on your own!)
• A square is a very left brained and tactical thinker. Squares take notes; they like to write everything down (and then promptly lose it amongst all the other "important" things they have written down and filed away safely for further use!).
• Squares are the most likely shape to work late at the office because they are the hardest workers in the group (all together now .. SUCKER!!)
• But, despite all their work, squares are slowest to make decisions because they always need more information. (can never have too much information .. snort!!)
• Homer was a square.(Homer the poet, not Simpson) (glad you clarified that .. even though the physical resemblance is amazing!)

So what do think? Is this a fairly accurate description of me? What shape are you?

(Oh and as a true detail oriented square, please disregard all the spelling mistakes in the test!)

A funny ..

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And the waiting starts ..

The boys went back to school for Term 4 this morning .. all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed .. so why am I filled with a sense of dread?

Could it be because I know:

• that the lunchboxes that started out full of healthy food in the morning will still be full of healthy food at the end of the day?
• the children will not be full of healthy food but some concoction of other people's giveaways and leftovers and, as a result, be hyped up on sugar?
• I will have to iron uniforms again? (I hate ironing!)
• I'm going to have to turn into the Homework Police?
• I will have to have another meeting with the Deputy Principals about Alex's behaviour? (hopefully a major improvement on last term's behaviour!)
• Alex requires new uniform shirts again? (Stop growing already child!!)
• I will be falling over school bags, shoes and homework folders every afternoon for the next week until they get back into the routine of putting them where they belong? (Stop laughing .. it could happen! A girl has to have dreams you know!)

No .. that's not it. Keep thinking ...

thinking ...

thinking ...

Aha! I know what it is that has filled me with such a sense of doom ....

It's only 71 days 'til Christmas!!!

Are you ready???

As you may have gathered ..

... I like taking photos of sunsets.

This one was taken at Glenelg Beach in South Australia on the 20th of August, 2007. It was week three of our "Big Trip" across the country and back again, and we were lucky enough to get this beautiful sunset on our last day in SA.

One word ..

Seeing as I have no voice, the 'net is going to be subjected to more rambling than usual!

Found this on Leanne's blog (from back in July .. I'm so up-to-date .. not!!) It's harder than it sounds .. only one word answers permitted.

1. Where is your cell phone? lost
2. Significant other? Peter
3. Your hair? messy
4. Your mother? working
5. Your father? deceased
6. Your favorite thing? quiet
7. Your dream last night? weird!
8. Your favorite drink? milk
9. Your dream/goal? survival
10. The room you're in? study
11. Your hobby? reading
12. Your fear? heights
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
14. Where were you last night? bed
15. What you're not? skinny
16. Muffins? apple
17. One of your wish list items? carpet
18. Where you grew up? everywhere
19. The last thing you did? ate
20. What are you wearing? clothes
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? none
23. Your computer? annoying
24. Your life? busy
25. Your mood? flat
26. Missing someone? no
27. Your car? silver
28. Something you're not wearing? pyjamas
29. Favorite store? any
30. Your summer? personal
31. Like someone? yes
32. Your favorite color? green
33. When is the last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? today

A lot of these probably don't make sense to you but they do to me in my drug-addled state!

Quote time ..

Found this quote this morning while surfing the 'net and it really struck a chord with me.

"I am aware that I am less than some people prefer me to be. But most people are unaware that I am so much more than what they see - Douglas Pagels"


What quotes/sayings strike a chord with you? I desperately need inspiration/validation at the moment so help me out here people!! Pretty please?????

Pity party for one ...

I'm sick .. whinge, whine, stamping feet in childish tantrum .. and now I can't go see my beautiful new niece .. 'Not Happy, Jan!'

I actually took a day off work today due to my illness (sore throat and no voice), not the kids' for a change, and have spent most of the day using gestures and facial expressions to make myself understood. After getting Brad's attention I mimed what I wanted him to do, to which he replied "Life is just one never-ending game of charades for you, isn't it?" and then, when he realised he'd actually said it out loud, just stood there with a shocked expression on his face. I think he thought he was going to get in trouble for back-chatting so when I smiled at him, the look of relief on his face was priceless!

