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More about me Random thoughts

Me & caffiene

So at the moment, I’m not a big coffee drinker. So much so, that caffeine really quite affects me. It keeps me awake equal to the amount that I consume. One full cup of coffee? About 48 hours. One can of coke? About 36. Tea? I wouldn’t know… I hate the stuff.
But that being said, the effects are cancelled out by the amount of sleep I’ve had. As in, if I’ve pulled an all-nighter (my definition, where I work from when everyone else goes to bed until everyone gets up again the next morning) then generally a coffee the next morning will help to keep me awake until about 10 or 11 that night. If it’s just an all-nighter by Hubby’s definition, where I work between 4 to 8 hours (between when the the kids go to bed at 7 and when they get up at 5.30ish) then a can of coke will keep me up the whole following night… Depending, of course, on how many nights in a row it has been since my ‘normal’ night’s sleep of 11pm to 5am.
So I don’t drink caffeine that regularly. I run on adrenalin instead, and need the sleep that I can get. The trouble is, I really quite like the taste of a very sweet, hot, black coffee. Not particularly keen on coke… I’ll drink it if I need to… And I haven’t had a tea in well over a decade. But coffee? That, I like.
It didn’t used to be this way. When I was a teenager, I started drinking tea like my mum. Warm, not hot, lots of milk, and a ton of sugar… looking back, it was probably more hot milk with a touch of tea more than anything else! Then I hit senior school and tried coffee. Didn’t like it much, but then by the time I joined a cult in third year uni, was up to several cups per day. Hot, black, sweet… sometimes even a cappuccino or two. But I gave up the habit after marriage (Hubby doesn’t drink the stuff) so haven’t had much caffeine until the last few years or so.
This morning, I’m enjoying half a cup. That should keep me awake, both physically and cognitively, until about 10pm. Because today, I am exhausted. Last week was a full-on one of very little sleep; on Saturday night Mr 3 wormed his way into my bed and kicked my ribs for several hours (and I was too tired to wake up properly, get up, and move him back into his own bed) and last night I was up with him again at 10.30ish and again at 1am, when he decided that he wanted dinner. Seeing as he had slept right through it yesterday, falling asleep in the car at 3.30 and in spite of my best efforts, not waking up for dinner, and seeing as he asked – using words!!! – so nicely for milk, and then a peanut butter sandwich, I just could not refuse.
So, I’m exhausted. And I feel the need for coffee. So I’m indulging this morning. And enjoying it! Plus I’m blogging too, first thing this morning, which I’m rather enjoying too. Maybe I’m set for a very good week?!!! Here’s hoping! (And I hope the same for you, dear readers… have an awesome week!!!)

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My favourite coffee mug. Given by an appreciative student when I was Head of Middle School. Seeing as I wasn’t a coffee drinker at the time, it was rather a funny gift! But much appreciated now. Cos it’s so big! LOL

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Random thoughts

Playgrounds and relaxation

It’s Saturday morning again. This time last week, Hubby and I were with our kids at Pioneer Park. Today it’s just me – Hubby’s catching up on his CPA studies – and I promised my kids a while ago that we’d go to Skidaddle, a kids indoor playground at Caloundra. So here we are, and I feel as though I’m actually getting to ‘sit down’ for the first time this week. It’s been a week of rush rush rush, non-stop intensity, and go-go-go every day. I think I slept the least I’ve slept in *quite* some time, and that didn’t particularly add to my patience levels. But on the up-side, the illness that basically incapacitated me Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning started responding to the antibiotics, and my tweeps ensured that I bought some yoghurt to help with the side effects, so by the ‘I need to start on Miss 7’s Octonaut costume’ of Tuesday evening, I could sew ‘boots’ and create a hat and collar without stopping every two seconds to blow my nose!
Now that hat was difficult. There is NO way I ever want to be a milliner (that’s a hat-maker, right?) because that was one of the most tricky things I’ve ever made! (Now to just convince both Miss 4 and Mr 3, that they will also each need to be an Octonaut in a future Book Week Parade…!)
So the costume was done by Wednesday, and then it was Book Fair, ad creation, story writing, Book Parade, and then Miss 7 winning a ‘Student of the Week’ award meant that I also spent every single day driving in between home and Caboolture, at least once a day. Thursday night I didn’t sleep, trying to make story and ad deadlines, with the final artwork submitted at 4.58pm Friday. Phew!
So now it’s Saturday again. Time to breathe. Maybe even relax. And to blog. Because I’ve missed it! And I’m going to endeavour to take things a little easier this week -if I can!

