Teaching Good Sportsmanship Like a Jerk

One of my biggest fears in life is that my daughter is not going to be a nice person when she's all grown up. I shudder at the thought of my sweet caring little girl being an absolute jerk to someone and not giving it a second thought. Of course there is nothing I have seen yet to indicate that this is going to be the case, and I take every opportunity to teach Miss K about being considerate and thoughtful, but human nature means we're all jerks sometimes. And I was a jerk this week.

A lot of Miss K's time these days is spent preparing for school next year. Kindergarten is teaching her the education side of things, and the social side of things, but it's still my job to teach her basically everything else. I assumed that teaching children to be good sports would be included in her learning at kindergarten, but either the opportunity has never come up before, or Miss K has never shown that she needs the lesson there. She's never really shown me before this week that she needed it either, but I found out this week that she is quite happy to gloat when she beats someone, and I wasn't ok with it.

Part of this problem will have come from me. I have always encouraged a healthy interest in competition in Miss K, as I feel it is necessary to get ahead in life. But because she is only five, I let her win a lot when we compete against each other. (Except when it comes to running, she beats me fair and square when we race, I'm just too chubby and lazy to really run.) So Miss K has a confidence that she can win with ease thanks to me. Now I know that confidence is key, but too much confidence leads to arrogance, and I don't want my child to be a fat head. So I've slowly started winning more and more, just to teach her that winning isn't always guaranteed, but that just makes the wins she does get bigger in her mind. And with her new victories came gloating.

Miss K and I were bored the other night so we decided to play a few board games for an hour before bedtime. We started with Kerplunk, which I've had in our games cupboard for years now, but we've never played so I was excited to introduce her to a game I loved as a child. (We even had a Star Trek version because my big sister is a giant nerd.) I won each game, but the longer we played, the harder I had to work for my victories, as Miss K got a feel for the strategy that is Kerplunk. This is where her sense of competition was good. She was happy to lose, but she learned from her losses and used that lesson to bridge the gap between us in each new round. Eventually we got bored with having to reset the game each time so we swapped to Hungry, Hungry Dinos (Yeah, yeah I know that's not the real game, but board games are expensive OK?) Now Miss K was in her element. She loves quick fire games and beat me hands down every single round. I wasn't letting her win either, these were real losses for me. I was impressed by her performance until she started calling my dinosaurs losers.

I was shocked by her attitude, I've never gloated around her as I find that behaviour really off putting.  I tried the Mike Brady method of lecturing her on the dinosaur's feelings. (Yet another in a long list of bizarre conversations I've had to have with my daughter.) I let her know that it isn't nice to point out that someone is a loser if they don't win a game, and using words like that can hurt someone's feelings. She agreed with me and I thought the matter was settled, but she went back to calling the dinosaurs losers straight away. So Mike Brady lost round one. I decided it was time to lead by example, and this is where I became a jerk.

It's like the old lesson we used to teach our children when they learn how to bite, if they bite us, we bite back. (Of course I don't condone biting your children, please don't bite the kids.) But if you want a kid to know how something feels, you let them experience it. So I swapped the game to one where the odds were stacked in my favour; We had thumb war. (Another throwback to my own childhood and the many thumb wars I had with my big sister where she usually beat me easily.) I won the round of course, and then I proceeded to do a victory dance (which may or may not have included a song calling Miss K a loser).

Yeah, yeah, I know, I was a huge meanie. I can only imagine how many of you are burning up with rage right now, but Miss K got the point straight away. She now knew how it felt to be called a loser, and she knew how horrible it felt. Now you may think I overreacted, she was insulting a plastic moulded toy that is unable to feel emotions or even hear her words, but that wasn't the point. One day she is going to play sports with other children who do have ears and feelings that can be easily hurt, and I don't want her to be the jerk gloating over winning a stupid game when it actually matters. I reiterated how words can hurt feelings, and we talked about the correct way to behave whether you win or lose, and we finished our match by telling each other "Good game".

So while I don't officially condone calling your kids losers, or gloating around them, or deliberately beating them at games, sometimes you have to be a jerk to prove a point. Hopefully my daughter now has a better sense of humility, and will be more gracious with her wins and her losses. Or one day I'll get a huge bill from a therapist for all the damage I'm doing as I stumble through being a parent. Only time will tell.

I would love to hear about any other parents out there who have had similar ethical dilemmas that they solved by being less than perfect. Hit me up in the comments down below and let me know how much you now pay for therapy per month. I get the feeling I'm going to need to start a savings account very soon.

Why abstinence based education is harmful at any age

So today I have a ranty post for you guys, and I'd love to hear opinions that aren't mine at the end of this, so pay close attention lovely peoples.

For a bit of a background before I get into the nitty gritty, NAPCAN (or the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) are holding their annual child protection week from 4th to 10th September. As a part of the lead up to this week, and as a new initiative brought into schools, daycare centres and kindergartens, all children are being given lots of lectures about safety and healthy living at the moment. In Miss K's kindergarten in the last week alone they have used this as an excuse to discuss healthy foods, anatomy and exercise. They will also be holding various conversations about protective behaviour etc. One thing they have already discussed is acceptable physical contact, but I'm not impressed with the way they have handled this.

On Wednesday afternoon when all us parents went in to pick up our darling monsters, the head teacher informed us all that they had had to have a discussion about appropriate physical contact between the kids while at kindergarten. They had put in a total ban on hugging and kissing, and the kids saying I love you to each other.  This isn't the part I really had a problem with, I know that a zero contact policy is usually the norm at schools and kindergartens, so while bringing problems of its own, it is to be expected. It was when she told us that they had also informed the kids of the acceptable people to hug and kiss outside of kindergarten that I had an issue. Now I'm not sure if she was only giving us the abridged version for the sake of not holding us up too long, however when it was explained to us, she informed that the list of acceptable people to hug, kiss, and give admissions of love to outside of kindergarten consisted of parents, grandparents and siblings. That was the entire list she gave to us. Later on at home when I questioned Miss K about this, she repeated that list back to me, however given she has proven time and time again that she doesn't have the most reliable memory, she may have only been going off the abridged version that we were given at pick up. But even if that wasn't the complete list, that is what Miss K has taken from their conversation and I am mad as hell about this.

Number one, while I appreciate that they are madly trying to cram as much education about protective behaviours into a tiny window of space, with an audience not known for its attention span, it's not their damn job to dictate what my child does outside of kindergarten. I am the one who makes the rules outside of those four walls, and I do not appreciate anyone coming in and thinking they know better than me about what is best for my child. This new protective behaviours education is meant to be aimed at the parents, and not the children, so lecture me by all means, but don't do it through my child.

Number two, if that was the complete list of acceptable people to hug, go to hell. In my family alone there are eight aunts and uncles and five cousins which were excluded from that list. Then there are the family friends who we love to give affection too. Then there are the ladies at the supermarket who are always up for a hug and a chat. By making any kind of list of acceptable people to give physical affection too, they make this a shameful act, which it isn't. It is an innocent show of love and friendship given by an incredibly friendly child, and to place limits on it changes it into something dirty which I refuse to allow to happen. This isn't like the list of people Miss K isn't allowed to swear in front of, this isn't something we have to hide. Physical affection is an actual biological need. Multiple studies have shown the importance of affection and physical contact to the human brain and body, and to limit it runs the risk of harm.

