Crossed off #12

that’s right. I have blogged every day for a whole month!

And I’m moving on #2 as well. Today I spent quite a bit of time trying to resolve my missing cupboard frame issues with ikea but seem to have gotten somewhere and am expecting a call from them tomorrow with news.

Meanwhile I have been in touch with the sparky who can’t come on the 11th but can definetly come before then to disconnect the stove and rangehood and put in some additional power points.

I left a message for the plumber – no return call yet will try again in a day or so.

I left a message for the tiler – same as above.

I left a message for the skip guy but he did call back and the skip is all booked in for Friday 11th and pick up Monday.

I also cleaned half the playroom, half the kitchen table and half the crap off the chair in the loungeroom lol!

Off to bed now…trying not to be stressed.

 

Stressed and Cranky

went back to Ikea today to get the last 5 things I needed for the kitchen. My oven frame cupboard and a few draw fronts etc. Got there around 20 past 10. Waited my turn at the kitchen counter. Put my order in. Went downstairs and paid for it. Waited for it to be gotten from out the back somewhere. No cupboard. Really, they had checked the stock levels but oops sorry someone stuffed up. There was no cupboard. Got the 4 little bits I needed but not the major part! They had to refund me and said to come back tomorrow as they are expecting them back in tomorrow! grrr!

So I have rescheduled Brett’s eye test and am hoping to get it tomorrow – what’s the bet it isn’t in? Think I will call first to check.

The time travellers wife

Went to see the movie (on my own) tonight. I enjoyed it – movies are never quite the same as the book though. Still one part was right- she said she wouldn’t change anything. She’s right. For all the ups and downs in life, given the chance I don’t think I’d change anything. …. Well unless I could find a cure for cancer perhaps.

I’m going to the movies tomorrow!

with the kitchen taking financial priority at the moment all unnecessary spending has been stopped and stamps have been listed for sale.  My big sister (who happens to be THE best big sister ever) saw me comment that I would wait for the Time Travellers Wife to come out on DVD because all $ were going to the kitchen and sent me an sms saying she had put $ in my account and to go see the movie! Isn’t she the best?! So tomorrow after my cardmaking session with a mate I am off to the movies (on my own) to see The Time Travellers Wife. I have been hanging to see it after I read the book a few months ago so that will be my treat. Then Sunday I am off to get the rest of my kitchen and Monday is Brett’s eye test and the real start of the clean up as the kitchen goes in in two more weeks!

 

In support of Prof Paddy Dewan

We have known Paddy Dewan for almost 8 years now, he is Owen’s Urologist & Surgeon. He has been found guilty of charges from a surgery he performed back in 2004. I am not aware of the circumstances…I am just aware now that as a result he MAY be forced out of his profession for 12-18months. I hope not. This is the man who invented the surgery that Owen had for his very complex case of hypospadies. This is the man who cared for him, who spoke to us clearly and explained in detail, not only the surgery but the complications, the man who was back at 3am for another 2hrs when he tore his internal stitches and couldn’t pee. The man who sat me down at 5am and told me he didn’t know how long he would be in hospital for and to remember to take care of myself too. This is the same man who gives up so much of his own time in his charity (kind cuts for kids) to go overseas and operate on cases that Drs in 3rd world countries can’t fix and who teaches the local doctors and nurses while he is there. This is a man who is slowly being forced out of the public system for his instance on people owning up to mistakes and errors so that all can learn from them and ensure they don’t happen again. This is a man who realises that Owen is not just a patient but a child and part of a family and treats him accordingly. A man who is so patient and caring with children and their concerned parents.  I am not privy to all the details of the case in question but surely the reason for suspending a doctor is to protect the public from mistreatment and surely then all the GOOD this wonderful man has done has to be considered as well.  We are lucky in that we are down to 6 monthly check ups at the moment to ensure all is well but even so should Paddy be suspended we will be lining up to see him when he starts practicing again.  When we first took Owen to see a surgeon he literally threw his hands in the air and said ‘I’m not touching that’, he went on to say that there was, in his opinion, only one doctor to refer him too. Over those early years through several ops I never failed to be greatful that we had been referred to Paddy.

