Single Photo Saturday

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Flora on Friday

 

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I see dead people... and a whole bunch of other shit... :-)

I see weird stuff...

I often find myself seeing something completely out of the ordinary or fascinating and wondering if I am the only one in the world that saw it. It's great that I see these things- but some days I really wish there was some one to confirm what I saw because sometimes it seems so unlikely I don't know if I believe it myself.

I notice cool reflections on the wall above my washing machine.

I noticed one day that by pure accident the garden hose had been arranged in the shape of a treble clef.

A long time ago I saw a cat run into a flock of seagulls that were standing in a puddle. The cat caught one of the gulls as the rest flew up into the air. Seconds later the gulls realised the predicament of their mate and dive bombed the cat who let go of his prey and ran for safety.

I'm sure I have seen ghosts. And on two occasions I have seen in my minds eye scenes of crimes that have yet to happen as I have passed by their (future) location. Both of them happen sometime later.

From train window I once saw a hare sitting on the side of an irrigation drain decide to suddenly jump and land right in the water.

Yesterday I saw the effect that timing has when a large truck with a cage like deck was standing still in an intersection and behind it a couple of white trucks went past making it look like the white trucks were moving on the back of the still truck.

I saw 'something' come down from the sky last night.

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Out and About: Riverton and Bull Creek

For Will's Birthday 'thing' back in December Les took the kids to Riverton to the swimming pools and to the Aircraft museum- which is Wills sort of thing! They also had takeaways for lunch and checked out a pretty cool play ground.

 

 Will drying his hair at the pools.

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Tama 9 Months

 

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Will 51 Months

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365 Week 12

  

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365 Week 11

 

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Giggling

Been a while since I posted a video so to make up for it here are two....

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Spot Fires and Finding Rhythm

If I were a journalling sort of person this would all be going down in my diary I guess- but I've never been able to do that sort of writing to myself without feeling like a bit of a dick. There's a risk in placing it here- but this is my space for doing it, so do it I will. It's a bit all over the place and for that I apologise.

I'm struggling a bit at the moment- you can probably see that in both my blogging and lack of creating.

I'm not sure if it's a chicken or an egg thing.

I thrive when I am creative and I haven't had much time for it lately and even less energy. I'm also in that state of having a lot of ideas and projects that I want to do that I'm sort of frozen on the spot- where to start? what to do? how? and most of all when?

Also I set one very specific goal for the month of February and one for March. April is fast approaching and with it another goal and yet neither of the other two have been met. It's hard to keep failing myself day after day, to be letting myself down constantly.

I'm also finding that we are living our lives in such a way that we are dealing with the 'spot fires' while the big bush fire is raging out of control, largely ignored like the proverbial elephant in the room.

We are facing issues with each of the kids- big hard stuff that deserves massive attention and really needs effective and fairly immediate action.

We need to look seriously at what's next for us and what needs to be now for us. Buy a house maybe. Loose weight. Live with intention. Spend more time together engaged in valued activity.

I've lost my passion for photographing and recording our lives both via the blog and creatively. I couldn't care less if I went a week without taking photos- and if you know me you'll know that's pretty out of character.

I used to pack a whole lot into my days. I was one of those busy people who did it all. I'm not saying that I want to be there again- I don't. But I would like to feel some of the satisfaction that comes with achievement.

Overall and on the surface of it I am happy with our life today. We are living in a great place. Les' work isn't too demanding and he generally gets home less 10 minutes later than in NZ. We have enough money to be comfortable at the moment- though things are going to get a bit tighter soon. The kids schools are good enough. The weather is fabulous.

But I'm not really satisfied. 

Part of the solution for these issues and this feeling of discontent that I have is simply getting more sleep and therefore more energy- but that in itself creates an issue in that we lose valuable time for 'doing stuff' if we hit the hay early.And that 'stuff' I want to do it also important to me.

And I really feel like I'm missing some sort of rhythm in my days. I discovered late in 2010 that I really like routine. It sounds bland and boring and well, routine- but it's good stuff and I don't have it. And it's causing me to forget to do stuff. Big stuff and small stuff.... and in particular the small stuff that becomes big stuff. Things like reading to the baby, changing the straps on the car seat. Buying some plants for the garden and a whole raft of other stuff I wish I could tell you but well- I forgot.

