Another pinterest inspired item - lead hangers

... as in somewhere to hang the dogs' leads.

I found this picture about 100 years ago and had filed it away for a must-do project:

original pin:  thesaturdaymorningsblog.com/

I even searched Spotlight and a few other shops for these large papier mache type letters, all to no avail.  I could get thin wooden ones (barely thick enough for a nail, let alone a cup hook) or small papier mache ones, but nothing as big as you see above.  So I filed the idea away and focused on moving into this house (yes it was that long ago!)

Upon unpacking boxes (ahem .. 12 months after moving into the 'new' house), I came across a whole lot of picture frames I had accumulated from my time working at Rabbit Photo.  I was going to pass them on to the Salvos as they didn't fit with the 'look' I wanted for this house when I realised that they were actually quite thick and real wood.  Thick enough to screw in some cup hooks and real-wood-enough to last for a while ...

So I took the glass out and sprayed the kind-of-oak-coloured frames with some spare gloss black paint and, while they were drying, set myself to the task of individualising them.

Despite my handy (huge) stash of scrapping paper, I couldn't find a single paper I liked enough to put in the frames, so I just had to go to Scrapbooking Secrets in Maddington to find some inspiration.  I was looking for something with paw prints on it but couldn't find a single piece of paper with paw prints ... oh the horror!!

I did, however, find some paper that looked like an old wooden fence so that got the brain ticking over ... maybe I could put a picture of each dog on a faux backyard in the frames.  Bought the fence paper, came home and spent hours searching for just the right photo of each dog, once again to no avail.

At this point, the males of the household were whining about something to do with there being no food and being absolutely staaaaarving so I left the craft room in disgust (both at myself and them for not being able to make themselves a sandwich or something) and went to cook dinner.

When I came back after threatening them all with dismemberment if they didn't do the dishes right now a lovely peaceful family dinner, I decided to use my craft room's white elephant:  my Cricut.  I have the ZooBalloo cartridge and after playing around for a while, came up with these:

Xena's ... obviously!

Can you guess who this is for???

And this is both of them hanging in a silly little space between two door frames in the entry:

I ended up fitting two hooks to each frame; one for the harness and one for the lead/leash.  It is just so much easier than trying to dig through everything that gets dumped in the storeroom (to the left of the frames) to try and find their harnesses and leads.  It has made it easier for the dogs too ... all they have to do is bark then go sit in the entry looking up at the frames to give us the idea that it might be time to go for a W.A.L.K. (or as it is referred to in our house, "an ambulate around the perimeter of the neighbourhood" as the dogs have cottoned on to the word 'walk' and even the spelling of it!)

The frames/holders have been hanging up for over a year now and still look good.  The gloss paint stands up to any inadvertent bumps/scratches and the cup hooks haven't needed to be replaced.  The only issue is that the hooks need to be turned to one side or the other as they make the frame sit too far out from the wall if they are straight but I have (finally) learned to live with that part.

Not bad for the price of a couple of bits of scrapbooking paper (I had everything else in the house/garage).

Things my boys say...

Bradley has definitely inherited my love of words!

Upon seeing a picture of a baby sting ray, most kids his age (that we know anyway) would have asked:
"Why is it squishy and see-through?"



Bradley, however came out with "Why is that thing gelatinous and translucent?

Love a good vocabulary first thing on a Sunday morning!!

Continuing with the frame theme ...

After the success of the menu board, I decided to make up another frame as a sort of "command centre".  I had a huge frame with lots of different size cut-outs in the mat that I was going to fill with various bits and pieces.  After having it hang on the wall for a couple of weeks, I decided it was too big and yet not big enough, if that makes any sense at all, which it probably doesn't 'cos this is me we're talking about after all!

The frame itself was probably not too big, but having all the different little sections made it seem really cluttered and disorganised.  I tried taking the mat out and putting larger pieces of background paper in but that just looked cheap and nasty so I took it down and gave up on the idea for a while.

While shopping for something totally different (glass jars .. a whole other story) I spotted some really cheap frames at Red Dot Maddington ($2.99 down from $8.99) and bought four of those instead.  Of course, being me, I didn't really check them all until I got home, unwrapped them and then found that one was a slightly different size and one was the wrong colour. 

On my next trip over that way, I found that they had completely sold out so I decided to try other Red Dot stores.  None of the other stores I tried had any either so I resigned myself to more spray painting and somehow making the wrong size one work.  They then hung on the wall in all their wrongness with me getting more and more annoyed with myself every time I walked past them. 