I already put zero tolerance physical contact rules right up there next to abstinence based sexual education programs, and this just cements my convictions. By teaching kids the best way to be safe is to not do something, you do them a disservice. You ignore a young person's natural inclination towards curiosity and experimentation, and you fail to keep them safe. By teaching abstinence of any form, you fail to teach children to know their own limits and the limits of the people around them. You fail to teach them self preservation, because it assumes that for the rest of their life, everyone is just going to comply to the rules they were taught, which never ever actually happens. You also fail to teach them about consent which is one of the biggest lesson we can teach our kids before we let them out into the big wide world. In the short term abstinence looks like the safest option, but we have seen time and time again that it is the most dangerous thing to learn.

The only silver lining I can see out of all of this is that it forced me to have a conversation with Miss K about consent. We sat down at home and I explained to her that people were allowed to not want physical affection, and that she has to accept their wishes, I also let her know that she was allowed to refuse physical contact, and that it was her right to have her refusal accepted. This is the lesson she was meant to learn that day, not that hugs are dirty and must be stopped. I'm sure I'll need to have this conversation again and again, especially as she gets older and I begin preparing her for a world where rape apologists exist, but for now it is simply about being allowed to say no to a hug.

I would love to know what you think. Am I overreacting in my anger at the kindergarten? Do you think they botched their attempts? Do you agree with them? Let me know down below in the comments.

Review - Hoffman Academy

Hello again lovely peoples, I have decided to take a break from procrastinating today to discuss an awesome website that Miss K and I have had been given opportunity to review. Today I will be discussing the Hoffman Academy.

Anyone who knows me knows I love music. I listen to music all the time, and when I get the chance, I love to play piano. I took lessons when I was a kid, but had to stop for some reason, but the love of playing stayed with me, so when my big sister Sam was gifted an upright piano and she had no room for it at her house I gladly begged mum to let us store it here for her, simply so that I had an excuse to play. I've slowly been teaching Miss K to play, but given I don't have a lot of theory practise under my belt it is a very slow process. So when The Hoffman Academy contacted me and asked if we would review their online lessons I jumped at the chance.

There are two elements to the piano lessons given at Hoffman Academy. The first one is video lessons, which are available for free on their website. The second element is the work books, which are available for purchase at $19 USD per unit, or $85 USD if you purchase all of the units at once, which is a savings of $29! We were given a copy of the first unit workbook, and we have been going through it slowly while watching the videos.

All of the lessons are given by Joseph Hoffman who teaches the "Hoffman method" of piano playing. The videos are definitely aimed at children, with the language used very simple and explanations broken down to a level where children would be able to understand them. For us this was perfect given the student is five years old, however it may be a bit insulting for adults who are trying to learn to play through this website. That being said I don't think anyone should be deterred from trying Hoffman Academy regardless of their age. There is even a fun puppet show at the end of each video, something Miss K looks forward to as a reward for accomplishing another lesson.

The thing I loved about the Hoffman Academy piano lessons was that it made learning the piano both fun and easy for Miss K. Everything was broken down in a way that I find impossible to do, so she picked up new lessons quicker than she ever did with me. It also did away with a lot of the frustration both of us felt when I was handling her lessons on my own. Because she could see results a lot quicker she didn't lose confidence in her abilities when she did make a mistake, and was more willing to give it another go, something I could never get her to do, so Hoffman for the win there.

Hoffman Academy has made learning the piano easy and affordable. The fact that she was able to sit at the piano with my tablet open in front of her has made me happy because I don't have to leave the house, and she can pick it up whenever she wants and try another lesson, so if we're stuck inside on a rainy day (which means all the time right now, thanks very much winter.) then instead of getting in my hair she sits at the piano and works her way through another lesson, and I get to sit in my dressing gown with my unbrushed hair and not worry that the piano teacher thinks I'm a lazy parent. And given that each unit comprises of up to twenty lessons you are certainly getting value for money.

For further information, including looking up Mr Hoffman's impressive resume, check out the Hoffman Academy here. You can watch the videos without needing to purchase the workbooks, but they certainly do add to the learning experience and help reinforce the information given in the videos.

Well that's all from me today, I'm off to enjoy the rare tiny bit of sunshine we're getting here today, it's made even more special by the fact that I had to scrape frost off my car this morning and drive to kindergarten in 0 degree weather. Have I mentioned that I hate winter lately?

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the first unit of lessons in return for this review. All opinions given here are entirely my own *

Book Review - Catch that Cat

So it has been a long time since I have reviewed a product, but I was contacted with an offer I couldn't refuse a couple of weeks ago, so here we are again.

Now I preface this review by saying I love reading. I remember weekly trips to the library being a special occasion when I was a child, and I have passed that love of reading on to Miss K, as the two bookshelves that take up her bedroom wall will attest. Every night I MUST read her a story before she goes to bed, then she MUST take five books with her to bed. So when I was asked to review a new children's book by Australian author Melina Mallos I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed.

When I agreed to review the book I was told it was an exploration of Greek culture as well as the rich history of the country, a subject I would have thought difficult to sell to children, but this book just showed how little I know about selling a subject to kids.

The story follows Elesa, a little girl whose cat Aphrodite has run away from home. Her and her Yiayia (grandmother for anyone who has never met a Greek person) must travel around the Greek island of Kythera, passing many historic locations as well as places of cultural importance while searching for their lost cat. Now because this is a children's book and not Marley & Me the cat does end up returning home, but not before you learn all about this beautiful island and it's amazing history.

The story was very easy to read, and more importantly it was easy for Miss K to understand. Before we started reading the book I explained how the story was set in a totally different country to Australia, and we looked at a map of Greece, and the island of Kythera which was included inside the front cover of the book. This part fascinated Miss K, and she spent ages pouring over the map, following the cat's footsteps around the island.

The books illustrations, drawn and painted by a talented Athenian Tety Solou were simply spectacular and only added to the total appeal of this book. Miss K and I spent ages staring at each page, simply trying to take in as much of every scene as we could. It took us about ten minutes to read the book the first time around, not because it was too wordy, but because we had to stop every page just to stare.

One of Miss K's favourite pages

After we finished the book the first time, Miss K insisted we go back to the beginning and read it again, discussing everything we noticed on each page as we went. I have never seen Miss K this excited about a book, which is saying something. She even insisted this book be read to her again that night at bedtime. To date I have had to read it to her another three times, and my sister has had to read it to her once. It is definitely a new favourite.

The beautiful thing about this book is that Melina's pride for her home country is evident in every page, so much so that you can't help but feel you are right there with Elesa and her Yiayia. Her reverence for the culture and historical significance Greece holds comes through strongly, and helps bring Greece into your home. It is excellent for teaching children about the world around them in a relatable and fun way.

My favourite page

So if you're looking for a new book to buy for a little one in your life, I definitely recommend Catch that Cat by Melina Mallos. You can find it for sale here.

3 ways to encourage whole brain learning through play

Hi guys, today I have a guest joining me to discuss whole brain learning and how you can incorporate it into your play time with your children at home, so please be upstanding and welcome Amanda from Shichida Australia.

