Shuv’s blog

After a very busy day at work and feeling particularly tired today, I came home to some white faced teenagers advising their report cards had come in for mid semester.  By the looks of their faces, I decided it would be best to pour myself a glass of wine before I endeavoured to read them. (I should have had 3 glasses of wine!).  Amy's was ok, the word satisfactory was mentioned a lot and am a bit concerned about that but after reading it again, I decided that she is in Grade 12 and passing everything so that has got to be ok. 

Then I read Michael's... OMG! Two teachers requested an interview with me and all the rest said something along the lines of

• "He could benefit by remaining on task more diligently during class time".
  
• "Michael allows himself to be distracted during class time and this is impacting negatively on his ability to be successful in this subject. (My darling Paul, decided that there was a positive swing there because as Paul said at least he is the distractee and not the distractor - There's a man who always sees the glass half full).
• "Michael needs to pay more attenting in the wearing of the college uniform".

And the best one of all is:

• "Michael's work is below a satisfactory standard. A parent-teacher interview is requested".

I shouldn't be surprised as for the past 9 years, Michael's reports come back reflecting pretty much the same jargon but the little shit kept telling me this year how well he was doing and how hard he was working and how great he is blah blah blah and I believed the little blighter.  I should have know as I never see him do homework and his books look like they have been chewed up by the dog. 

There is one thing I should be grateful for I guess.  Apparently Michael is very humurous and the kids all love him, he is a fantastic impersonator who can switch his voice to different characters.  Well Wow Whee! looks like my visions of him becoming an engineer or doctor or scientist need to be changed to bloody Robin Williams or Jim Carrey!

Then after deep breathing and getting over that, I then find Ms Katie crawling along the floor and sneaking into the pantry to get a biscuit after I had just told her no and that dinner would be ready soon.  It wasn't about her having the biscuit but more that she completely disobeyed me and knew she wasn't allowed another biscuit (Hence, the army crawl on the floor to pantry).  So now Michael is in his room sulking because I have banned him from MSN till end of semester report comes out and if it has improved, I will let him back on and Katie is in her room sulking because I told her I didn't want to see her till morning.

Now where is that bottle of wine, I might just go and have another glass and enjoy Big Brother with no interruptions as the house is now very quiet with them all in their rooms. 

Hi All,

Well just flew in tonight from my trip to Canberra so thought I would do my blog straight away so I wouldn't forget.  First of all sadly Marie, Brettie and Emily didn't come with us in the end as Emily got Pneumonia and Marie is suffering high temperatures and not well. So Paul and I ended up going on our own. Even though I was very worried about Marie and Little Emily, I ended up having a really nice time.  We arrived on Friday and headed straight for Old Parliament house and new Parliament house and had some guided tours... I actually now understand our political system after living here 34 years! I might be a bit more of a concientious voter from now on because previously I voted for who the best looking canditate was.  Yes my voting rights are totally wasted on me.  We then headed back to the hotel and worked out that we had walked about 8kms that day so felt no guilt about stuffing my face with McDonalds. 

Saturday we got up reasonably early and went down to the restaurant and had a buffet breakfast.  Bloody hell it was expensive.  $54.00 for the two of us and they didn't even have pancakes. We then headed to the War memorial.. It was another long walk and took about 40mins.  We walked up this street that was very seedy looking and a lot of weird people hanging around.  i think it was our equivalent to "the Valley".  One guy came up and asked us for money and ciggies but we pretended we couldn't here him and kept walking.  He yelled a few obscenities at us but we just kept walking really really fast.  I think it helped that he was intoxicated and probably couldn't walk very fast whilst in that state.. THANK GOD!  Once we got to the War Memorial we tagged onto a tour guide and spent the next 2 hours being told all about our war history.  I have to admit it was truly amazing what these guys suffered so that we could have the lifestyle we have today.  Those guys must have suffered immensely and even if they survived the war, they would have lived with horrific memories for the rest of their lives.  I can now understand why men came back with such different personalities to when they left.  We then spent another few hours wandering around reading alot of stories about the war and looking at memorabilia. We came back to the hotel and had McDonalds again.  Well  I did walk about 6kms that day. 

