Last week controlled chaos

It is nearly 11pm and I am just (relaxing) with a cup of tea before I turn in for the night.

We had our first of 4 late nights of dance rehearsal - we were at the studio today as we will be tommorrow. Thursday and Friday we will be at the Entertainment Centre..and it's a full hair and makeup dress rehearsal Friday night.

It's so exciting...Miss D and Miss T were awesome - but very very tired. We got home at 9.30 pm and I put the kids to bed along with Mr C who had a "boys" dinner with The Hubbster.

I got the kids sorted so they have a good nights rest, then I tackled the chores. I:-

- washed up and tidied the kitchen

- emptied and washed out lunchboxes

- unpacked school bags and sorted through tonnes of "stuff" from school = as it's the last week and they are bringing so much home

- wrapped a secret santa present for school tommorrow

- emptied bins and took rubbish out

- unpacked, sorted and repacked dance bag all ready for tommorrow

It's the last week of school, so we also have the swimming carnival tommorrow, the school concert on Thursday and I have to also go to work. Plus every night dancing. I already wrote that....I'm tired. I'm off to the land of nod.

Random because that's the way I roll

Bringing to you another random post full of excitement and wonder...

I just wanted to name and shame our internet provider (skymesh, if you're reading, you suck) for constant bad service, ridiculous reasoning as to why we have constant dropouts and poor signal. I am totally over not being able to receive reliable internet connection, but you are all we have at the moment so I guess we either just pay our account and shutup or disconnect and have no internet.

So I'll just pay. Sigh.



Is it just me or is anyone completely over this year? I am so tired and am looking forward to school finishing and the dance concert to be over. The last week of school involves dance practice every afternoon so it will be full on...the concert will be so worth it though.

We are doing Alice in Wonderland and our concert is titled "Wonderland". Both Miss D (aged 9) and Miss T (aged 5 and in her very first concert!) are performing and I am super excited. Miss D is the March Hare and has a legitimate excuse for acting the goat. Or the hare.



I will be breathing a sigh of relief on Sunday 12th December as we will only then have Christmas and the kids birthdays to deal with. This year has gone so fast and I am not as organised as I usually am.

The best thing about the end of the year, is the beginning of the next, something I truly love. A new year, new beginnings, new chances to focus on the things that matter. I love getting the booklists ready for the new school year, and the anticipation that comes with starting afresh.

I don't, however enjoy covering the huge volume of books needed and will perhaps be outsourcing the job this year. That or drinking way too much wine to cope with the stress of sticky contact.



We were well and truly floored this year when we lost a beloved baby - a surprise but very wanted none the less.....the experience drew us in, sucked us dry and threw us back in the mix. I'm still not over it and don't think I ever will be. Good days versus bad days, that's the way it is.

I want to walk straight again, have the status quo ante restored. I am sure that will come with the arrival of January 1st. I plan to get things in order, find my motivation again and enjoy what life has to offer.


And lastly, we had a little spider and a medium sized frog in the shower the other night. Miss T (aged 5) commented "we have wild animals in there".

Take a breath Farmers Wifey

Could my life get much busier? I could always get a full time job and then I'd be completely screwed.

I thought I'd bring you my "two weeks of hell on a stick that I should be enjoying" or "stuff that makes me drink too much wine" just to prove how busy I am.

I'll post in point form and remember people - some on this list I have done, some I have yet to do, and some I have done three times.

I'll date it from last Wed to next Wed which should be two weeks, which sounds like it's only one week but it's really two if you read the fine print...

football training

blogging

play practice for Miss D's musical

dress rehearsal for Miss D's musical

3 kids dental appointment

last game of football for Mr C

football presentation

apply, remove and apply nail polish to both daughters nails

embarass Miss D (aged 9) on numerous occasions by actually doing nothing

drink wine on the deck of The Money Pit with The Hubbster watching the sunset

threaten Miss D if she doesn't put her hat on at the football presentation, I will stand next to her at the jumping castle (see above re embarrass)

have sex with The Hubbster

chase dressmaker re Miss D's new dance costume

run around at the last minute to buy a present for a kids birthday party

break up numerous fights between the kids involving blocks, barbies and basketball

second visit back to the dentist for one kid to have 2 small fillings (oh the horror)

attend Miss D's school musical

refuse to pay $50.00 for a flimsy, fluffy hair and makeup box for the Eisteddfod, and instead buy a $20.00 fishing tackle box that is perfect, and pat myself on the back for thinking outside the square

go to a kids birthday party

treatment on Miss D's bum length hair so I can actually get a comb through it

take Mr C to Auskick

realise he's obsessed with football

kid wrangle 3 kids while sorting out dance costumes at the dance shop

have sex with The Hubbster as we forgot before

attend one kids' school Environmental Display

carry a dead chicken up the back of the property and throw it onto an ant hill

have a mammogram

walk the boundary of the property with The Hubbster in the middle of the day (for exercise (torture)) and sweat my arse off

sew straps on two dance leotards

play Barbies on the floor with the girls and sulk when I have to be the maid (reflection of daily life perhaps?)

sew snowflakes on organza

get my period

remove lightening bolts from lycra leggings *sigh*

go to work

threaten the chooks with the axe if they don't start laying

find one egg the next day

finally return overdue dvds and paid the big fine of $2.60

realise that's a better amount than my last overdue fine of $154 (clerical error)

coordinate 10 different dance costumes

coordinate 10 different lots of accessories including hair stuff, shoes, stockings, makeup, arm bands and hair ribbons

coordinate 3 noisy kids while coordinating the above

try not to stress at the Eisteddfod during the 10 performances Miss D will be dancing in..........

hug, kiss and tell my kids how much I love them every day.....

