Thoughts on turning 40

Next year I turn 40.  

It's not something I ever imagined doing, I always pictured myself as being young.

I don't make a fuss of my birthday, in fact, I can't recall having a birthday party.  Ever.  Not even for my 16th, 18th or 21st.  We had a family dinner at a restaurant and that's about it.  Nothing flash.  Nothing fancy.  

I've decided that since there is no way around turning 40 then I may as well make the most of it and have a party.  Of course, being the person I am, it still won't be anything big or fancy, but it will be a party with friends and their children.  No family.  Mine live too far away and we have little to do with those in The Groom's.  

I'm delighting in imagining what sort of party I want to give myself.  If I left it up to The Groom nothing would get done other than beer and sausages on the barbecue.  

I think it would be fun to have a jumping castle, fairy floss, maybe some pony rides.  For the children, of course.

I love the Lolly Chops website and have been very inspired by many of her ideas and freebies.  I'm thinking along the lines of pastel colors, especially pinks, greens and blues.  I'm mentally creating floral tablecloths edged in little cotton doilies that I'll have to search for at op-shops.  Gorgeous bunting hanging from the gum trees. Fairy lights draped wherever I can reach.  Silver tinsel draped everywhere (I love silver tinsel and would keep it up all year if I was allowed to)...

I'm thinking of heading off to Spotlight this weekend to check out the fabric and get ideas for colors.  One can never have too many tablecloths I say, so I know that whatever I make will be used again.  

Now I just have to get The Groom to find some time to build the "little" covered entertaining area in the back paddock that I have in mind as the location for my birthday!

Do you like the roses in the picture above?  I picked them from the garden yesterday.  They are one of the many discoveries I've made in the mess of a garden we bought with the house.  It's amazing what one finds when you chop down overgrown gardens!  I think they look lovely and have decided that they will be one of the few things that shall stay when we demolish the front gardens.  I don't know what types of rose they are but they are pretty and have a feint smell.  Beautiful!

A silly little beetle

Some days I feel like this turtle; lots of work for unseen rewards.

I have been teaching year 1 and 2 one day a week in a particular subject this term.  I have some classes that are a pleasure to teach and make you realise your efforts are worthwhile and appreciated - not only by the students but their regular teachers.  On the other hand, I have some classes that I simply dread taking.  I must confess that there are only two classes that make me feel this way, and that I only feel this way because of the behaviour and attitude of a minority of students.  I won't discuss here their behaviour and my reasoning behind it, but suffice to say, I feel sorry for the 'good' kids in their classes as I feel they are being deprived of an education because of those particular students.

Anyhoo, I got a comment from one of the teachers yesterday that made my heart sing.  It came after a particularly trying session earlier in the day that left me wanting to scream in frustration, so it made me realise that I AM a good teacher after all.  Behaviour management is my weak spot, I simply dislike confrontation unless I'm all riled up.

So, to Mrs T, thank you for your kind words and support.  To you and your lovely class, it has made a big difference to how I see myself as a teacher AND a person.  It's a shame the same can't be said about the teacher of one of my difficult classes.

It's the weekend.  Let's enjoy ourselves!

Quiet on the home front

I have been grateful for the almost non-stop work over the past three weeks.  I had two days at home a couple of weeks ago with sinus, and then I wasn't booked to work yesterday.  I'm looking forward to the school holidays!

We're having renovations done on the ensuite.  It's slowly coming all together and looking wonderful.  It's mostly white with a light blue tile on the floor and a thin strip along the top of the walls of various shades of small blue glass tiles.  The toilet and water was connected today but the shower screen won't be installed until sometime next week.  Aaaah, no more late night trips to use the toilet at the other end of the house!  

Yesterday I had a day off and had been dreaming about sneaking off to the movies to see Tomorrow When the War Began.  I think the last grown up movie I saw by myself was The Other Boelyn Girl.  As normal, things don't go to plan.  The builders were here to do some odds and bobs, then I had to buy the materials for The Princess's Father's Day present, buy groceries, sign the tax returns at the accountant and go to the plumbing suppliers to buy a missing item for the vanity unit.  I have two more weeks left of possible work days so I'm sure a day will be found for me and a box of popcorn.

Do you like the picture of the curlew at the top of the page?  I took this years ago at a wild life park nearby.  A couple of weeks ago, when The Groom was clearing the creek paddock with the back hoe he disturbed a family of curlews and I came across a tiny fluffy curlew baby at the bottom of a tree next to the fence.  I shielded it from the hot sun and built a 'nest' around it until it got dark and it's mummy and daddy could come and rescue him.  I'd never seen a baby one before and my first thought upon seeing it was that it was a baby emu!

I baked a big batch of sultana cupcakes yesterday and froze them.  I think once the children are in bed I might defrost one and enjoy it with a cup of decaffeinated coffee!

