One week of holidays down, one to go…

kids are at Daddys for the weekend so the house is peaceful. They have been so loud today. I don’t much like the winter holidays. The weather is too unpredictable to plan anything much. And too cold for extended trips to playgrounds and the like. Add to that that Brett has decided that he only likes holidays when we go camping. I love that he wants to go camping…not going to do it in winter though! Too many hassles getting the tent dry etc quite apart from the other difficulties it presents!

I got a lovely picture that Owen drew at school last week – will have to scan it. He wrote on it ‘to mummy I love you to pluto and back’ (they have been learning about space at school). He made one for Daddy too and gave it to him tonight when Daddy came to pick them up.

I have some Stampin’ Up! stuff to prepare for a demo on Sunday so I might head out to my scrap room tonight for the first time in weeks and enjoy a spot of stamping. I bought a cheap bookshelf this week to so tomorrow I want to get it assembled and into my room and get started on sorting things out.

Am excited that my big sis is coming for a scrapping weekend with me at the end of the month but I have a few things to do around the house before she gets here (like find a bed for her under the big pile of crap). Most of those things will be easier to do once I have solved some of my storage issues and part of that is the new bookcase – thinking I should have gotten two – and may yet run down to the warehouse for a second one (only 2′ wide – the one I wanted was 3′).

Today was a rollercoaster.

I have spent months stewing over where was best to send my kids to school and whether I should move them next year or the one after. I finally decided to move them to Werribee for next year. I spoke to our assistant principal who agreed that it was the best decision for my kids. They run and autism/aspergers program at Werribee which will be great for Owen. I had spoken to Werribee months ago and was told the zoning would be lifted next year so there would be no problem with their enrolling for NEXT year (but not this year).
So this morning I went down to enroll them with forms filled out and was told NO they wouldn’t accept them!
Why? I asked and was answered that they wouldn’t because they go to Glen Devon and they wanted to support the newly merged school (Glen Devon is merging with Glen Orden). Surely I can still choose where to send my kids I say. I’m told no can’t and to speak to the principal of GD. Was also told that they would be ringing the ones who had already been enrolled to tell them they can’t accept them!
By the time I went from one school to the other I had worked up way too much anger and was shaking. How dare they tell me that I have absolutely NO SAY in where my kids go to school. How dare they refuse them on those grounds, surely this is discrimination. Back at GD I met briefly with they lovely assistant principal who basically got me a little more calm and spoke to principal but he wanted to see me…not his doing, nothing he can do, out of his hands etc etc. Why was I told to see him then? So then he says that at a meeting of Principals in the area this morning they had all agreed to refuse enrollments of GD kids at the other schools ‘to support the new school’. I asked who suggested it he couldn’t say, didn’t bat an eyelid when I said well you were in the meeting weren’t you paying attention (I was PISSED OFF). He just went on about not his decision and I would have to talk to head of Werribee.
I tried to call her back at home but was told she was in and out of meetings all day and unavailable but would call me back tomorrow.
I was really ticked off and so I rang the region office. They called back within an hour and he got some more details. The head of Werribee called me back at lunchtime to say sorry and to say they had been advised that they couldn’t take enrollments from GD and had been trying to sort it out all week but it had been resolved and I was most welcome to come back and enroll me kids!

OMG what a drama for something that should have been so simple!

So kids enrolled for next year. I have a meeting with the girl from the aspie/autism program the first week back to discuss the program a bit more and to organise a gradual transition program for him. All good.

Still extremely disappointed to think that a group of school principals can attempt to railroad parents into attending the merged school by cutting off the other options. I urged against the merger as it will be difficult for many parents to get their kids to that school and easier for them to go to others. How dare they discriminate on the basis of which school they attend!
Anyway all sorted for me and hopefully for everyone after my call to region this morning. Mama bear was on the warpath – don’t anyone get between my kids and what I think is best for them GRRRR!

on a good note – then I went shopping and bought new pretty purple shoes!

