I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled I'll be when this blasted course is over. No, scratch that. I actually enjoy the course, when I'm listening to my own advice and sticking to a schedule. Most other times, I'm wondering whatever possessed me to throw this particular egg into my basket on top of all the other eggs in there.
I'm about three and a half years into a four year writing course. It's quite well respected and I've learned an enormous amount, but a four year commitment was always going to take the better part of my creative energies. I haven't done much personal writing (well, not counting the blog anyway, LOL) in the last year. And as for other creative outlets - non existent. I'd love to get into sewing or other craftwork but its just not happening at the moment. I still cling to the notion that I'll be able to pick up that kind of thing after Christmas. I hope...
I have 19 more days to finish 7 assignments. Not ideal, but doable. An assignment every couple of days should give me a few days to spare. This kerfuffle is all as a direct result of my own procrastination. I accept total blame for it all, LOL, but it doesn't make the load any easier!
This next few weeks are going to be INSANE.
* Boofah and Miss Moo are both on a school excursion on Monday.
* Tomorrow through till about mid-week I have to take on a lion's share of a math project I'm helping Boofah and couple of his classmates with - that has to be completely finished by Wednesday.
* Thursday is Boofah's 7th birthday which means he gets 'special' cereal in the morning, as well as his choice for dinner. Because his birthday falls on a weekday it will be a home-cooked meal.. The kids also get the choice of either a small party with friends or a family day out. Boofah chose a family day which we'll have the following week when his cousins (and their father/Hub's brother) come for a visit. We're going bowling, then out for a special lunch (takeout) and back home for Boofah's birthday masterpiece cake (a decorated pirate's treasure chest....because we've always promised the kids they can choose their own 'special' cake. And because I thrive on stress!)
* Once a term I let the kids have a lunch order from the school canteen (cafeterias aren't common down here...its either packed lunches (most often) or lunch orders from the canteen - you put your order in at the beginning of the day and the food gets 'delivered' to the classrooms at lunchtime. Lunch orders remain special in our family because once a term (four times a year) is as often as I am comfortable allowing them to have them, and also because 3 kids x $6 a hit means $18...I know some families who do lunch orders once a week! Ouch!) This will happen on Tuesday or Wednesday.
* I hope to have an additional two assignments done and posted by Thursday.
* Also on Thursday I've got my last stint as Boofah's classroom helper for craft time.
* Friday is the last day of term, with early dismissal. Then we all collapse in a state of utter exhaustion. Only it doesn't really end there for me.
* The following Monday (9th) our visitors arrive for a couple of days and we do the celebrating thing for Boofah's birthday.
* I continue to study furiously.
* And wash clothes furiously.
* And pack furiously.
* We leave for a week to visit relatives in the south of the state around the 13th. I'll have to take my course books with me, sigh.
* I go mad the whole week we're away trying to get the last of the assignments done by the deadline (19th).
* I again collapse in utter exhaustion, but when recovered dance a little jig.
* As soon as we return home, I'm out for the day. I'm going shout myself a movie (maybe even two!) in the cinema (one of my favourite pastimes) and revel in the idea that I have no deadlines....for a week or so.
Oh gosh, I can't wait....
Cheers,
Lizzie
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Is It Over Yet? Please Tell Me It's Over...
Friday, June 29, 2007
Five Questions Meme
(picture courtesy of http://www.nataliedee.com/)Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer is doing a fun little meme. Join in if you want! (Leave a comment here if you do so we know where to come visit!)
Five Questions
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh cripes...um...everyone else will say chocolate but have you ever had a late night movie-watching-choc-fest? I defy anyone to manage more than a few straight hours! Probably bananas.
What's the most nerve-racking "close call" you've ever had?
