Awesomely Awesomeness

It has been a while since I have loitered in these parts and normally the reason for my hibernation is that I feel like the whole world is going to implode, either that or my head is going to explode and I feel like crap and am sick of complaining all the time.  Well today things are different.  I have been away because I have been busy, insanely busy, but I am happy.

It is the middle of the afternoon on Father’s Day.  The house is momentarily quiet, boy-child has wandered over to a friend’s house to watch a movie and man-child has taken girl-child to visit a friend during half time of the football.  Of course all that peace and quiet will shatter in minutes when man-child returns to watch the rest of the football.  The awesomely awesomeness of the week may will change depending on the score of the football.  Currently his team, Collingwood is 10 points down but by the sounds of the sporadic cheering and shouting it sounds like it is a great match.  Of course that is half time down according to the TV and delayed telecast when in actual fact his team is currently 4 goals behind (24 point) at three quarter time.  I am making the most of my good mood by posting now rather than this evening when I am listening to his melancholy mopy moodiness.

So I hear you say, what has made me be in such a good mood?  Surely it can’t be work?  Well as strange as it sounds, I have been working insane hours and haven’t even had time to follow blogs.  Instead of working my typical 6 hour days and then going home to the kids I have had a few 12 hour days.  Sure they aren’t typical days, they have included dinner functions.

One of the dinner functions I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Ramadan celebration.  Now I am not a religious person at all, in fact I am quite oblivious to religion and what it involves but I do appreciate the sense of community and belonging that it can foster.  I admit that I was apprehensive before going to the dinner, so apprehensive in fact that I drove 30 minutes in the opposite direction to be able to travel to the dinner with colleagues!  I needn’t have worried, the other dinner guests (there were a few hundred more of them) were all wonderful and welcoming.  There were many different presentations throughout the night, as well as time for the practicing Muslims in the group to pray at the appropriate times.  I have to say that not only was the food amazing, but the evening was educational too.  I managed to learn more about the Muslim religion and culture in one evening than I have learnt in many years.  I was also pleasantly surprised that instead of being annoyed at my ignorance, the people I was sharing a table with were happy to explain elements of their belief to me and even to point out similarities between the religions of Islam and Christianity.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening and it has left me wanting to learn more about religions and the communities that they foster as a result.

The second after hours work function was at an award ceremony, celebrating volunteers within the community.  My boss had encouraged me to nominate a volunteer that I have worked with this past year.  Another cross-sectorial colleague nominated the wife of the person I nominated.  Together we were very apprehensive, the nominees are selfless volunteers within the community and feel that they have already been recognised for all of their tireless work through the smiles and thanks of the people whom they constantly assist, that they really didn’t want or need to be recognised publicly.  That said, together they did win an award celebrating their excellent work within the community.  In their thank you speech, they were very humble and grateful for the award and recognition but again emphasised that they has already been recognised for their work by their friends in need.  It amazed me at just how selfless a family can be, I wish there were more families like theirs in fact I wish I wish I could be more like them.  Hopefully some of their beauty can rub off on me and I will also become a better person.

Speaking about families, have I mentioned that my family is ace?  Yesterday was a nothing day.  I say a nothing day because we had nothing planned but much to do.  Nothing exciting, grocery shopping and shoe shopping that involved a detour to a local park, watching the kids (all three of them) running wild and burning off excess energy and for me a chance to lie in the sunshine again.  It was relaxing and enjoyable, surprisingly it was even productive.

That brings me to today, Father’s Day.  It has become a tradition of sorts to catch up with friends for brunch.  We used to spend many a day together relaxing at the beach, playing in parks or exploring museums but with moves to different suburbs, additional children and now kids at school every day, the time to catch up is few and far between.  We made the effort today, well actually they made the effort to come over and eat at one of our local cafes.  Again the food was delicious, the company was great and the following walk along the river was enjoyable.  The kids spent the afternoon splashing about in the hot tub until the football began.

Man-child is the only one of us interested in the teams playing today. Actually he is the only one interested in the footy so everyone else drifted away, younger kids to have a sleep and older kids to play with other friends.  Me, I get an hour or two to catch up, get dinner ready and just enjoy the afternoon.

The football is about to end (in real life) and the scores aren’t in man-child’s favour.  We have friends coming over for an impromptu dinner so the mopiness will be improved by the great company.  It should be the perfect way to finish a great week.