Once again I was shopping for something completely different (melamine picnic set plates this time) and found some other frames that I thought might work.  Just as I picked one up, it slipped and as I fumbled for it (and caught it .. yay me!) I spotted two of the original frames I was looking for tucked under the bottom shelf and pushed to the back.  One had a slight scratch but nothing a bit of texta couldn't fix so I did a little happy dance and proceeded to the checkout.

These ones were the right colour and size so they were put on the wall while I pondered how best to dress them up.  (At this point, I realised that the frame I thought was the wrong size was actually the right size but the screw it was hanging on was slightly lower than the others, giving the impression it was a different size .. bugger!)

Enter Pinterest .. yet again!  Pinspiration (here):

The final result:

They are in the main walkway from the front of the house to the back so everyone can see them and so far, people are paying attention to them. That may change as time goes on but I'm enjoying the novelty factor right now!

(Please excuse all the mess in the kitchen.  The slaves .. oops I mean children .. hadn't done the after dinner clean up when I took these photos.)

The lighting isn't the best but that's what you get for taking pictures under artificial light at night time from weird angles to try and avoid camera flash showing up on the glass instead getting weird reflections of yourself looking like your arm is growing out of the side of your head.  Oh well!  I still think the frames look cute!

On tonight's menu, we have ...

We needed something to help us be more organised with our meal planning so I found an old frame and some scrapbook paper and ... ta-da! ... another Pinterest inspired creation was completed.

The inspiration (here and here):

The idea is to use the glass in the frame as a whiteboard with the paper behind the glass just being for decoration.  You can use ordinary whiteboard markers to write on the glass and best of all, it comes off with just one quick swipe of a cloth .. no scrubbing or cleaners required!

I went for a cross between the two types as I couldn't find the 12x12 frame that I was going to use to copy the right hand version.  (Still way too many boxes to unpack!!)  Here's the (almost) finished result:

We lived with it like this for about a week but the frame colour was really bugging me so I painted the outside edge matte black and left the raised section around the glass in the timber colour.  Left it like that for another week and decided I didn't like that either, so I painted the raised section in gloss black.  This is the final result:

I think the gloss section highlights the letters more and just finishes the whole thing off.  Of course, I may be slightly biased!  The only thing left to do is to make some sort of shelf/attachment for the marker to sit on.  At the moment, it sits on top of the frame, but with people walking past it all day it sometimes has a tendency to disappear.

So far it has worked wonderfully .. we all have input into what's planned for dinner and as a result, there's less stress on me when I get home from work.  It also means that we are eating less 'junk' and more real food as we are all making sure that the appropriate ingredients are out of the freezer in time.  (I know you can defrost things in the microwave but I reckon it makes the meat taste funny so I don't like to do it .. fussy!)

I should just put Friday's one (Fend for yourself) in permanent marker though ... I don't think it's changed in four weeks!

To sleep; perchance to dream ... please?

Brad had a couple of friends over for a sleepover last night ... the same two friends he had over for his birthday party.  I'm kind of regretting allowing the sleepover part.  If my brain was functioning properly, I'm sure it would be beating me about the head mercilessly with whatever large object was at hand, trying to beat some sense into me.

Now don't get me wrong, they are all good kids; not wilfully destructive, not (purposefully) rude, generally good kids.  But, and that's a big but, they are loud!  And apparently nocturnal.  And completely starving ... all.the.time.  Thankfully though, they are all relatively house-trained.

I sat them all down at 9pm and had a little chat re the noise and lack of sleep from last time then gave them instructions to keep the noise down to a dull roar and to allow the brothers (who weren't home last time) to get some sleep.

Alex and Andrew were given the option of sleeping in the spare room or their own rooms.  I did tell Andrew that if he was truly desperate for sleep, he could sleep in my room as Pete was up at the shed.  Alex elected to sleep in his own bed (being somewhat nocturnal himself, I figured that would be the case).  Andrew decided on the spare room but ended up coming down to my room at about 4am as he "couldn't take the singing any more".

We both tried to get some sleep after that but the dog had found a ball and kept barking at one or the other of the boys to play with him.  I took the ball away from the dog and sent the child who was on the elliptical machine back to bed at about 4:15am.

I took the other ball away from the dog at 5am and told him to be quiet or else.