Just a few thoughts

The kids had a free dress day at school yesterday. Which is really annoying because it only causes early morning fights with Miss D (aged 9) about what she is going to wear (fashion parade anyone?).

And I have to pay a free dress day fee of $1.00 for each child just to have the honour of fighting them about their choice of clothing, so really I am just $3.00 poorer and stressed out so much earlier in the day. Mr C wore his football boots, and his football shirt and shorts, which was good because he was then fully dressed for training in the afternoon.

I'm sure the teachers who think up these days are the same cretins who exclaim that 'next Tuesday is our Easter Hat Parade/fancy dress disco/at home science project or book week dress up character". Which usually sends us mothers into a frenzy because a)we aren't all that crafty or b)we really just couldn't be bothered.

Right, now to The House. Which we like to refer to as The Money Pit. Back in December, our house looked like this:-

And now, nearly 3 months later, it looks like this:


I know you are thinking:- Farmers Wife, surely you jest!!! You've posted the same pic twice! Where's the updated one? Well folks, there is no updated one. Since December we have oiled the deck, and it looks amazing. The Hubbster has starting some exterior painting, namely the side laundry door and the timber around the house at the bottom.

All the exterior painting has to be done, including the walls, the soffits (when we build these) and the verandah posts. Then we can do the handrails and the outside stairs. Then I will be about 50, greying and cranky and we can start on the inside. Joke, kind of.

I'm trying to be patient, but it just seems to be taking so long. Now that I am working part time, that will help with the financial side of things, so if I can just accept that it takes time I know I will appreciate our lovely home when it is completed.

I'm really loving my new job. I work two days a week, I get to dress up and put some make up on and forget for a while that I am frazzled mother. I even have adult conversations that don't include the best ways to get the kids to go to bed without resorting to blackmail, or how many chocolate frogs are bad before dinner time. On my days off, I am trying to study, which is difficult because I just want to blog about the swear words that my kids say.

Miss T has started her Saturday morning jazz/tap/ballet class. She loves it. We bought her new tap shoes and she is the right little perfomer! Miss D is getting ready for her first ballet and jazz solos coming up at the dance festival. I am getting ready by pancaking a tutu. I'm a bit scared about this, but apparently that's how you do it. I'll post instructions if I'm successful!

School is back

Shoes are polished.

School bags are ready.

Lunchboxes are packed with healthy goodies.

The local stationery and book shop is in the back of my truck.

Everyone is smiling and happy....especially me! The new school year has begun!

A bit random

I have a bit to get through today so stay with me people! First of all, thank you to Brandy over at Stitchblade Designs who resized my blog header overnight to fit in with my new 3 column blog. I have been wanting to have a change for a while and was never bold enough to follow the instructions on how to fit 3 columns in but I did it and I love it. I need to adjust the margins a bit, but overall -What do you think??

I also wanted to send a shout out to you, my 52 beloved, faithful followers. I never thought so many people would think I was talking anything but shit, but there you go. I really really appreciate you being part of my blog world..

I managed to remove the permanent marker from Miss T's face, with a bit of scrubbing and yelling (both of us), so her face is back to being gorgeous and unflawed.

I have sold 10 baby guinea fowl to 2 good homes and I made $82.00, so I am thrilled about that. We let the mumma keep 4 babies....now we have one more grown up missing so we are expecting our 3rd batch of guineas any day.

School goes back next week. For some reason I thought we still had another full week of holidays so now I am behind with getting their school things organised and I have a sore throat and feel like crap so it will be a chore to get it all done.

Speaking of school stuff, you will remember my crazy, unhinged recent posts about my do it yourself project, and how I deleted it all including the photos etc etc. Well, my newest best friends, Jarod and Liz managed to save my post, so here it is again, in all it's glory. I bet you are super impressed about this and can't contain your excitement any longer.

"So Christmas and New Year are over. The decorations are put away and it's about time to start thinking about getting the kids back to school.

This means books. School books. Covering these books. I don't know about mums in America, but here in Oz, most mums cover the school books with contact. With a range of themes available (think anything from Barbie to Ben 10 to Winnie the Pooh) it's the thing to do.

Well, I've had enough. Usually I sit myself down with the tv on, a glass (bottle) of wine, the books and the dreaded contact. And I say dreaded because it is an absolute pain in the butt to work with. It's sticky, and it sticks to your fingers and anything else that gets in its way. It bubbles up, so it looks untidy by the 20th book, because by then, you don't give a damn how good the book looks, you just want this hell to be over.

Now that I am not drinking (day 22 thanks very much) I decided not to put myself through this agony and come up with something different. Easy. Stressfree. Manageable. So I present to you a step by step guide to covering school books without feeling like sticking needles in your eyes through the stress of using fucking contact.

I don't even think I will write instructions here, as the photos speak for themselves and I have saved some of my sanity (by the way, I have finished the books in a clear contact which is not the same as the themed annoying contact). Note the pile of uncovered books in the corner *sigh*."

Yes, I agree. It's lost some of it's oomph! and I haven't even photos to back up the project.

I'm floggin a dead horse here. Goodnight.