the silver linings of Spring - it's all about timing

Greetings all,

What a mixed week of high highs & low lows.  Thank you for the supportive comments on the last post where i had accidentally uploaded an entire new blog look which didn't take my fancy, however, prompted me for fresh changes & i'm liking this new style (after i left my blog for a couple of days i was able to fix it calmly!!)  It was all put into perspective as we lost 5 Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.  My heart breaks & my husband has been very quiet, he couldn't have planned a fishing trip away with our son at a better time.  They didn't end up camping outdoors, yet they bonded over Swiss Army knives, lamb stew, toasted marshmallows & the one that got away.  

Saturdays are chicken coop/ run cleaning days & i was impressed one chicken laid an egg overnight at -8C.  It was still -6C when i was raking up straw, all taps & water feeders frozen solid.  My handsome soldier will return to a bounty of chicken-poo-mulch for the garden.  The children want to experiment with new chicken breeds, top of the list are Araucanas & Frizzles, however, we have to lose 4 hens first (Daddy's Rules) . . . yesterday at a school luncheon, i rehomed 3 laying hens, brilliant.

 I picked up the new DVD release The Hunger Games, we read the books first (i think it's really important to read what your children are reading!!) & the movie wasn't half bad at the cinema.  I was running early for school so popped the movie in the car & couldn't get it to play.  Thankfully an 8 year old rescued me . . . press 'select' not 'play' to play discs??!!  By the afternoon our new car has been snowed on then a light hail storm.  Later that night on the way home from a party, i was pulled over by the police for running an amber traffic light.  Cue the most forgiving Federal Policeman . . . because i was friendly & genuinely thought it was Ok/ i was in a new car/ it had been snowing/ the roads were wet/ i thought i would be more dangerous to stop . . . he let me go.  Then we talked chickens (he knows the policeman who hatches our chicks) & i thanked the kind small town mentality of our nation's capital!!  FYI amber means prepare to stop, you can get booked for running an amber light!!   

 Seasons in Australia commence on the 1st of every 3rd month (September, December, March, June) not moon timings . . . today is the first day of Spring.  The sun has moved so much since i planted the chicken-day-house-roof-top-lettuce-garden they will really start to flourish.  It was so cold last night i had to have a hot shower to warm up & pinch a child from her bed to stay warm, brrr, coldest night i can remember all Winter - talk about a last hurrah!!

 It's athletics season & time for school carnivals - my primary schoolers brought home a bunch of ribbons & have already attended the regionals, this week - my high schooler had her sports day.  She entered every event possible while i was sun/ rain/ wind burnt . . . she won age champion (out of 200 girls!!)  As always, her school does fancy dress (our house theme was 'pink') so the entertainment factor was high as my husband & i watched inflatable horses, builders, fruit, 1950's housewives, Braveheart, natives & SciFi costumes run, jump & throw all day.       

 In poorly timed mishaps this week . . . 

i have driven a huge splinter down my finger nail & another into my finger tip; 

late to a school assembly as my husband changed the oil on his car & took my car to the hardware store, then left me with an empty fuel tank;  

i had to run volleyball kneepads to school, due to snow i was late & my daughter froze while waiting; 
our German Shepherd broke a snow dome with his tail, sob, those things really smash;

i paid for 3 different school excursions & events late;

i was so stiff from my Michelle Bridges workout i missed my son's 2nd origami creative club class (i don't think one boy was sorry, he was so loud, i threatened to sit next to him next class!!); 

while waiting for my husband outside his building for a lunch date, the police tapped on my window to see if i was dodgy; 

i left the Father's Day gifts for my Daddy & father-in-law a day late, hope they arrive on time;

i turned up to Costco an hour before it opened;

& my least favourite - the 9p.m. midweek volleyball match, yawn. 

A great Australian saying in such dismay . . . "she'll be apples" & at $1/kg these juicing apples from the Farmer's Market do indeed make everything alright.  

Surprisingly we're expecting a 24C day, that's inland living folks, 30C temperature variations & hallelujah for clothes line washing.  Happy Father's Day, i'm so excited with the gifts we've chosen, i even organised a giant Lego message to be built in Brisbane for my handsome soldier, perfect timing for the best father my children could possibly dream for.  Sunshine people, SUNSHINE, love Posie
PS last chance to win a family pass to Taronga Western Plains Zoo, ends Sunday midnight.

i'm grateful for . . . 'chit chat'

Greetings all,
Coming down from the high which was a family reunion/ 4 flights in 4 days/ my father's 80th birthday last weekend, i've had a busy week maintaining the momentum with children's events . . . Academic Awards, volleyball clinic, Suburban Challenge (think town planning for senior primary schoolers, then imagine my 3rd girl winning!!)  Of course, a whole lot of chit cat is involved . . . at the school gate, with teaching staff, at sports games & with my family of marathon talkers.  Can you overdose on chit chat??  Impossible for me . . . which is why my only-speak-when-has-something-worth-saying-husband is so complimentary to my world.  I remember on one of our first dates, he actually said "you don't have to fill every silence & externalise every thought that pops into my head".  Gosh i love his confidence.
My children are all varying combinations of chitter chatters . . . my 3rd girl can play in her room for hours, in solitude, where my first born can gabble away like any teen, but loves her silence.  I'm sure she was reading in the womb, like handsome soldier, she can read for days, it's an escape.  Makes her a fabulous flying companion & easy to entertain.  She just read The Hunger Games yesterday, as in, before school & after dinner, gobbled it up, asleep by midnight.  How??  Took me 4 days of dedicated reading chunks & neglecting housework!!   

My next girl, wow, she floors me with her ability to read, as she is such a huge talker & story teller, yet she reads all 7 Harry Potter books every school holidays, over again.  I love this balance of social jibber jabber & silence, she fits more into her day than anyone i know.   

I often wonder how my constant banter affects my children??  It has been a very successful experiment in socialising them, as until recently, every 2 years they were plonked into a new school/ city/ environment & left to make friends - just like that.  No consistency of childhood friendships, constantly leaving what they know & being dropped in the deep end.  Their conversation skills have assisted their resilience & made every Army move easy.  The teachers always say "you're so social Jennie" but personality traits don't automatically translate to children, i guess i got lucky.    

I know my boy craves more time with boys, he loves his cousins, he misses Daddy.  I don't care so much for this genderless society which is politically correct, boys need men in their lives, good solid male role models.  They talk about completely different things to me. 

On my weekend away, i shared a room with my son (the 3 girls had their own room) & i love having him to myself.  Being alone with your child, one on one, they think, ask questions, it's special.  Then he asked me to talk him to sleep, the last word on my chit chat skills!! 

Small talk with my parents, i miss this, my Mum's Alzheimer's has taken this away.  Aimed at me is polite conversation, like i'm the waitress at a cafe, gone is any depth or recognition of our history.  I can't have indepth debates with my father either, as Mum constantly interupts or he's distracted by her, it's really hard to process, it's exhausting actually, small talk is all we manage. 

So Maxabella Loves, I'm Grateful for 'chit chat' which runs very deep with me, love Posie