She’s coming……

yup Sue is coming for a GIRLS WEEKEND!!!!!!

kids will be at Daddys. We will be scrapping and catching up.
Friday localish will have to go to A Scrappe Angels Heaven (and pick kids up from school take them swimming and hand them over to Daddy) then will have to do some scrapping somewhere details to be arranged!
Saturday the plan is to head EAST
Sunday evening we will take the kids to maccas for dinner
monday well school assembly then ????

sounds like fun?! I’m excited!

Quick Catch up!

Ok so this will be brief as I somehow did something to my shoulder this morning. Its very sore around the shoulder blade when I move it or lift stuff (lifting with EITHER HAND I might add) but it has improved since this morning – probably just a muscle strain and will be right by tomorrow. It did get me a day off work as I didn’t think I would be too much use their today.

Ok so I know I’ve been absent from my blog for some time.  A few things have been going on.

School – I am going to speak to the lady at Werribee Primary tomorrow about the Autism/Aspergers group they run at that school. If Owen can get into that program and there is a chance it will help him with his social skills then I think that it will clinch the deal and I will send them to Werribee from the start of next year.  I think Brett will settle about the same whichever way he goes and it may be good to get him away from the Bullying that he is currently witness to anyway.  Moving next year will also give Corey time to become familiar with the school before he starts the year after…and as a bonus the uniform is Grey and Burgandy (much easier to scrap)!

I am looking forward with some trepidation to getting the boys school reports on Thursday. I actually am anticipating that Owens will show huge improvements (but I wonder if they are huge enough to bridge the gap that existed between where he was and where he ’should’ be).  Brett I know is having some issues with cutting and his writing isn’t good. I actually am beginning to suspect he may need some help from an OT with fine motor skills. It is hard not sometimes to know where he should be – usually an older child is a kinda measuring stick for ‘normal’ but Owen clearly isn’t. I wonder if Brett is perhaps a little less mature than his classmates. He seems a little fragile emotionally of late and I can’t get much out of him as to why, it’s not like him.  Anyway will see what happens when we get his report and talk to his teacher and go from there.

Corey toilet training – only two accidents yesterday but I don’t think we have had #2s where they should be as yet so still a way to go but progress is definetely being made on that front. Now just to find his birth certificate so that I can get him enrolled for Kinder next year.

I am looking at another term of swim lessons I think then re-evaluate if I am going to continue. I am improving but had never learnt breast stroke and well I can sort of do it but it ain’t pretty!  Need to improve my fitness generally I think as well.

Did a SU! Demo on the weekend in Hamilton which was great fun despite a few little issues like printing my instructions and leaving them at home! Still it was a fun weekend and put a few extra $’s in the bank account.

kitchen – well have been snowed under with other stuff so have done nothing on that front yet.

School holidays – are coming next  week – yay! Plan is to try to finally sort out the playroom and to do some cooking together in between other things. Kids are going to family daycare/holiday program tues/wed both weeks and big boys going to holiday program on the 2nd monday too. So looking out for an excursion for me and corey – something a little bit special just for him…no idea as yet though?!

New Sovereign Hill discounts for everyone!

Please feel free to print out these discounts and use them and share them with your friends.

They have my name on them because I signed on to be an agent for them. I get a years family pass for free on the condition that at least one person uses a coupon every 3 months so it helps me and it helps you if people use them!

The Great news is that there is now an ALL YEAR ROUND discount of 10% so that helps everyone anytime til the end of the year!

Secondly they are running a winter ‘Frozen in Time’ Special from Sat June 27 to Sun 26th July (right through school holidays and more). This one is either 2 adults for the price of 1 OR Pay for 1 adult and get 2 kids in free! Great for those with older ‘kids’ too!

I will upload them to the little box for you to download but here they are now too..

All_Year_DiscountForm60014_

Frozen_In_Time_Offer60014_

still alive…still slack….

and have yet ANOTHER sinus infection and am toilet training Corey (so far so good only a few accidents)

will do a proper post soon. Am getting ready for a big SU demo on the weekend but once that is done I will have more time!

Getting ready for retreat…

well you know me by now….am blogging, fixing up some paperwork and generally procrastinating. Then I will chuck some stuff in a few storage type things and hope for the best…that’s how some of us get ready is it such a bad thing? lol

I am hoping to be much more productive this time. Head down and get some scrapping done. I am planning to play with my alcohol inks and perhaps even dust off my opals!