Yesterday should have been cancelled due to total lack of interest as well as the heaps of bad things just waiting to happen. Let's see:

1. Woke up late (8am) after falling asleep at about 2am.
2. Had hardly any voice when I woke up and had the beginnings of a very sore throat.
3. Decided to go to work anyway (figured I could always come home early .. what a joke!)
4. On my way to work I realised I had almost no petrol so was praying I would make it there.
5. Looked up from checking the fuel gauge and realised I was speeding so took my foot off the accelerator .. 5 seconds too late.
6. Got picked up for speeding and copped a $75 fine.
7. Finally arrived at work .. 20 minutes late .. and got 'spoken to' for being late.
8. Got into my office to find some thieving lowlife had pinched all my pens and my stapler.
9. Was 'spoken to' again for something else that wasn't even anything to do with me.
10. Realised I'd lost my mobile phone.

All that between 8 and 9am and it stayed that way pretty much all day.

Today, at least I was at home, even though I felt lousy and should have tried to catch up on some sleep instead of all the things I did instead. I managed to hem the curtains I've been meaning to get to for ages, played games with the boys, watched them draw all over the carport with chalk, listened to their versions of funny jokes, got them to help me with some cleaning up outside, did washing, played endless games of charades trying to get them to do other stuff for me, cooked them pancakes and brownies and watched Iron Man with them.

All in all, not too bad a day, even though I resorted to using pen and paper to get my requests across after they claimed they couldn't understand my 'charades'. Trouble with that was that they then claimed they couldn't read my writing. All very convenient I tell you! There will be consequences ...

probably next week when I get my voice back!

Overheard today ...

Girl 1: I can't do that.

Girl 2: Do what?

Girl 1: What you're doing.

Girl 2: What? Drinking and walking at the same time?

Girl 1: Yeah. How do you do that?

Girl 2: I don't know .. I just suck on the straw and walk.

Girl 1: Can you show me how?

At this point, I just shook my head and walked away.

(It probably wouldn't have seemed as weird if it was two little girls, but these two were about 16 years old .. and no, they weren't blonde!)

SS blog challenge #32

Haven't done one of these for a while so I thought it was about time to try again. (Comments in italics are added by me...who else?)

This blog challenge is easy (for some maybe!) .. Enjoy.

Countdown List

10 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

• See my children grown and happy
• Watch my grandchildren grow up
• Get back to a healthy weight
• Travel overseas by myself
• Scrap all my important photos
• Learn sign language
• Get over my fear of heights
• Make a positive difference in a child's life (as well as in my own children's lives)
• Visit the houses I grew up in (in England, Fiji, Singapore & Hawaii)
• Learn to play a musical instrument .. properly!

9 Places I Last Spent Money:

• Amazon.com
• Big W
• Woolworths
• Southern River Pharmacy
• Laker's Tavern
• Caltex
• Creative Memories
• Just Scrapbooks
• McDonald's

8 Sounds I Routinely Hear Around My House:

• "Muuuum" from any and all of the boys
• Wii/PS2/Playstation/computer game sounds
• Laughing
• Arguing
• The washing machine
• Music
• Doors slamming (no-one seems capable of closing one quietly around here!)
• Kettle boiling

7 Real Restaurants Where I Last Ate Out:

(Not sure what is meant by a 'real' restaurant but I'm assuming a place with table service, real tablecloths, metal cutlery and alcohol. In which case, I haven't eaten out since last year's work Christmas party!)

• Atrium @ Burswood (aforementioned Christmas party)
• The Pasta Bowl in Margaret River
• Nicholson's Bar & Grill
• and that's about it! Sad huh?
• .
• .
• .

