Its nearly August :-z

     Well the game is starting to settle into the normal processes of life instead of being the focus of all – we all now have characters including child  S.  I learned how to move realms allowing us to create more chars.  Blizzard has killed us again this Tuesday – they r offline for routine maintenance.

Anyway - we now have an additional hound at the house who is spoilt, demanding and has had a crash course on how to be an outside dog.  She caused havoc the 1st week but seems to be settling in this week.  It’s upset my hound who is doing things that r not like her.  The good thing is I’ve been out walking more but not in the last few days -its beeeeeeen soooooo cooold – i certainly didn’t move to qld for this  S#$%@.

I have joined muse in house painting, Thought I’d get childs A room done in my long weekend – what a joke. Have worked like ……. and well am still going.  It’s just me but I dont have the dexterity or control to draw or paint straight lines.  I bought this brush thing to help – no good. I brought another one with wheels but you have to get the amount of paint right and maintain consistent pressure – not possible.  I then decided to use tape – got perfect lines but when the job was done removed the tape to have the paint ripped from the walls   Tonight was repair paint and finish off gloss areas. I hear u asking colours well child A asked for a purple room – i said NO so she has a purple feature wall the colour IMMORTAL, and it certainly will remain immortal in your brain – something u wont forget. The other walls will flow through the house – its called clotted cream.  Yuck i hear u say  but it’s really quite nice.  Except the man in the paint shop stuffed my order and was to give me gloss 1 1/2 shades darker than the clotted cream – he didn’t do it so child A skirting boards and sill match the walls perfectly.  Its too late now but I’ll get it fixed before the next room.

Well that’s it from me. I’m off to bed it’s way to cold for me here.

The game

Shapeshift Aquatic form – Sea cow?                             My elf

Warrior Bear                                                                     Rogue cat

       Travel Cat – Cheetah

 Draenei Hunter and Draco the bat

I must apologise for not writing for so long. Well things are good, the family are good, hubby has been working to hard though, Child A has given us some stress but i guess we’d better get used to it and Child  S remains himself.  Me well work is the same boring thing except now we have an in house manager who has delegated me to the treatment room where i am isolated and bored.  I spend my time reading, surfing the net which is another managerial dislike, doing paper work and cleaning.  Apparently I’m not allowed to do front desk as a senior manager dislikes the idea of nurses answering the phones.

     Child A has made us happy and sad.  Had some communication with her teacher who basically said that her homework had not been handed in.  Upon closer inspection and panic it turned out child A had done the work but not handed it in.  She is now being closely monitered – how we are going to cope next year i dont know.  Child A had her 1st fighting tournament and came out with a silver and bronze medal.  1 for Kata or patterns and the other for fighting Kumite.  We were proud since the girl she came up against had not pulled any of her headshots short as they are required to do therefore punching every girl she fought in the face and bringing everyone to tears Child A included.  It took all my might not to jump that rope.  Child A cried as you would expect pulled herself together and kept going we had parents coming up telling us how brave she was. Im proud of her perseverance not to give in, her bravery knowing this girl was not afraid to cause injury.  She deserved that medal.

The newest craze in our house is the internet game WOW .  Hubby hates it feeling that it has contributed to a deterioration in homework of child A and music for the both of them (hes probably right). I must admit when child A showed me what she was doing i was hooked.  Its certainly kept communication going ill give the game that its something we share and we watch each other.  We’d play together to if we didnt have to pay for another account to do it.  Its like reading i find it all absorbing and relaxing, its like  you are writing the scipt in an online fantasy game.  I like the chats, ive met bad people and good – and its because of these chats its not recommended for the young.  The graphics are great down to the detail of face patterns on my elf to the stitching on my clothes.  I have 2 chars with the intention of  making at least another 2.  I have a level 40 druid elf and a level 15 draenei hunter.  My druid shape shifts from elf to bear, to sea pig as Child A likes to call it I’d say more like a dugong with teeth and 2 different types of cat, one cheetah for faster travel and the other saber-tooth.  Each shape has different attributes my elf casts magic and healing spells, the bear is like a warrior char and fights very well with lots of armour, my saber-tooth is like a rogue very sneaky and fast attacks and my sea pig is for swimming so i don’t have to come up for air like everyone else – yes u can drown on wow.  My only problem now is to work out the economy of wow so i can get what i want yep even in fantasy land money or shall we say gold is a problem.  Each character can get a job but some jobs can earn more than others and some you have to get to a level  so that then they can make money.  Just like real life i need a better paying job I’m starting to see some similarities here.  Hmmm i wonder can u get paid for playing warcraft?.  Anything is possible – blizzard were advertising for  2 senior editorial people the problem was i think wed have to move to California mmmm it could be worth it although hubby wasn’t keen. I wonder why????