The decision will be made by the end of the year. I hope and pray that he will not be suspended for the sake of all the children who need his talent, skill and care!

It’s raining, it’s pouring….

the heavens opened again (at least we weren’t camping this time)! For a short while this afternoon most of my front yard was under about 10cm of water…it did eventually sink in.

Thankful that this week is almost over.  I thought that I was going to have loads of time to get things done then remembered I had a trip to Craigieburn on Monday, Work Tuesday, Kids at their new school Wednesday plus the tiles pick up, work thursday and helping with the school fun day on Friday followed by Swim lessons for the boys after school. Kids were due to go to Dads on Friday but he has plans Friday evening so he is picking them up Saturday morning instead. I am thankful that we have always managed to maintain flexible arrangements for the kids – makes life easier for us both. He is having them later in December so that I can go to a concert and again so I can go to my work xmas dinner.

I survived the kinder AGM without being elected into any exec position.  I did get a fright when I went to check on the boys outside and stepped back in just in time to hear ‘Jude President’ but apparently she was just saying that Jude had been president in the past! I did make it clear that with working 2 days a week just being on the committee was enough. I want to test the waters gently as some committees are better than others, I like to help and be involved but not at the cost of my sanity!

And for anyone interested I have some SU stamps for sale on my exdemo blog at http://www.heyjudestamps.wordpress.com so check it out for some great bargains.

Putting my feet up for a minute!

Today was always going to be busy!

the plans were to do the following

take kids to Werribee int the  the morning then home to change into school uniform and back to school.

Pick up my white kitchen tiles in the city somewhere (a guy was selling them cheap and I had to meet him)

Get Brett’s glasses repaired.

Get kinder fees paid.

Pick kids up from afterschool sport.

Put the tent down and pack it away

try to get rid of the ‘wet sock’ smell from the car since our camping trip

go to kinder AGM tonight (with the kids).

ok sounds busy but had to scrub out the pick up the tiles as I couldn’t meet the guy at 9.30 am so thought we would do it next week instead. So got to the plaza to get Brett’s glasses repaired and they said they could do Corey’s eyetest on the spot so did that. She said she would write him a script if I really wanted to but she felt that on the whole he was coping ok with his vision as it is at the moment. An astigmatism can’t really be corrected permanently with glasses so it won’t hurt him to put them off until he needs them more. He will need them eventually but she said just to reassess in about 9 months with a view to maybe getting them before school starts but possibly not even til later when he is reading for longer and smaller print.  I made an appointment for Brett to go in next Monday and will get Owen in the following week (that way I can take just one kid at a time – much easier).  Brett’s glasses may need to be completely replaced he is going to see if he can do that under warrantee and if not will wait to see if his script needs changing before we decide what to do.

I had a call on Monday to say my new purple tiles were in so I thought I would pick those up today too – so popped in there and paid for them. She told me to drive around the back and I said oh I thought I’d just walk through its only 4 sheets of mosaic after all. So I walked through….and what do you know they have a clearance section. So my white kitchen tiles just changed again! Who could walk past 200mm x 250mm plain white gloss tiles for $5 a BOX (1.5m2 per box) and they had 3 boxes left. I only needed 2.8 square metres but I figure at that price would grab all 3 boxes so that I have some spare in case of breakage etc. So all my tile shopping is done (wasn’t committed to the other sale as he said not to bother putting it through ebay – his loss).  And it came in under budget….still laughing that my purple border cost about $90 while all the white ones only cost $15!

Got the kinder fees paid on the way home.

oh forgot to mention school. They told me the boys coped really well with everything and just as she did that Owen had a bit of a meltdown…he was stressed that he hadn’t gotten to ask his questions…she just said to ask her and his question was ‘what are the school rules’ lol! Poor kid was very distressed and not really happy with her explaination that they would explain them on his first day of school to the whole class. It sounds a little silly but Owen loves rules – they give him the sense of order he craves. I am glad that they were able to see an example of  Owen’s more challenging behaviours because I am sure from the way she was talking that she thought he was a perfectly ‘normal’ 8 year old – mind you that is good too – he isn’t too far away from the ‘normal’ 8 year old some of the time.