I love cupcakes!

Trying times

Some days you feel like life is just out to getcha!

The Princess and Little Man have been at each other's throats more than they seem to be.  

They seem to have developed an amazing sense of entitlement that I can't recall instilling in them.  Ever.  

The Princess is not a morning person at all, neither am I, but I dread to see how she will be when she is a teenager if her performance from this morning is anything to go by!

Little Man is very argumentative with everyone right now.

They are 10 and 8 respectively.  Heaven help me if I plan to get through the teen years in one piece if this is an indication of what is yet to come!

I'm struggling to find the joys of motherhood right now.  I know they are there and there are lots of them, but honestly, there are days where I find it very hard to even like them.  What a terrible thing to say, I know, but true. 

They are just so competitive, especially with each other, that it becomes very frustrating and I seem to feel like I'm a referee than a mum.

On another note, we have a new puppy.  

We lost one of our dogs to a snake bite a few weeks ago.  It was very upsetting for the children and us.  

We almost lost my Rosie one morning to strangulation from her collar.  The red dog and the white dog were playing and the white dog's lower jaw got twisted up in the red dog's collar. We are lucky we got to her when we did as I was able to resuscitate and revive her.  The vet said we had literally a minute left and she's very lucky to be alive.  

Thank goodness The Princess went to check on them when she didn't get a response to calling them.  If we had have left already for school the thought of what we would have come home to is too horrible to bear.  

Now the dogs don't wear collars and we will only put them on when we are out and they need to be on a leash.   

Anyway, the new puppy is like having a newborn in the house.  It's been a blur of eat, sleep, wee.  He's been banished to sleeping in the aviary we use as a kennel with the girls because he's decided that when he wakes up around 3am he wants to play.  JUST like a baby!  My babies were sleep-through-the-night babies from around 3 months of age, so this has been a big adjustment.  

He's about 6 weeks old and very cute.  The children named him Moose.  Not my choice for a name, but they chose it to rhyme with Zeus, our dog we lost to a snakebite.  

Today, I'm grateful for my home and family (even if it's been driving me nuts).  

I'm grateful for antihistamine tablets because I've had bad sinus for most of the week.  

I'm grateful for 3 days of work for the week.  

I'm grateful that I'm alive even if sometimes I think I'm not.

Oh, unhappy day

Yesterday afternoon, sometime between 3.30pm and 5.30pm we lost all our lovely Ladies to what we assume was an eagle or hawk.

It was pretty gruesome to come home and find bodies and feathers as well as the remains of some bodies around the yard spread over a couple of acres.  The Princess noticed the feathers and one of the bodies first, so both she and Little Man were extremely upset at the find.

It's unlikely to be the dogs as there was no sign of digging or damage to the fences surround the 11x15m chicken yard and the gate to the yard was still locked.  

All Ladies bar one have been accounted for; one was found near a termite mound already covered in meat ants.  There is no way The Groom or I can retrieve her, so it's back to the earth for her.  The rest were burnt, but we have not found a trace of Pamela except for her feathers.  Sadly, it could be possible the dogs ate her.  I'm hoping whatever bird of prey got them has taken her back to it's nest.  One of the Australorps was found out the front with her belly cut open.  

The Groom is pretty sure it would have been an eagle or hawk since they were scattered everywhere and there is no sign of the dogs having gotten into the yard.  And even if they did, they would have killed and eaten them in the yard.  Unless, a bird carried them out of the yard, dropped them and then the dogs finished them off?  That is a possibility but there was no real evidence on the dogs showing this.  One would expect them to be covered in a fair amount of blood and feathers, wouldn't they?

One thing puzzles us, though.  We found what appeared to be four Australorp bodies, yet we only had three.  I didn't look too closely at the bodies to see if one was torn in two, but The Groom was the one who had the job of collecting them and he didn't notice anything amiss.  I wonder if any of the people across the road with chickens are missing any black ones?  Then, it seems odd if they were why it would be carried over to our front paddock.

So, farewell to Coco, Pamela, Schnitzel, Parmy and Nugget.  We shall miss you.  And thank you to Coco (or was it Pamela?) for giving us your first egg on Sunday and your last egg yesterday.

xx

A day at home

Oh, what a joy it is!

I got up early, having found a small, softly snoring boy sleeping beside me.  It's always the way when The Groom is away.  Little Man crept in during the night, complaining I didn't come and wake him up so he could sleep with me.  I had tried, he just sleeps too soundly to be woken up anyway.

I let the dogs out of their aviary just as the sun was beginning to peek over the tree tops, then made my way over to the chicken yard to let the Ladies out for the day.  They took their sweet time to leave their house, so it gave me a chance to observe them for a while.  Normally they race out madly, on the lookout for any little bugs flying around.