At 5:45am I heard the sound of the kettle and the tea/coffee/sugar jars being opened and closed.  I went out to investigate and found the three of them standing in the kitchen making themselves iced coffees.  Yep .. coffees!  As if those three need coffee ... it would have been like giving a hummingbird speed!  Or a meerkat crack!  Or Hammy the squirrel coffee (Over the Hedge reference there).  Or ... I think you get the picture.

After rapidly setting them straight and telling them to have Milo instead,  I went back to bed and tried to sleep in.  Tried being the operative word there ... made it to 7:15am then was wide awake.  Why is it you can never sleep in when you want to?

Anyway, they all crashed and burned between 9:30 and 10am while I couldn't have gone back to sleep if my life depended on it (well, I probably could have under those circumstances but then again ... the stress of my life depending on it may have put paid to any restfulness ... who really knows?  I'm sleep deprived .. can you tell?) 

So what do you do when you're really tired and you're not thinking straight?  That's right .. you re-arrange the furniture.  Nothing like dropping something heavy on your foot to wake you up!  Even better if it's the bed you should really be sleeping in, not trying to move around the room! 

Oh well, the extra boys have gone, the bedroom is re-arranged and I managed to have a nanna nap this afternoon.  A pretty good day in all ...

Anyone want to buy a kidney?

Or maybe a lung?  I can survive with one ... I think!

Only reason I'm asking is we got a power bill today and I'm seriously thinking of selling one of the children my car to pay Synergy.

Our first power bill here at the new house was for 60 days (20 of which we weren't actually living in the house) and was less than $200.  With this next bill, I was envisioning a bill around $550 due to the new ducted reverse cycle air con, so you can imagine how my heart dropped when I saw that the first number was in fact a 9.

That's right ... a 9!

And not of a two digit number ... oh no!  It is a three digit number with another two numbers after the decimal point.

I rang the soul-sucking leeches lovely people at Synergy to question the bill and was told that there is no chance the bill could be wrong as I have a brand new digital meter that has eliminated the old 'human error' factor when reading the numbers.

When I agreed with her that the meter appeared to have been read correctly, as the number on it now is higher than the number quoted on the bill, she was temporarily stumped.  I think she was expecting me to rant and rave at her for personally upping my bill so when I simply asked for help in working out how it could be so high, it took her a full minute to come up with an answer.

Apparently, all I can do is turn everything off at the power point and then turn them back on one at a time and see which one makes the meter go up the most.  Trouble is, due to the lovely new digital meter, you have to stand there for absolute ages waiting for the kilowatt number to change and there's no smaller measure so you can't really tell which item would be using the most.  On the old style meters, at least there was a a dial that sped up and slowed down to give you some indication of how much power was being used.

I asked to make a payment arrangement and was told that I have to have this bill paid off before the next one is due out, or I will be in breach of their payment terms and our power will be disconnected.  After explaining that my husband has been unemployed for the last eight weeks and that some payment was surely better than none, she agreed to my suggested terms (which would have 90% paid off before the next bill is due).  Then, after asking me if that was all, she had the gall to ask if making these payments was going to "affect any of my other financial commitments".

Quickly sorting through several responses in my head, I discarded the rudest ones and settled for a simple "yes", to which she replied "make sure you call us if you are having trouble paying your bill as we can make a payment schedule for you".  Um, wasn't that what I just did?  And didn't you just tell me that I have no choice but to pay it on your terms and your schedule?

To top it all off, she then offered another option:  having our meter tested.  "But if the meter is found to be correct, you have to pay an additional $150."  Right ... pay for testing by your technicians on a meter supplied by you ... um ... no thanks.  At least not until I have paid this bill off anyway!

Don't you just love the life of the 'responsible adult'?

Addicted to Pinterest

I, like many others, have recently become addicted to the latest online trend of Pinterest. It's basically your own online inspiration board where you can 'pin' pictures/ideas that you like from all over the web.

The main problem, and not just for me, is actually leaving the computer and getting around to making some of the wonderful, must-have ideas that you've pinned. So I finally bit the bullet and made something .. one of those 'why didn't I think of that' craft things.

My original inspiration came from someone else's pin of this picture:
which takes you back to the original creator, in this case Angela Sgro Designs.

After spending waaay too much time in the paint aisle at Bunnings trying to decide which colours to pick, I finally just grabbed two of each of six different colour swatches and ran for the hills calmly sauntered out.