When Boofah was about three, Daddy took him to the end of our driveway to check the mailbox. He tripped and headbutted the corner, providing us with a spectacularly-close-to-scalping moment. Of course being a head wound it bled like crazy and Hubs whisked him up to the hospital where they proceded to peel back the flap of scalp to insert a needle full of local anaesthetic so they could stitch him up. There was other medicine involved as well that made him hilariously dopey (the hilarious part obviously after we realised he would live!) and they warned us that we weren't to let him fall asleep for the next two or three hours. Well this poor kid literally couldn't sit up straight because of the medicine ('high' more than 'sleepy') but at the same time it was the equivalent of 'happy gas' and everything we did or said was a total riot to him. We scratched our nose and he'd be in hysterics. These days (about 4 years later) he has a ripper scar on his head. We buzz cut his hair ourselves and we know its getting too long when we can no longer see the scar, LOL. It's our little 'haircut measurer' :P It's a 'V' shape about an inch-and-a-half on each side of the 'V'.
Name five features your ultimate dream house would have.
Self cleaning bathrooms.
A live in maid.
Five bedrooms - one for each of the kids, plus us and the last one for a craft/study room.
Large kitchen.
A spa.
Who has been the most influential non-relative in your life?
When I was about five or six a family friend began to bring me books whenever she came down to visit. This continued over the years until she was stocking my book collection six or seven titles at a time. She was like the tooth fairy and Santa all rolled into one for a kid like me who lived with her nose in a book.
What one non-physical feature would you most like to change about yourself?
Non-physical? Darn. Um...my total and utter predisposition to procrastination!
Okay, now you try it with these five questions:
1. If you had to invite three famous people over for a dinner party, who would you invite and why? (they can be alive or dead).
2. You've just received an inheritance worth enough that you could travel anywhere in the world. Where would you go, and why?
3. You're shipwrecked and only have time to take three items from the emergency kit on the life raft before it sinks. Which item would to grab? (for the sake of this question we'll assume that the emergency kit contains most basic survival equipment even if in real life it would be too small).
4. What's the nicest Random Act of Kindness (RAOK) you've ever experienced or witnessed?
5. You have 24 hours to live. Where would you go and who would you take?
Cheers,
Lizzie
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Works For Me Wednesday # 1
This is my first WFMW post :) I'll start off really small with this very obvious idea, LOL.
My kids love to draw, but at one point we had a large tub of jumbled crayons, pencils and markers and the kids were always complaining they needed such-and-such special pencil because none of the fourteen thousand other pencils were exactly right for the job at hand :)
I went into a local discount store (dollar store) and bought a four drawer organizer. It stands about 45cm (18 inches) tall and obviously as deep as a regular pencil or marker. The drawers come completely out so the kids just slip the one with the pencils, or the crayons out and carry it to the table, then return it when they're done. The extra drawer holds the 'other' bits - tape, sharpeners, erasers, small rulers etc. When I first saw it, it was a bit plain so I bought a sheet of interesting stickers and did a bit of decorating :)
It has cut down on the drawing clutter considerably :)
(For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, swing over to Rocks in my Dryer)
Cheers,
Lizzie
It has cut down on the drawing clutter considerably :)
(For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, swing over to Rocks in my Dryer)
Cheers,
Lizzie
Where Have All The Good Girls Gone?
I must be getting older. Either that, or kids these days are getting ruder.
On the bus on the way to the library today I (as well as ten or so other passengers) were captive audience members to two teenage girls sitting (naturally) in the back row. Over the course of the 20-minute ride, we were subjected to various intimate details about these girls' lives, including their 'usual' behaviour when drunk (they have a 'usual'???), their sexual preferences and their law-breaking attitude. These girls could'n't have been more than 15 years old.
At 15, I was a pretty tame sort of gal. I had a boyfriend (a very, very platonic boyfriend!) and had a weird kind of elevated social standing with my classmates because I'd managed to 'secure' him for more than the couple of weeks (or even days). Nobody ever asked me to my face but it was obvious that it was assumed we'd been intimate. And we hadn't, of course. But I was thinking back to what I was like during that time and comparing it to the antics I was hearing from the two girls on the bus, and was shocked.
I was where they are only twelve years ago. Have things changed so much in the last decade that kids are doing things that really, they shouldn't even be thinking about doing until they're much, much older? Have I mophed into some weird prudish twenty-something? LOL.
