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On the sixth day of Christmas…

I’m getting a little confused. Travel at odd hours, lack of sleep, sleeping at strange times in weird positions, tends to do that to me, I find.

So from what I can work out, it’s now December 30, the sixth day of Christmas. Friday. I’m back at home, and in spite of Hubby’s best efforts to secure last minute accommodation for this weekend on Fraser, it looks as though we’ll be spending New Years at home. Which is good, in a way. I need to get my head straight again!

Not that it’s been bad – I’ve had a blast! Once hubby finished his Gold Coast conference on Dec 10, we left Dec 11 for Goondiwindi on our way to Dubbo. A few days there, exploring the Western Plains Zoo in absolutely GORGEOUS weather (although it was a pity we had to drive through a hailstorm to get there) was then followed by an allnighter trip to Ballina, where we again spent a wonderful few days. New South Wales. LOVE the jumping pillows (never been introduced to the concept before) but found the fact that while driving I was *forced* to restrain my lead foot rather frustrating. Twas good to be back in QLD where the cameras are fewer and far between – not so good to cope with the roadworks and traffic again. Ho hum.

(Jumping pillow. Struggling to insert image, as for some reason Ow.ly doesn’t want to play nice with me at the moment. ow.ly/i/nBhg )

A few days back at home, with time for Speech Therapy appointments (that nodule on my right vocal cord seems to be getting smaller – yay!); a hospital visit to remove the glittery purple cast on Miss 3’s arm, and the wires that were holding her elbow together; and a family Christmas get-together, then it was off to Hervey Bay, minus hubby who was keen to tackle the big surf. (It’s so rare here on the Sunshine Coast, and he misses it now he works such long hours.) So it was me and three young ‘uns headed north amidst the rain. Luckily the weather cleared, so by the time hubby joined us, it was perfect.

What wasn’t so great was the phone call from our neighbour on Wednesday afternoon, telling us that one of our dogs had died. Max. 11 y.o. black lab, whose health has been declining rapidly over the last year or so. He was underneath the Pajero (a favourite sleeping spot) but he apparently wasn’t breathing. So hubby decided to go home early. And take the children, so I could pack / clean / lock up in peace.

The kids’ clothes / bedroom etc was all packed in into the car when our neighbour texted. Max was up and about; it had been a false alarm. But we didn’t really want to unpack the kids’ stuff again, so we fed them dinner and then they all left, Miss 3 screaming all the while. She’s the clingy-est.

So I packed. I cleaned. I locked up, and left around 3.30am. Missed my family too much. But the long hours were more draining than I had anticipated, so I had to pull over at the Arbor Ten intersection and power-nap. Which worked, but boy did it hurt my neck! (I’m pretty sure I’d never slept with my head in quite THAT position before! But I made it home by 6.30 – perfect timing to surprise hubby and delight my children before breakfast. Which was great.

So now it’s Friday. The bags are unpacked, the clothes are washed, and we’re headed to Nambour Hospital this afternoon for (hopefully!) the final time for Miss 3’s elbow – bandage removal.

And we’re not going to Fraser tomorrow morning. Hmmm… maybe we’ll try for New Year’s on Bribie instead? (Ha! Stay still? Me? Not likely!!!)

Til tomorrow, readers!

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To bed to bed

Long story, but I spent the entirety of last night packing, cleaning, and driving. Consequently, I find myself now, at 9.07pm, rather weary.
Will explain more in my next entry.
Night all.

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Strait-laced

Okay, so there’s one hour to go on this, the fourth day of Christmas. So I’m not too late for posting today’s entry – day 4 of the #blog12daysxmas challenge. Woohoo!

As mentioned in my last post, this was to be one about the concept “strait-laced” (I spelled it incorrectly, as I have since found out!)

A search among the weird and wonderful world of the web revealed (as expected) rather diverse opinions. However, a source that seemed rather trustworthy (in spite of sporting the name “Take Our Word For It”) stated this response to an email in general circulation (email at top, their response immediately following):

Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace[d] garment, worn by a proper and dignified lady, gave birth to the term “straight laced.”