Then they were packed up with the rest of the craft stuff and moved house with us back at the end of November. I kept finding them every time I was looking for something so I finally stopped putting them away in mid-December and sat down to make some Christmas cards. (Can't rush these things you know!)

I figured they would be easy to make, especially as I already had card, adhesives and background paper. The hardest part was working out the angles to cut them on so I didn't end up with all the weird paint names all over my 'trees'. The trial and error with the cutting around the names is what caused the different sizes and the upside down 'darker at the top; lighter at the bottom' trees.

Anyway, here's my attempts:

I think they turned out quite well and the people I managed to send them to seemed to like them too.

Nothing quite like the sense of achievement you get from actually making something yourself ... even if it would have been heaps cheaper to just use all the discounted cards you bought at the end of last year's Christmas sales!

Aaahhh ... the joys of being crafty and not thrifty!

Christmas already?

Well, we'd been in the house a grand total of three weeks when we had (early) Christmas dinner here. I know, we're totally crazy but it seemed like a good idea at the time and it went very well considering the number of boxes still lying around and the noticeable lack of air conditioning.

Apart from some mad rummaging through boxes at the last minute to find the right amount of crockery and cutlery, it was a good evening. Mark, Bec and the kids made the hour long trek from their place in south Geraldton (It's really Ellenbrook but it's sooo far away, we have dubbed it south Geraldton); Clare and Richard made their own 45 minute trek from East Vic Park and the Mums came from a little bit closer (only 28km or so). 

We set up three tables in the dining/family rooms and covered with them with the good old faithful (still unhemmed) pieces of green fabric I bought to make pelmets at least two houses ago.

Despite most of the decorations not having been put up this year (couldn't find them!), I made an effort to make the table look a bit festive by putting some battery operated Christmas lights into some big glass vases I've had for years (still trying to work out why I keep them as I never hardly ever get flowers and certainly not bunches big enough to fill these vases).  I then came to the conclusion that they would probably look much better in a much darker room. Oh well, I thought they were pretty and, realistically, that's all that matters .. right?



Mark on the flying fox

After dinner my Mum, ever the motivator, had us all up and out for a walk around the neighbourhood. We headed for the main park as it has some play equipment. I think the adults had more fun playing on the flying fox and 'wobbly plank' than the kids did!  



Clare needing a helping hand

 

We headed back to the house for some dessert and then Alex brought out the gingerbread house he made in cooking class at school. He had been saving it for when everyone was together so we all had a taste. It was a little bit stale from having sat wrapped in cellophane for over a week but still tasted very good ... to me anyway! Soon after we broke off the first few pieces, Alex and Mark had a bit of a carving contest.



It ended up looking like something you'd find in serial killer's planning room ... knives stuck in everywhere!

All in all, we had a great evening surrounded by family and laughter ... what more could you ask for?

So proud! (and yet still annoyed!!)

First things first: We're very proud of Alex for receiving an award for the highest mark in Mathematics 2C/2D for the whole school! Good on you son!

(That's his hurry-up-and-take-the-picture-already-cos-you're-embarrassing-me face otherwise known as his I-AM-smiling face! We only just made it to the ceremony in time so I suppose I'm lucky I got the picture at all!)

The boys' school has two Praise and Thanksgiving ceremonies at the end of the year; one for primary during the morning and one in the evening for the secondary students. The students have to wear full winter uniform (including their wool blazers) so not many students are keen to go as it means that they will

1. have to get dressed in their uniform again


2. have to go back to school after the end of the last day of school


3. be hot in their uniforms in the un-airconditioned gym


4. have to sit still and behave while some 'old people' drone on up at the front ("It's just like being in class and school's finished for the year ... whinge whine")

Bearing all this in mind, I had decided it wasn't worth the battle, once I got home from a hot day's work, of getting them all fed, showered and dressed in their uniforms and back to school, especially as they hadn't even been to school that day due to issues with getting them there from the new house. (I figured it wouldn't hurt to miss the last day as they would only have been cleaning anyway!)

I had planned on a nice quiet evening and all was going well until we had a knock on the door at 4:45pm. It was the postie with a big stack of mail, re-directed from the old house and post office box. Being slightly pre-occupied with other things, I left the stack of mail for an hour before having a quick look through it all.

