Heart Shaped Faces

In a bout of domesticity the other night (I can’t remember which night as it is something I would generally not like to remember) I actually moved the couch to sweep and mop, as opposed to cleaning around them and hoping no one would ever look remotely in the direction.  

Anyway, I moved the couch back into position, unable to further contribute to domesticity due to clean but wet floors, I pulled up a seat in the corner of the couch.  I reached over to grab the remote to start flicking through the channels and saw a mark on the couch.   Being a mum and ever so practical, I tried to use a glob of spit on my finger to wipe off the mark.  When I looked closer, the ‘mark’ was actually a beautiful picture drawn on the brown leather, with pen!

I was pissed off, but the drawing was there and I couldn’t do much about it.  It was clearly girl-child’s drawing as it was a heart head person, drawn in the style she was ever so fond of a few months ago (does that give you an indication of how often a chocolate coloured leather couch needs cleaning?).  I thought about getting out the cleaning products and trying to get rid of the ‘mark’ on the couch but quickly changed my mind.  

 

Why would I not attempt to cleaning the drawing from the couch?

 a) it would be hard to discuss with girl-child the implications of drawing on furniture if said drawing was removed,

b) the floors were still wet, I don’t want to undo all my cleaning work

c) what cleaning products (how do I know how to clean leather without first googling?)

d) why clean, the couch is still comfortable, and besides there is an interesting tv show about to start

e) all of the above!

 

Naturally, response E was the winner!  So for the days following the discovery of the heart shaped face on the couch, I have tried to discuss with girl-child why the drawing was on the couch and how it got there.  She was very aloof and didn’t want to discuss what she could clearly see was drawn on the couch.  Instead of being hysterical about it (and I had every damn right to be hysterical – the couch is the most expensive piece of furniture we own) I tried to calmly discuss why drawing on anything other than paper was inappropriate.  That seemed to work, girl-child could list all the places she wasn’t allowed to draw, that she has in the past drawn on – her pyjamas, her body, her bed, dolls furniture… the list was quite extensive.  She was able to say that drawings are best on something that isn’t precious and that can be kept and displayed for everyone to enjoy.  

I was feeling positive, as she was recognising the errors of her way I asked the most important question – “so how did your heart shaped face get on to the couch?”  The responses varied from the fairies put it there to it was magic or my friends did it.  This changed the discussion to the importance of telling the truth.  Trying to explain to a 4 year old that I am not upset about the picture on the couch (at least not visibly and audibly in front of her) but I am very upset about her not telling the truth.

Around here, not telling the truth results in the loss of a gem (I will explain more about that in another post at another time).  For 3 days, girl-child resisted telling the truth, the gems weren’t working.  She would say that she was tricking me.  Whenever I asked if she wanted to discuss the couch, she would go into sullen mode.  She was unable to speak due to trying not to cry.  Instead she would squeak or grunt a response.  It was amazingly difficult not to laugh in her face.  

Eventually we decided that gem bribery or deprivation wasn’t working, we had to take drastic measures.  It was time to cancel all home craft projects.  I was excited, it meant that there would be no more paper scraps, beads, pens and string all over the floor.  

This afternoon, shopping for a birthday present for a friend of girl-child, she realised the errors of her way.  We were buying a giant package of art and craft items and for the first time ever girl-child didn’t get any new craft stuff.  Finally, on the way home from the shops, girl-child told me all about drawing on the couch.  She told me all about how she drew the picture and then tried to rub it off.  It wouldn’t come off no matter how hard she tried.  She was really upset and I could barely contain my smiles – girl-child finally told the truth.  

The picture remains on the couch, as a constant reminder of being honest and of knowing where it is appropriate to draw.  Besides, the picture is kind of cute!

 

When I Grow Up

OK, so blogging or journaling just for the sake of writing is harder than I imagined.  I find that as I drift off to sleep, wander around the river or am in some location away from a computer, I have millions of ideas of what to write about.  Unfortunately, but the time I have a chance to sit down and type, all content has disappeared from my head.  I had come up with a few ideas in an earlier post, basically copying other peoples blog ideas.  Even that seems like hard work.  I think for now, I will simply tag on to other peoples ideas until I find my own.