In other news of awesomely awesomeness, friends have just travelled to the Philippines to complete their family.  After many many years of waiting their family of three is now a family of four as they brought home a beautiful little 2 year old boy to share their hearts, their home and their lives.  I am so happy for them that each time I think of them or see photos of them I am so overcome by happiness and love that my eyes well up and my chest feels like it is going to explode, I am over the moon happy for them.

The Day is Getting Better

So it is mid afternoon and I have to say that the day has improved.  Work was work-like but not too tragic, except for the notification that I need to start work at 6.30am on Friday morning.  I had to leave early to take boy-child in to the hospital for a review of his bionic elbow.  I preempted a long long sit at the hospital waiting.  I was organised, we had a lunch box, a snack bag, kid books, a book for me and a fully charged phone.  Surely that would cover us for the potentially huge wait.  He was in and out for the xray and then it was time to go see the orthopedic surgical consultant.  The appointments are scheduled for an hour apart but it seems that the times are arbitrary so we went straight upstairs.  It is never a good sign when you arrive at the clinic to be confronted with a sign saying the clinic is closed for lunch and will re-open at 1.30pm and it was only 1pm.  Out come the supplies and we settled in to wait.  The waiting area filled quickly.  Soon there were no seats left and still more people were arriving and I was happy to have my book.

Eventually the reception area re-opened.  Boy-child showed very assertive skills, surely not inherited from me, and was able to gain his rightful place in line to go through to the clinic.  Still, I wasn’t sure if appointment times would be adhered to, so I kept my book out and boy child was happy to keep playing on my phone.  Let’s say that I was pleasantly surprised when we were called through to see our doctor right on the scheduled appointment time.  The doctor is lovely and is very pleased with the way that boy-child’s arm has healed.  He has regained about 90% of his extension and full flexion.  He almost has full rotation and no pain, even when you press on the screw that is now visible since the swelling has finally reduced.  In fact he is so pleased with the progress that he has started the progress of booking him in for surgery – at this stage in late September, during the school holidays.

We were in and out in plenty of time.  I didn’t even have to worry about getting a parking ticket.  (Of course I am too tight to pay for parking at the hospital, instead we park around the corner where it is free for 2 hours and then a ginormous ticket after that!)  We even had time to do a grocery shop before heading back to collect girl-child from school.  Despite spending an hour trying to arrange a contingency plan for girl-child to be collected from school should the need arise, I was glad to be back in time to collect her myself.  (Thanks for being there to help out again E.)

By the time we all made it home, I was starving.  Just because I was clever enough to have packed a snack bag doesn’t mean I was smart enough to eat any of it.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat so I convinced girl-child to bake a cake so that I could eat the batter.  We both ate way too much batter, bringing on a sugar rush head spin but it was worth it, it was totally delicious.

The cake is cooked but looks like half a cake, I think we ate far too much.  I will include girl-child in the blame game for this although she ate very little batter and instead ate cheese.  Perhaps we should have used a smaller tin but I figure that the larger the surface area of the cake the more frosting it requires and now that the cake is cooked it is all about the frosting!

I am sure that by the time I finish (I need to start first) putting the shopping away the cake will be cool enough to frost and I will be ready for another sugar rush.  That sugar rush will pass and then it will be time for take-out, cake and bubbles to celebrate a friends birthday.  First things first, shopping away, feed the kids and settle them in bed and let the relaxation begin.

The Wagon

You see there is a metaphoric wagon that I was riding along on, quite nicely too if I do say so myself, in a world where I was feeling fit, healthy, energised and alive.  Some time in the not too distant past, I fell off this wagon.  Actually, to be honest I didn’t fall, I took a giant leap from the wagon, landed awkwardly and lay sprawled on the ground for a while.

It wasn’t all that bad and as I said as a part of the discombobulation, I have had fun.  I have managed to see baby Billy kicking like a football superhero during Lil Sis’s ultrasound (all is going well thank you very much).  I then convinced my kids to take a day off school to visit nan and pop, giving me a Friday night to go out and have fun.  My night went from being a potential kid fest at home to a birthday dinner in the city with grownups eating delicious real food and drinking wine, it was fantastic.  The kids and my parents came back the following day, after we had a chance to sleep in and relax.  The remainder of the weekend was filled with more birthday celebrations and more cake as well as celebrating the arrival of Pommy Boy.  Three birthdays and far too much birthday cake and of course many glasses of bubbles is really no way to try and stay on the wagon.  

It didn’t help that I stopped Shredding around the same time.  My excuse at the time was not having to get up early because the kids were away and all of a sudden the habit was unformed.  One day without Shredding became a long weekend.  It really wasn’t worth Shredding for the rest of the week, I mean if you aren’t going to do it for the full week there really isn’t much point in doing it at all, right?  Now I have realised that it is really dark when I was getting up to Shred, oh and it is cold too.  My bed is toasty warm and did I mention that sleep is good?  