There is SO much going on in my head I may explode. Seriously my head might just pop open and words and ideas and thoughts will just spew out and make a mess like high velocity spaghetti splatter after some sort of Bolognaise blow up. Some of it is important stuff like thinking about finding friends, and finding ways to: save money, simplify our lives, and discipline the WILL-ful one without going insane. And some of it is chaff like 'fantasy craft shopping' or dream house plans or the recipe for the perfect home made Frappaccino.

And it's going on all the time like someone is sitting and flicking the channel switch on the remote for my brain. It's distracting and exhausting and makes it nigh on impossible for me to find a flow and a rhythm for my days- to create that routine that I seem to be craving. I come up with great ideas and sometimes even execute them and it works and then my brain moves on. And I take a shortcut because I forgot why I was taking the hard path- and the shortcut ends up being an even harder path and I'm back to square one or worse.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm LUCKY. I have a great life. I have an awesome husband. I am fortunate to have my children. To have enough money and a great place to live. I am blessed to have one super huge stash of creating goodness and a space to use it. I'm lucky to be experiencing life in a whole new place. I have wonderful friends who are still very much present in my life despite being 5 hours ahead of me at all times.

I'm just not rocking this super life I have been blessed with, and that is doing it a huge injustice.

I'm happy keen to hear your thoughts on this.

Gypsy

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Simple Sunday

 

By Nick Dewar
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Flora on Friday

 

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Right now, I am...

:: listening to the sounds of the baby struggling against the sleep he so desperately needs and Will in the Wii.

:: eating some hot cross buns and iced coffee.

:: feeling a little sore in the neck and shoulders. But also very pleased to have finished a big project which was weighing me down.

:: working sweeping the living area floors- been working on that since Tama's first sleep this morning.

:: loving quiet days at home with my little boys.

:: appreciating the warm weather which persisits- think we might go to the pools tomorrow.

:: dreaming about a little scrapbooking time just for me.

:: plotting a walk around the park while Kieran is at Hockey practice and feeding the ducks with my baby.

:: enjoying doing some reading in the evenings before bedtime- I have a stack of books I want to read.

:: thinking about friends and friendship, teenage troubles and the best way to proceed with a tricky situation.

:: planning a trip to the garden center but first I need to figure out what veges to plant in a Perth Autumn.

:: looking forward to finally making the Banoffee Pie I was supposed to make last week for Pi day!

:: treasuring the time before my boy starts walking- it seems like you really start to leave those baby days behind when they get upright and as he's now started pulling himself up on the furniture it's looming closer and closer.

:: loving the conversation Will and I had in the car today on the way back from the fruit shop.

Will: Mum, Dad told me a story about Thunderbirds when I went to bed last night.

Me: Did he? That sounds really cool.

Will: Yes he did! And it had Will Tracey in it.

Me: Wow that sounds really special.

Will: Yes, it was indeed.

And then he proceeded to give me a blow by blow account of the story which was really neat because he's not big on retelling stuff so sometimes I'm not a 100% sure that he's understood it all. When I shared the conversation with Les on the phone he told me that it wasn't till halfway through the story when he introduced the character Tama Tracey that Will looked at him and said: "Is Will Tracey ME?!"

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Simple Sunday

 

By WiseOldeOwl on Etsy

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Single Photo Saturday

 

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Flora on Friday

 

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Out and About:: Kings Park

 

Kings Park is in the City. It is expansive and beautiful. It has the most incredible views out over the river and a whole heap of stuff to do. We went after Tamas recent appointment at PMH in Subiaco. Because of that we were totally unprepared (no sunscreen, drinks etc and Tama was ready to sleep) so we didn't stay long- but I am certainly looking forward to lots of trips there in the future.

 

Very cool water playground... must keep our emergency beach bag in the car!

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Will right now.

We have this boy his name is Will. He is 4, but he likes to tell every one that he is four and a half. I think he knows it has a cuteness factor to it. He is charming and funny. He is intelligent and creative. He is sweet and kind and good. He is also one great big huge pain in the butt! 