Amongst the letters from the real estate agents and the bills, was a letter from the school dated two weeks prior informing us that Alex was going to be receiving an award at Secondary Praise and Thanksgiving and to please RSVP by one week prior to enable the school to plan the awards ceremonies. If he was planning on attending, he needed to be there by 6pm (it was now 5:50pm!) in full winter uniform.

After a hurried discussion with Alex, who decided that he would like to go, and his brothers, who decided they were quite comfortable in their pyjamas and didn't want to get dressed and go, he and I jumped in the car and broke some land speed records to get him there (close to) on time. Turned out that I could have taken my time (or at least another ten minutes) as he didn't really need to be there until 6:30pm and that the RSVP wasn't really necessary (thank goodness!)

Long story short, (I know .. too late!) we made it in time, I got to see him get his award, have a couple of free biscuits and then we got in the car and came home for a well deserved rest.

Well done Alex!

Not so well done Australia Post mail re-direction!

I think I'm going to have to cut my fingernails ... the dashboard won't be able to take much more!

We were getting ready to leave this for school and work this morning and I was yawning my head off after taking Peter to the airport at dark o'clock. Andrew noticed and asked me if I was awake enough to be in charge of a vehicle. He then very kindly offered to drive for me to which I replied something along the lines of over my dead body maybe he can when he has a learner's permit. The instant gleam in his eye at that comment made me wonder what was coming next.

You'd think I would have learned to not speak out loud in front of my children, especially when tired, as it inevitably leads to a decision I find myself second-guessing for the rest of the day, with today being no exception.

Andrew's next response?

"So can Alex drive us all seeing as he has got a learner's permit?"

Yes, my first baby Alex has a motor vehicle learner's permit as well as his moped licence. He has been for two, count them: one, two, lessons in total (only one of which was on the actual road) and has had about 30 minutes of country highway driving experience (obtained last weekend with Peter). So, after a few seconds deliberation and reasoning that I'm already going grey (ssshhh!) so a few more grey hairs wouldn't really hurt (until I tried to pull them all out and sent myself bald), I agreed.

I don't know who was more nervous ... him or me. I know they were all surprised that I said yes (so was I to tell the truth!) and were probably wondering if I was trying to kill them by letting him drive.

Overall, considering it was only the third time he'd ever driven on a road (no Peter, driving the Navara at the shed doesn't count!) and the third different car in which he'd done it, he did really well. A bit more practice (and Valium for me!) and I'm sure he'll be fine.

The curbs may be living in fear for a while as I'm sure Alex was trying to get my front passenger side tyre and the curb on every road to have 'intimate relations' or some sort of strength competition but that may have just been my perception from the death seat passenger seat.

I have decided that the entire world looks way too close from the front passenger seat ... must be something to do with the way light refracts through the windscreen and my fingers over my eyes ... as, despite knowing that we were only going at 55kmph for most of the trip, it sure seemed faster. Everything seem to appear suddenly in front of us and not having a brake pedal on my side of the car resulted in a few new dents in the floor pan .. nothing a mat can't cover!

His first time driving an automatic coupled with his rather large, very heavy feet, resulted in a couple of hairy moments like the time he got up to 80kmph between two roundabouts approximately 400m apart, at both of which he had to stop to allow other cars to continue. I don't think I dented the dashboard with my head but I'm sure I put a a hole in the floor trying to brake a la Fred Flintstone!

Seriously though, he did much better than I expected but I think I'll go stock up on some more Clairol Nice 'n' Easy and some Valium ...

(Just Another) Manic Monday

Snippets from recent Manic Mondays:

3/10/2011

First official day of school holidays so of course I slept in to 7:45am.
No milk for a cup of tea (which I didn't really have time for anyway).
Noticed I had next to no fuel so crossed my fingers and hoped I'd make it to work.
Got caught at every red light and railway crossing on the way to work.
Made it to work (and only 15 minutes later than usual).
Walked into my office to a ringing phone and nearly broke my leg on the parcel some idiot person had kindly left right in front of the door as I raced for said phone.
Answered the phone to find Bradley on the other end asking if he could have ice cream for breakfast too.
Upon further questioning, I ascertained that the idea had been planted in his head by his supposedly more sensible older brother (Alex) who was at that very moment chowing down on a very large bowl of ice cream.
When I questioned Alex as to why he thought that eating ice cream for breakfast was a good idea or even acceptable, his response was that it was a dairy food so how was it any different from having milk?
Then he asked if it would be better if he put Milo cereal in it.
It was about this point that I realised it wouldn't kill him (his brothers maybe) so gave up and went back to dealing with the other children employees waiting for my attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10/10/2011