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The Octonaut hat… Miss 7’s absolute favourite storybook character is Dashi Dog. Yay me.

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Life Random thoughts

Self-diagnosis

There’s a small, hard bump under the skin on my eye-ridge, right near the bridge of my nose. There’s another, identical, lump, on the other eye-ridge. These are the points from which the pain radiates. Out across my forehead, and over my scalp, to meet in a large ball of pain at the base of my neck. Down across my cheekbones to throb incessantly.

And when I say ‘pain’, it’s manageable at the moment, now I’ve just woken up from yet another interrupted night’s sleep – but add three children and a Hubby into the mix in an hour or so, and I have a feeling that I’m not going to be the happiest of chappies. And Mr 3 will also be cranky, I expect – he joined me in our nighttime wakefulness. He louder than me (by about a billion decibels) so here’s hoping – but not expecting – that Hubby won’t be too cranky about that one!

I feel for Mr 3 though. If I feel this rotten, and if he has what I have, no wonder he’s so upset with life. I certainly haven’t relished the constant swings from freezing skin to sweating-through-my-clothes, nor the dizziness that comes with sudden movement, nor the sensitivity to noise. I don’t really like the tender ribs and diaphragm from the constant coughing, nor the rapidity at which I’m going through both tissue boxes and, so it seems, the skin under my nose, which in itself is now a rather unattractive deep pink hue.

So all in all, I think I’m going to call it. I’m infectious. LOL. As in, I’m going to self-diagnose a sinus infection, and probably a lung one as well. And yeh, I’ll probably give in and drag myself (with Miss 4 and Mr 3 of course) to the doctor for some antibiotics. Because (with the exception of that strange nausea day a couple of weeks ago) I haven’t been this sick in years. And I haven’t had antibiotics since Miss 7 was still in nappies. So hopefully they’re going to do the trick! At least, I’l be praying that they do, because I don’t know how much more of this I can take!

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Life Random thoughts

Priorities

It’s a bit unfortunate, but sometimes the urgent takes priority over what it is I *want* to do. This week, I had hoped to blog a minimum of three times. And now it’s Saturday, just gone midday, and I have the feeling that I only blogged once. Whoops! And the worst bit of it is… I can’t actually remember where the week went to! But I’m not too overly stressed at the moment, and the mountainous workload that normally takes up residence in my brain-space seems to not be yelling at me insistently, so I’m going to take 15 minutes out and catch up with this blog.
And what a great place to do it! I’m sitting in dappled sunlight with my kids hard at play at the sand tables in their favourite playground. And, strangest of all, Hubby’s with us, instead of being at work or studying (he’s halfway through his CPA) so this is turning into a big highlight of the week to date.

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So yes, although I’m fully cognizant of the fact that when we get home there’s a kitchen full of dirty breakfast dishes, at least three loads of washing, and probably a dozen kids fights to arbitrate between now and dinner, I’m going to enjoy the moment. I’m here, I’m warm, I’m happy. And I wish the same for each of you, dear readers! Have a great day today!