When my daughter was around 1 year old, we began story-time at the library. It was a half hour of singing, reading, talking and some bubbles play. At first it was a way for me to get out the house and be around other people and not feel so isolated as a mom. I continued coming for another reason. I noticed that my baby was remembering signs and interacting with the presenter. My first thought was “I have a baby genius’ and my second thought was “i wonder what else she can learn through play?”

I began integrating music, dance and play into our everyday tasks. I would sing to the tune “If you’re happy and you know it’.

If you see the color (insert color), pick it out! (while pointing to the color)

If you see the color (insert color), pick it out! (while pointing to the color)

If you see the color (insert color), give a wiggle and a giggle

If you see the color (insert color), pick it out! (while pointing to the color)

I used this basic tune to talk about not only colors, but shapes and body parts. Before long, my itty bitty baby was starting to recognize shapes, colors and body parts. It is how she learned almost anything: we danced, sang and pointed stuff out.

I thought, imagine how fun school would be if we played to learned beyond preschool?

New research is supporting the idea that play and learning are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they go hand in hand. Research is showing that children that engage in playful learning are developing memory skills, their language is developing and they are able to adjust to an academic learning environment. This whole brain approach to learning is changing the way we learn and remember things. In fact, research is showing that all functions of the brain are connected.

A pioneer in childhood whole brain learning, Dr. Makoto Shichida, has committed 40 years to developing techniques to stimulate early development of the brain. Dr. Shichida emphasizes parent-child bonding and when a child feels free to express himself, he is more able to learn. This is a balanced approach to whole brain learning.

Here are easy ways to incorporate this whole brain, play based learning into your schedule without feeling you are adding more to your plate. Try to engage at least two senses at a time. 

1. Schedule time for physical play, integrate music into your play. Hot potato with music or musical chairs are two examples. Silly time and having your child using hand-eye coordination, while waiting for musical cues stimulated different parts of the brain at once.
2. Have adult and child interactions. Pretend you are in a restaurant and your child is the server and chef. Pretend you are a patient in a hospital and your child is the doctor.
3. Recreate an experience, such as travel or a vacation. Pretend you are in another country and practice using simple words from another language. This helps engage the multi-language circuit of the brain.

The most important things to remember are to let your child’s imagination run wild, make sure your child feels safe to express himself, and let your child be the guide.

(http://www.shichida.com.au/)

About the author:. Amanda works PR for Shichida Australia ((http://www.shichida.com.au/), spreading her love for childhood learning through fun, music and play.  When she isn’t chasing her two kids and (trying to) prepare healthy meals, she is cuddling her fur baby, a 9 year old boxer.

Things I never thought parenting would teach me

I'm back again. I know I didn't write anything for you guys yesterday, but I had the opportunity to go visit an old friend last night for a quiet evening watching Misery, and I had to take it. I figure since I'm a mum now and I can't get into sex drugs and rock and roll anymore, I might as well get Kathy Bates and James Caan going at each other with sledge hammers and door stops.

So after a quick look at the calendar this morning, I realised it is only 15 days until Miss K's 2nd birthday. I can't believe I've almost been doing this for 2 years now. Before I became a parent, my longest stint in a job was 18 months, and then it was a case or quit or get fired. Luckily my current boss can't fire me, or I would have been gone a long time ago.

Now as any parent will tell you, the years fly by before you get a chance to sit down and think about it. But I would like to take a moment to share with you just some of the things that I have learnt over the past 2 years that I never realised would be a part of my education as a mum. As logic dictates, I will start with number 1.

1. If you believe Playschool, archaeologists wear ice cream buckets as safety helmets 
2. If you fall asleep to a children's show, it will invade your dreams in the most messed up and un-G-rated ways possible.
3. Nothing is more entertaining than putting a CD on and letting your kid go nuts
4. No matter how many toys they have piled up in the corner, they will always go for the one thing in the room you don't want them to touch
5. You may think your floor is spotless, your child knows otherwise and will find absolutely every tiny piece of rubbish you have missed
6. No matter how prepared you are for leaving the house with your child, your child will always manage to do something you weren't ready for.
7. Nothing makes you turn into your own mother faster than having a child
8. The simplest things in life can really be the most pleasurable
9. Having a child gives you license to be a child yourself. Even if only for a little while
10. Childrens shows can be very entertaining. Especially if you have a filthy mind capable of twisting the most innocent sentence into something disgusting.
11. There is no problem that can't be fixed with a cuddle. Or a Wiggles brand band-aid 
12. No matter what the "experts" say, chocolate is an acceptable bribe, which will work every time
13. Your house suddenly becomes a terrifying death trap once you put a child in it. Even if you baby-proofed it before she was born
14. Being a parent means that you are amazing in someone's eyes. Make the most of it before they realise how big an idiot you really are
15. The minute you bring that little person home, all the rules fly out the window and you become the blind leading the blind
16. There is no such thing as ready to be a parent
17. Housework is never as important as playing with your child (at least that's my excuse)
18. Pick your battles. Does it really matter that she's eating her macaroni and cheese with her fingers?
19. But always set the rules early in the game. Something that looks cute the first few times can become destructive or dangerous (or very irritating) quickly.                 

And lastly

  20.  There is no better feeling than being the only person a child wants

Well these are just some of the things I've learnt since Miss K was born, and I know that my education is far from over, but I can't wait to see what else this little dirt monster has to teach me.

Well that's it for me, I'm off to do some grunt work in the back yard. I'll be back next time with more fun. Stay awesome peeps.

Back to school*

*Why is it whenever I write that sentence I immediately get a picture of Adam Sandler singing that stupid song in my head?? I guess it shows the maturity level of my long term memory that crappy movies are stored in there along with my sixth birthday party and that time I stood on a Bull Ant's nest.

Anyway it is after midnight, I am so tired that my eyeballs are almost falling out of my head and I really should be going to sleep. But I couldn't leave it a whole other day before catching up with you guys again, so just for you I will forego sleep for another half hour while I write up some rambling nonsense that I suspect entertains me much more than anyone else.

So a couple of big things happening at the moment, first of all I have joined the Bloggy Moms Network, a massive site full of bloggers who are also mums, or mums who are also bloggers. I'm not 100% sure because I'm still learning my way around the site. But I figured out today how to find their pretty badges so you'll notice a new addition to my growing list of buttons and links to the right of this website. Second of all, my Twitter page hit double digits today, which means that it currently has more subscribed followers than this website. I'd love to get all indignant and offended by this statistic, but given that for me this blog is not about he who has the most subscribers wins, I just can't muster up enough anger. I know that my mum thinks I'm cool and that's what is most important.

So back to the actual point of this post (tired me likes to go on irrelevant tangents a lot.) I started my studies again today. Now technically my course started on the 25th of February, but unfortunately when I took the half hour trip to the TAFE to pick up my books on that day, I found out they were not actually at the campus I had traveled to, but were actually at the campus down the road from where I live. GRRRR. Not only were they a five minute drive from my house, but I was then told I would have to wait for them to be delivered to the school half an hour away from me, and then my tutor would have them mailed BACK to my local campus. I personally don't understand the logic behind this decision, but maybe that's why all of these people are gainfully employed by the government and I'm a stay at home mum.