First, it is spelled strait-laced.  Second, its original meaning was “tightly laced” (regarding a bodice or similar piece of clothing), but it is not because proper ladies wore tightly-laced corsets that we have the term strait-laced meaning “prudish” today.  Instead, if the bodice were tightly laced, it would be somewhat rigid, especially if it contained stays.  This notion of rigidity was transferred to strait-laced when applied to human conduct, and eventually the “rigid” sense changed to “prudish”.  The term (with these meanings) first appears in the mid-16th century.

Any woman could wear a strait-laced bodice, not just proper or dignified ladies.

So there you go. Nothing whatsoever to do with my sneakers, and / or my father’s way of teaching me to tie them. Huh!

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

On the curvature of laces…

I planned this post yesterday. Took the photo and everything. But time got away, so I find myself (yet again) posting a day late. Whoops!

In the Boxing Day sales, I bought myself a new pair of sneakers. I’m not really one for shoes, but my old pair had just passed the ‘starting to break’ mark, so figured that now was as good a time as any to replace them. So yesterday morning I took off the tags and started ‘fixing’ the laces. Which led me to ruminations on why it was I do that.

Why do I change the laces from the way that they do them in the shop? What is it about criss-crossed laces that annoys me? Why am I more comfortable when they are straight across the top? Is it just that a straight-laced shoe is how I was *taught* to lace  my shoes by my father, oh so many years ago now? Is that why I feel that a ‘straight-lace’ is correct, and a ‘criss-cross lace’ is indicative of an *inferior mind* (a concept that was caught via paternal osmosis, I’m convinced!)

So I straight-laced one shoe, and took my photo, whilst reflecting on the period when, as a teenager, I deliberately criss-crossed my shoelaces, just to annoy my father. Thought I was being such a rebel! (What a laugh!)

Left shoe – as it came from the shop (yes, it DOES say ‘Target’ inside. Said I wasn’t big on shoe-buying!) and Right shoe after I had *fixed* it. And then started to wonder where that phrase “straight-laced” even came from. Subject for my Day 4 #blog12daysxmas post, I think! (Which, seeing as it’s the fourth day of Christmas today, I intend to post this afternoon…!)

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts Work

Day Two and I’m on track…

Well after a bit of a mixed-up start, it’s still Boxing Day for a few more hours, so I’m managing to blog Day 2 of #blog12daysxmas on the second day of Christmas. Which is cool – but I doubt I’ll be writing much. I’m exhausted, (courtesy Master Two and a 4.35am start,) but trying to stay awake by watching The Glades while waiting for Harry’s Law at 9.30. But it’s tough – I keep on yawning, nodding off etc and I’ve eaten too much.

Last year’s #blog12daysxmas, I wrote about the song. This year I plan on being more reflective – something I’m learning, though slowly, to enjoy. And today was a perfect day to reflect. The kids and I went Boxing Day shopping early, and left by 10 from a very full car park, to explore the wonders of “Wet Side” at Hervey Bay. For those of you who’ve been there, you know how fantastic it is for kids. For those of you who haven’t, it’s like a fountain. On steroids. Lots and lots and lots of steroids! Unfortunately though, Master Two took a bit of a stumble, and clonked the very base of his nose (as in, where it meets his upper lip) so hard that his nose kept bleeding for some time. Poor kid. So we retreated to the safety of the adjacent beach. Which started at low tide, and kept getting lower and lower and lower. So mud flats and rock pools kept the kids busy for the rest of the day. Leaving me time to crotchet. And think.

I like being self-employed. I like being “Mistress of my own destiny”. I absolutely LOVE the fact that hubby has a brilliant, well-paying job that allows me to experiment like this. I’m enjoying the independence. The responsibility. The challenges. The learning curves. Thirty-seven-and-a-half and I feel like I’m finally “growing up”.

It’s taken a while!

