cool change

Kids go back to school on Monday.
Usually I am feeling very excited and relieved to see them head off. This year Mackie starts Year 7 and I admit I am feeling a little bit sad as I say goodbye to my Primary School kid and welcome a High School kid.
I have charged myself with the task of restoring order in the house and hopefully in the minds of the family in readiness for this big transition.
They have gone to the movies.
There's washing, vacuuming, mopping and shopping to be done which we have allowed to slide on account of the frickin' hot weather.
There's dog fluff blowing up and down the hallway. There is mud all through the house thanks to the next-doors demolition fest and bucketing water out of the bath onto the poor pathetic vegies.
We have been living on beer and fish n chips. Feeling pretty crap on that front.
There is still debris from the camping trip littering the house which really makes me feel disorganised, but who can be bothered climbing the ladder to put things away or squeezing lilos under the bed? Not me.
As you can see I'm procrastinating at the moment. Washing is ready for the line and the juicer is beginning to fester on the bench after this morning's juice.
At least all the school books are labelled and Mackie's new uniform is ironed for possibly the only time this year. Got the school shoes yesterday and I'm wondering how "thong boy" will cope with the unaccustomed rigidity of shoes and life in general in the upcoming days.
Cheers everyone. Enjoying that southerly breeze? I am.

growing up

My darling went off to Year 7 orientation today.
It was a nervy experience for me. I had to go to work so I had to ask another Mum to walk him to school with her son. Luckily that plan worked out well. But I went off to work (running for the tram..missed it) feeling like a bad mum. I should have been the one to take him.
But he had a great day. The transition team know how to make the kiddies happy. They got to play with bunsen burners! He learnt some wacky facts about burning magnesium, he met a couple of new kids.
So, here he is, my big kid, with the hail he collected in the back yard last week.

ELEVEN

I can hardly believe it.
I have an eleven year old child. A walking talking individual on the cusp of teenager-hood.
Perhaps it's because I'm an only child, or because I'm a neurotic flake, or I have given birth to the spawn of Satan...twice (sorry Dave, I'm sure that's not it) or just possibly because I "suck" at it, but I have always found the parent thing pretty hard.
Maybe I'm just an approval-seeking whinger.
Anyway forget all that, because today I have an ELEVEN year old. He's great and gorgeous and clever and FUNNY. He gives fantastic hugs and draws awesome cartoons and can entertain himself for hours with just a mirror.
I love him.
Here he is wearing his new ultra cool shades. If he could keep that beautiful kid-a-licious smile off his face he would look very tuff.
Happy Birthday Mackie. You ROCK!!

bloggers block

I haven't been very blogger-licious lately. I can't think of anything exciting to waffle on about.
I'm going to pop up a couple of photos of recent doings to try & restart the creative flow.
I made another softie but it wasn't particularly well done. In fact the bum region didn't come together at all well. Maybe there's something in that "pattern following" idea. I don't like reading instructions much. Someone else always does the reading for those important things which just would not work unless the instructions were read. Just as well.
We didn't pay any attention to the big hoss race last week. We were fluffing around the house in a most unproductive way, then decided after lunch to hit the bike paths of Richmond & more. We rode past Collingwood Childrens Farm and on to Studley Park Boathouse. (never been there before) and we spontaneously took out a rowboat for a little spin. What a gorgeous day for it!
Pepper got to meet a horse, she fed a lamb at closing time at the farm, when we thought we were too late for any quality time.(4.55pm) We got some exercise!! And we did something new and different out & about in the sun. Yeeeeehah!!

media frenzy

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that the new Harry Potter was released on Saturday to much fanfare.
At my work we captured our fair share of media attention with a radio station broadcasting from inside the store, a channel 10 crew roaming about interviewing fans in the queue and general high excitement amidst staff and customers.
Sadly, I was so nervy about everything going smoothly that I slept woefully on Friday night but jumped up at 6am to get frocked up in my Dolores Umbridge outfit. Kids dragged themselves out of bed, into their costumes and off we went through the frosty dawn Melbourne morning.
There was such an electric air of anticipation that I forgot all about my sleepless night and got into the swing of it.
Mackie was pretty interested in the photographers buzzing around and before the big countdown, managed to get himself up on centre stage with the winner of our in-store competition to open the first box of books! Gosh he looked so gorgeous and proud standing up there..I was cursing Dave for not being in front to snap him for our album.
No matter...at 6pm on the channel 10 news, the lead story was devoted to Harry Potter and MY SON was all over the report, looking cute, beaming with excitement. Not only that, but Sundays Herald Sun also featured a front page photo!!!!!
Too wonderful by half.