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family anecdotes momentous events

Passing the torch… um, I mean, violin…

So I play violin. I started learning way back in Year 3, which means I’ve now been playing for 31 years. (Man, I sound old when I put it like that! I don’t feel old! Or act it, either… I think?) and I’m pretty good at playing violin. Not being boastful, but I can hold my own. I teach it, and I play at church in one of the music teams.
I played last Sunday. My kids love it when I play, they dance along to the music, and Miss 7 hums or sings the tune if she knows it. Last Sunday, after church, I was telling her how she was very talented musically, and she decided that she wanted me to teach her violin. (A bit of history: she has her own violin that I bought for her when she was 5. I tried teaching her then, but we just butted heads non-stop, so we both lost interest very quickly!!!) so I said “sure”, and we started then and there.
She was SOOOOOOO super-keen!!! Perhaps it was because she was older too, but nonetheless, she was a lot more focused, a LOT more patient and willing to listen ( and I was probably a lot more of a patient teacher too!) But whatever it was, it worked. and it’s continued to… she’s been enthusiastically practicing every day. And making me so very very very proud!!!

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momentous events

Tears of joy

Yesterday was quite an emotional day for me. And it’s a fairly long story, but I’ll try to keep it short…

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m the mother of an autistic son. Mr 3 was diagnosed back in March, and with his diagnosis came a turbulent rollercoaster ride of emotions that lasted… well… I guess it’s still kinda going, come to think of it…

So anyway, the diagnosis was also helpful in that it brought ‘closure’, in a sense, to all the questions. It meant that I could feel a little less ‘guilty’ that he had zero interest in toilet training (Miss 7 and Miss 4 were both pretty much trained by their third birthdays) and that he regularly spat his food back out (it took until the diagnosis for me to realise that he was actually gagging on it) and that he wasn’t speaking (lightbulb moment again – if he couldn’t use his mouth muscles to manipulate the food in his mouth properly, then duh! Of course he couldn’t manipulate those same muscles to reproduce speech sounds!) and it also made sense why he HATED bath time – getting into the bath meant an instant tantrum with banshee screams, head thrashing, etc etc etc. And it didn’t matter if it was cold, warm or tepid, bubbles or no bubbles, by himself or with his sisters, the reaction was consistent. I realised that, just like the identical reaction he gave whenever I suggested he try the potty, that it was the sudden change in textures and temperature that was setting it off. So for the past 9 months or so, Mr 3 has had ‘bird baths’ (wet washcloth – there’s still a tantrum but it’s over quicker) and the potty has been up and out of sight.

So yesterday, I took the potty down from the shelf (it was on top of a bucket that I needed) and – being in a rush to head out the door – left it on the floor rather than packing it away immediately. We got back home, and Mr 3 noticed it sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor.

Now both he and Miss 4 needed baths (they were filthy) which is why they’d both gone into the bathroom in the first place. Miss 4 and I watched curiously as he looked at it, went over and touched it, then tried to sit down on it. I was incredulous. Even more so when he let me remove first his clothes, and then his nappy, and then he sat back down. I absolutely couldn’t believe it!!! And he seemed happy sitting there too, so I left him there and started running the bath for Miss 4. She helped me add the bubbles,then got in. Mr 3 then came over to investigate the bubbles, and I thought ‘why not try this sitting thing again!?’

Now we have a little blue footstool that he uses to reach the bathroom sink. He loves it, and sits down on it every time he brushes his teeth. So I put this into the bath, then put him on it. He was surprised – but not as surprised as I was, seeing him within the bathtub, with not even a scream! He started off with standing, then eventually sat on his heels, then his bottom. And I was happy with that – my younger two children playing happily with their toys in the bathtub.

I went to unlock the rest of the house, put away the rest of the things, etc, and left them to play for a couple of minutes. (I also didn’t want them to see me crying, I was so incredibly happy at what had just happened.) But I got the shock of my life when I returned. Miss 4 was now sitting where Mr 3 had been, and she was playing with the stool. She’d turned it upside down, and was using it as a ‘boat’ to carry her toys.

Mr 3 was down the other end of the bath, sitting on his bottom, immersed in the water up to his waist, playing with the bubbles.

