Taking a Deep Breath.....

....before beginning another term.

Today has been a lovely deep breath.  I took my day off today, so the kids have had their last morning of watching MacGyver and The Brady Bunch.  We've had our last sleep in and slow start.  We've had our last 'interesting' (meaning, not plain old sandwiches) lunch.

We had one of Mr Busy's friends over, with his Mum this afternoon.  The boys have been wanting to have a play but this family is new to the school and rightly feel a little concerned about sending their precious young man off to someone's home whom they do not know.  We experienced the same thing when we arrived at Our School.  So us Mum's got to chat and get to know one another.  The boys had their play.  And I think we both feel more comfortable sharing our precious children with one another.

Incidentally this friend of Mr Busy's is a lovely, gentle-hearted young man with the kindest, most innocent face and the brightest blue eyes.  It has taken Mr Busy all of his 11 years to find a second boy to be so insistent about organising a play with.  He has chosen a wonderful friend. 

And so the term is about to begin with all its activity, action and excitement.  My how I have appreciated some time to slow down in between!

Celebrating the Non-Stereotypical

As I have headed back to work this week, and as the children have tagged along with me....As I have ramped back up to the hours of full-time study and close to full-time work... I am incredibly grateful for the amazing children I have the privilege of calling mine.

They are doing a great job of breaking through the stereotypes so often pinned upon teens and tweens.  That's not to say we don't have door-slamming and foot-stomping around the place.  That's not to say we don't have eyes being rolled at us or being told we are being unreasonable because someone didn't manage to convince us to their way of thinking.  But you know something special is going on when Mr Busy can come and ask for a hot chocolate at 'recess' time, receive the answer "no" and still give his Mum a kiss before he trots off to find something else to do.  Secretly I think he knew the answer would be no, but figured it was worth a try anyway.

I am conscious of how gentle they are on us, considering the mischief teens can get themselves into and today I'm celebrating and appreciating them.  

Monday Menu Plan: Week Beginning 18 July

We're back to almost normal.  The kids have another week off school....but the poor things have to come along with me.  So we are at school.  Later than normal in the morning, allowing for some sleeping in.  Less structure for the day is involved because noone rings a bell.  And there is lots of time to just catch up with fellow staff, many of whom I haven't seen for four weeks because of placement.  The kids are doing lots of playing and watching DVD's with other 'staff' kids.  Ahhh, the blessing of other kids in the same school-on-the-holidays boat!

Before I go and watch a little bit of TV with a textbook on my lap, here is my menu for the week:

Monday:  Chinese corn soup, yum cha morsels

Tuesday: Recurrant beef, vegies
Wednesday:  Morroccan chicken, vegies
Thursday:  Nigella's quick chilli with corn chip/cheese stacks
Friday:  Beef curry, rice
Saturday:  Chicken noodle soup
Sunday:  hmmm..will ponder further!

This is a photo I took when we were out and about visiting the snow last weekend.  The little town of Woods Point is entirely as quaint as this now disused petrol station.  The school and the police station shared the same yard.  There was no one about.  We know they must have all been in the Pub, due to the amount of noise and carry-on coming from in there!

The only living thing about to greet us at all was a dog that barked its way around town with us!

In Which I Fight Dust and Clogged Vacuums

I thought it must be time to post, because surely you're all wondering where I'd gotten to.

I could answer with the fact that I've been up to my eyeballs in study.  Well...not that bad.  The first week is all about introducing yourself all over the place.  But there was this one lecture of 55 minutes that wouldn't stream and required the downloading of another software program so I could download and listen to it.  Grrrr.  I'm sure I wasted an hour doing that before I listened to the lecture for another hour.

I could answer with the fact that I took the kids rollerskating the other day with some other kids in Miss Sunshine's class...plus a few requisite siblings.  They had a ball.  I got tired of yelling over the loud music in order to be heard.  Miss Mischief had the best time of all.  She's a tenacious child who taught herself to skate on $4 roller blades from an Op Shop and skated around the table on the deck outside.  It's not that big...but she learnt to skate pretty well.