I made lunches and breakfast for The Princess and Little Man.  I walked them down to the gate so they could catch the bus to school.

By now it's not even 7.30am so on went a load of washing, I brought in another load that was on the line since yesterday, then two more loads went out to be washed over the course of the morning.

I washed the dishes from last night and breakfast and sat down to watch the rest of Sunrise with my decaffeinated coffee and two slices of toast with crunchy peanut butter.

Once I'd finished breakfast I realised I'd forgotten to put the container of prawn heads in the fridge in the rubbish that was going to be collected today, so there was another walk down the driveway to the road.  I'd read in a Jackie French book that she gives her chickens prawn heads and they loved them.  I tried it with mine and they fought over the three I'd thrown into their yard!  But the prawns have been defrosted for a couple of days now so it's out to the bin for them.

I've dusted the buffet and tv cabinet, emptied the crumbs out of the toaster, wiped down benches and put clean light blankets over the backs of the couches.  The floor has been vacuumed and soon I shall fold washing that has piled up (we had family come to stay last week so I let it build up - silly me!).

The Princess has ballet this afternoon then straight after she finishes we head off to football training for Little Man.  Tonight is a takeaway night.  We get home late and rather close to their bedtime, so it's easier than trying to cook and rush them into having showers, eat and get to bed.  

I love days at home.  

I love the quietness and stillness of my little world.  

I enjoy listening to the calls of the birds, the gentle gruffing of the dogs as they lay, sleeping, at the back door, the soft thunk of the twigs falling onto to the roof from the overhanging trees, and the gentle hum of life going on outside.  

I'm too lazy to get in the car and drive down the highway to the closest supermarket or petrol station to get the day's paper, so I read it online earlier.  I know I need petrol, but it can wait.

I love pottering around at home.  For me, it's still a bit too much like 'someone else's' home, but over time it will feel like mine.  

It's overcast and cool, but not cold.  Despite this, it's still a shorts and t-shirt day.  It always seems to be like that in a Tropical Queensland winter.

I love my days at home.

My fledgling garden

I love my garden right now.

I don't have a lot of vegies and fruit growing yet, but I'm enjoying what I do have.

I've been picking the first batch of tomatoes - grosse lisse - for over a week now.  That is, the ones I get to before the bugs/grubs/possums get to.  I don't use sprays so the children can help themselves as they please.  The yucky ones (tomatoes, not children) just get chucked over into the chook yard for them to enjoy.   Sometimes I have to pick them before they have ripened but that's okay.  I just sit them on the kitchen window sill and wait for them to go red.  This afternoon I had a lovely tomato roll, with the tomato still warm from the sun.  It was heaven! 

We've been eating eggplant for a few weeks now.  I think everyone's getting sick of it, quietly.  I've always been able to grow eggplant and tomatoes without a problem.  Once it's in spaghetti sauce nobody even knows it's there!  

The Crystal Apple cucumbers are coming along nicely.  The first one is about a week away from being picked.  I can't wait to try it.

I've been picking basil for ages, along with the shallots and garlic chives.  

I'm lucky if I get to have one star fruit before the birds get to it, but that's okay.  That tree was here when we bought the house, along with the lemons and mandarines.  All three are in the wrong spot so we plan to sacrifice them and plant new ones later in a much more suitable spot.

I think we have about 5 or 6 types of tomatoes.  Only the grosse lisse are big enough to flower and fruit yet.  The others were only planted a couple of weeks ago.  I love tomatoes!!!!

I'm considering giving up on growing corn and trying again next year.  That crop has been a dismal failure.

My potatoes are in big black plastic pots.  The leaves have yet to flower so I don't know how long I have to wait until they are ready to harvest, but that's okay.  I can wait.

I'm preparing a new bed for passionfruit.  I've put down a heap of dynamic lifter, newspaper and some of the hay/leaves/food scraps/chook poo from the chook yard and after a couple of weeks, I'll add some soil and plant into that, then keep adding layers over time.  I'm planning to site it next to the fence at the chook yard and then adding a couple of star pickets inside the yard and cover it with wire so the vine can grow over it, and providing additional shelter and shade for the chickens.

My poor little Australorps have worms.  Well, at least one of them does.  Garlic cloves in their water hasn't helped, so it's on to the chemical treatment to hopefully rid them of them quickly.  They are all healthy and happy looking, so I'm not overly worried - yet.  I just don't like the conotations worms have - they imply dirty and unclean.  Luckily, not a single chook is laying yet so I'm not worried about the use of a chemical wormer right now.

I love my garden and would love to post pictures to share with you, but can't for some reason.  It took me almost 4 minutes just to open my blog once I signed in!

I'm so grateful that I have a husband who is willing to tolerate my 'foibles' and build me my dreams.

Not happy, Jan!

I'm a bit cranky at the moment.

