Monday 30 March 2015

Days and Knights

Recently I've been trying to encourage Buglet to expand the style of books she is reading. I am a good parent like that.

Buglet was reading a book on Wattpad (something we have a slightly different opinion on), and she asked me who Helen of Troy was. Enter overexcited "I am a historian at heart" moment. It was also a chance to recommend that she read a book that I have really enjoyed: Marian Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand.

As Buglet seemed quite open to my reading suggestions, and because I was excited about talking about books I enjoy (seriously, don't get me started), I thought I'd recommend a book to Tink as well. Tink and I share a passion for the Arthurian stories. We both enjoy the TV series Merlin, and to quote Tink: "I don't how many times I've read Avalon High". Tink. Not me. I've read it once, or maybe twice. It is a very good YA book. 

(In other news, when I was looking up the link to the book, I just realised it is actually now a series. Tink is going to be very excited when her birthday comes around).

Anyway, the book I recommend to Tink was The Mists of Avalon which is one of my most favourite ever books. She says she is going to read it over the school holidays so I will report back later to see how she enjoys it.

Tink at a Medieval fair

Last night Tink and I had planned to go and see Kingsman: The Secret Service. The Pixie is too little to see it, and it is not Buglet's sort of movie (too much gore). We had been saying we wanted to see it for so long that I couldn't remember why we wanted to see it. I had a vague feeling it was a World War II movie. It wasn't. It was a spy movie where the agents are named after Arthurian characters. How is that for a coincidence?

We both loved the movie. Just in case anyone is interested. Lots of violence and it is very graphic, but the movie is based on a comic book (which I only found out in the closing credits), and it is actually funny. Weird combination really.


Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am not an expert on medieval history.
  • Book choice is a very personal thing, but I am happy to recommend if you give me a genre.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature (except possibly on book choices, but then, please take at your own risk).

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Puppy, my Puppy

Just a quick ode to our Flip-Flop for Puppy Day.

Totally coincidentally, I was going to do a post about how cute Pixie and Flip-Flop are in the morning. Then Pixie rang me to yell at me about something while I was going to work, and I decided I did not want to write cute posts because I was grumpy.

I've written earlier about getting Flip-Flop and about my uncertainty if we were ready for a dog, but today I am writing a post because I love my puppy. Puppies, unlike almost teenagers, don't yell at you, they are always happy to see you, and they don't get grumpy when you make mistakes.

One of the cutest things about Flip-Flop is that she will come and kiss me good night ... just like the other puppies*. Ok, cute if slightly gross.

*Pixie and Flip-Flop both seem totally oblivious to the fact that they are separate species.

This morning I noticed that Flip-Flop has a new morning routine. As soon as she hears that the Pixie is awake she will will come running in and give the Pixie a good morning kiss. The rolls on her side next to the Pixie so the Pixie can cuddle her properly. Flip-Flop then hopefully rolls on her back for a tummy scratch.

Let sleeping puppies lie ....

I tried to explain to the Pixie that if Flip-Flop was letting Pixie give her people style cuddles it would be nice if she then rubbed Flip-Flop's tummy because puppies really like that.

Pixie looked confused and told me that the puppy was her favourite and that she loves her puppy and and her puppy loves her.

Lucky really.

My favourite part of this is that if I say to Flip-Flop "go find Pixie", she does. There is something sort of fun about sending the dog in to wake up your child. Karma, karma I tell you!

Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • The dog is not actually allowed in my bed.
  • I am an accidental co-sleeper rather than a co-sleeping advocate. 
  • I didn't even realise I had co-slept with the girls until someone asked my advice.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

Saturday 21 March 2015

Pifecta

While my St Patrick's Day celebrations may have been a bit hit and miss this year, we did celebrate International Pi Day in spectacular fashion.

I should make the disclaimer here that I am a total hypocrite. I usually dislike the MM/DD/YYY US format of writing the day. On Pi Day and Star Wars Day I totally forget this and join the celebrations in style.