 

 

My other char is a blue hoofed person with a tail known as draenei a new race through the burning crusade expansion.  Hunters have the ability to tame the beast of wow and have a pet to fight for us.  My char has 2 pets – a vampire bat called Draco and a white snow leopard called Mist.  Child A has a hunter elf with 4 pets.

Pictures above

Yeah Im free

     Yeah Im freeeeeeee. Yep family and i are in Melbourne – no school timetables, work, reduced housework, no pushing kids to do jobs and shopping is on the agenda its great   I plan to RELAX.  The biggest downer as mentioned in the last blog child A has taught me to play WOW and im finding it addictive.  Now im away from our computer for a whole week the game has gotten to me causing no end of problems and many many late nights its great i recommend it for everyone. In fact work should allow everyone to play it. 

     The update on the bathroom leak.  Well just as soon as we were sick of sharing the kids bathroom Dad came and fixed the problem for a total cost of a box of tile grout, sponge, white silicone, clear silicone and a new tap for the toilet which had also decided to leak.  Yeah Dad we are now back in the ensuite and at this stage all is well.  Dad also announced after looking around that no major damage had been done.  The toilet tap is also much improved.  Another exciting peice of news is that after waking up cold for the last couple of weeks we got insulated.  We saved enough money buying from the factory we spent the extra and got someone else to install it to.  Hubbie is most pleased and so am i.

     On the work front its stil really really REALLY quiet.  Im still reading but tension between staff and management is tremendous.  Our regional manager is a scarey woman and turns us all into stuttering jellys just by showing her face.  She (the manager) has made two visits in the last week to sort out problems of which one was my battle for skin glue – i won Im still undecided how i feel surfing the net and reading while on the job so will stay longer until i fully understand how i feel.

     On our first few hours in Melbourne we caught up with a friend who we hadn’t seen for some time.  Now we knew she’d seperated from her husband, had filed for divorce, sold the house.  We knew that there were some problems with the x and they werent talking.  Much to my shock and surprise she told us that shed been in a relationship with another woman – im ok with that but im soooo surprised that was the last thought from my mind.  I guess we spend alot of time putting people in boxes as i had and well she broke that box.  Just putting it plainly i don’t understand Im still her friend and we always will be as i still really like her.

Easter has been……and gone

   Wishing all a happy easter and hope everyone has had a good break.  For me personally it could have been a little longer so many things to do never enough time or money.  Child A and S got some chocolate of course, we did the hunt thing and they also got a small gift each.  Unfortunately both children LOVE WARCRAFT and we have fed Childs A addiction with a 10 day account for World of Warcraft again she flaunts the rules and upsets her father (I get to play mediator again) but despite everything it looks great.  Wonder if i can find time to play too?

     Child A continues growing at a horrible speed along with the emotional ups and downs that happen a dozen times a day.  We learnt some things about child A at a parent teacher interview.  She is a K learner, a gestalt – in other words she sees the finished product first then works out how to get there.  Apparently when learning she needs to touch as well in  order to understand.  The difficult thing with child A  is when she is stressed her hearing shuts down, now this little insight from her teacher has been a gift and tells us we should stop ranting at her, wait until she has calmed down then attempt to communicate with her in small to the point sentences.  It works well why has noone told us this before?  The difficult thing for us parents is to stop ranting.