So just got to pick them up and put the tent down and get them to the kinder meeting and NOT get elected to any of the big committee jobs…am ok with being on committee but not on the executive and them get them home and into bed asap as the meeting starts at 7.30 (bedtime here is usually 7, 7.30 and 8pm here).

boys off to WPS tomorrow

the boys are having a morning at Werribee Primary tomorrow to help them settle into the new school ready for next year.  They are excited. I think it is me who is the most nervous….will they settle ok…the never ending questioning about if I made the right decision (although I am sure I did) and I’m sure they will be fine.  Everything will be good there are many good things about the change and only a few sad things….life is all about change and we have to learn to go with the flow.

 

*edited to add* oops saved this as a draft instead of posting it…still counts as a daily post though right?

still tired…

I think I do this every time we go camping…and everytime I forget that it seems to take more out of me than I admit each time… I am still tired and will be in bed early again tonight. I still love the times we go away thought – we leave so much crap behind that we spend more time as a family.

Next year is going to be a big one for my boys!

The big two are changing schools – it will mean more driving to school and the fact that we have to cross the railway tracks means leaving early to ensure we get there in time.  On that note they are going for an extra orientation session on Wednesday morning.  I have a million little questions for the school so keeping them all written down.

My littlest man is going to Kinder…he is ready but it will be a big change for him.

Owen will (probably) be going to Cubaree in September next year. Its a 5 day cub camp for all the cubs in Victoria and it is only held every 3 years so its go this time or miss out entirely.  It is hard to imagine sending him off for 5 whole days but he has matured a lot in the last few months and will have good support so I think he will be going and I am sure he will love it.

Big news this evening is that they are going to start holding a similar event for Joeys in April next year which means Brett will be away for 1 night (Joeys can only ‘camp’ for 24 hours and usually aren’t in tents but this one says a marque).  It will be big for Brett as it will mean being away from Owen….as much as he dislikes Owen most of the time…at the end of the day he crawls into Owen’s bed!

 

 

 

I really don’t like pulling a tent down in the rain

and yet…we would do it all again!

The plan for the weekend was to jump on the jumping pillow, swim in the pool, play in the playground and go to Sovereign Hill to have our photo done…we did all that so mission accomplished. Tent is very wet and I am hoping for a dry day soon to get it up and aired out.

I loved having our potrait done at Sovereign Hill’s Red Hill Photography Rooms.  The price has always been a little out of reach at $70 for a family potrait (sitting and an 8×10 photo of 2 adults and up to 4 kids) so we have never had it done but as mentioned previously we won the free portrait so we went despite the rain.  The costumes actually go on over clothes and are all vecro’d at the back so go on really fast and easy (even on my fat bod). The kids were actually pretty good about it – even if they look a little grumpy in the photos – but then all the old photos didn’t have smiles in them so it actually looks cool.  I’m having issues with uploading photos from my iphone to my blog (but not to facebook) so no photo today sorry  (I took a photo of our photo on the iphone so quality isn’t great but not bad either).  We did the candle dipping (again) and bowling (no queues as it was soo wet the mine had actually flooded and was closed)!

We were home by 1 and I told the kids to get a bowl of cereal for lunch and hit the sack…I didn’t sleep last night at all on account of the heavy rain and worrying about packing up in it and wasn’t helped by a damp Corey (accident) coming in to sleep with me at 3am. Now my camping mat is about the size of a real single bed (not a camp single bed) but even so me and him didn’t make for a comfy night.  I crashed for a good couple of hours and felt much better after that.  Had an easy dinner and bundled the kids through the bath and off to bed. Am going to bed myself very soon despite the fact that it is indeed ridiculously early.

oh and for the record…all I want for Christmas is an endless swim spa! We hired it for a half hour yesterday afternoon at the caravan – oh wow just simply heavenly! You can swim and swim and really feel like you are getting a work out but go nowhere – and so warm and lovely and the kids loved the spa bit too (as did I). Dreaming I know…..