6 Things I've Recently Scratched Off My To-Do List:

• Pay bills
• Order Becky Fleck Sketch book
• Tidy scrap area
• Bake some snacks for the boys
• Check boys' summer school uniform for sizing
• Make doctor's appointment for Alex

5 People I Don't Know (or haven't met in person) But Would Like to Hang Out With:

• Lita
• Cowtown Stacy
• Kaye
• The Pioneer Woman
• Frank from Postsecret

4 Songs That Make Me Happy (or feel more upbeat):

• Annie's song - John Denver
• I'm yours - Jason Mraz
• Can't touch this - Ricki-Lee Coulter
• These are a few of my favourite things - Julie Andrews

3 Things I Hate To Do:

• Clean toilets
• Look foolish
• Deal with arrogant people

2 Things I'm Really Good At:

• Being positive (for other people!)
• Retaining (useless) information

1 Bad Habit:

• Procrastination .. "Procrastinators of the world, unite .. tomorrow."

Pitter patter

The little feet are here ... along with the rest of her. I'm an aunty again!!

Welcome to Mackenzie Hope born this morning (8/10/08) at 8:18 weighing in at 8lb 10oz. That's a lot of eights and ones .. wonder what that means in numerology?

I haven't seen her yet .. stupid work .. but will hopefully be able to get there on the weekend. It's a cut lunch and waterbag job just to get to the hospital but I will go and see them before they get home!

Poor Mark missed her delivery .. she wasn't prepared to wait .. but luckily was due home today anyway, so now he has a couple of weeks to spend at home with them. The twins have taken to her really well and are always wanting 'cuddles with my baby', to the point of telling their grandparents to give her back for more cuddles.

I can't wait to have cuddles of my own. Just love, love, love that new baby smell!!

Excuses, excuses

The reason I've haven't been posting much this week is I've been ... reading. Yeah I know, what a surprise, yada yada yada, but this time I was so engrossed I forgot to get dinner ready, do washing or even acknowledge the boys' existence. Pass the 'neglectful mother' award this way .. it will look great next to the 'uninterested wife' award!

Anyway, I have been reading the Twilight series. I know it's supposed to be aimed at the teen girl demographic, just as Harry Potter was supposed to be aimed at the tween/teen market, but it's actually surprisingly good. Well, maybe not 'surprisingly' as it obviously wouldn't be such a success if it wasn't good; more that I wasn't expecting to be as drawn into the story as I was.

I usually have little or no trouble putting a book down and doing things I know need to be done but this time I was delegating jobs left, right and centre to be able to keep reading. If Peter hadn't been home, I probably would have stayed up all night (and home from work) just to finish them. It nearly killed me to have to go to work yesterday halfway through Breaking Dawn .. not literally of course, but I was thinking about it all day. I won't say anything about how it ends and what happens in the lead up to the end so I don't spoil it for those yet to read it, but I really enjoyed all four books.

I've also been reading some more of the Stephanie Plum books as well as the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. The Maximum Ride series is another set aimed at the tween/teen market but I'm kind of at the stage where I don't want to have to think too hard about what I'm reading .. just want to go along for the ride. Ha ha, I crack myself up .. Maximum Ride, go along for the ride .. get it?


(crickets chirping in the silence)


Maybe you had to be there....

Quirks

I've been tagged by Lita!

Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

1. All the washing has to be folded a certain way. If anyone else folds it, I have to do it again my way. (I usually wait until they've gone home before I do it though!)
2. As soon as I get home from being out anywhere, I take off all my jewellery except for my necklace. I can't stand wearing rings while I'm doing household stuff and will even take them off to scrap.
3. I have to wash something new before I can use/wear it. Except scrapbook stuff of course!
4. When I eat things like jellybeans or M&Ms, I eat all the odd ones first leaving pairs of the same colours to eat last.
5. I have to lie on my left side to be able to fall asleep in bed.
6. When I make coffee, I have to put the milk in before the water. It tastes different if it's done the other way round.

I can't think of six people to tag so I'm only going to tag Debbie.