I have a SU class to prepare some LOs for too so hoping to get that knocked on the head at retreat as well. Of course I have to pick the kids up from school in 2.5 hrs so I probably shouldn’t be here blogging…probably should be packing….oh look it’s lunch time!

I’m back! Did you miss me?

Wow I knew it had been a little while since I updated but I didn’t realise it had been a month almost!

and so a quick update for you and then I promise to do better….

firstly why was I gone? mostly the sinus’s I’d refered to a couple of posts ago took a few weeks to get a handle on again and in the process I stupidly allowed myself to get enourmously run down. Then I decided at the last minute that I could fit in two getaways this month so off I went. Upon return I had more health issues as in I’d eaten something that really didn’t agree with me (possibly partly due to being a bit run down and also to the lack of gallbladder) and well then Brett was ill and off school for a day and a half and then Owen wasn’t well in fact yesterday he went to bed at 5pm and had to be woken at 8.10am this morning. Today he went to bed at 6.30 voluntarily (and Corey went with him) so it was all quiet by the time Brett went off to bed at 7.15ish not even realising that he was early too hehehe!

Anyway feeling better but as a result of being sick for most of the last month with one thing or another my house looks like three little cyclones went through it so I have been on major catch up to try to knock it back into some semblance of order – we still haven’t sorted out the playroom!

House/kitchen update – I have the original house plans from Housing Commision (with placement of stumps etc which is what the draftsman needed) I hope to make an appointment for Monday to hand them over to him and then we can start moving forward yay at long last!

School update – The boys school is now officially going to merge with Glen Orden. Whilst my prefered option was that this didn’t happen and we could continue to walk to school I can see some benefits. However I am now in the middle of THREE schools and I mean really they are all 2.6-2.8km away so now I need to decide which one to send them too. I hadn’t really considered glen orden as I have heard not so nice things but then who says they are true? I have decided that I need to explore the possibility at least because the gradual transition from one school to the new one may be really the best for Owen who doesn’t tend to cope well with change.

Am now looking forward to my scrap retreat NEXT weekend (not this one coming) and just need to reorganise a little. I do hope that I am more productive this time around as I didn’t get a lot done last time!

Owen had his appointment with Prof Paddy Dewan today, another check up from his surgery way back when he was not quite one.   Paddy is no longer at the hospital so didn’t have the records handy. He asked me to remind him…didn’t take very long before he said…ahhh yes I remember…I guess it isn’t too many patients that he came back for further ops at 3am!  Paddy is having issues with the public hospital system at the moment. There isn’t a lot that one single mum can do but I will be writing a couple of letters and doing what I can to support him. Afterall the first surgeon we saw for Owen literally threw his hands in the air and said ‘I’m not touching that’ he followed up by saying that there was only one person he would recommend referring him too…Paddy.  I don’t know how many times I have been grateful that he did and I am disgusted that other children are missing out on his expertise and experience over politics!

anyway thats me alive and kicking….back again….so did you miss me?

Cancer is such an ugly word

and I don’t know why I’m writing this because it just makes it real but hey thats just me, part of my way of processing I guess.  My mum just broke the news that my Godfather – my ‘Spare Dad’ has been told he has just 2 years left.  I don’t see Bob or talk to him or email him anywhere near as much as I should but anytime we can pick up where we left of. Bob has been my Dad’s best mate since they were 10years old – 50years of friendship is a long time.  The man is no saint but he has always been so full of life and energy and love.  He’s been breaking the news by telling people ‘I’ve got something I’m just dying to tell you’…still cracking jokes no matter what…that’s my Bob.

Someone tried to explain what a godfather was to me a long time ago, ever since I’ve always thought of Bob as my spare Dad, 2years just isn’t enough…

This is no occasion for ‘get well soon’ card…where is the ‘that really sucks’ stamp when you need it.

bloody sinus’s

have been fighting this one off for weeks but it caught up and brought me to the dr today. Have antibiotics and an assurance it is just infected sinus’s (again) which explains why I’m struggling to breath etc etc while kids are all fit as a fiddle!

so much for my post a day hey…will have to start again I suppose!