my very own teenager

Mackie has turned thirteen!
I am filled with wonder at the way time has passed, growing up has happened and I still feel like the 25 year old I was way back when.
The rock-climbing birthday party was ACE. It was fun and energetic and friendly and I got to meet a couple of kids from High School that had been mere names without faces for the past year.
Gee they were all very sweet and polite and nice.
One great thing about this age is that when they order a whole HEAP of food at the celebratory dinner, they actually EAT it! They were starving!
At past parties, the food (while it causes stress and grief for the parents) is almost unecessary because the kids are all so keyed up they barely touch it.
Other great things this week have been the devouring by me of a book due for release in May called The Winter Of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart and a visit from the builder who will undertake our renovation shortly and the filling of our hallway with the detritus of a camping weekend.
Yay. It's all good.
If you have ever watched your kids and their addiction to media grow and flourish in scary ways, and the erosion of family harmony take hold, then Susan Maushart's book is one highly entertaining piece of brain fodder for you! I polished it off last night, after dedicating every spare moment to it on public transport etc.
"That was great!" I exclaimed at 10.30.
It was funny, it was reassuring, it was informative. I guffawed on the train, I chortled in recognition in the lunchroom and I have thoroughly enjoyed every page.
When my little darlings were very little and I was in the haze and maze of new motherhood, I read Susan's then book entitled The Mask Of Motherhood. It spoke to me, deep down in my exhausted, resentful heart. When I spied her latest offering on the lunchroom table I grabbed it, sure that she would again speak to me in a language I would understand and she did not disappoint.
Because I worry, I fret, I feel certain I should KNOW more, DO more in parent-land, but Susan gets it too, she knows what I'm stressing over and she's been there recently!
I have just this week hung up my school lunch-making gloves and backed off!
Not packing the swimming bag.
Not setting the table.
Not unloading the dishwasher.
And camping....I've been to Rays, gas bottle's filled, new tomahawk purchased and I'm off to stock up on marshmallows. Have a great weekend.

home and away

Been home nearly a week from the camping trip.
Last year you may remember, our trip home was somewhat 'jazzed up' by having our car catch fire and burn to death.
This year there was no such disaster!
We had a beautiful weeks holiday down at Cape Conran; swimming, boogie boarding and generally relaxing.
There was a range of weather challenges to contend with. Rain, wind and total fire ban. The main concern on the total fire ban day was how to manage our well entrenched coffee addiction without the use of the gas stove. After we discussed the matter with the ranger, we worked out that we could take a little walk with the butane gas bottle to a picnic spot with a concreted in bbq. It was ok, he said, for us to cook our coffees on the gas bottle ring as long as it was sitting atop the bbq. So, see the desperadoes trudging through the bush with stovetop espresso pots in hand, extra water, extra coffee and milk. Ha ha. It was fine. We didn't start any fire, we had our coffee and we met a lovely young German couple who were trying to cook toast on the bbq hotplate. They told us their story...their rented campervan had been broken into in Jervis bay and they had lost EVERYTHING including passports, cameras, money the lot! Poor loves. We made them a great coffee. Wish them lots of luck for the rest of their trip.
We left our big darling camping with friends for another week. He is having a ball.
We came back to town to get clean, go to work and have some decent night's sleep.
I can't help it...when I hear the wind blustering through the trees, I can't sleep for fear of being impaled by a falling branch.
The only craft supply I took along (and I don't really know why) was my embroidery threads. At the Orbost oppy, Pam found a VERY special sheet set and we whiled away a few hours embellishing the funky design with a few stitches.
Wii Fit (for xmas) tells me that I am obese, so I'm feeling pretty great about that.
Nothing like hearing it straight. I'm very impressed by Stompergirl's bootcamp adventures but unlikely to follow her lead.
Pity sewing isn't an aerobic activity.