What I'm really going to answer with is this:  I have been dusting.  Not just the quick flick of a Flylady feather duster.  Nooooo....when you don't do housework for a few months because you're too busy working and studying the dust gets stuck.  Did you know that?  Well, take it from me, it does.  So I've had to mix some water and vinegar and grab one of those cloth nappies I keep for such occasions and I have waged war on every dusty surface in my house.  Nearly.  I have one area left to go.  In the process of all that dusting, of course, comes vacuuming to get rid of the dust on the floor as well.  My vacuum has a particularly bad design flaw, which means the dust clogs up in a particular spot just near where the pipe attaches to the machine itself.  Did you know that kiddy chopsticks (the ones joined together at the top) and a metal skewer were actually invented for the purposes of unclogging vacuum cleaners?  No?  Well, I'm sure they were, because they work pretty well for such a task.

And now I'm paranoid about that amount of dust accumulating on those pristinely shining surfaces.  My feather duster has been out more this week than it has all year.  A task I believe the children will need to become familiar with once school returns as well.

Tomorrow, that last bit of dusting will be complete.  For now.

Monday Menu Plan: Week Beginning 11 July

My last days before Uni starts this morning have been perfect.  An afternoon with a friend.  A Sunday relaxing at home.  A Saturday afternoon excursion to see some snow.  We headed out through Warburton for an afternoon drive and found enough snow for the kids to play in at a little place called Matlock.  There's a public toilet and eating shelter there.  And snow.  That's it!  We had afternoon tea.  The kids played.  And we had dinner at a little pub on the way home.  Great meals for very reasonable prices.  It didn't cost all that much more than a take-away meal!

After all that enjoyment and toe-pinching cold it's back to the realities of the week.  For me, that means Uni will be available within the next 10 minutes and the kids will be pestering for things like computer and playstation time.  For me...that might mean they should be tidying up the messes they call bedrooms.  I also need to try and get all the dusting and vacuuming finished and the mopping done between studying and spending time with the kids.  All of a sudden my week feels....full.  And rushed.  A normal week, or course, also includes lots of yummy meals.

Monday:  Crockpot pot roast, vegies
Tuesday:  Rissoles, vegies
Wednesday:  Chicken wraps 
Thursday:  African Drumsticks, vegies
Friday:  Chinese corn soup, yum cha morsels
Saturday:  Roast chicken, vegies
Sunday:  Gnocchi with roasted tomato sauce

As you can see, someone else has posted Nigella's African Drumstick recipe so now you can all have a go at it too.  I have to say, it's one of my favourite ways to have chicken.  Then again, I have lots of favourite ways!!

A Girl-ish Kind of Day

The 'boys' in our house headed into the city today to enjoy a bit of blokey time around cars.  Us girls are not so into such things.  Instead, my Mum came down from the country to spend the better part of the day with us.  So we chatted and had lunch, and chatted....and chatted.  And then we took her back to the train station.  And it was nice and quiet and relaxed all day.  None of the boyish energy that is generated around our house most of the time.  It's amazing how much quieter it is without Mr Busy!  He's so fast.  And loud.  And always running...even when he says he's walking.

Miss Mischief has taken over my kitchen to make what is basically an ANZAC biscuit recipe as a slice.  The recipe is posted here.  After having a luscious pumpkin and sweet potato soup for lunch we'll be feeling a little spoiled for the day I suspect.

Meanwhile, I have been doing some really intensive dusting, fighting to unclog the vacuum.  It does this regularly because of a poor design feature.  And we've been watching the winter storms pass by our windows whilst we have remained inside enjoying the warmth of a good heater!  As I dusted my thimble collection I was reminded how this time last year we had just returned from visiting the Denver Zoo and the Museum.  'Tomorrow' we visited the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  Such a beautiful and perfect summer we enjoyed!!!