While maths is not my subject in any way, shape or form, both my parents are mathematicians. Mum is a statistician who does clever medical research stuff, and Dad lectures in Maths at Uni. One of my sisters has a maths degree, and one of my other sisters got Mum to help her make a Pi dress for some event (possibly Pi Day? A lot of dedication went into that dress, I am sorry I don't have a picture to share with you). So Pi Day almost feels like a family celebration. There are not many Maths inspired days that I have come across.

I only had Buglet for International Pi Day, but she had three friends sleep over. They supported my pie for dessert plan!

Apple Pie for breakfast ....

 

... Meat Pi for lunch ....
 


... Lemon Pie for dinner .... its a Pifecta
 It was a Pifecta! (Get it? I think I am hilarious. The girls disagree).

In other news, the Pixie is continuing the family tradition of making up words. She has just informed my that the dog will not demuntification the house. She is trying to say that Flip-Flop will not make a mess. Although, as I am pretty sure that would make it a double negative, Pixie may have been sneakily telling me that Flip-Flop will make a mess.

I am being a bit social media happy at the moment. Check out a blog post one getting the girls' passports, or follow us on Twitter or Pinterest .

Happy Saturday everyone!

Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • You will note that all my pies were shop bought.
  • I am not qualified to give maths advice.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Remote control

No this isn't actually a post about the TV.

Although on a slightly related note, the girls went with DB to visit their great-grandparents for the long weekend, and the TV remote went missing. No children and lack of ability to work the TV was a little sad. Turns out someone put it in the living area nowhere near the TV and in a location I had no cause to go over the weekend. Commonly agreed theory was that it was the Pixie.

Anyway, the subject of today's post is actually for me to touch base about the greater than usual chaos of the last few weeks. For various reasons I have been in the office for insane hours, and still working from home (or dance or Guides!) some nights. This is a temporary situation, but it has meant that I haven't seen much of my children.

Plus they have spent two weekends away. The TV-remoteless weekend, and then last weekend the little two went to a Guide camp.

This has made it hard to blog about them.

It has lead to a couple of delightful conversations though.

Buglet sent me to bed after I was trying to check in and make sure everything was ok in her universe.

Pixie asking if I was going to crash the car because I was so tired (I wasn't that tired). Pixie telling me I needed to call in sick to work so I could sleep.

Tink being very surprised because I was leaving work "early". It was 5.40pm. I officially finish work at 5pm. I think this says something.

The girls don't appear to be feeling abandoned though. Attempts to check in and make sure they are feeling loved has just been met with confusion. Their confusion, not mine. My confusion has usually resulted from talking to the Pixie, but that is just life.

The timing of the girls going away weekends has been perfect. It's meant I can work and sleep without feeling guilty. Massive thanks to Apple for her help in filling some parenting gaps which has made the world of difference.  DB has done some extra running around which has helped too.

But anyway. That was just the background. I thought I would share some useful career advice in case the girls ever decide to combine being a parent with their career. I had to go and speak at a seminar, and here are some useful tips that I learnt that I don't think you will find in conventional public speaking guides:

  1. Be good friends with your neighbours. It makes it  lot less weird when you need to run across the road and ask them to zip you up.
  2. Have an emergency brush hidden away. Teenage children steal brushes and hide them away. Pulling bits of plastic from your hair due to using broken brush while driving is not good for your nerves.
  3. Do NOT pull at loose threads. You may unravel your hem. Sticky tape and/or staplers can be used in an emergency.
  4. Eat lunch. Don't forget. Public speaking is nerve-wracking enough without forgetting to eat and then being shaky due to lack of food.
  5. Sleep. Sleep is good.
  6. Having your hair done a week before you need to go and look important is a massive bonus.
  7. Treat your colleagues with respect. Life is much easier when you work as part of an amazing team. My presentation would have run smoothly without the assistance of a well written list of reminders (not written by me) that included things like "clean jacket", "take pens", and a copy of directions.
Legally Blonde
This is also a look of relief after having survived the seminar, and the week. After I drove home I slept for two hours!


Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am not qualified to give advice on public speaking.
  • I am not qualified to give sewing or 
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.


