Monday, September 24, 2007

Some pictures for perusal

The very loud but very smooth Cessna. Quinn wanted a green one and was a little miffed that we got blue.
We watched the whales about 3 or 4 km's out from that sand bar. To the right of the sand bar is where we stayed, literally a hop, skip and jump to the water and fantastic views. The water in the forefront of the picture is Merimbula Lake and a great spot for children - but if it's a more wavey, beachy feel you're after, simply walk around behind that sand and there you are!


On Tathra wharf. Tathra is a nice spot, lovely views. About 20 km north of Merimbula.

All aboard the Sea Eagle, on the search for whales...

And we found them. Here are two humpback whales feeding. They only feed in two places during their annual migration, this spot in Merimbula and the Antarctic. Even though they were not interested in playing we were treated to see them feeding.



Sunday, September 23, 2007

Holiday

Well we're back :(

I don't want to be home. We had a semi-serious conversation about moving to Merimbula, or thereabouts. I would absolutely do it tomorrow, but for two reasons. a) Matt having to relocate the shop, or even worse, look for a job, and b) losing our network of babysitters and general helper-outerers. I have friends who are away from their family and have heard how hard it can be. How tempting it would be though to get away from this relentless 'have to' life, and I'd do any job. I'm sick of social work. I'm sick of spending more time than I would like in front of a computer screen and less with the kids I work with. I'm sick of court. Court is a joke, it's a circus. I'm sick of DHS making ridiculous, nonsense decisions about childrens "best interests". I'm sick of the entire staff turnover at DHS every 3.5 days. I'm sick of new graduates being employed by Child Protection, barely out of uni and managing the complexities of damaged, hurting and abusive families. I'm sick of bringing my work issues home and thinking about them into the wee hours when I should be recharging my batteries to look after my own children.

I want to be a florist. Or work in a toy shop.

Good things about going away:
  • You're not at work, you're not at home
  • Excellent uninterrupted, pure family time
  • No cooking
  • It makes you appreciate home and the things that are yours
Bad things about going away:
  • You have to come home and face it all again.
What we did:
-beach
-whale watching off a boat called Sea Eagle
-pool (I'm sure it was sub zero temperature but you'll do anything for kids won't you?)
-beach
-spa
-Magic Mountain (should have its name changed to Dodgy Mountain, but the children loved it and we spent a whole day there)
-beach
-spa
-scenic flight up to Tathra
-beach
-beach
-spa
-beach
-Mieke made friends with identical twins, "Freya and Steve" (actually Freya and Neve, but Mieke couldn't get her head around that).

I'll put up some photos when I get them off the camera.

Kate, who still hasn't completely let go of the idea that we could just move away and do something different...

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Happy birthday Quinn


Happy number two, my beautiful little fellow. xxx

When I found out we were having a boy I was overjoyed but a little panicked at the same time. I mean, what do I know about boys?

Well now I understand of course that he's more than a boy, he's a person. And such an interesting person too. He's assertive, lively, affectionate, mischievous, so so funny... he's wonderful. And I love him more than I could have ever imagined.

I can't believe he's two already.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Stuff

We're off to Merimbula on Sunday for six (count 'em, six) glorious nights.

Matt has been told by the physio that he is not to walk on sand at all, as it is too unstable for his Stupid Foot. This grim news makes the above statement rather bitter sweet for Matthew.

Mieke completed a one hundred piece puzzle today. Three times. She's a freaky speed puzzler, I'm going to enter her into championships. And then we're going to retire on the fortune she makes for us.

I love that you guys are all loving the blog. And I know that you are because you send emails, discussing the blog. But you can actually comment here if you like. Go on, don't be shy.

Anyhoo, probably won't post again before our road trip to warmer, sandier places, so see you in a week or so!

Ciao, Xin Chao, Au revoir, Gute Nacht, See ya :)

Friday, September 7, 2007

Home ownership

Is it really all its cracked up to be?
We've put the idea of purchasing a home on hold. To save more money. More money.
More.

Money.

We're always going to need more money, we're never going to have enough for this to be comfortable. I feel like it will always be just out of reach for us.
Renting isn't so bad, we get our dishwasher fixed for free and the water leak, and roof tiles. But we can't paint. And we can't put a big pergola up out the back to shade the children while they play. And we can't strip the Yuk floor in the living area and re-finish it. And it'll never be our Yuk floor, we'll never own it.
I suppose, at the end of the day, the upside to this is that there won't be anything for Mieke and Quinn to fight about when we're gone.

Okay, enough. Complaining over.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Just because

Here are photos of my two Best Things.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Post for Andrew

Apparently I'm not frequent enough with my posting! Which is fine in theory but in order to post I find it is more entertaining if one actually has things to write about in a post. I've rummaged around and come up with a few random tidbits.

I am sick. Not cough sneeze sick, berloody sick to my core sick. This is what happens when people don't get sick often - when they do, it's life altering. I've not been to work now for over a week, due in part to Mieke having the same lurgy, then (bless her little cotton socks), she gave it to me. I'm going on leave in under two weeks and I have precisely thirty four and a half million things to do before I go - which includes a court report (for a matter which goes to court while I'm on leave and is likely to be a contested hearing, which means I'll be subpoenaed to give evidence).

Quinn turns two in the very near future and ideas for his present are few and far between. He has way too many clothes. He has way too many toys. What do you buy a two year old if it's not clothes or toys? I have tucked away for him a couple of books and a set of Schleich animals. It feels like it's not enough though. Why do we feel like we have to shower children senseless with stuff? In my experience the more they have the less they appreciate it. Still, I'll make a last minute dash to grab more stuff for him to open on the day - it's inbuilt in me, one of those things I just know about myself.

We saw The Bourne Ultimatum. The best one of the three, though I could have done without the jumpiness of camera in close up dialogue scenes - I think going out too soon and wobbly camera work unraveled my healing efforts and put me back at square one on Sunday - like I was coming down with it all over again. Despite the motion sickness and my body full of aches (and the fact that even though we were in Gold Class I couldn't recline my chair on account of not being able to breathe through my nose, damnit), I really enjoyed watching this movie. There's scope for a fourth too. And even if you hate the concept of the Bourne films, it's totally not hard to look at Matt Damon for ninetysomething minutes. Just as an aside...

My thyroid is fine (poo, no dramatic weight loss for me). My heart readings showed some instances of tachycardia (do I sound all ER?). Simply put, it means rapid heart beating. Next step is keep a diary of when I feel my heart doing it and note what I'm doing at the time, and some other things, and go back to see the doc after a month or so. Doc says is most likely related to stress and anxiety but is not ruling out a referral to a cardiologist if my diary doesn't demonstrate a pattern which correlates with a stress based cause.

Matt and his Stupid Foot (that's its official name now) are on the mend. Finally. He had the plaster off nearly two weeks ago and has been doing exercises to coax it into doing what it's supposed to be doing. He now walks without aids, though only just, and it gets sore if he is on it for too long.