Anyway, I patiently waited, and waited, and waited. After a week I got tired of patiently waiting and sent a message to my tutor and asked for an update on the books, to be informed that they had been waiting at my local TAFE for me a full day already. GRRRR again. So yesterday I raced up the road to pick up my books and FINALLY got to sit down and start studying. It kind of sucks that already I'm a week behind through no fault of my own, but given that last year I started four months behind everyone else and still managed to get finished at the same time as everyone else I'm not too worried right now. In fact thanks to Miss K having an extra long nap this afternoon, (I knew this damn heat had to be good for something.) I have already finished my first assessment, and only have another six to complete before the end of next month. So I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Anywho It is now almost one o'clock in the morning, I am even tireder than before and I need to get some sleep. I'll be back again soon with more insanity. Stay awesome till then.

It's all over red rover

Well it is now 13 hours since I sat my exam and I am glad to be able to say I survived. At the end of the day, after the countless hours spent studying, taking notes, marking relevant sections and pulling out my hair, not to mention the sleepless nights spent worrying that I wasn't going to be ready, I got into the exam today to find exactly 21 of the most basic questions on payroll I could have asked for all staring me at the face. And the first thing I thought was "what was I so scared of?" I should have known it wouldn't be a difficult day, especially as it was an open book exam, but to find that I could have skipped the majority of the work I have spent the past month doing and spent that time eating ice cream instead was actually a relief. It meant that obviously I had done enough and that everything would be ok.

But I didn't know that this morning as I watched the clock crawl closer and closer to 12, signalling my cue to get in the car and drive to the exam. So I did what any normal person would do and distracted myself with all kinds of useless tasks. What do the rest of you do when getting ready for something important?? Well below is a list of everything I managed to fill my morning with to keep from worrying.

1. Sort my sock drawer (I couldn't find a single pair of clean socks to put on this morning so it was a logical step)
2. Trim my fringe (I actually did this two days ago but I am terrible at cutting hair so I always have to go back and re-trim spots)
3. Play hairdressers with Miss K (I actually got her hair into a really sweet hairstyle and I'm kicking myself that I didn't take photos.)
4. Drink coffee with the 5 visitors we had over the course of the morning (There are days when this place feels like the main meeting place of my family)
5. Play Farmville (of course)
6. Tidy up the lounge room.

Finally about half an hour before I was due to leave I figured I'd better mark some of the pages of my textbooks with sticky notes so that I could find the relevant information without doing that horrible loud flipping of pages you do when you're nervous, and that killed the rest of the time till I had to leave. When I finally got out the door and went to the car Miss K followed me out, and when she realized she was being left behind the look of betrayal on her face was so heart breaking I almost got back out of the car and stayed home. Luckily for me she had both mum and Natty staying with her so the minute my car was out of sight she cheered up and spent the rest of the afternoon playing. And the welcome home I got from her when I finally returned showed that she had well and truly forgiven me for abandoning her yet again.

I won't bore you with the details of the actual exam, because really there is no way even I can make an exam on payroll sound exciting, and really the most memorable part of the whole experience was the gentleman sitting right next to me who spent the whole time talking to himself. But I do know already that I got two of the questions wrong, but I also know that I'm not the only one who answered them incorrectly so I don't feel so bad. I don't know when I'll get the rest of my results, but the next time I will hear from the TAFE is in the middle of next month when I am invited to re-enroll for the rest of my subjects. But until then I am thankfully on holidays, and gearing up to start a few new projects, as well as finish a few old ones that I have been putting off for way too long now. Stay tuned to hear more shortly, as my first big project will hopefully be a Christmas organizing binder, so I'll be sharing that with you guys soon.

Well given that it is now 3:00 in the morning I should probably go to bed, I will admit I did sneak a nap in this evening once Miss K was in bed so I'm not really very tired, but given that she will probably be up again in about 4 hours I should try to get some extra sleep while I can. Stay awesome my wonderful readers and I'll be back again soon with some awesome new projects for you to admire, and even try if you're brave enough.

Let the countdown begin...

So I currently have 15 hours to go before my big exam. I thought I would be more frantic or terrified right now, but I am surprisingly calm. And what's more I have been calm all day. I actually had a lovely day today. I spent the morning dodging revision shopping with mum and Miss K, and this afternoon after Miss K's nap we avoided doing homework went and visited one of my oldest friends, who coincidentally is also an ex boyfriend of mine. It was a very relaxed afternoon, if you ignore the amount of times I had to jump out of my seat to rescue various electrical appliances or musical instruments from Miss K's grubby fingers (my friend has a collection of guitars that I am quite envious of.) And once Miss K was fed and bathed and tucked up in bed I went and laid on my bed and fell asleep did some crossword puzzles.

I guess my reasoning behind not panicking right now and spending my last few hours re-reading all of my text books is probably the fact that this is in fact an open book exam, so even if I walk in not 100% sure of an answer I'll be able to look it up in a jiffy. Which kind of defeats the purpose of an exam if you ask me. But I'm not about to protest this by refusing to bring my books and calculator into the exam, I'm not a complete idiot you know.

I think the thing I am looking forward to the most once the semester is finished is being able to spend more time with Miss K without feeling guilty that I am neglecting my studies while playing with her. Even after spending the past 6 months juggling full time parenting with part time study I haven't managed to find the balance between the two, and something is always being left to the last minute. I have a horrible feeling that next years studies will require even more effort because we will start covering serious subjects like GST, which already does my head in. So it will take a lot of careful planning to make sure nothing and no one gets left behind.

But the next time you see me I will officially be on holidays, even though it doesn't really count around here, but I'm thinking of holding my own version of schoolies in my back yard. Now all I need to do is find a group of teenagers willing to get drunk and make total fools of themselves for my own entertainment. If any of you know someone, do let me know.

Well that's all from me for now, I really should get to bed if I expect to be coherent enough tomorrow afternoon to be able to put pen to paper. Wish me luck my lovely readers and I'll be back and ready to party soon.

I am a winner!!!

So this is just a quick hello and howdy doo for all of you my lovely readers, I know that it has again been too long between posts, and I know I promised to you all in my last post here that I would hopefully be able to explain what payroll consolidation means, but when I got to reading my last chapter, I realised it was just revision of everything I was meant to have learned through the rest of the book, and either the chapter title was the most misleading title ever, or I was missing the point somehow. I was also horrified to discover I must have been asleep through most of my last fortnight of studying because as I sat there staring at the words on the pages, I still had no idea what I was meant to be doing. Luckily I tend to be better able to concentrate on things when I'm thrown in the deep end, so I learned more in that last chapter than I had while supposedly reading the rest of the book.

Ben and Tristan popped in for a quick visit this afternoon on their way to an information session for a musical that a local theatre group is doing next year, so they got to visit with Miss K, and mum and I got to give Ben some birthday money because as the title birthday money would suggest, it was Ben's birthday last week. I actually meant to write a special blog just for Ben on his birthday, but yet again it got to blogging time and I was just too tired to come up with anything so instead I'll just wish him a happy belated birthday today. (I did actually speak to him on his birthday so don't think I really did leave it a week to wish him happy birthday). Now the next birthday on my calendar is my little sister's this Friday and I promise to have a blog post dedicated to her on the day, mainly because several weeks ago she changed my birth date on Facebook and I had to explain to about twenty well meaning friends that their birthday greetings were 5 months too early and that they needed to try again in May, and now it is time for my revenge. Be afraid Natty, be very afraid.