Yesterday, Rude Cactus talks about conversing with other people who don’t know what they want to do when they grow up. He then posing the question “Are you doing what you want to do? If money was no object, what’s your ideal gig?”

I felt strange as I was typing my response, but I actually think that I am doing the job that is perfectly suited to me, now.  As well as the work being interesting, varied challenging and at often insane, the hours I work are flexible enough to fit in around crazy kid schedules and the possibilities of man-child working interstate or crazy hours.  I live and work in the same area so I can walk to work and I really enjoy the company of the people I work with.  Add to this that I actually believe in what I do, and I think I am in the perfect job.  

This is me at work, on the most amazing and terrifying swing ever!  Flying thorough the air from a height of 21m.

Essentially, at the end of the day, I can come home from work believing that I have made a small difference.  Sounds like a commercial pitch, but at the moment I love work!

 

Interesting

Man-child called me at work today, to let me know that a letter had arrived for me and did I want him to open it for me.  I know that this seems like an over-reaction about a single piece of mail, but we seldom receive mail that does not include demands for us to pay money for some service or another, and this was mail I really wanted.  It was the response to my application that I was so superstitious about here.

The letter began with “We acknowledge receipt of your application for consideration… Unfortunately…” and then I pretty much stopped listening.  I know that my application was a long shot and that I was a very unlikely candidate but after all of the creative writing (thanks man-child) I would have given me the world.  

When man-child finished reading the letter he asked how I felt.  Well, how do you respond to a devastating blow?  I think I mumbled something that wasn’t terribly coherent.  Man-child then asked if I would go away for a longer period of time.  Having no idea what he was talking about, I asked him to explain (read I said Huh?)  He said that I wasn’t successful in my application for a 10 day international industry exchange but that the committee was impressed with my application and wanted to recommend me for a group industry exchange at a later time, for a much longer time.  In a matter of seconds I went from blah to woo-hoo. 

Now I have to let the superstitions not kick in and hope to be nominated for the exchange…  

Little Angels

For what seems like ages now I have been unable to join in to normal parental conversation.  This isn’t because I haven’t been around parents, it is because it doesn’t feel appropriate or fair to talk about not having any real hassles with the kids at the moment.  Don’t get me wrong, we do have tears and tantrums, just not many of them.  After this mornings extreme awesomeness, I feel it appropriate to document the angels that have replaced the angels in my life.

Whilst not always being the best sleepers, the kids know the bed time rituals and rules – in bed at 7, unless we have something special to attend or Gladiators is on TV.  Stay in bed until 7 in the morning, unless it is the weekend and then don’t wake us until 8.  Well this morning was an extra special treat.  I heard the kids wake at around 8.  We had no immediate plans for the morning, so I stayed in bed reading.  Knowing that boy-child was going to visit a friend at 11, after he cleaned his room I decided at around 10, that it was time to get up and begin on the bedroom tidying process.  

As I got up, both kids were sneaking back upstairs, but made a detour in to my room to give me a cuddle-kiss.  I didn’t need to ask if they had had some breakfast, there was evidence of vegemite all over their faces.  I did ask if they wanted help to clean their room but they said their room was already clean.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, natural parental skepticism, so I went upstairs to see for myself.  I nearly cried (tears of joy) when I saw their room – it was clean and tidy, all the toys were put away and the beds were made.

So today, instead of complaining about being tired, about not having any peace and quiet, about having every available space covered with home-made treasures, I am going to smile and thank my children for being beautiful angels who are really amazing.  So amazing that I often forget that they are only little kids.  

Catch Up

Yesterday, man-child decided to work from home.  Of course he decided to ‘work’ at the dining table.  Knowing that he had heaps of work to do and not wanting him to have to work over the weekend (again), I spent the majority of the day keeping girl-child occupied elsewhere.  This included walking home from school after dropping off boy-child the long way, via a cafe and making and decorating paper dolls upstairs in the study, on the carpeted floors rather than the wooden floors downstairs in the lounge room as we didn’t want to disturb daddy!  God forbid that the study would be an appropriate place to work! 