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#blog12daysxmas

Not the best start

It’s Boxing Day. Early. Courtesy Master Two in the next bedroom who decided to wake up screaming at 4.35. Thanks, little man! Not exactly what I was hoping for when I finally crashed at just gone midnight. (I thought I’d better have a *fairly* early night as the two previous ones were the ‘past 1am’ variety.) So I was hoping for at least another hour or so, but instead I got to time to think. Reflect that another Christmas is over. Write a Boxing Day shopping list.
Plan my day.
And then I decided to check my HootSuite streams. (Am REALLY starting to like the convenience that my iPhone brings!)
And a conversation between @fionawb and @katiejf made me realize that I missed #blog12daysxmas yesterday. Whoops!!! Somehow in the busyness of the day, I didn’t even turn on my computer! So here I am, tardy but apologetic and raring to go.
I’m starting to notice that that’s actually my attitude to a lot of things in life, actually. “Bring it!” enthusiasm, perseverance, “get it done, and do it right” kind of thinking. Which I guess I’m kinda happy with, cos it gets things done.
Case in point – my son’s scarf. (Wha – huh??! It’s summer, silly!!! 25 degrees outside!! Yeah, I know. I’m getting there!)
I blogged some time back about the happy completion of my eldest’s crocheted blanket. It had taken five years, so finishing it was rather noteworthy! But to appease Miss Three, I immediately started (and finished within a few days) a scarf for her. It used the identical pattern to the scarf I had made for Miss Six some time earlier, so she was rapt.
A number of months later now, and I’m about a fifth of the way through her crotcheted blanket. (Not bad going, if I do say so myself!) But I’ve made nothing yet for Master Two. And I like to be fair as much as possible, so I decided late Christmas Eve to try making him a scarf too. Had some spare blue wool with me, so thought I’d give it a go. Try and finish it in time to get it into his stocking on *the big day*.
And I did. Considering I’m single-mum-ing it at the moment (the surf’s going off its nut back home, so hubby’s enjoying it for a day or so) with three kids under seven, I’m pretty stoked with my efforts. (Admittedly, he didn’t finish unwrapping the gifts in his stocking until early evening, so I had yesterday to work on it as well! But it got done. Tassels and all!)
So that was my Christmas. Scarf-making at the beach, at home in the bedroom, in front of the TV and at the meal table, in the midst of dressing, cooking, cleaning, treasure hunting, arbitrating, negotiating, and all of the other ‘ing’ stings I did yesterday. Phew!
So now it’s on to Boxing Day, and I’m up for another day packed full of fun and busyness. How ’bout you?

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#blog12daysxmas Uncategorized University studies Work

So it’s been a while…

I knew I hadn’t blogged in awhile. I just hadn’t realized that it was three months worth of ‘while’! I guess it’s a bit of an indication of how busy I’ve been. Busy with kids, with hubby, with growth in my business (which has its own name now, rather than being just part of my own personal ABN,) busy with the 7th (of 12) course in my Masters, and other general stuff at home – cubby house movement and garden bed rearranging being the main focus of the September school holidays.
On the work front, I’ve created a campaign for the St Paul’s Christmas holidays, a campaign for the expanded St James Kindy, and compiled a 2011 yearbook that was twice the size of its 2010 counterpart. And I’ve also started (almost daily) blogging for Bloxham Marketing, which has been fun. Phew! Nuff said.
And that brings us to the Christmas holidays, and the memory of last year’s #blog12daysxmas – which was my real foray into the world of blogging in the first place.
So now I’m wondering if I’m up for the challenge this year. Or even if there IS a #blog12daysxmas challenge this year!

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Random thoughts

Feeling the lack of deadlines…

So it’s coming up to 10am, Monday morning, and I’ve been up for five hours. (Well, if you don’t count when I got up to Master 2 around 2am. But I went back to sleep again after that.) But in that time, I don’t feel as though I’ve accomplished too much. Sure, I’ve done housework, kid’s stuff, and the like, but in comparison to my life over the last month or so, I feel at a complete loss. It’s as though I’ve done pretty much nothing, just fuff around, do a bit of net-surfing, play a bit more on google+ …  no real work to speak of at all!