It is hard to fathom that in such a country as Australia, it is hard to get a decent, reliable, speedy internet connection.

Queensland's Premier, Anna Bligh, wants to turn Townsville, where I live, into the state's "Second Capital".  That's all fine and good, but how about they get the basics right first?  Then again, our part of the country has pretty poor infrastructure when it comes to roads etc anyway.  The government is more interested in spending money on sports stadiums, toll roads, foot bridges and the like in Brisbane than doing anything up here.  

Bowen has water that looks like weak coffee; Townsville has woefully indadequate roads and public transport and our 'new' Townsville hospital has less beds than the 'old' one and we cater for a population that is spread over a distance similar to the whole size of Victoria!  It's funny that politicians are declaring Queensland to be the state to 'make or break' our next Federal Government.  It has got nothing to do with the ousting of Kevin Rudd, and more to do with the fact that this part of the world continually gets shafted when it comes to spending that is real and beneficial.  

Many of our roads, suburban roads even, get flooded for days or weeks on end every wet season.  Yet I laugh whenever I see a Federal Government "Roads to Recovery" sign dotted along our highway or arterial roads.  I can't even recall when some of them were put up as it's been so long!  

As for Telstra, what a laugh!  We've been in our new house since March and a Telstra technician came out shortly after to the section near our front fence to do some work because people in the street complained about their phone and internet connection always dropping out.  Well, the wires/cables are still sticking up out of the ground, surrounded by the lovely bright yellow fence they surround everything in.  We have about 28 houses in our street and at least four of these have Telstra fences in front of them with the cables sticking out.  Every time it rains we seem to have phone or internet problems.

I've been at the library for over half an hour trying to upload a heap of photos because our connection at home is too slow to cope with it.  So far, I've not been able to upload anything because - I don't know why.  Pages are taking way too long to even load.  And these photos have been taken in 'email' sized format so it shouldn't take long at all.

Anyway, I had lots of pics to show you from around home but I can't.  

Maybe another time.

New Additions

We have finished the chook house and yard.  Well done to The Groom!

We have two chickens at the moment.  Two Rhode Island Reds who are about point-of-lay (although their first morning here today resulted in no eggs).  They have some real character.

Coco, Little Man's chicken, is rather friendly and doesn't mind being picked up and patted.  The Princess named hers Pamela, and Pamela is the quieter and more timid of the two.  

At the moment they are hanging around the chook house and not venturing far from it.  I've got a large plastic pallet against a fence on an angle for them to hide under if they want, but they haven't gone that far over the other side of the yard yet.  

They both like grass but are not interested in the kitchen scraps yet.  Give them time and they will.

Hopefully today we will be getting some Australorps.  That's what we wanted from the start but bought the Reds just because they were the only ones available at the time.

I can't wait to post some pictures of the chickens!

Starting to think about Christmas presents...

It's not that far away when you really think about it.

It's closer than you think if you are planning to make things yourself to give as gifts.

It's all so scary.

The Princess and I were wading through multiple pages on the internet today (actually, it was originally the one site that we looked at but you know how these things happen), and came across many ideas we could use.  My Princess is very 'artistical' as she once described herself, and is always making something or drawing.  Her favourite things to draw are fairies and mermaids.  She is currently designing her own clothing range - including prices - that I think is rather lovely.  I wonder if this may one day lead to something...

Anyhoo, we came across a wonderful site called Executive Homemaker and there were so many brilliant ideas on it we soon discovered we'd spent almost 2 hours looking and clicking!  

There was also this lovely alphabet poster at Yellow Mums that I think would be lovely framed for my nieces.  Never mind the fact that I promised one of them a lavender stuffed sleep doll to one of them once we'd got settled in at the new house!  I can pick up some cheap raw timber photo frames from the discount shops and paint them in a matching color and they'd look wonderful.

I would like to try soap making so I might spend more time searching through this site for something easy and suitable for a beginner.  I think that almost everyone loves hand made soap, especially when it smells pretty.

Of course, fabric bunting is on my list of things to make, too.  I'm going to make some eventually to drape through the trees in the chicken yard once it's up and going.  Hopefully it'll help keep the eagles and hawks away, and give the chooks something pretty to look at (and maybe take their minds off trying to escape into the vegetable patch next to their yard!).

As a rule, we tend to only buy for the children in our family.  We have one niece who lives overseas and unless they are out here for a visit, we don't normally give her anything.  It is too expensive to post things to whichever country they are living in at the time.  My nephew is really boy-ish and likes trucks, but I always try to give him books if I can.  Failing that it's clothing.  Another niece is very girly and loves dolls, dress-ups, and the bunting I gave her last year went down really well.  

We don't give anything to our parents or siblings.  We rarely give each other gifts, we just buy ourselves something we want instead.  Christmas is about children we believe.

What are you doing for Christmas?