     Have worked hard on the house this weekend.  Cleaned a joist under our deck where the wood had gone soft (luckily not from white ants) to discover 13 of our decking boards had also gone soft and needed to be replaced.  Pulled up one and decided wed better not leave a large hole in the deck to have the dog fall through and so will leave the job until the wood yards are open.  My Easter present consisted of a nail punch, hammer, wood putty, solar lights and two dragon ornaments with indoor plants – really nice. The second job was to remove all the lower wooden panels from around the bottom of the house to improve the termite barrier.  We can now see further under the house but the wood needs to be at least 7.5cm from the ground to avoid white ants.  This job consisted of crawling under the house and knocking the planks off , trimming them so the were the required distance from the ground and putting them back. Work ceased when i broke the new hammer in two, my arms had turned to jelly from sawing and the job became too hard due to the airconditioner, power cords and the hot water.  We have an even bigger problem at the moment with wet carpet in the walk in wardrobe in our bedroom.  It seems as the shower is leaking under the tiles traveling along and under the sliding door tracks, under the wall and into the wardrobe carpet.  We are not sure if its the taps, if its a lack of silicone or if the missing grouting in the shower is the problem or if the plastic or whatever it is they put under tiles in a shower is not doing the job – so we could be in for $50 for silicone and grout or $$$$ to fix the shower base.  Will keep you informed.

Work or is it?

Well as you have probably gathered i have started work and am now becoming very settled in the job.  The work itself never changes its just the computer programs and the staffing.  I work with two doctors both nice and two different receptionists depending on the day, one nice the other a cow.  The cow as i shall call her has decided that she is the practice manager and she rules the roost.  The other day after working with her for only 3 days she tells me that i can’t leave work at 4:30 as everyone else works till 5.  I was a little surprised but went anyway ( I’m sure it was agreed at interview my finish time would be 4:30) and as the other receptionist predicted she discussed it with other staff at another office dobbing me in and it was apparently agreed that i should stay.   Going through all my paperwork i could find no start or finish time just total number of hours to be worked so ringing the practice manager who then rang the area coordinator i was told on quite days i could finish at 4:30.  Ha ha im right shes wrong so i danced out the door at 4:30 this week .  This is how busy i’ve been i’ve read many of the magazines in the practice and was told to bring a book.  I bought a new raymond fiest (great fantasy writer) and had 20 pages left by the end of my third day reading at work. So is it work? – no not really  What do i do now i cant go through a book a week? ill lose my skills and some day ill get bored?  I cant believe I’m being paid for this?  Its not real but it is? So recommendations?

     While dropping the kids off to school we were blessed with a traveling companion for a small distance until this lovely creature decided that the road was to nice.  One of the largest blue tongue lizards Ive ever seen followed for a small distance and then onto the road.  Worried for his welbeing i herded him back onto the path while another parent persuaded him down a retaining wall away from the road.  We admired his size and beautiful tongue and wished him all the best (his passiveness made me think he could have been someones pet).  The next day in the garden of the doctors near the school i couldn’t help notice he was dead not road kill as expected no some awful person had beaten him with a stick.  I’m disgusted, saddened and i cant understand how people can be so cruel.  How can anyone think this was ok? He was no insect to be stood on it was amazing that he’d managed to grow to such a ripe old age in suburbia and someone just killed him, he was natures work at her best.  I really don’t like people as stated in my last blog.  He was harmless,  non venomous beautiful reptile that could have lived many more years.  Mother nature blessed us again last night with a visit from a large brown owl eating geckos off our deck…yuck but another beautiful creature to watch.  I haven’t seen an owl up close since my teenage days on the farm.  That’s special

I owe, i owe off to work i go

Well mmm, what to say?  Firstly I apologise for may lack of blogging hubbie has done a much better job and his ability to write actually makes sense not like mine.  I believe my grammar, English and the ability to put a sentence together are probably graded at a year 7 level ( maybe lower child A writes much better).  Hubbie has always corrected my blogging so from now all you’ll get from me is bad spelling, punctuation and English which is really me.  After year 7 teachers didn’t really care anymore it was all about content until I got to uni.  We had one pedantic lecturer that used to go to town with the red pen on spelling, grammar the lot very depressing for someone like me.  Fortunately nurses don’t need very good writing and only limited abilities with maths.  In the end probably a good career for someone like me although I like cooking much better.