This morning we got up and yes you guessed it we had Maccas (McDonalds) for breakfast.  Do you know how yummy sausage and egg McMuffins are???  I have been dieting for so many years, I actually forgot how beautiful fatty foods taste!  We then went back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and reading the Sunday paper.  In the afternoon we headed up to the Australian National Museum and trudged around there for a few hours and then headed to the airport but just before we went to the airport we stopped in at McDonalds and got cokes and fries... YUM! 

Now as I have mentioned before I am not a good flyer at the best of times so when we hit a storm coming back into Brisbane it was not pretty.  I was so good on Friday going to Canberra and even looked out the window at one stage but coming home was a different story.  I didn't actually scream at any time but I did a lot of moaning and Paul was looking rather embarrased by the end of the flight.  When the plane landed, I punched the air and said in a very loud voice.  THANK CHRIST THAT 'S OVER!  I left Paul to get the luggage and I flew out the door and smoked 2 ciggies in about 5 minutes!

Anyway all in all it was a great weekend.  Don't think I will be able to face my scales for a few days though!!

Hi everyone,

I really must find more time to get on this thing and read what all my neighbourhood friends are up to.  I am such a slack bum but I am just finding the weeks are all just folding into each other and before I know it, another month has flown by.

Since the last time I did a post, I  started a new job - feeling very important at the moment ha ha!  I am now working for Treasury Department as a Policy and Resource Officer... Doesn't that sound really important.  Well the truth be known, I am just shuffling paper but but the title will be good for my resume.  I am only working there for 3 months unless they extend me and then going back to my old job.  I am really enjoying it though as it is so much less stressful then my permanent position and I get paid more... Go Figure!

On a personal level, life seems to be settling down and all the ups and downs that were happening in my last post have sorted themselves out.  Amy is back with the boyfriend that she broke up with a couple of months ago so she is all happy again. Don't know how long it will last but I am just going to enjoy the harmony while it lasts.  She has just finished her first term exams for senior and she thinks she did ok so fingers crossed.  She has her school formal in July so we are going to the dressmaker in a couple of weeks so that should be fun - actually if she is anything like me when deciding on an outfit it will be hell!

Michael is back into Rugby Union again so there goes our Sundays and Wednesday nights.  I must admit, I really enjoy the social aspect of it as have made some great friends through it. 

Katie is back to her angelic stage again... (Thank God). Don't know what got into her but for a couple of months there she was feral.  We had her birthday party back in March and it went surprisingly well.  I hyped all the kids up on lots of  junk food, let them run around like mad things and then sent them off home for their parents to deal with.  I have attached a photo of the little angels.  It was originally 10 boys but in the end we managed to find a token girl so was glad to see that Katie has at least one girlfriend.

The kids are currently on school holidays so have had a bit of a hard week juggling them whilst working but my sister helped out with Katie and she went to vacation care the other couple of days and I left Amy and Michael at home to fend for themselves.  Other then them eating everything in the house, it went surprisingly well and they seemed to enjoy each others company.

Paul went for a job interview this afternoon and he thinks it went well so will have to wait and see.  He is currently General Manager for a manufacturing company but has been there for 9 years and felt like a change.  This job is very similar but I think there is some room to progress and also the hours are not as bad so if we can end up with a similar salary package and he is working less hours it can only be a good thing.  I told him he shouldn't just jump into a job to get away from another job as he is in a position at the moment to wait it out and find what he really wants.  Hopefully he will take my advice.

We celebrated Easter last weekend and all the family came over on Easter Sunday and we had a great time.  I don't think I ever want to see chocolate again though as I shoved every piece of chocolale that was near me into my gob.  Weighed myself on Monday and managed to put on nearly 2kgs in one weekend.. what a clever girl I am...  Why is it you can put on 2kgs in 3 days but it takes 2 weeks to take the bastard kgs back off..

Paul and I are off to Canberra with Brett and Marie next weekend.  I can't wait!  I am so looking forward to having some quality time with Marie. Brett and Paul will be going to the war memorial and doing touristy things but Marie and I are planning on hitting the shops and spending lots of time in coffee shops chatting.  The only thing I am not looking forward to is the flight.  I HATE FLYING!!  and anyone who has flown with me before can vouch for that.  I am not a good flyer and can be very irritating... Just ask Alyson (Diary of an Enigma).  At least this flight is only a couple of hours so I should cope. 