It scares me sometimes, the whole 'kids do the darndest things these days' aspect of it all. I was kept in line by my parents, and power to them. Peer groups were important then just as they are now, but nowadays the Peer is King. It's sad to see such disrespect to parents and other elders. Teenagers toe the party line because they're motivated by fear - fear that their social circle will 'out' them. That motivation seems a lot stronger these days than I ever remember it being when I was in high school. These days nobody wants to be 'the last virgin standing'.
My husband works in an industry where he sees a lot of this kind of thing - kids going off the rails. Young girls are getting pregnant because of lack of parental guidance and sometimes, on purpose. In Australia, the government gives a lump sum of over $4,000 for each new baby born. Some girls who were already in a vulnerable category saw it as an 'easy' way to get 'free money', and many of them got pregnant on purpose. It is only this year (effective from July 1) that restrictions on when that money could be paid was placed on teenagers under the age of 17 (beforehand, and for anyone else over the age of 17 now, the money is paid in a lump sum, but the new policy sees the money paid in 13 fortnightly installments for the under-17s).
This is all well and good - to a point. Seventeen is still so young to become a mother. There's no magical barrier one reaches at 17 that makes handling the lump sum easier. You're not a better mother due simply to the addition of an extra year. And consider this: the legal age of marriage in Australia is 18 (if one or both partners are under the age of 18 then both parental and a magistrate's permission must be given). If you're not legally allowed to vote, drink (drinking age is 18 here) or marry, then serious issues arise from the notion of an under-17 pregnancy that simply spreading the payments out is not going to address.
I'm out and about a lot in my day to day errands. One shopping centre in particular is a magnet for certain 'elements' that perfectly exemplify the point I'm trying to make. I'm sick of seeing young girls wheeling strollers about. I want to try to shake some sense into them. And its not uncommon for these girls, having had one child and received the payment, to decide to have another child close on its heels to get another payment. Hubs has told me many, many stories of homes where the children are bedraggled and not cared for properly but the loungeroom is decked out in the latest flat-screen. The sadness in that can be overwhelming.
The irony is, of course, that I myself had my kids young. And for the first two, we were unmarried. Master J was born when I was just 19. Hubs and I had lived together for 6 months and bam, suddenly I was pregnant. But never once have I regretted the way our own situation has played out. It sounds rather trite now, but we were 'all but' married from the moment we decided to move in together and neither of us considered the absense of the certificate to mean the relationship was any less than a proxy marriage. We went on to have two more children with the last, Miss Moo, being conceived and born after we were married in 2001. So why should I feel so strongly about the 'young mothers' issue?
Because during this period, no matter how committed we felt to each other, it was not marriage.
I've always felt the social sting of admitting that I was/am a young mum. For the first few years and even occasionally now, I feel it necessary to offer justification for why I was 'done' having kids at age 22. The other mums at playgroup were in their late twenties to early thirties. At our first antenatal classes with Master J, we were the youngest couple there by over ten years. Even now, when I make friends with the parents of the children in my kids' classes, they're likely to be 7-10 years older. We bucked the trend (in terms of having kids young AND being in a stable long term relationship) well and truly. The social security system back then was a lot different (some areas of SS don't have the same stigma as they do in the States - most families recieve something, based on their income, to contribute to the cost of raising the children - even those earning $60k a year get a little something, though admittedly its a lot less than those who earn $30k), but we did the hard yards. But we were committed. To each other, to the kids.
As I've grown older, I've come to a place where, if I had my time over again, there'd be things I'd change. I'd have married before starting a family for a start. This comes into play especially when I look at Miss Moo now and try to imagine a simple, but fulfilling life of waiting until marriage for all the 'good stuff' :) I really do hope that she waits. She's five, so her whole life revolves around 'playing mummy' at the moment. The kids know that Mum and Dad were a team from day dot, not necessarily from the wedding but from the moment we met. And while it was one way for us, we are teaching them that we do not want them to follow in our specific footsteps on that score.