            Well the selling and buying stress is all gone now we just have the need to go back to work.  Not because I enjoy it but because we are finding ourselves a little short. Books, uniforms and moving expenses have drilled a small hole in the finances the credit card is really starting to flash.  Don’t get me wrong there are some parts of my job I enjoy immunisations, dressings, ecgs, spirometry, and on the computer.  What I don’t enjoy is stress and is seems the older I get the more my body is unable to cope with it.  My problem is what does a qualified and experienced practice nurse do? Well I’ll find out on Monday as I have an appointment with a careers counsellor if she can’t sort me out well no one can.  I hereby recommend to all that nursing isn’t all its cut out to be – I have found it tiring, dirty, stressful and open to all sorts of abuse from Drs, families and the patient themselves.  The hours are terrible.  I have been involved in a few codes (not one successful) and had a few emergency, emergencies at work cause that’s were sick people go.  Well there’s nothing like the stress of having someone’s life or death in your hands that one is a hard pill to swallow.  Nursing is for the tough, the adventurous, the unambitious and those who don’t care for money (compared to most degrees nursing wages are crappy).  None of these are me although I do have a lot of sympathy and the ability to empathise more than most people.  Funny thing is sometimes I REALLY dislike people.

Well will talk more dm stuff later won’t bore you with it in one hit.

Stress and more stress

Well, they say selling a house is one of the most stressful life events next to birth, death and marriage and I can see why. In fact I found birth and marriage much easier than this.  For those who didn’t know, our house is on the market http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=104349457&f=20&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=65152706&s=qld&tm=1194778057  . Good news was we had a contract with a 21 day finance clause in 2 weeks, we found a house we really liked and made an offer, and it was pretty much accepted (once the owners got the tenants out, an additional stress).  I had an appointment with a Dr by Wednesday with a referal back to a gastro guy as my reflux/stomach stress problem has returned with a vengance. Friday comes and the contract crashes   good news is we had a new one by Sat afternoon but another 21 day finance clause so we cannot go unconditional until early December now.  We are hoping the real estate agent and the owner of our wannabe  house are understanding and bear with us. If you havent seen the other house it’s here http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?fslm=1&a=o&id=104383443&c=65152706&p=10&s=qld&t=res&tm=1194778057. The good side is we now don’t have to live in my brother’s house for 5 weeks, the kids can finish this year at their current school and we can line up or try to line up with matching moving dates and times. I’m praying hard that we will have our own tree up for xmas in our own house.  Child A seems ok with it, although her current rampaging hormones means happiness one minute and tears the next. I think they now refer to such children as tweens, while Child S is adamant he doesn’t want a new house or school.

Child A is off to camp for a whole week. I’m so going to miss her.  She sat her grade 3 piano exam and Mrs L is quite pleased with her, so we are waiting for those results.  We are also having to DRIVE the homework bus as she is not motivated and wants to do everything else.  Mrs L the piano teacher thinks the sun shines from child S and says she’s never had a student like him, so quick to pick up, one of the fastest learners she’s ever had and unlike most kids his age has an understanding of counting and is beginning to sight read. He also has a firm hand. Mrs L is sad to be losing them. Child S has brought home a form that has taken to long for us to fill out for the GEM program for gifted and talented. It asks some difficult questions. We are going to hand it in and see where it takes him. Both of our kids amaze us – I’m so proud.

Cross and crosser

Well what a BAD week it’s been.  First child A has gastro on Sunday but we still have to go south to finish the cloak as we need it this week. Second I then get gastro on Monday and spent the day in bed (what a waste) and in the afternoon discover that the cat has had another fight with large orange tom and has large lacerations to her abdomen.  Another dash to the vets, another vet bill and a cat hissing and spitting from the ouch antibiotics.  We are told to return with starved animal for surgery the next day. First quote i deal with. Second quote with “we recommend blood tests and iv therapy resulting in a new bill” i dont deal with.  Savings nearly all gone   Pick up spitting and hissing cat after work and empty savings account (bill $500 + ouch). I love the cat but this is ridiculous.  I now have a trap from the council to catch ginger tom and Aussie Cat Enclosures coming to quote as they are cheaper than another trip to the vets. We now have a miserable inside puss.