Speaking of Alyson, she is off on a world trip for 6 weeks and leaves us on Sunday.  I will so miss her but can't wait to hear all her travel stories. The girls  (Alyson, Kristine and Stacey) and I caught up at  Kristine's place on  Wednesday night for a little farewell to Alyson.  We had a great time.  We have been friends for ever and  whenever we get together  we have hilarious discussions.  We usually end up arguing and yelling over each other trying to get our point across about whatever we are discussing.  Our discussions vary from, kids, work, husbands, ex husbands and an embarrasing sexual encounter story usually gets thrown in there.  

Well Paul has just come home with fish and chips so better go eat. 

Take Care All

Siobhan

Katie with her buddies at her 9th Birthday Party

My god I am slack.  Here I was determined to do a post at least every couple of days and I think that lasted about a week!  So here I am again trying to think of exciting and fun things which have happened in the last few weeks so here goes....

First of all as per my previous email about my little birdy I was planning on saving and setting free.  Well he died so he actually lasted a whole 2 days with me... so that is the end of my wildlife warrior days. 

The last few weeks have been full of getting the kids all set up for the year of sports that lies ahead of us and also settling them back into school.  My poor darling Amy (16)has been through the wringer and I think she has come home every second day in tears over something or another.  The hormones must be raging.  She also broke up with her boyfriend and devastated is not too strong a word to describe how she was.  I remember the afternoon she came home from school announcing to me that it was all over.  Well actually she didn't announce it, she came barging into the house screaming and crying and I actually thought something had happened to Michael (my 14 year old son) so I was trying to listen to her babble whilst looking over her shoulder the whole time having this absolute fear in the pit of my stomach that she was going to say Michael had been hit by a truck or some big bad man had carted him off in a car but then  I saw him sauntering up the street with not a care in the world.  I then truly focused on Amy and had to sit and rock and cuddle her for about an hour.  She was so devastated and heart broken that I actually started to cry cause I could so feel her pain and couldn't bear seeing her so miserable.

That was a week ago and since then she has got a new attitude of "stuff him, he is not good enough for me anyway" (That's my Girl!).  So she has focused on her girlfriends and has been going out with them and having a wonderful time so for now that drama has been dealt with. 

I have just dropped Michael (14) to the movies  with his new  girlfriend.  He  told me that I had to come cause the mother of the girl wanted to me.  Bloody Hell They are only 14 years old, why in gods name did she want to meet me and because this girl goes to a posh private school, I then felt the need to find my Sunday best and do the whole hair and makeup thing just to impress this mother.  But it turned out she was very down to earth and nice and I was totally over dressed. (how embarrassing).  She probably went home and told her husband I was a bit flighty and a bit to consumed with my appearance. (It was definitely a Bridget Jones moment).

On the work front, it totally sucks.  I came back from 3 weeks holidays to my desk looking like no one even touched it for those 3 weeks even though I hired a temp and paid him a god awful amount of money to cover the job for me.   So in a rage I told my boss, I would work full time from now on as it wasn't worth having the Friday off and coming into such a mess on Monday mornings.  I said I was being paid for 4 days a week but trying to fit 5 days work in the 4 days.  Now that I have calmed down, I could kick myself cause I am now working bloody full time!  So that made me think if I have to work full time, I definitely aint working there so have promptly put in 3 job applications for different jobs. 

Paul (hubby) came home from indoor soccer on  Thursday night limping and complaining of a sore leg.  Some tosser who thought he was David Beckham kicked him really hard in the leg.  So by 3.00am in the morning he was complaining so much I decided it must be broken so packed him in the car and did a dash to Emergency Department at the local hospital.  They decided yes it probably was broken but xrays weren't opening again till 8.30am so we would have to wait for that.  I decided I had to go home as had left 3 kids at home on their own and they would wake up wondering where the hell we were.  So I came home at 6.00am and got them up and ready for school and then once I had dropped off to school, headed back to the hospital to be told that it wasn't a break (Thank God!) but badly bruised ligament and tissue damage. So now  Paul is at home  with a bandage on his leg and  struggling to walk.  He is still determined to go back to work tomorrow - god knows how he plans to drive!  But I know better then to  bring that small issue up.. I have learnt after 22 years of marriage just to say yes dear and he can work it out for himself when he tries to get in the car and finds he can't push the accelerator Der!