But the way the world is going at the moment? All I want to do is shield my kids and move to the country. Hubs and I talked about this the other night. He could be transfered anywhere in our state should he choose to put his hand up. But our hands are tied (and probably will be for the long term) because of the services we need for Master J - we currently live in the suburbs of my state's capital and if we moved to the country he would suffer.
Still, I do envy those that live in small towns. Pity there's not a 'Stars Hollow' with world-class disability facillities within a three hour drive!
Cheers
Lizzie
On the bus on the way to the library today I (as well as ten or so other passengers) were captive audience members to two teenage girls sitting (naturally) in the back row. Over the course of the 20-minute ride, we were subjected to various intimate details about these girls' lives, including their 'usual' behaviour when drunk (they have a 'usual'???), their sexual preferences and their law-breaking attitude. These girls could'n't have been more than 15 years old.
At 15, I was a pretty tame sort of gal. I had a boyfriend (a very, very platonic boyfriend!) and had a weird kind of elevated social standing with my classmates because I'd managed to 'secure' him for more than the couple of weeks (or even days). Nobody ever asked me to my face but it was obvious that it was assumed we'd been intimate. And we hadn't, of course. But I was thinking back to what I was like during that time and comparing it to the antics I was hearing from the two girls on the bus, and was shocked.
I was where they are only twelve years ago. Have things changed so much in the last decade that kids are doing things that really, they shouldn't even be thinking about doing until they're much, much older? Have I mophed into some weird prudish twenty-something? LOL.
It scares me sometimes, the whole 'kids do the darndest things these days' aspect of it all. I was kept in line by my parents, and power to them. Peer groups were important then just as they are now, but nowadays the Peer is King. It's sad to see such disrespect to parents and other elders. Teenagers toe the party line because they're motivated by fear - fear that their social circle will 'out' them. That motivation seems a lot stronger these days than I ever remember it being when I was in high school. These days nobody wants to be 'the last virgin standing'.
My husband works in an industry where he sees a lot of this kind of thing - kids going off the rails. Young girls are getting pregnant because of lack of parental guidance and sometimes, on purpose. In Australia, the government gives a lump sum of over $4,000 for each new baby born. Some girls who were already in a vulnerable category saw it as an 'easy' way to get 'free money', and many of them got pregnant on purpose. It is only this year (effective from July 1) that restrictions on when that money could be paid was placed on teenagers under the age of 17 (beforehand, and for anyone else over the age of 17 now, the money is paid in a lump sum, but the new policy sees the money paid in 13 fortnightly installments for the under-17s).
This is all well and good - to a point. Seventeen is still so young to become a mother. There's no magical barrier one reaches at 17 that makes handling the lump sum easier. You're not a better mother due simply to the addition of an extra year. And consider this: the legal age of marriage in Australia is 18 (if one or both partners are under the age of 18 then both parental and a magistrate's permission must be given). If you're not legally allowed to vote, drink (drinking age is 18 here) or marry, then serious issues arise from the notion of an under-17 pregnancy that simply spreading the payments out is not going to address.
I'm out and about a lot in my day to day errands. One shopping centre in particular is a magnet for certain 'elements' that perfectly exemplify the point I'm trying to make. I'm sick of seeing young girls wheeling strollers about. I want to try to shake some sense into them. And its not uncommon for these girls, having had one child and received the payment, to decide to have another child close on its heels to get another payment. Hubs has told me many, many stories of homes where the children are bedraggled and not cared for properly but the loungeroom is decked out in the latest flat-screen. The sadness in that can be overwhelming.
The irony is, of course, that I myself had my kids young. And for the first two, we were unmarried. Master J was born when I was just 19. Hubs and I had lived together for 6 months and bam, suddenly I was pregnant. But never once have I regretted the way our own situation has played out. It sounds rather trite now, but we were 'all but' married from the moment we decided to move in together and neither of us considered the absense of the certificate to mean the relationship was any less than a proxy marriage. We went on to have two more children with the last, Miss Moo, being conceived and born after we were married in 2001. So why should I feel so strongly about the 'young mothers' issue?