Now on to the title of my blog today. I'm sure you're all thinking I'm just trying to be positive and think good things about myself, but today I truly am a winner. Several days ago I liked a page on Facebook called Little Birdies, which is a small business owned by an old friend of mine from my high school years. She has a daughter about one month older than Miss K and she makes gorgeous head bands and hair clips for little girls. Now I was invited by my friend to like the page, so I didn't realise it at the time, but she was holding a competition for all of her new page likers to win some of her head bands and hair clips. So imagine my surprise this evening when I got a message from her saying that my name had been picked as the winner and I had my choice of two of her lovely hair pieces. So I have chosen my prizes and they are being mailed off tomorrow from WA. Now all I have to do is wait for the mail to come and I can share pictures of them with you guys. With Miss K as the model of course.

It is ridiculous how giddy with excitement I got when I read her message, as the last time I won something it was blank video cassettes so this is so much better. And the timing is perfect as well as Miss K has suddenly become quite interested in her appearance and looking pretty. She loves wearing jewelry and hair accessories, and we can't go out until she's put perfume on. She has even started trying to put make up on, and loves watching my baby sister put her face on before going out to parties. So this prize is a welcome gift for Miss K.

Well that's me done for another day, I'm off to bed to no doubt dream about payroll tax and salary sacrificing. So until next time my wonderful readers stay awesome.

Panic stations everyone

SHHHH I'm not here. I'm sitting very quietly doing my homework and not procrastinating by writing to you guys.

I know that again I have been very quiet since my last post which was days ago, but you see I have an exam next Wednesday, and just between you, me and that creepy guy standing behind you reading over your shoulder I am quietly pooping bricks right now. As of three days ago I didn't even know if I would be able to take my exam because when I logged onto my TAFE profile for the first time in almost a month, I found a message from Monday last week advising all students that if their first assignments weren't submitted by midnight that night, then they would automatically be unenrolled from the current unit and unable to sit the exam. I also found out that I had forgotten to advise my tutor which day I wanted to sit the exam and the first one was happening at 4:00 the next day. Whoopsie. Well all I could do was shoot off a quick email to the tutor explaining that I had been unable to get online in over a week thanks to the spate of medical emergencies that had been running through our house and ask for some leniency and a chance to submit my assignments before the next exam (which was coincidentally when they were actually due according to my calendar). Luckily for me I have the nicest teacher in the world because I was given the extension and booked in for the last exam which is happening in 5 days. AARGH!!!!!!

So the past few days have been madly spent finishing off the last of the book work that I hadn't gotten around to, typing up my assignments on my sisters computer (because mine chooses now to start acting up of course) and panicking because I still don't feel ready to be taking an exam. I have even managed to strain my left wrist with all of my frantic lifting of heavy books and holding calculators I have done over the past few days. That's how hardcore I am right now, I have damaged myself.

But as my final count down begins and with less than a week to go before I have finished school for the year, I have finished almost everything I need to do in order to pass this subject. I have one more chapter to read on payroll consolidation (I have no idea what that means so don't even ask) and that's all I can do for now. Of course that doesn't mean that I won't spend the rest of the time re-reading absolutely everything I've read before Wednesday afternoon, but what else am I going to spend my time doing, cleaning?? Please.

Luckily for me I have the absolute best family in the world, because they have all come to my assistance over the past few days in order to help make sure I am ready for my final curtain. Mum has again picked up the slack of the housework for me and made sure Miss K doesn't get ignored completely while I have my head stuck in my books, my big sister watched Miss K for me today so that I could get all of my assignments typed up and pretty looking for grading, and my little sister will be helping to keep an eye on Miss K on Wednesday while I drive to the exam which will be held 3 towns away from home. Even Miss K has started having slightly longer naps in the afternoon, meaning that I have had a little extra time every day to try and squeeze more work into. I will definitely be buying chocolates for each and every one of them once all of this is finished. And then I will spend Thursday getting all kinds of drunk and messed up because I WILL HAVE FINISHED SCHOOL FOR THE WHOLE YEAR!!!! Even the year 11 students will be finishing their exams after me!

Well that's enough procrastinating for now, the next time I come back, hopefully I'll be able to tell all of you just exactly what payroll consolidation means.

Until next time my wonderful readers, stay awesome.

Dear diary the more hospitals edition

So I know it's not Sunday, and that it's been almost a full week since I last blogged, but things have been pretty hectic the last week so again you guys have been neglected which I apologise for.

So you can probably tell from the title that we had more hospital drama going on at our place than an episode of ER. Well apparently my big sister didn't get enough of hospitals the other weekend when she had to take my nephew to hospital after he swallowed a coin, because this weekend she ended up there herself with pneumonia. Now this second visit in two weeks isn't as much fun to blog about as my nephew's visit as it doesn't come with a catchy nickname. (Mainly because pus lungs isn't as cute as piggy bank, and is in fact both incredibly disgusting and very mean to my big sister.) Luckily at the time of writing this my big sister has been discharged from the hospital for a whole day now and is back at home in her comfortable bed recuperating.

Sadly I wasn't able to visit my sister while she was in the hospital, and I still haven't been able to go visit her even at home because the day after she was admitted into hospital Miss K came down with some mystery illness that sent us rushing to the after hours medical centre when her fever hit 38.3 (100.94 farenheit for all of my yankee friends). Now apart from her high fever and general fussiness there were no specific symptoms to speak of so the doctors all had to shrug their shoulders and admit they had no idea what was wrong. Well two days and many fever spikes later we took her back to the doctors just to be told that despite several other symptoms appearing, including a concerning lack of balance when she tried to walk, that they still had no idea what exactly was wrong with her and all I could do was keep giving her paracetamol and wait it out. Luckily today she seems much better and her temperature has gotten back down to normal levels so (touch wood) she's all better.

Ben and Tristan are down visiting at the moment adding to the general feeling of pandemonium around here, but Tristan bought brownies with him so I've forgiven them. They also bought a heap of very noisy and creepy dolls for Miss K called Sing-a-ma-jigs so the house has been filled with slightly off key and eerie singing for two days now. But the brownies were delicious so I've forgiven them for that too.

On top of everything else happening I am madly trying to get ready for exams which happen in less than a month now. I am almost completed half of the work required to be ready for the exam, but trying to find time and energy to study has gotten harder and harder lately so I've had to take a few days off to focus on Miss K. But now that she's feeling better I'll be back with my nose against the grind stone for the next few weeks.

Well that's all I can think of for now, my thoughts for any of you readers who are in New York, or have family and friends there as they now begin the recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy.

Until next time, stay awesome my wonderful readers, and I will try to be back in less than a week.