I didn’t do my usual attempt at cleaning the house as that would also be distracting.  After having a busy week at work, the house was looking worse for wear.  The laundry was overflowing but I knew the sound of the washer and dryer (yes I know I am lazy) would also be distracting, I left the washing for another day.

We left for the school pick-up earlier than usual and took longer to get home than usual for a cold and wet day.  Essentially, we avoided the main areas of the house all day, as the entire downstairs area is open plan.  We did this only to find that it wasn’t a really productive work day, but lots of web surfing and online shopping took place!  Hooray.  That meant that today I would have to catch up on domestic duties when man-child took the the kids to their final circus class.

Little Boy Blue

I was reading another blog (Zoot again) that was questioning what makes little kids stay in bed, when there is nothing physically stopping them from getting out.  It reminded me of the adventures we shared when boy-child graduated from his cot…  

Boy-child moved to a junior bed when he was 14 months old (around the time we knew we were pregnant again). We didn’t want to have to deal with jealousy issues of boy-child not wanting the baby to be in ‘his bed’, so we converted his cot early. We were really lucky, despite being able to climb in and out of bed himself, he never climbed out of the bed until it was really morning, when we told him he could get up. We would leave a few books and a toy on the drawers by his bed and he would quietly entertain himself, it was fantastic.

This lasted for about a year, until he realised he could get out of bed. Then he would get out of bed, play for a bit, then return to bed when he was tired again. We really never had any issues until the time he found the texta… Unfortunately he never found any paper to draw on. He did however find the walls, cupboard doors and his entire body (including under the nappy he took off and then put back on when he was sufficiently blue)!

AJ’s Art, originally uploaded by superRelish.

I still love looking at these photos, boy-child is so pleased with his creation! It was really hard to impress upon him that it was important to only draw pictures on paper when I insisted on taking photos of the evidence. Fortunately this was a once off night time art expedition.

We have had similarly colourful results from other art experiences, but I will write about them another time!

Kids Cook Monday – an unexpected choice

When I picked boy-child up from school, he was really excited – Freddy the Class Teddy was coming to our house to stay for a night.  He excitedly informed me that he would have to do something interesting for Freddy because he had to write in a diary about their adventures and you have to write in the grown up diary too.  Hooray homework for me!

Being Monday – Kids Cook Monday, boy-child got home from school and started flicking through recipe books.  He wasn’t interested in the kid cooking books today, apparently they had too many recipes with lots of eggs in them.  Instead he chose a recipe that was a little unexpected – Honey Mustard Chicken served on a bed of Kumera Mash with broccoli and carrots.  

After recipe selection, it was then time to collect girl-child and go shopping for the remaining ingredients.  Man-child had had a bad day in the office (but that is another story for another time) and was home early.  He felt the need for some quality family time, so off we all trekked to the shop.  Naturally a quick shop took much longer than usual, but it was fun.  

Time to cook dinner, girl-child was in charge of the mash, peeling and cooking the kumera before she mashed it.  Boy-child made the marinade for the chicken and set it to bake before getting the extra vegies on to steam.  Next the table was set ready for a special dinner with Freddy the Teddy.

Dinner was delicious.  The chicken had much stronger flavours than I expected (we didn’t really follow the measurements) but both kids loved them.  We made more than we needed, so there should be enough left to add to a salad tomorrow.  I think that honey mustard chicken will be on the menu again.

In other matters, going back to work was a pleasant distraction from the rest of life’s happenings.  I am settling back into routine, and enjoying it.  That being said, it did take my entire work day to read 2 and a half weeks worth of work emails.  Of course, that was reading the emails only, I am yet to respond to them, that will take another day I am sure.