Because during this period, no matter how committed we felt to each other, it was not marriage.
I've always felt the social sting of admitting that I was/am a young mum. For the first few years and even occasionally now, I feel it necessary to offer justification for why I was 'done' having kids at age 22. The other mums at playgroup were in their late twenties to early thirties. At our first antenatal classes with Master J, we were the youngest couple there by over ten years. Even now, when I make friends with the parents of the children in my kids' classes, they're likely to be 7-10 years older. We bucked the trend (in terms of having kids young AND being in a stable long term relationship) well and truly. The social security system back then was a lot different (some areas of SS don't have the same stigma as they do in the States - most families recieve something, based on their income, to contribute to the cost of raising the children - even those earning $60k a year get a little something, though admittedly its a lot less than those who earn $30k), but we did the hard yards. But we were committed. To each other, to the kids.
As I've grown older, I've come to a place where, if I had my time over again, there'd be things I'd change. I'd have married before starting a family for a start. This comes into play especially when I look at Miss Moo now and try to imagine a simple, but fulfilling life of waiting until marriage for all the 'good stuff' :) I really do hope that she waits. She's five, so her whole life revolves around 'playing mummy' at the moment. The kids know that Mum and Dad were a team from day dot, not necessarily from the wedding but from the moment we met. And while it was one way for us, we are teaching them that we do not want them to follow in our specific footsteps on that score.
But the way the world is going at the moment? All I want to do is shield my kids and move to the country. Hubs and I talked about this the other night. He could be transfered anywhere in our state should he choose to put his hand up. But our hands are tied (and probably will be for the long term) because of the services we need for Master J - we currently live in the suburbs of my state's capital and if we moved to the country he would suffer.
Still, I do envy those that live in small towns. Pity there's not a 'Stars Hollow' with world-class disability facillities within a three hour drive!
Cheers
Lizzie
Monday, June 25, 2007
Menu Plan Monday - June 25
From here on out, I've decided to change my 'menu week' from Tuesdays through to Mondays instead of the traditional Mon-Sun. I'm still posting my weekly menu on Mondays, but the reason I've changed it is to bring it in line with the May Day Weight Loss Challenge, which starts its new week every Tuesday. Everything else remains the same, including the "If It's Monday, It's Spaghetti" aspect.
I've been doing the Challenge (for info, see the right sidebar, under the Challenge button) for seven weeks now and despite revving up my walking to bizarre heights my weight has steadily increased due to a horrible diet. So I'm killing two birds with the one stone - my Menu Plan Monday posts will at least TRY to have a healthier feel :) I'm calorie counting from tomorrow (Tuesday) and though the meals listed below might not be perfect, I'll modify them to suit my calorie limit (which is 1400 in case anyone is playing at home!) as I go along.
Tuesday ~ Asian Style Chicken Salad (plus maybe an additional side dish for the Hubs/kids)
Wednesday ~ Sausages (mashed potato, carrots, corn, gravy)
Thursday ~ Beef Fajitas
Friday ~ Vegetable Bake (basically this recipe but with added vegies - served as main dish for me and side dish for the others with steak)
Saturday ~ Cheat's Roasted Chicken (baked herbed chicken breast fillets, vegies, baked potato)
Sunday ~ Tomato & Vegetable Soup (plus toasted sandwiches for the others)
Monday ~ Lasagna (low fat variety for me, wedges for the others, with leftover Vegetable Bake)
The rest of the week is filled with meals that are far healthier than anything else I've been making for myself in recent weeks! Either soup or sandwiches for lunch (mmm, hot soup on a cold winter's day...) and toast or cereal for breakfast. One thing I am going to work on this coming week, in regards to the May Day Weight Loss Challenge, is my snacking. I've planned the rest of the menu to include more fruit, but also the occasional treat. Each night after dinner there's a hot chocolate (low fat of course!) and a low fat dessert of some description - chocolate mousse, small choc icecream, and so on.
Hopefully at the end of Week 8 of the Challenge I'll have good news to report!
Cheers,
Lizzie
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