I’m feeling the lack of dealines, and I’m just too exhausted due to the last month to set any for myself. But I’m too much of a non-stop adrenalin junkie to let myself relax enough to feel as though ‘that’s okay’. Aarrgh.

Or maybe it’s just that huge mountain of filing-left-to-do that’s making me particularly uninspired…

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Random thoughts Work

Catching up

So today I played catch up. I’ve been majorly neglecting sleeping, eating properly, and just the usual run-of-the-mill stuff that I always neglect, those of you who know me IRL. So today was catch up day. I washed clothes. I washed dishes. I shopped for food (and caught up on some sleep in the car while Hubby drove!) I cooked food. I cleaned various parts of the house. I even noticed a headache that didn’t want to shift. (It had probably been there for days, but I’ve been too busy to notice!) I started filing the never-ended mountain of paperwork that seems to be getting even bigger now I’ve scored the marketing consultancy at St James in Hervey Bay. (Absolutely BRILLIANT school, by the way!!! Really going places; it’s got an excellent team at the top – visionaries who also know how to successfully implement that vision. Which is pretty rare. And I’ve been in and around a LOT of schools! FYI, did you know that EVERY kid from Year 7 up has an iPod Touch which they use – in every curriculum area?! How cool is THAT?!!!)

And catching up on stuff today allowed me quite a bit of time for introspection. Which is cool. I’m starting to not mind the whole ‘figure out who I am’. And today’s thinking was in the context of my work life. Brought about courtesy of Craig Hewlett, President of 101.5 FM, who invited me to do a DJ-ing course at his station, yesterday. He seems to think that I’ve got a good voice for radio. (Poor guy had to listen to me for 6 hours straight at the St Paul’s Spring Fair Teen Space yesterday, and that probably addled his brains!) Anyway, he was pretty serious about the offer – it’s a paid course, and he offered to sponsor me to do it! How cool is that! Unfortunately, I had to say no (for the time being). Even though I’m always up for a challenge, even I think that adding something like that to my life would just be stupid. After all, I have 3 kids, and my eldest is 6; I run a website, a tutoring business and I’m the QLD distributor for another business; and then I’m working pretty much full-time as the Marketing consultant to two schools. Oh, and somewhere in there I’m also managing to find the time to study for my Masters in IT. (So stoked about finishing that 40%er last Thursday!!! And a HUGE thank you to Tony Wilson, QUT’s Marketing and Communication Director, for permission to use that awesome quote of his!!!) Which leads me to believe that, although working as a radio DJ would be such a cool thing to do, maybe now might not be the time to consider it. (Oh, and did I also mention I’ve been invited to join the Golden Key International Honour Society?! Pretty chuffed!)

So anyway, today I got stuff done. Not that I haven’t been getting stuff done recently, but today’s was different stuff. And that’s cool. By the way, I particularly dislike filing.

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places to visit Random thoughts University studies Work

Hanging on by my toenails

I feel like a bug. Still alive – barely – and hanging on for dear life. I’m standing on the windscreen of the vehicle that is my life, and it’s currently going full-speed, flat out, non-stop.

Hopefully that vehicle’s not a train careering along a decrepit railway line, else I’m headed for a massive train wreck!!!

(On the up-side: I’ve completed two of my three assessment pieces for AMN400 Consumer Behaviour – which I’m loving, by the way – and I’ve painted seven street signs in the last two weeks; and I’m on top of the St. Paul’s yearbook to date; and I’ve started working (successfully, too!) at St James at Hervey Bay, both in person and over email, internet, skype; and Miss Three is now completely toilet trained; and – best thing of all – Spring Fair is on today which means that sometime around 4pm I’ll be able to breathe again!!!!!!!!)

Woohoo!!! LOVING my life right now!!