Tuesday 17 March 2015

Luck of the Irish

In case you haven't noticed, I do adore celebrating events. If you haven't noticed, you probably will now.

Today was a little busy, which made celebrating St Patrick's Day a little tricker than usual. No boozey night, no home made green cupcakes,  and no green beer at lunch for me.

However this did not stop the celebrations. I found some green beads and a green earrings which matched my Court-appropriate work clothes.


St Patrick's Day Lunch
I also found a suitable St Patrick's Day lunch. Now the cynical amongst you may be asking why sushi is a good lunch for St Patrick's day. My reasoning: it is white, green, and orange(ish). If you squint there is a orange tinge on the outside of the pork. Also one of my favourite books by one of favourite (Irish) authors is Marian Keye's 'Sushi for Beginners'. See. Told you it was perfect.

I made an effort to be home to have dinner with the girls. Like a massive proportion of Australians, we claim Irish history on my (Catholic) father's side. I thought I would be a good mother and celebrate our cultural heritage with them

The evening did not get off to a good start. Tink expressed amazement that I was on my way home from work at 5.40pm "when dancing doesn't start until 8". Just for the record, I technically finish work at 5pm. (Note to self: leave work on time more often).

Dinner. At some random point today I decided that breakfast-for-dinner would be a good St Patrick's Day celebration. Someone unkindly asked if that was because they were backwards, but I chose to ignore that.

I am not exactly sure why I decided it was a good Irish dinner. I think it was because I was trying to think of something with potatoes and then I thought of hashbrowns. Hashbrowns made me think of bacon. In my head bacon is vaguely Irish. I associate cabbage with Ireland and the potato famines. Mum used to put bacon in the cabbage and insist it made the cabbage taste like bacon. It didn't. It just made the bacon taste like cabbage. Blerg.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed that trip through my thought process. Does the Pixie make a little more sense now?

Oh, and in case you were wondering where the green was for dinner, there was pine-lime icecream for dessert. There had to be some green in there.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
(traditional Gaelic blessing)

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

PS I love that blessing. Mum and Dad have it up in their house.

 Disclaimer:

  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am not qualified to give advice on Irish traditions.
  • I am not qualified to give cooking advice.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

 

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Mama days

For those of you who read my last post, after having a couple of days off Buglet is much improved. She is back at dance (and I am sitting here as I write) however is she marking steps this week and being super careful (monitoring her is not actually the reason I am here, but it is an added bonus).

But you know how sometimes it turns out things just work out best in hindsight? Well, while I would much rather that Buglet did not hurt herself, but since she did pick a good night.

I had been told to take my RDO the next day (I have a bad habit of being too busy to take them), so the very little sleep did not make as much difference as it could have.

(I should mention here that I also had a hair appointment booked it so I didn't spend much time with my broken child, but it still worked out better for me).

My RDO also came in very handy as I ended up making tutus for the Pixie's team for the swimming carnival. That would have been much harder after a full day's work on no sleep.

Pixie in her tutu
I would like to say that, for once, the last minute sewing was not my fault. Originally Tink had requested the tutus, and Tink reported back that I had been declared the coolest mum for knowing how to make them.

Then the boys in her team chickened out at the last minute.

Pixie very politely asked Tink if she would mind if Pixie's team used their idea.

Tink very politely said sure.

So I made five tutus in rainbow colours and I am happy to say they were a hit!

Pixie wearing a teams worth of tutus.
Tink's teammates commented on how cool the tutus were. This is before they realised that the Pixie is Tink's sister. Tink told me she pointed out that they could have been the ones with the tutus. I suspect that I will have a request for another batch of tutus for next year.

I am currently basking in the fact I was a hit in the high school circles. This doesn't happen much with teenagers.

Tip of the day: Tulle is really rough and making mass amounts of tutus may hurt your fingers. My hands must have gotten soft since last time I did this.

Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am not qualified to give sewing advice.
  • Despite current popular opinion, I am not qualified to give advice on what is currently "cool".
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.