All that said, prior to stopping the Shred I had noticed that I was getting into shape.  I was starting to find muscle definition in my arms.  My clothes were fitting me better and I was feeling good about myself.  I don’t feel good about myself now, and not just this second after having eaten Indian food for dinner followed by a block of chocolate (I didn’t eat it all, just most of it) but for the past week or so.  It really isn’t just tonight’s food but my diet in general of late.  I forgot to buy more diet shakes so I ran out and ended up eating food that I shouldn’t.  I haven’t eating huge amounts of junk, but that combined with foods my body doesn’t tolerate and dramatically decreasing my exercise and all of a sudden I am feeling sluggish and heading back towards a frumpy square one.  

I really need to pick up the pace again to get back in to shape.  I should start Shredding again some time soon.  The thought of the pain that awaits me as I start back.  I think I want to do more than just Shred so I will work up the energy to start the couch to 5km some time soon to alternate with the Shred.  All I really need to do is to get started.   Just to support my resolve to get into shape, as I was typing this a tweet popped up linking me to this - Making the 30 Day Shred Easier on the Knees.  It is almost as if the internet was pre-empting my excuse list.  

Speaking of excuse lists, mine is quite extensive, I know that I need to start at the start of the week, it isn’t something that I can begin in the middle of the week, but then there are school holidays coming up and another birthday – more excuses as to why I shouldn’t start just yet.  Oh and we have an exchange student staying with us for a month and who really wants to embarrass themselves in front of new family/friends?  Hmmm, some time soon I will find a way to get back into shape.  At the latest I will begin the week that the kids go back to school.  It is still 3 weeks away but perhaps during this time I will find a way to improve my eating again or at the very least plan a way to climb back on the wagon and actually stay there.

 

Time Flies, Except When Doing the Shred

It is hard to believe that ten years ago yesterday I started the most difficult training course of my life.  Along with 18 other people, we studied in class together, trained together and crammed for Monday morning exams over breakfast together.  Throughout the course we became great friends, friends that you know will do anything for you.  

Ten years on, we are spread far and wide but we are still friends.  We don’t get time to catch up very often – work, ever expanding families (theirs, not mine) and life seems to get in the way.  A few of us make a point to go out together at least once a year.  Tonight was the night that we went out to celebrate a decade of insanity and fun.  There were four of us and we went for dinner at Mecca Bah at Docklands.  The food was delicious, the service was great and the company was fantastic.  

Before we knew it, hours had flown by and still there was more to talk about - how our lives have changed in a decade, who has how many kids, where we are all living and working and most surprisingly how everyone is still with the partner they were with 10 years ago.  We could have talked for hours more, but the others each lived an hours drive away (in opposite directions), fwe all have kids to wake us early in the morning and we have  to work tomorrow.  We did find time to make plans to catch up later in the year to celebrate our graduation.  I wonder how many of the 19 will be able to make it to a graduation reunion?  Hopefully everyone.

 

And on a completely unrelated note – I have now done 7 days of the Shred.  I decided that I was coping with it reasonably well so I decided to do level 2 today.  Let’s just say OUCH, is it too late to go back to the comfort and security of level 1!  I really can’t say that I enjoyed it.  I was chanting over and over, ‘It is only 20 minutes’, but they were 20 really really long minutes, especially when doing any exercises that involve the push-up/plank position.  The best part of the Shred was boy-child wandering downstairs as I finished and asking if I could snuggle with him on the couch – the perfect way to end the pain and start the day.

Mum’s Day

Fantastic artwork, heartfelt sentiments, amazing hugs and snuggles – just a few of the things that make me thankful for being a mum.  Along with the new charm for my bracelet, a new book of fantastic projects and brunch with friends.  A great day!

Adventures on a Budget?

I am not sure if I have mentioned it here or not, and at the moment I am too lazy to check past posts to find out, but as a family we have decided that we should spend more time together having adventures.  The plan was that we would just pick a location at random and set off to explore.  We had a trial run last month that I posted about here and it was a great day.  