Don't be afraid to ask for help

So I want to start todays post by saying that my teacher is freaking awesome. She finally responded to my email begging for help yesterday, but I totally forgot I had sent her one, so I didn't check my inbox until this afternoon at around 2:00. So she had given me some hints without absolutely giving away the answer, unfortunately I still couldn't wrap my head around the work. So after half an hour of emails going back and forth between us she finally called me and worked with me until I finally wrapped my brain around the spreadsheet I had been staring blankly at for the past two hours. She was so patient with me and made sure to let me know that even though I hadn't been able to do this assignment on my own I was doing a good job. At the end of the day I should be proud I've managed to make it through 8 months worth of work without having to ask for help, but as always it is easier to focus on my shortcomings and failings than my accomplishments.

But the whole point of this tangent is to announce I GOT MY BALANCE SHEET TO BALANCE!!! I have finally submitted my assignment, (albeit a week late) and both sides match and everything is right with the world. I am so relieved I could cry right now. Almost as much as I wanted to cry when I discovered I wouldn't have failed if I handed my work in wrong. All of this stressing was for about a 5% increase in my final mark for the unit. But I'm pedantic like that. I hate settling for good enough when it comes to school work. The years may have passed but the teachers pet deep inside me still has a lot more control over me than I would like to admit.

So in other news Ben and Tristan went home this afternoon, and the house has been eerily quiet since they left. It's amazing how large the house grows the minute Ben walks out the front door. But I can't say anything too nasty about Ben or Tristan because I love them both, and because Ben gave me even more awesome photos of Miss K before he left today. Below are just a couple of my favourites.

This is as close as Miss K gets to gangster. Of course the effect is ruined by the fact that her hoodie has ears on it. But she would have a mother obsessed with hats with ears on them.

I love the look on her face in this one. Miss K is the queen of strange faces, but this is one of her cuter ones.

Speaking of Ben, he has been bitten by the blogging bug (how is that for alliteration?) and has started his very own blog. Feel free to mosey on over and check it out, and you can even have the dubious honour of saying you liked it from the beginning before it was cool. Now be good readers and click the link....now

http://bensbouncingbrain.blogspot.com.au

Miss K and I had a visit from a friend of mine Kelly today. Kelly and I used to work together right before I got pregnant. This girl was an absolute angel while Miss K and I were in hospital dealing with suspected meningitis, bringing me home cooked food, taking me out shopping so I wasn't staring at the same four walls for twenty four hours a day and checking in every few days to make sure I was OK. Now again I don't have any recent photos of Miss K and Kelly (I really must learn to take my camera with me everywhere) but hopefully we'll be going to her house to have dinner with her and her husband soon so I'll be sure to take pictures then. 

Well that's it for tonight, I have ten minutes before bedtime so I'll probably spend it looking at something completely pointless on the internet (isn't that the best way to spend your spare time?)

Stay awesome wonderful readers, and I'll be back again soon with more wisdom for you to read.

Dear Diary the more buttons edition

Ladles and jelly spoons welcome again to another Sunday round up. I'm going to start today by once again drawing your wonderful attention to the little sidebar to the right of your screen. There is another button there for you to click, this one takes you to my brand spanking new twitter account! And it didn't take me weeks to figure out how to link the two up this time. I'm getting even better at this. One day I will rule the world with the power of widgets.

So yes another week has passed and as I started the count down a couple of days ago, I should let you know there are only 99 sleeps until Christmas. I looked back at that blog post, (for any of you who haven't read my thoughts on Christmas yet, check out this post here) and it all looks pretty dismal. I should probably clarify that I don't hate Christmas, and even before I gave birth to Miss K I got involved in all of the tree decorating and the family dinners, but it was done with a level of sarcasm and indifference that would make the Grinch proud. However these days, because I don't want my nieces, nephew or daughter to know that there are people out there who don't think that Christmas is all that and a bag of potato chips I bite my tongue. I've even started shopping for Miss K's presents and am madly looking up Christmas check-lists to see if I can't find some way to make the silly season a little more relaxed this year.

So it's been pretty quiet around here lately, I was madly studying for the first part of the week, desperately trying to get my homework submitted as close to its actual due date as possible. I still can't get my final assignment to balance, so I decided it was time to call in the experts and I've sent it to my teacher, to see if she can't figure out where the heck I went wrong. I know it will be something stupid that I should be able to spot, but I'm at one of those places where I can't see the woods for the trees so I am hoping that her trained eye can help me out here. I'm expecting an email any week now.

Now my baby brother Ben and his partner came down for a visit at the beginning of this week, and when they finally went home that evening I thought it would be the last we would see of them for another few weeks at least. Well I have never been so wrong in my life, because they are at my little sister's house as we speak having some Sunday sippers. Now we haven't seen Tristan yet, as he had to wait until after work to catch the train down, but Ben came over for a few hours this afternoon and had a play with Miss K. This time I remembered to bring out my camera and I got some gorgeous pictures of them.

Miss K trying to get Ben to play the harmonica. His face cracks me up every time

Ben trying to get Miss K to play the harmonica. She was more reluctant to play so those little lips stayed tightly clamped at all times.

Ben got some even better photos on his phone while I wasn't looking, so as soon as he can upload them on my computer I'll be sharing them with you.

Miss K and I went out to lunch with an old friend of mine today, we decided to go to McDonalds as the one here has a semi decent playground area for kids, which meant I didn't have to deal with a bored one year old while I tried to play catch-up with my friend. It was a pleasant afternoon and Miss K won so many hearts while we were there we walked away with two new friends at the end of the day. There were two little girls in particular, similar in age to Miss K's cousins, and she followed them around like a little lost puppy dog the whole time they were in the play area. I am so glad that Miss K is such a social little girl, I certainly can't work a room as well as she does.

Also on Miss K, she is walking more and more each day, and yesterday she even managed to get herself into a standing position from sitting without using a piece of furniture to help her. I know that she is only doing what every baby does but it is ridiculous how excited I get every time she learns something new. Mum and I took her shopping to K Mart last night, and she walked around the shop the whole time. I expected her to get tired of walking very quickly but she refused to let me carry her anywhere, insisting that she could do it all by herself. Not that I'm complaining of course, because all that walking meant that she slept through the whole night.

The 30 ways in 30 days challenge finished this week, with mixed results and I have decided to try doing another challenge with a similar theme, but to tone it down a bit this time so that I don't get so completely overwhelmed and lose interest. There will be more information coming up tomorrow. 

Well that's it for another week, I am now going to go watch Mrs Browns Boys with mum and hope I don't fall asleep on the couch. Don't forget to check out my Facebook page and my lovely new Twitter page and feel free to like them both. 

Me and maths are not a good mix

I should be in bed. I should be tucked up and snoring away like a big hairy bear. But I am too frustrated. After weeks and weeks of putting off my homework I have come to the horrible realisation that I should have spent my time more productively, because it turns out there are just some things that don't come naturally to me. And maths is one of them.

I'm actually almost finished my current unit. I'm down to the last assignment, but it's also the hardest. And the longer I plod away at it, the closer I feel to being 17 years old again. The same insecurity when I get a question wrong, the same paralysing frustration when things don't add up, and the same little voice inside my head asking me why I'm even bothering to try to succeed at something and FOR GOD'S SAKE WHY AREN'T THESE BALANCE SHEETS BALANCING?????