My first day (of three weeks) at Austral Bricks Malaga.
After it only taking 35 minutes for me to get to Malaga on the previous Thursday, I was somewhat surprised to find that it took me over an hour to get there on Monday morning.
During the long and rather boring drive, I spotted a van in front of me that had all sorts of stuff crammed into the boot and back seat. It looked like the occupants were moving house and this was the dregs ... you know all those leftover bits that seem to hide when you're packing.
Upon pulling level with the elderly female driver, I realised it was in fact, an episode of Hoarders ... just on wheels!
There was so much stuff crammed into every available space, I'm surprised she was able to see out of the windscreen. There was barely enough room to turn the steering wheel and I'm not just talking boxes or bags of stuff. There was layer-upon-layer of receipts, paperwork, rubbish and junk mail. Some archaeologist would have a had a field day excavating that lot. There may have even been remains of some pre-2000 lifeform, possibly under the layer of stuff that used to be the passenger seat.
That wasn't the scariest part though. That was as I pulled level with her for the second time, she reached into the pile of stuff that was where the passenger seat should have been, pulled something out, peered at it for a second then.ate.it! Eeeeewwwwww!!
Then she turned up Kewdale Road and disappeared from sight ... off to scare some other poor unsuspecting road user.

Love this one!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

The point of no return...

It has been six months since I started at Austral and I am now officially off probation.

I don't know whether to be relieved or amused that the boss didn't even realise I was on probation until I pointed it out to him at our last snooze-fest meeting. All the other managers/supervisors said they were aware of it (due to it being standard practice) but, as the probation goes both ways (ie. me giving them a trial too), they were hoping that if no-one mentioned it, I would be happy to stay. Nice to know I'm wanted.

I do enjoy the job and like (most) of the guys, but I am now at the stage of feeling settled, while at the same time feeling like I'm on auto-pilot ... and not just at work.

I have nothing but admiration for single mums who do all this on their own as well as all the other mums in similar situations to mine (hubby working away and working full-time themselves), but at the moment I'm not thinking about them. It's all about me people!

Auto-pilot is dangerous for me as it usually precedes a lower than usual depressive episode. The fact that I have resorted to my old organisational quirks to try and feel in control of my life is a bit of a concern too.

The boys think it's funny when Mum makes the clothes pegs match each other as well as the clothes they are pegged on.

And apparently it's hilarious when Mum makes sure that there are only white pegs on the clothes airer and a certain number per rung at that.

And then when she organises the pantry so everything is organised by type of goods and then size of box/container, they are almost in hysterics (until they are told that they now have to wash all the Tupperware containers they put back in the pantry empty!)

However, it's not so funny when Mum can't be bothered getting out the bed she has crawled into after work to make them dinner.

And it's not funny when there's no clothes to wear because they're all still sitting in the washing machine after being washed for the fifth time without being hung out.

And it's definitely not funny when Mum totally loses her shit and yells about every.little.thing (real or imagined) that should have been done but hasn't or hasn't been done right or hasn't even been thought of yet but why haven't they read my mind and done it without being asked.

Luckily, I am not as the stage of crawling into bed as soon as I get home or of yelling at them for anything and everything. I am aware of this particular slippery slope and am making more of a concerted effort to keep myself upright and moving forward; not downward.

I am not as terrified of showing people the 'real me'; the one that occasionally doesn't cope too well with the whole situation; the one who sometimes just wants everyone to just go away and leave me alone.

However, it is still hard to not feel alone and isolated; still hard to ask for help when you don't know what would help; still hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other even though you know people are depending on you; still hard to put on your game face and get out into the world.

I came to the realisation the other day that I am way more like my mother than I would like to be. Depression is hereditary after all. But hopefully my awareness of my own triggers and warning signs will ensure that they aren't too affected by my issues. Hopefully it will make them slightly more sympathetic to those who struggle with issues of their own (be they mental, physical or emotional).

Hopefully my boys will be OK.

Where does he get this stuff from?

Overheard in the car this afternoon, whilst driving home from taking a look at the house:

Brad: Drew, you know how they say 'you are what you eat'?

Drew: Yes. What about it?

Brad: It's really strange isn't it?

Drew: What's strange about it?

Brad: I really don't remember eating a sexy beast!

I'm kinda dreading what he'll be like once the testosterone really kicks in!!