Oh the mundane pleasures of routine…

Scatter-Brain

In one of my favourite blogs, Zoot refers to undermining the abilities of those near and dear to you when it relates to parenting.  Well I have to admit that I am very guilty of this behaviour.  I want the messages that the kids receive to be consistent so I guess that I adopt a ‘my way or the highway’ type of attitude.

Tonight I couldn’t cope with the mixed messages the kids were getting from man-child.  This, coupled with the lack of control over the pain in the world around me, I felt that I was having a melt down and I needed to get out before I snapped.

As I was wandering around, trying to relax, I began thinking about a girl from high school.  I would like to say this girl was a friend, but we weren’t, she was the strange big sister of one of my class mates.  She was a year ahead of me, but we shared some classes.  As the young kid in the class, I spent time with her and the other class misfits.  She wore glasses with purple lenses to help her read and was really the only person I knew at the time who went to counseling.  I remember talking during a particularly uninspiring English class about what they talked about.  She came up with a term that was used to describe her personality type – a ’scatterbrained perfectionist’.  She really didn’t care about much in life, except for dance and as a result she was failing pretty much every class, but was able to teach dance.

I am feeling more and more like a ’skatterbrained perfectionist’ lately, the difference is, it isn’t a specific area of my life that requires perfection, instead it is a time. Generally I am relaxed about what needs to be done and when, but I will go from being chilled and not stressed to requiring everything finished, neat, tidy and accounted for.  Unfortunately this type of inconsistency is unsettling for everyone, especially the kids.

I think that generally I am able to control the ’scatterbrained ‘ aspects of my personality, but with so much happening lately, there is more scatterbrained attitudes surfacing (the laundry that needs doing before school tomorrow is probably a perfect example of this).    I am back at work tomorrow, so the plan is that I will be too busy to think of all the negatives and make the most of what really is amazing in my own life and accept that I can’t fix everything.  

A Good Paddock

Well today was my last day of leave.  I haven’t really ‘done anything’, but have managed to eat out very frequently.  

This morning after we dropped boy-child at school, girl-child and I wandered to a coffee shop for a chocolate fix.  This was followed by a very long lunch with some of my oldest friends – my sister and girls I went to kinder with!  

The afternoon, or what was left of it, was quite busy with a few mad dashes this afternoon finalising my application, making copies and finally getting it submitted required a reward – some more chocolate.

The day was rounded of with dinner with the girls at my all time favourite restaurant, Abyssinian the most delicious African fare in Melbourne.  Not only is the food fantastic, the owner and chef are beautiful people who make dining there a fantastic experience. 

Overindulgence is definitely a great way to finish leave.  I will have to return to work to eat better (read: healthier and consume less chocolate).

News Just In

The news that could be devastating, isn’t as bad as it could have been.  That being said, it isn’t great news and it hasn’t been confirmed so I will hold off on telling the story.  On the ‘good news’ front, applications close tomorrow.  I haven’t finished my application yet, but I am almost happy with it.  The successful applicants won’t be announced for another month but I will continue to cross my fingers.

In other good news, I was given a gift voucher for a spa treatment that I had to use this month.  Now I am not a spa bunny.  It is not that I don’t want to be, I just don’t have the time nor the money to partake in frequent spa rituals.  After today, I must say that I could quite easily dream of becoming a spa bunny.

The morning at the spa started with checking in and changing into a cosy white robe.  A short time was spent in the relaxation room, sipping herbal tea.  My consultant came in to discuss what treatments I would receive – a Batu Hot Stone and Deep Tissue Massage, followed by a facial and finishing with a Batu Hot Stone Pedicure and polish.  

Now I have had massage before, but using hot stones and aromatherapy oils adds a whole new and wonderful dimension.  More products were used in a single facial today than I have used in my life.  The pedicure was amazing and definitely something I would like to do again.  Imagine sitting in a deep comfortable leather recliner, listening to suitably chilled music on a an ipod, sipping tea as your feet are being massaged prior to the nails being polished.  

 

So if you ever feel like escaping reality, head to Spa Nirvana for a moment of bliss.