Whilst we were at the hospital I witnessed the saddest thing.  A family consisting of a father, daughter and 2 sons came running in to emergency all dressed for work and school etc. (so I am guessing they must have got a phone call to come to the hospital because of some kind of accident).  They were taken into this room and then I heard this heart wrenching moaning and screaming and then the daughter who was about Amy's age (16) and her brother aged about 26 came out sobbing and went outside.  The father then came out 5 minutes later sobbing.  They were all outside and because the father and sons were so distraught they were struggling to console the daughter who was hunched up on the ground sobbing her little eyes out.  I started crying myself then even though I had no idea who they were or who they were grieving for (found out later, it was there mother who was killed in some sort of accident).  I said to Paul that I had to go out and hold that girl as she needed someone and if it was Amy I would want someone to look after her. I had this unbelievable need to go and comfort this girl and couldn't bear seeing her not being held by someone.  Just as I had built up the courage to go to her, a car pulled up and I am guessing it was her brother's girlfriend and she ran to the girl and held her and they both were sobbing together.  It was such a desperately sad thing to witness and other people in the waiting room were all crying to even though none of us knew those people from a bar of soap.  It just shows that we as humans are all connected in someway and when you witness something like that you can see there is a lot of compassion for you fellow human being.  I have thought about them alot over the last couple of days and just hope they manage to get through it.

Well I think that update has now brought me to the present.  So here I am now Sunday afternoon, enjoying my second cup of coffee and about to face a barge of ironing.

Today I packed all three children back off to school and even though we had a lovely summer holiday I was very glad to say goodbye if just for a few hours.

Woke up yesterday morning to a knock on the door from my neighbour/friend Tina who had found a baby bird in her garden.  She was heading off to work and asked me to look after it.  So now I feel like there is a new baby in the house as have to feed it every few hours and it is so pathetically small and fragile.  Between shoving tablets down Sam's (the cat)  throat and shoving food down a squaking baby bird, I feel like a wildlife warrior!  Steve Irwin would be looking down at me with pride right now!

Hubby and I are off to dinner with Tina and Arthur tonight to the local pub so can't wait to spend some quality time with them and NO KIDS!

Well best go and do something productive today whilst the kids aren't here.  I have one more week of holidays before I have reality hits once again.

I have attached a photo of our new baby (bird) and also a photo taken of the kids this morning before the went to school.  Don't they look so happy and eager for another year of school (NOT!)

Well here we are Sunday morning and the house is quiet as everyone is still in bed.  I love this time of the day when I get a few minutes of peace and quiet before the house erupts into laughing, crying, yelling and screaming.  I have had a wonderful weekend which started off on Friday this week due to a public holiday on Friday being "Australia Day".

Yesterday I started the morning dropping Amy to work and then headed down to the soccer club to sign Katie up for another year of soccer.  $175.00 later and 2 hours of hanging around the club waiting for sign on, we finally managed to get out of there and come home.  I spent the rest of the day with family to celebrate some birthdays in the family.  It was stinking hot so we had the air con cranked up and that made it a bit more comfortable. The kids had a great time with their cousins and I got to spend some quality time with my brothers and sister. 

Went to my friends Robyn's 40th last night and had a brilliant time.  I met these people through our neighbours Tina and Arthur (Tina's sister in law) about 6 years ago when we moved here and have become really close friends.    I couldn't have asked for better neighbours!  I have attached a few photos from the night.  Top to bottom - "Paul (hubby) and Arthur"; "Tina and I"; "Tina and her mum"; "Robyn (the birthday girl) and her brother Andrew". They had a charaoke machine and everyone had a great time singing their hearts out.  There was one girl there who could actually sing and she had a beautiful voice.  After I heard her sing, I decided against standing up and doing my Mama Mia (Abba) rendition as I don't have what you would call a good singing voice. 