The things they say ...

Whilst having a discussion with the boys about our menu plan for the week, Bradley came up with a new term for boiled potatoes. It went a little something like this:


Me: Well how about we have vegetables and potatoes with that instead of chips?


Brad: Mashed potatoes?


Me: I was thinking jacket potatoes.


Brad: No, I want nude potatoes.


Me: What on earth are nude potatoes?


Brad: You know Mum (insert eye roll here) ... ones without their clothes on.


Me: (being purposely slow on the uptake .. honest!) What clothes?


Brad: The only clothes they have ... their jackets ... duh!

Be afraid! Be very afraid ...

because:

I am now officially licensed to drive a forklift.

I had to have a photo taken for the new licence which resembles one of the 'after' shots from those scare-people-off-Meth programs. Either that or a drunken mug shot. (No, I'm not going to post it here out of courtesy to your delicate monitors and eyes).

Alex has his learner's permit for a moped licence.

Andrew has asked for braces which means you guys will now get to listen to me whinge about how much it's going to cost for the next three years .. lucky you!

Bradley, despite not yet being a teenager, has a full blown teenage attitude and he's not afraid to use it!

I think I'm seeing things that aren't really there. For example, on Wednesday evening while driving home from work, I could swear I saw an oversized troll doll riding a bicycle along the footpath towards the train station. After looking at 'it' several more times (all while trying to keep driving in a straight line), I discovered it was a middle-aged woman with an over-abundance of very orange spray tan and hot pink, fluffy, standing-straight-up-in-the-air hair. To quote my Dad,

"The sights you see when you haven't got a gun!"

AAAArrrgggggghhhhh!!

Just had a phone call from Peter to tell me that Alex has been suspended for two days.

"What for this time?" I hear you ask.

Thankfully it is nothing involving violence or bullying. He has apparently taken a computer file of his from TAFE to school with him and, by using it at school, managed to compromise the school's whole network! Don't ask me how 'cos I don't understand most of what he spouts about computers these days which I know can be dangerous (hello .. suspension!) but I just can't keep up with it all.

My first reaction was dread upon hearing of the suspension .. what's he done now kind of thing.

Second reaction upon hearing what he'd done was relief. Thank goodness no-one has been injured kind of thing.

Third reaction .. laughter. He's only 15, been studying computers for a term-and-a-half and he has compromised a system managed by a rather large team of very expensive 'professionals'.

I keep having to resist the urge to slap him on the back and tell him good job! (There's a bit of history behind that comment .. knowledge about how the previous school-employed IT people were sacked with no notice and then escorted off the premises to make sure they didn't sabotage anything as revenge for the whole no notice thing. Good Christian attitude huh?)

While I don't agree with him messing with something just to prove he can, I honestly don't believe it was done with malicious intent and am therefore going to go into bat for him about the whole two day suspension thing. The system is still working; no private/confidential information has been accessed and there is no lasting damage so I think it is rather severe.

Plus there's the whole 'let's punish him by giving him more time away from school' thing. I've never really understood that especially with this child. I have explained until I'm blue in the face that it is not a punishment and teaches him absolutely nothing but the school insists that 'justice must be seen to be done'!

AAAAArrrrgggghhhh

Now I know where Brad gets his warped sense of humour from ...

Well, actually I already knew but it was just confirmed once and for all.

Peter, Drew and I were sitting watching Better Homes and Gardens on Friday night when a segment came on about some flowers that look like carnations but aren't (some sort of relative to them though).

As the presenter was extolling the virtues of this plant with very pink flowers, Peter pipes up with "Did you know there's no such thing as a pink carnation?"

I was just about to reply with something along the lines of "Of course there is!" when Drew asked "Why?"

Peter's response?

"Because every nation has many different coloured cars."

Cue groans here!

Channelling Ke$ha this morning ... "This place about to blo-ow"

I am going to kill the child. Feel free to guess which one!


Sorry, that is supposed to be:


I shall not kill the child. I shall not kill the child. I shall not kill the child. I shall not kill the child.


The only thing saving him at the moment is the fact that I have to go to work. I will however be phoning the school to confirm that once again, he has failed to complete a homework assignment and that they (once again) have my full permission to punish him as they see fit.

I'm at my wit's end with this child.

How can I help him to see that he is only hurting himself?

That even though I am the one ranting and raving, that it doesn't really affect my life to the same extent it does his?