As for the bithday weekend of child A, family are hurtful either that or im too sensative.  A trip to watch riverfire with my brothers and their family has been completely destroyed. Why? Well apparently someone already has a party to go to and “if they don’t meet their dr friends they may not get another invitation so can we catch up later” was the response, along with an ”is this ok?”  Well, no it isn’t. We did have arangement that was altered without our ok and then lo and behold cancelled altogether.  I did say it wasn’t ok but its not only childs A birthday it’s grandads, its fathers day and we should do what is correct and right. I said I’m sure the dr friends would understand family committment. I feel like my poor family comes 2nd.  We are obviously just too nice and they have taken advantage that we’ll be ok with that.  I always thought blood was thicker than water.  Here I am teaching my kids that family comes first (child A being the sticky nose she is heard this conversation, understands and is saddened). Now I’m supposed to come up with an alternative to make everyone happy.  I’m trying not to stew but I just cant help it.  Also, as a child i remember an alcoholic grandfather who used to remember my birthday sometimes and, well, at least he thought about me sometimes but it did hurt, a card would have sufficed.  Child A and B also have a close relative who never acknowledges their birthdays. Although Child S doesn’t care right now, he will (like child A) wonder why – not even a card to say we do love u and think of u – i think that hurts too.

The days just keep rolling by

Well it’s all still happening and the days are just sliding by so quickly that i can’t keep up with the date any more.  With the kids birthdays getting closer and closer it basically sounds the bells for another year over and christmas is here.  Yes just in case you were still wondering we’re still busy, even though this week has been a gift with hubby home we are finally gonna take a tiny break with a few days at the beach YEAH . 

I’ve worked extra days, driven the kids here and there and the cat to.  For those who dont know Ebony had the life beaten out of her by another cat after having a check up at the vets the day before.  We did the emergency dash the next morning.  Many $$$ later, a miserable cat with cone head and multiple puncture wounds from vet and cat we came home.  Much to her distress she’s been an inside cat, although we have cautiously let her out again to have her in by dusk each day, so far so good.  We can now recognise her anywhere with one ripped ear, even upside with shaved tummy.

One piece of news that has has stunned us at the end of the semester is child S.  His report, as was child A’s, was excellent. I am so so proud, only to be told at the end of the parent teacher interview that he show signs of being gifted and talented.  You know the picture of people sitting there with there jaw sitting on the ground and speechless – that was me.  AHHHHHHHHH You know i never picked him. Child A yes, we knew she was bright, but this?  Each day i wake up and chew it over, shake my head and I’m still not sure if the teacher has him confused with someone else.  Now i ask myself what the hell do we do now????????????? I don’t know how to deal with him anymore, what do i need to do to make the best situation for him? I don’t know because sometimes he still does the buttons on his pjs all wrong and shoes on the wrong feet. Do you really think they have the right child?.

You know the saying blood is thicker than water.  How do u deal with a family member who’s being unkind about another family member?  U feel you can’t be yourself or say what is needed for the fear of alienating them. What a diificult and awarkward situation it is – i just dont like it at all.  After all, if I went ahead and said what was needed that would be the end of that. You can’t just alienate family, it’s blood, so i feel no alternative but to continue biting my lip.

Well that’s me and another blog. See you again amidst the busi-ness.

Still Busy

Well although things are moderaltely more settled it is still way too busy for my liking.  We are aiming to actually take some time out next long weekend. We probably won’t cope with it and run home looking for work. Hope to hear something soon a change in work that will make things easier for us. We’ll just have to wait and wait some more like we already have been.

     Children A and S are well.  Child S will start Auskick this week Child A started last week and was the only one in black and white.  Just setting her up for life long trauma i feel. But her dad feels its a good thing.

     As for the three items all going at once it turned out to be the computer which had a fit and had trouble working.  It still is difficult to work with at the moment – we have no sound – but the NEW computer is good … really good. What’s next? Well that will be another thing to wait for.

I’m so hanging for a holiday … a long, long, long holiday – hey i think we should buy a caravan and just leave.  Also waiting to hear our neighbour get an eviction notice in the next few weeks and then we pray the estate agent finds a quiter tenant with quiet kids that are not verbally abused or left unsupervised home alone.  And before anyone comments – apparently leaving your 11 year old and 7 year old home alone is not breaking the law – I’m surprised … are you?

Well that’s that for now just waiting for some changes that we hope will be good.