Kids all go back to school on Tuesday after the summer holidays.  Amy is going into Year 12 her last year of high school so it will be a very interesting and challenging year for her.  Michael is heading into year 9 and Katie is going into Year 4.  I have 1 more week of holidays before I go back to work so am looking forward to having the house to myself through the day.  I am going to spend a couple of days at Reeby's just to chill out and we might even hit the shops if she feels up to it.

Today I am plannning on a lazy day of not much at all really.

2 posts in one day...  Whoa! my best friend (That would be Diary of Enigma by the way) who posted me today will be very cranky.  You can read her comments on my post to see what I am talking about if you like. 

I am now going to dedicate this whole post to you Ms Aly just so you can feel special again.

Now so that Diary of an Enigma isn't jealous anymore of all my new friends, I am begging you all in my neighbourhood to add her to your neighbourhood so she can feel special again!  You will actually find her blog very interesting, probably a whole lot more interesting then mine actually as she has a degree in journalism and I have to admit a great talent when coming to writing.

But before I end this post I have to say on a serious note (because hopefully everyone knows I am taking the Piss out of her in the above). She is the most loyal, wonderful and honest person I have ever know and I just love her to bits and she has been there for me in so many ways over the years that i wouldn't even know where to start telling you about it. 

So I dedicate this post to my bestie Diary of an Enigma.

Michael, Amy, Ryan, Lorenzo, Katie and Laura

Here I am again and trying to think about the last couple of days.  All I know was they were very busy and felt like I lived in the car driving the kids backwards and forwards and seemed like the house was full of kids friends.  This morning the house is silent as only have 1 child at home this morning being Michael.  Amy is down the coast till Thursday and Katie is over at my mum and dads.

I started yesterday morning by taking Amy down to visit the cat who is still at the vets and can I say looking quite good but that could be the drugs they have him on.  The vet has said that he probably won't make it but is keeping him comfortable for a couple of days untill Amy comes back from the coast tomorrow and then we have to make the big decision on whether to put him down or take him home and see how he goes. Not looking forward to that.  After we visited Sammy, I then headed down the coast with a car full of teenagers.  Can someone tell me why they like such loud music but then still insist on talking over it which means they have to talk really really loud.  I got back home about 1.30pm and then had to take Michael and Harriet (My girlfriend's daughter) to the shops for school shoes and books etc.  We then went back to the vets to visit Sammy again and finally came home. 

Last night we went out to dinner with some old neighbours and had a lovely night with them.  Hadn't seen them in a while so was good to catch up with what was happening in our old neighbourhood. 

Today Katie and I are off to Reeby's to look after Little E whilst Reeby goes to yet another doctors appointment.  She had a scan yesterday and we get the results on that tomorrow so fingers crossed they haven't found anymore cancer.

Hubby has decided that he wants to get another job so he has been sending his resume out to a few companies and hoping he gets some responses. He is in a well paid position at the moment but he is not happy.  He has been there for 12 years and I think he is looking for a new challenge.  Sometimes you have to jump out of the little square you live in and look at the bigger picture and I think that is what he is doing.  As he says he is only 42 and has years of working ahead of him so why not try something a bit different.  It will be very interesting to see what happens there.

Speaking of hubby, I think he must have gone through a mid life crisis last year and he went out and bought himself a big yellow motorbike.  For those of you who know anything about bikes it is a Honda VTR.  I only know that cause he told me.  Anyway he has been having a wonderful time going on rides on the weekend up to the mountains and down to coast roads.  A few weeks ago he was riding it and it started making a funny noise and he had to get it towed home.  You wouldn't believe it but the warranty ran out 3 weeks before... TYPICAL!!  Anyway in his wisdom, he and his friend have decided that hubby  shouldn't pay all those labour costs to fix it and instead they would fix it themselves.  Off he went and bought a manual and proceeded to pull the bike apart.  Now weeks later the bike is in bits and pieces all over the garage.  I am thinking he will get fed up very soon and will end up taking it to a mechanic to fix it.  I bet you anthing it will now cost more to fix cause he has probably stuffed something up whilst pulling it apart. Men and their bloody toys!

I am a bit tired today and cranky today and I suspect a bit PMT'y so not putting much effort into this post so apologies for it being so mundane and boring.   I wil try and pick up my act for the next one and find some exciting things to tell you.