That despite the fact that I understand that homework is, at times, both boring and seemingly pointless, he still must do it and hand it in, on time?

I'm sure he is sick to death of me saying that it is all up to him and then proceeding to make him sit down and produce something just to get me off his back.

I'm sure that the teachers think I am an ineffectual parent who isn't doing anything about this situation.

I see them look at me in disbelief when I tell them how long I sit with him (sometimes 5 or 6 hours), only to get a paragraph or two of actual work down on paper.

I'm sure they are thinking that I am exaggerating for effect, pity or attention when all I am doing is asking for help in how to get this child to complete the tasks they have set.

I wonder how he is going to survive in the 'real' world out there without me to poke, prod and push him to 'get with the program' and to explain the subtleties of human interaction.

It all comes down to just one thing really ... I'm scared.

I'm scared he won't be able to provide for himself.

I'm scared he will get himself into dangerous situations that he can't talk himself out of.

Sometimes, I'm scared that I haven't done enough to help him and at other times, I'm scared I've done too much and prevented him from learning a valuable life lesson. Then I think that he probably wouldn't be able to apply that lesson in another similar, but different, situation anyway.

It's not that I'm not worried about the other two boys .. I am .. just not to the same extent.

Is this because he is my eldest or because of the autism?

Is it due to our personalities being similar and really being able to understand his point-of-view?

Or is it just because I'm a Mum and that's what we do?

A quick update ...

Wow, I hadn't realised just how long it's been since I was last here ... 9 weeks!!

As you may have gathered, I have been kind of busy and have been on auto pilot while I settle into some sort of routine with the new job, kids working, husband being away/home/away/home, household chores and all the other assorted things that we women/adults/parents have to deal with. This auto pilot mode has resulted in me basically cutting myself off from the rest of the outside world while I endeavour to find some balance, which I still haven't managed but I'm getting a bit closer.

The kids are being their usual selves .. mostly good with an occasional need for a 'come to Jesus' meeting. Alex and Drew are busy working and going to school while Brad is hanging out for the day when he can go to work as well. As I keep reminding him though, if he whinges about putting the groceries away, chances are he's not going to enjoy working much!

Andrew has decided that he doesn't much like this working thing. The money he likes; the actual work ... not so much! Apparently it's boring and it hurts his legs to have to walk around so much to which I replied that he needs to exercise more to increase his fitness/endurance levels. Should be interesting when he gets a 'real' (full-time) job where he has to do that all day, every day for the rest of his life ...

He has decided to hang in there until we move to the new house when he is determined to get a 'better' job at the Woolworths or Coles that are supposed to opening up out there. Personally, I can't see how it would be any different working in Woolworths supermarket versus a Foodworks supermarket but what would I know? It's not like I've ever worked in a supermarket ...

Alex is still big on procrastination and avoidance of things he finds distasteful ... like homework and housework. Strangely enough, he is quite happy to go to work and will take just about any extra shifts he's offered, but I suppose there is actual real money involved as opposed to some far off distant promise of improving his lot in life further down the track.

I am still concerned about what will happen with or to him once he is out in the real world after school due to his impulse control issues and lack of 'street smarts'. Last week, he and Andrew went to Gosnells after school on the bus (with my permission) and on their way back, Alex was baled up against the wall at the train station (where they were waiting for the bus) and punched several times by a complete stranger for seemingly no reason.

I was at work at the time and received a rather panicked phone call from Andrew telling me Alex was 'being beaten up'. I immediately left work to try and get to the train station to pick them up but they had managed to get away from the guy and get on the bus so I just met them at home. Alex was in total shock, crying and shaking and unable to talk about it. After calming him down a bit, I was able to get a few details out of him.

Apparently the guy approached him, grabbed his sleeve and said something about a smoke. (I'm assuming the guy was trying to 'bum a smoke'). Alex flung his arm out to try and shake the guy off, which the guy has probably interpreted as Alex taking a swing at him, and has then baled him up against the wall and punched him in the stomach a couple of times. During the course of this, Alex bumped his elbow on the edge of a sign and that was the injury he focused on .. for the next four days!

Luckily, there was no blood or lasting physical damage but I think the emotional scars will last a while. He is now extremely wary of anyone he doesn't know approaching him, especially if they are of a 'darker skin tone' than him. I tried explaining how he could have done things differently (which may or may not have changed the outcome) but I'm not sure how much of what I said has sunk in. The joys of being a parent ...