Seriously, Will is pretty amazing at the moment. I was fairly stressed about him starting 'Kindy' at school. I was totally expecting a lot of emphasis on pre-reading and writing. And I was right. I'm not one of those mums who believes in lots of homework or wants to hothouse my kids into little infant prodigies reading and writing before they start school. And of all our children Will has been, I thought, the least suited to sitting down at a table pencil in hand. I figured he'd be much better off in an environment that allowed him to make and do, to get outside when he wanted (not by bells and timetables) and to use hammers and saws, and spades and hoses. In fact I probably still do think that. That said he is thriving at school. Absolutely loving formal learning. He comes home with all sorts or stories. Most of them consist of something terrible 'Boy F' did and something wonderful Will did. "F called me chicken legs today, and that is not very nice". "Mrs Gordon said I was the best 'rest-er' in the whole wide world." But a lot of the stories relate to letter sounds, and other more formal learning. He is thriving on it. And he was one of the first 2 kids in blue group to get an Honour Certificate at the first full school assembly this year- so I guess he'd doing lots of stuff right.

But he really is a pain in the bum at home. We can't really leave him alone in a room with Tama unless he's fully engaged in something like eating. He's rough and he can be quite mean and essentially sees T as a bit of a play thing and about the only person in the house he can really assert his will over. He has been told countless times not to touch his head, try and pick him up, or prevent T from getting where he needs to go. But as far as Will is concerned rules are for ignoring. Like the rule about keeping the sand in the sand pit. Or the one about not chewing on: furniture, TV remotes, and cushions, or licking things, or eating food off the floor or covering his damn mouth with his hand when he is constantly coughing his guts out. The other day he decided while sitting on the couch that spitting on the toy in his hand would be a great idea. He was sent immediately to the hallway and the TV went off. Whilst in the hallway he amused himself by quietly spitting on the bathroom door- he had built up quite a waterfall by the time I caught him. It's moments like that that really send me nuts. He's already in time out, what I do- put him in time-out time out?? And what he did was so gross and so obviously against the rules- I mean he was already in trouble for spitting.

There's lots of boy stuff going on.... fighting.

 

More fighting, this time as Sportacus from Lazy Town.

And of course outside play like biking, flying, water play and in the sand pit.

He's probably happiest with glue, scissors, paint or paper in hand.

 

 

He spends his entire day asking me what the time is. And telling me that he's hungry. And then at dinner time he eats like a sparrow.

  

He loves to get involved with stuff like making dinner, baking, and gardening.

  

 He'd like to think he is a fabulous big brother but it's not the case and Tama is not one of those babies that delights in seeing his amazing big brother... unless that amazing big brother is Kieran.

 

But he does try and be kind and loving and helpful. It's just that he's a little too kind, a little over loving, and unhelpfully helpful.

 

He's also into playing on the computer "Grumpy Birds" and ABC for kids. On the Wii and the PS. He likes imaginary play (kitchens, dressing up and so forth) especially if someone is keen to join in. And building stuff like towers and such with Duplo, lego and other stuff. He also really enjoys music and will sometimes hang out in Merenia's room listening, playing, learning and singing.

 

  

Probably the coolest things about Will is his language. When some one asks him how he is he doesn't just say good he says "Great!". He has a little thing that he does where he breathes out when he speaks almost like an enthusiastic sigh. "Ahhhh that was really cool Mum!". We were out recently on a walk and Les and I were talking about a nasty looking patch of weather approaching Will said "Best we return home then" And when driving in the car last week he was telling his friend "Spiders have consequences Leon! That have poisonous in them and if they bite you you will get poisonous. And then you could die. Snakes and Jelly fish have consequences too!" He often likes to talk about what other people might think of. Generally the most mundane stuff like: "I'm going to wear my Octonauts T-shirt to the garden centre I think they'll love that Mum".

A couple of my other favourite Will Quotes of late:

"I really like this Highway Mum it can take you to a lot of places!"

"Mum sometimes my mouth makes this whiny noise"  (Yep it sure does).

And on seeing a hot rod with an exposed engine: "That's like a ghost town car Mum. It's got that really freaky part!"

"You known Mum I think those dogs really liked it when I got down and talked to them the other day. Because I was down on my hand and knees and saying "Woof Woof Woof!" and they would have thought I was a dog like them." (Those dogs like to look under the gate and bark endlessly at anyone walking past- I'm fairly certain they would have thought dog-Will was taunting them!)

And this one too....

Will: Mum I'm confused.
Me: Really, what are you confused about?
Will: Actually I'm exhausted.
Me: Sounds like you might be confused too.

We do love this boy. He might just be the one that tips over the edge of parenting sanity though, so it's lucky we do.

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