Today was one of those days where I was glad for the distraction that Miss K brings, instead of being frustrated like I normally am when she interrupts me. I don't think I yelled at her once all day. Of course it probably helps that grandma was the main boss today and I was just stepping in when she couldn't be in two places at once. And mum is talking about taking her out to visit my big sister tomorrow so that I can have the house to myself. I know I say this a thousand times, but I really am lucky to be the proud owner of the best mum in the world.

I think the thing that is stopping me the most is the fear. What if after all of the help my mum and my sisters have given me I turn around and fail at this? What if all of the days ignoring Miss K and neglecting the housework and basic hygiene have been for nothing? I know I should stop being so negative and hard on myself, especially since I have passed every unit so far, but self loathing is what I do best, so I'm going to indulge in it a bit thank you very much.

But given that it is almost one o'clock in the morning I really cannot accomplish anything more than worrying right now, so I'm going to give up for now and go to bed. Considering the assignments were due today I'm already late so worrying is just pointless. But if my balance sheets aren't balanced by the end of tomorrow, the person who invented double entry bookkeeping better start sleeping with one eye open.

Miss K's special visitors

So I officially hate bookkeeping. This stuff is doing my head in. My assignments are due tomorrow and I'm nowhere near ready to submit them. I'd like to give a good reason why I didn't get my homework done in time, but really I left it to the last minute, and instead of doing homework today I spent time with my baby brother and his partner. On the plus side, instead of doing homework today, I spent time with my baby brother and his partner, so it all worked out in the end.

Today was another random visit from my city slicker brother Ben, but this time his partner Tristan made the trip down with him to visit Miss K. (He says he was coming to see all of us but we know the real reason.) Unfortunately Miss K didn't feel like playing nice today and ignored him for most of his visit. At first she was playing shy and hiding behind me, but then she just ignored anyone who mentioned his name to her, which is  frustrating at the best of times. Eventually my little brother got tired of her games and just grabbed her and plonked her down on Tristan's lap. That was all it took and they were best friends from then on. And he fed her chocolate which is always a bonus in Miss K's books. Add to that the excitement that my little brother always manages to inject into any child that he spends time with, and Miss K was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. She especially loved dancing to the accordion music provided by my little brother. I am so jealous of his ability to pick up any instrument and be able to play it. My attempts at playing the accordion are almost as fun to listen to as a bagpipes solo. Luckily for me Miss K doesn't know the meaning of the words terrible music yet, so she just thinks I am a genius.

I felt especially bad after Miss K's behaviour because she doesn't seem to realise the amount of people who visit here just to spend time with her. (Of course they all say they like the rest of us but we don't get the hugs and kisses Miss K does.) I am always surprised at my daughter's ability to turn the charm on at the drop of a hat. Especially when there are males around. Her eyes get bigger, the smiles get wider and the tricks she will pull just to get attention are just shameful. I can't even get her to talk if she doesn't want to, but put her into a room full of men and she is in her element.(I am already very nervous for her teenage years.) The beautiful thing is that everyone who knows Miss K adores her as much as she adores them. She will tolerate hugs and kisses from my nephew more than she does from anyone else, her face lights up whenever she sees my sisters or my dad, and my little sister's boyfriend gets more attention from her than anyone else when he visits.

Now I am ashamed to admit that my first instinct is never to pull out the camera, so I have very few photos of Ben or Tristan with Miss K. However thanks to my little brother's awesome iPhone, he did have a few pictures taken the last time both he and his partner came down for the weekend, that he has kindly forwarded to me so I can share them with my wonderful audience. I don't think Tristan will be as thrilled, and you will see why in a few seconds.

This is my baby brother holding Miss K. The funny thing is they both have fountains coming out of their heads, but only Miss K's is deliberate. 

This makes me giggle every time I look at the look on Tristan's face. I probably should explain that it was taken fairly early in the morning which explains why he is still in his pyjamas and neither of them look very focused. 

But even though my camera didn't get pulled out while we had visitors, as soon as I had dropped the boys off at my sister's house and come home to cook tea, I did think to pull out my camera to capture Miss K after all of the excitement had died down. 

All together now - Awwwww

The poor little mouse was so exhausted she didn't move until she realised her dinner was cooking and she came into the kitchen to beg for food. 

So that's another day gone, which means that tomorrow is going to be an absolute panic of homework, numbers and hair pulling as I attempt to get all of my work done and handed in on time. Wish me luck.

Dear diary The deadline edition

So I know this update is a day late, but I have been up to my eyeballs in bookkeeping homework for the past few days, so things like blogging, talking to people and housework have been forgotten lately. I have seven assignments due in two days, and I have only completed six of them. Plus the seventh one is about the size of a small novel so I've been panicking this week. Nothing like the last minute to get you motivated to finish something. It's like high school all over again, but without the crippling body image problems.

So it's been sort of quiet around here lately, except for the wind howling outside, the trees and power lines being knocked down, and the constant rain. But luckily we've been given a reprieve from the horrible weather today, and it's looking like the next few days will be even better. It makes me impatient for summer to get here so that I can enjoy the sunny days and playing in the water with Miss K. But before summer can get here, we have spring, and this spring I'm hoping to start growing tomatoes and strawberries. I've bought two lots of seedlings, so as soon as I've read up on how to take care of strawberries and tomatoes I'm becoming a farmer.

Miss K has been incredibly chatty this week, I cannot believe how much she grows from week to week. I know a few months ago I was worried that her language skills and willingness to talk were lacking, but she is making up for lost time now. She still only knows a few proper words, but that hasn't stopped her from communicating with anyone she can find to listen to her. The other day mum got an ear bashing after I left Miss K with her to run up the street and do our shopping. Today I got one when I put her to bed. I know in a short while I am going to complain that she never shuts up, but right now I am loving the sound of her pretty little voice. As for learning to walk, she has taken it upon herself a couple of times to just stand up and take off which is so exciting to see. I know we'll have a walking baby in no time.

Of course not everything is wine and roses with Miss K, especially given that she is amping up for her terrible twos. She has recently discovered the art of throwing temper tantrums, and boy can she throw a doozy. She throws herself on the ground in the most dramatic manner, and the noises that come out of her would wake the dead. Of course I have to laugh at her when she starts up because it's so funny to watch this little thing acting like a diva. This never goes well because she hates it when I don't respond to her, but she'll learn soon enough that emotional blackmail doesn't work.

I felt terrible last night though, because while I was making her bed, the unthinkable happened and Elmo went MIA. (For anyone who hasn't met Elmo yet, hop on over to this post here for his proper introduction.) For anyone who knows Miss K, you will know that sleep is impossible unless she's got her teddy pressed up to her face. So it was panic stations last night when it got to bedtime and I discovered I had lost him. I tried giving her another Elmo doll to cuddle up to, but it just wasn't the same and she took forever to get to sleep. Luckily nature took over in the end and she finally crashed, but I made the decision to hunt Elmo out as soon as I got up this morning, so that I didn't have a repeat at tonight's bedtime. Luckily for me he was just hiding under her cot, so by bedtime tonight he'd been bathed, spent a day in the sun and was ready for snuggle time. Her face when she saw him was lit up like a Christmas tree. If I was an insecure parent I'd say she loved him more than me.