I couldn’t help it. I cried again. (I’m generally not an emotional person; but being a mum of autistic son has made me realise that I now cry fairly regularly!) Tears of utter joy and happiness. Yay! My son was having a bath!!!

Have a great day, dear readers. I need to go get the tissues…

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Life Random thoughts

Colour sorting

It’s been a huge couple of days; ending with (almost!) catching up on my work when I finally managed to put head on pillow at 2am.
So, this morning, it’s been great to clear some emails then head to the ECDP at at Talara for some colour sorting.

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Looking backward, looking forward…

So I mentioned recently that my cousin from England was coming out to Oz, to stay with us for a few days. Well, the few days turned into almost-a-week, which was even better – plus, he left just as my family decided to come down with a vomiting bug, so he and his family left at just the right time, I think!

During his stay, we visited my parents at the retirement village where they live. Here’s my cousin Phil with my dad. A strong family resemblance, wouldn’t you say?

It was lovely to also meet and spend time with his fiancé, Jo, and her daughters, Darcy and Hope. My kids loved them to bits and were quite upset when they left. In fact, Mr 3 unfortunately ‘dropped’ my iPod onto concrete in his distress – chalk up two devices, now, with newly cracked screens. I’m seriously going to have to look into stronger cases for them, I think!

Here Phil and the family are laughing because Mr 3 is ‘copying’ me, taking photos on the iPod while I take them on my iPhone. They thought it was hilarious, that he was pretending to take photos – until I showed them that he actually *was* taking photos! They were amazed that he could navigate to the camera all by himself. I mentioned that he’d being doing taking both photos and videos for about a year now…

So that was last week. And it ended with me being sick all weekend. By Sunday I felt ready to die. I was SOOOOOOO overwhelmingly nauseous that I swiped one of Hubby’s Phenergen tablets – which knocked me out for a good few hours. When I did eventually wake up, it was like trying to move through thick, cloying mud. It was incredible!!! I’d never been like that before – ever! (Well, the mud yes – at Emu Gully some years back now, but that’s another story!) And the nausea was gone, which was great. What was not so great was the realisation that the nausea had been masking three very distinct stabbing pinpoints of pain in my stomach. Which was not so much fun.

But it’s Monday now. Hubby and Miss 7 have just left for school, and I’m heading off soon to meet with a potential client; then later head down to Caboolture for a ‘Round Table Discussion’ of three schools. It should be an enlightening day. Hopefully my still very tender stomach will be able to handle it all…!

Have a great day, dear readers!!!

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Random thoughts

Wisdom hairs

So this morning has been a lot ‘slower’ than normal. Not through choice, but through exhaustion. Long story, and I won’t go into it here. But part of my ‘slower’ morning was actually taking the time to brush my hair in front of a mirror. (Normally it’s an ‘in the car at traffic lights’ kind of hairdo).
So anyway, I was standing in front if a mirror (again, VERY unusual experience; standing still…) and I noticed the extra white hairs that weren’t there last time I brushed my hair in front of a mirror. ‘Well, duh!’ I thought. Bound to happen, really. They’re my ‘hairs of experience’. Wisdom hairs. Maybe!
So my first reaction was to reach up and go to pull out the more obvious ones… but I caught myself in time. You see, on my 35th birthday, a few years ago now, I made a pact with myself- no more pulling out white hairs. Considering I started this habit on the day I found my first one, which just so happened to be my 18th birthday, that was almost half a lifetime of habit that I had to overcome! Still an’ all, I haven’t pulled out another to this day. My hair can grow old gracefully (because I’m not sure that *I* will be!)
LOL

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(Maybe they’re not too obvious in this light… or any other light too, actually!)

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Life Random thoughts

Is it just me?

Maybe I’m just going crazy. But the world seems to be turning faster and faster, and life seems to be getting busier and busier – is that right? Anyone else noticing this?

Cos right at the moment, I really feel like yelling “Stop the world!! I wanna get off!!!”

Is it just me?

 

 

CC Image courtesy Sean MacEntee at http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5091040324/