Paul and I after a big night out!

1 comment

Here we go 5 things that not many people know about me:

1.    I was adopted by my dad when I was 9 months old, but I don't tell many people that... Don't know why really but it is really not an issue and I love him to death...

2.  I am terrified of flying and everytime I fly I have to get extremely drunk!

3.  I am obsessed with weighing myself... I weigh myself every night and every morning.

4.  I had to face the loss of a child 10 years ago.

5.   I am obsessive compulsive when hanging out clothes.  have to have all undies together, all towels etc etc.

Now that you can see that I am a total fruit loop, hopefully you won't block me (ha ha).

I now pass the tag on to 4 people in my neighbourhood.  Diary of an Enigma will know all this as she is my bestie friend and knows everthing good and bad about me and she definately knows about the fear of flying cause she has witnessed me drunk on a plane before and still brings it up at any chance she gets. As I only have 4 in my neighbourhood I just picked someone I don't know through the search site.  I picked you Siobhan cause you have the same name as me - Hope you don't mind.

Bobbie

Diary of an Enigma

Donna

Zach Graveney

siobhan

Clockwise_Michael13_Amy16_Ryan16_The boyfriend_Katie8

Good Morning,

After writing a very difficult post yesterday, today I am going to write about all the other wonderful things in my life.  I will start with my day yesterday.  I am on holidays at the moment so I did a kid swap with my friend Carmie (one of my friends from the school friends I told you about in my first post).  I left Michael (my 13 year old) with Carmie to play with Samuel and I took Hughie her 7 year old to play with Katie (my 8 year old) and my mother in law to the movies and saw Arthur and the Invisables.  It was a really lovely movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it as did the kids and my mother in law.  Afterwards we had lunch and I had some lovely quallity time with mother in law.  Even though we don't have much of a relationship with father in law I still try very hard to maintain some kind of relationship with mother in law.  She is a gentle soul who unfortunately married a very controlling man which has made her quite submissive and very hard to get close to.  I try very hard to try to understand her ways and her inability to stick up for herself and her children, daughter in lawsand grandchildren.  I come from a very loving big irish family who all adore each other and my childhood memories are very different to hubbies.  My mum is a very strong woman and would never allow anyone to be cruel to her children.  My dad is a big softie who even though very quiet, he manages to make you feel so loved and special with his actions rather then words. I have 2 gorgeous brothers who are equally married to 2 gorgeous girls and we are very close.  I also have a sister who is a bit different to the rest of us and is not very good at communicating herself in a reasonable fashion.  We had a falling out  a few years ago but recently we have managed to get that relationship back on par as she is my sister and no matter what, I do love and care for her. 

Anyway back to mother in law.   I think as time is going by she is getting a bit stronger and allowing me to get closer to her.  In sayng all that, I am truly grateful to her for having such a beautiful son (my hubby) who is the light of my life and I am amazed how he managed to become the man he is today with very little affection in his life whilst growing up.  Maybe that is why he is so loving and affectionate to me and his children.  He knows what it is like to grow up feeling unloved and he never wants another child to go through that.  So the upside of his lonely upbringing is that our children will never know what that is  like.  They will always be loved unconditionally and supported in everything they do in life.

Anyways back to yesterday...  In the afternoon we took Hugh home and spent a lovely afternoon at Carmie's Home.  Michael decided he was going to stay the night so it was just Katie, hubby and I at home last night as my 16 year old (Amy) was down the coast for the week with her boyfriend and familly (thats another story that I am struggling to deal with - is she too  young?  Will the family make sure they are ok? etc etc).

Later in the evening my 16 year old rang me and I was absolutely delighted as when she left on Sunday I made a conscious effort not to say "Please ring me?" and have struggled every day so far not to pick up the phone and ring her hoping against hope that she will ring me.  So when she rang me I was so pleased as she did it off her own back.  She actually asked me why I didn't ring her and said she missed me.  I explained that I was trying to give her a bit of space and didn't want her to feel obligated to ring me.  I told her that if she wanted to talk to me just txt me and I would ring her back to save her credit on phone which she seemed happy about. 

So I went to bed last night knowing that my 3 beautiful children all loved me and hey I might not be such an annoying mother after all!