Well that's about all I have time for tonight, of course that wasn't my whole week, I did do other things beside study, I visited friends, bought Miss K a big bag of clothes for $5 at a second hand store and went out for tea at an old friend's place, but if I told you absolutely everything we'd be here all night. So until next time I'll leave you with a picture of my biggest achievement for this week. I finally managed to put Miss K's hair up into a ponytail for the first time this week, and I was so proud of myself for finally doing something girly I took pictures. Enjoy.

For anyone who has never tried to do a little girl's hair, it is similar to trying to groom a dog. Getting them to sit still is damn near impossible

Miss K's hair...and her foot.

My lightbulb moment

So I think I have figured out why I have lost my mojo this week. I have been feeling rather guilty lately as I have been neglecting my school work in favour for redecorating Miss K's room, as well as learning how to quilt, and anything else I can find to distract me that has to be done straight away. I think that my current lack of motivation is my brain's way of forcing me to get back into studying. I haven't picked up any books since the first week of term holidays in June, so I'm very lucky that I haven't fallen behind, as we're still on the same subject we were on before term 2 ended.

My big problem is that the assignment I am supposed to be completing right now is so brain numbingly boring I can't sit still long enough to even think about writing it. I am supposed to be setting long term goals for myself, and if you haven't realised by the amount of projects I have on the go at the moment, I am very bad at setting and sticking to goals. I tend to bounce around more than a pinball in a busy arcade, which doesn't bode well if I have assignments to complete that require lots of time spent sitting down and thinking. But given how important this course is to me, that is exactly what I have to do, and hopefully once the horrible assignment is finished I'll be able to find my motivation again and get going on everything else I want to complete.

So tonight I am going to forget everything else. My bedroom is still a pigsty, the quilting is put away for now, and I am going to study. Wish me luck.

*Editors note: I have finished the stupid boring assignment and submitted it for grading. I also checked all my other assignments previously submitted and am proud to announce I received 100% for one of my units and 98% for the other one. Still waiting for the results for one more unit that I submitted several months ago but the results so far have me chomping at the bit to get the rest of my work done. I'd say that's a success.

Dear Diary EOFY edition

Good evening my lovely readers, we're at that time of week again where I submit another diary entry a day late. I'm not actually going to blog anything about the end of the financial year, especially given I've been a full time mum for almost 16 months now, this is just another week in my calendar instead of what it once was, a fortnight spent panicking hoping I'd given all of my previous and current employers my correct address so I could get all of my group certificates quickly and get me some money. If I was getting a tax return this year, it would be spent on glasses and my car, which has lost all of its guts, and a tyre. Thankfully getting the slow leak which presented itself several weeks ago fixed is hopefully only going to cost me $20 instead of the $80 I originally thought I'd have to fork out.

And amazingly enough, a busted tyre wasn't even the highlight of my week. My little brother and his partner have come down for a short visit this weekend, which was great news for all of us, as these visits can be as far apart as several months, so it's always lovely to see them when they visit. Miss K wasn't as excited as the rest of us to see them, especially as it meant that she woke up from her sleep at 10:00 last night to find two strange men sitting in her living room, which is always a recipe for disaster for Miss K. That's right, she's finally hit that really clingy stage, which means that instead of staring dumbly at strangers who try to talk to her in the supermarket these days, she usually cries and reaches out for me insisting that I pick her up and make the bad people go away. This is a hard phase to deal with, because all of the books say you shouldn't make a big deal of her fears, as that tends to make them last even longer, but it's hard to watch her go through that terror and not want to punch people if it will make her stop sobbing. Of course all was fine this morning when she woke up and they were still here, she even let my brother's partner pick her up and feed her potato chips, which is usually the best way to win Miss K's affections every time.


Still on Miss K, she has developed a few interesting new quirks over the last week or so, which always delights me to see. For one she tries to copy a lot more of what I say, which would be good if I had anything intelligent to say, unfortunately as that is not the case, we instead spend a lot of time saying Iggle Piggle to each other, which helps no one. Another thing she has started doing is pretending to eat imaginary food, either when she sees it in pictures, or if I just hold my empty hand out in front of her. This is an adorable game, and I take great pleasure in showing it off to anyone as soon as they enter the house.  


I'm still studying like a mad woman even though we are on term holidays in Australia at the moment, as I'm hoping to get my current unit completed as soon as possible so that I have a huge holiday at the end, as the assignments for this one aren't due until September. Of course I was horrified to discover on Friday that I needed to go back to year 7 maths in order to understand some of the work I was trying to complete, and I even had to call in my big sister to explain negative numbers to me, something which I haven't had to deal with since I was at least 6 inches shorter and quite a bit younger. I'm actually pretty lucky to have a big sister like mine, she was always my go to for maths homework, as my mum hates maths as much as I do and was never able to help me, and going to dad for help always ended in yelling and tears, so it was nice to have someone around who could explain my work to me in a way so that I could sort of understand it. I'm certain I would have failed a lot more maths classes if it wasn't for her.


Well that's me done for another evening, I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be getting a phone call early tomorrow morning asking me to drive my little sister to a dentist's appointment so I better get in now if I want to get my proper beauty hibernation. Stay awesome my lovely readers and I'll be back soon I'm sure.

Dear diary (on time for once)

It is officially my favourite part of the day. Mum and Miss K are tucked up in bed and I have the whole house to myself. I'm out of my horrible tight pants and in my nice comfy polka dotted pyjama pants and there is no noise except for the heater which is keeping me nice and warm. (Too warm actually. First world problems) I'm also writing this diary post on the day it's supposed to be written so that's a win for me.

The last time we met, I was complaining about technology and the ways in which it was ruining my life. Well I'm pleased to report that I'm able to log back into my TAFE website (turns out the problem was my out of date software which was easily fixed) and I have almost completely caught up with all of the other students. I have one final assignment to complete then I can focus totally on the current unit. Not bad considering I have just done 6 months worth of study in under a month. I've submitted a heap of assignments to my teacher, but I have to wait until after the term break to get any results back so there's nothing more to be done there.

I've had a bit of a health scare this week unfortunately, I keep getting these violent heart palpitations which I'm pretty sure can be traced back to my smoking, so I'll be making an appointment with the doctor this week to get things checked out, and hopefully get some professional help to quit smoking once and for all. Once upon a time I would have shrugged the palpitations off, but given that I live in a heart smart house now, I am not allowed to sweep these things under the rug and hope for the best any more.

Miss K is a handful as usual. She has discovered that she can scream and growl this week, so every temper tantrum she throws now days is scattered with intermittent deep growls and shrill shrieks depending on how pissed off she is. It's hard not to laugh at her when she's making these weird noises, but as usual I have to pretend I don't think everything she does is absolutely adorable so that she doesn't turn into an uncontrollable brat. We've actually had a few run ins this week as she is starting to really assert herself, and when she knows what she wants and doesn't get it, all hell breaks loose. But for the most part she is her usual bright and cheerful self, getting into everything and wreaking havoc at any chance she gets.

And I'm afraid that's about as exciting as it gets around here at the moment. Between studying and taking care of Miss K I don't really have time to get myself in trouble any more. One more week and then I'm on semester break, which isn't as exciting when you study via correspondence but at least there won't be any online classes for two weeks. I'll be back soon I'm sure, but in the meantime stay awesome.