I then had grand plans that I would take the concept one step further and blog about said adventures.  The theory was that I would base my writings upon a show I saw a few times when we were in New Jersey a few years ago.  I can’t remember what channel it was on, but I think it was some public broadcast station that wasn’t on all the time but somehow I managed to catch a few episodes.  Anyway I wander, the show was called ‘New York for $10 a Day’ or something similar and showed a range of more obscure but really interesting things to do with only $10 a day and it included places to eat.   My blog posts were going to be called ‘$10 and a Train Ticket – Fun in Melbourne’ and list the different places that are worth visiting, the costs involved and places to eat.  Of course the $10 was going to be per family member and not $10 for the entire family.  Add to that the cost of a train ticket these days – $6.80 for a full fare and $3.70 for the kids it isn’t such an inexpensive day.  It was starting to look as if our adventures would be more cost effective if we drove there!  

It really bugs me that public transport here is so expensive.  Sure the running costs of a car are huge and fuel prices continue to increase, but there are actual financial benefits to having a car and driving frequently.  Surely it would be better for the community, for the environment, for other road users and essential services, for everyone,  if public transport was more affordable.  But again, I am wandering on a tangent.  I guess realistically our trips would be on a weekend so we could get the weekend daily tickets.  That would be $15 per person but can be used for 5 days, making the daily transport costs $12 per person.  We would also have to plan in advance to order weekend tickets as they aren’t available in many locations.

Despite the new found possibility of cheaper public transport, we were out and about this morning in the car.  We had to pick up a few things from Bunnings so we timed the shopping to coincide with the kids craft activity.  Boy child wasn’t really interested in the activity – making creatures from polystyrene balls, glue, glitter, feathers, pipe cleaner and other random scraps, so he stayed in the play area.  Girl-child happily made decorations for her garden, firstly a scare crow and then a heart on a stick.  (If I had a photo, I would insert it here, but I don’t).  

Once the shopping was completed and paid for, we made the walk back to the car, via the sausage stand.  Despite not actually being hungry, the monsters ate a sausage in bread anyway.  We could have stayed in the area for hours longer by adding in a trip to the massage chairs as we did on another day, but thought we would adventure somewhere new.  

On the way home we made a detour to a park that the monsters have admired from a distance.  It was a great park, or so the kids said.  I was too lazy to get up and climb, besides I was actually wearing a skirt and the visuals would have been all wrong!  As well as the larger than usual fort/swing/slide combos there was a huge webbed pyramid to climb.  They played Gladiators chasey on the pyramid for ages.

Climbing High

When they were done in the park we headed towards home, but became a little distracted.  We ended up in at Docklands.  Wooho0 – $5 parking with the first hour free.  We knew that there was kids entertainment nearby, but got a little sidetracked before getting there.  

First there was the Tawny Frogmouth that had set up camp on top of a sign on Level 2 of Harbour Town.  

 

The Tawny Frogmouth

It was sitting so still that the kids weren’t sure if it was real.  Then of course there was the ToyWorld outlet.  Now that the kids are getting real pocket money, they have the burning desire to buy stuff.  Fortunately, they didn’t find treasures for themselves but there were great craft sets that we bought for the upcoming birthday season.

By the time we were ready to actively find the kids entertainment, we realised that it had just finished.  We did get to see ‘boxing kangaroos’ people in sumo-like suits and oversized boxing gloves fight.  It wasn’t particularly entertaining, more like watching ‘Funniest Home Videos’ with the sound turned down and you realise that it is the voice-over guy that actually makes the show funny.  Instead of sitting to watch all of the ‘fighting’, we continued to wander through the area, in the general direction of the food court under the observation wheel.  The kids couldn’t decide on what they wanted to eat other than icecream.  I was hoping for something a little more substantial so that I wouldn’t have to make dinner.  

We ended up at the Harbour Town Hotel.  The kids were happy, as we entered they were given paper placemats to colour and decorate.  They were a little disappointed that I didn’t let them have a Coke fizzy drink (not after last weekends hyperactivity), instead they ordered orange fizzy.  Instead of some sickly sweet soft drink, they were served juice with mineral water and we were all happy – they had bubbles and I had much less sugar to have to contend with.  The meals were delicious and fast arriving, the staff were attentive but not obtrusive.  As a dining experience it reminded me of eating out in the States, where service is actually service.  The food was more pricey than I wanted to pay.  That doesn’t actually mean it was pricey, it simply means that I wasn’t planning on eating out today!  Overall it was a wonderful place to eat, and somewhere I will visit again.  

So our first attempt at an adventure on a budget failed, but it failed more in the planning stages – we didn’t plan on having an adventure today, it just evolved.  Despite that, it was a great day out.  The errands we had to do were done with a minimum of fuss, we all ate well without having to make a real dinner and we even had time for a hit of cricket in the park.  All in all, a great day!

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).