Almost forgot

 Society  No Responses »
Oct 312007

Almost forgot to mention it’s Halloween tonight. Much as I loathe this Americanism it seems to have taken hold here as an excuse for kids to wander around people’s houses begging for lollies!!  :)

My kids obviously took to this with much pleasure and now they team up with a young girl from across the road to go and walk the streets. I generally follow along behind in the car reading a book so they’re fairly safe and they come home with carrier bags full of booty.

To be realistic, Halloween ‘US style’ really doesn’t work here at all. We’re into Daylight Saving now so the evenings are extended and it’s light until quite late in the evening. The kids start out at 6:00 p.m. which is still full daylight, and of course being Oz, at this time of year it’s often very warm and sultry.  The result is that there is nothing remotely ‘creepy’ or ‘frightening’ about the experience at all!

So, like I said, with nothing to scare them, for kids this is just an excuse to go begging sweets off strangers! Not sure if this is good or bad… but it keeps them quiet for a while and gets them out of the house!!  :)

Posted by Welsh Dog at 6:02 am  

Quiet lately.

 General Ramblings  No Responses »
Oct 312007

Not a lot happening really so yet again I missed a day yesterday!

The eldest daughter was home again because of her tonsillitis, so I only spent an hour in the gym instead of the usual 2½ – 3 hours. The rest of the day was just a ‘blur’ chatting online to my sister-in-law in the UK for 2 hours, tidying up, watering the garden, and the like.

So… away I go looking for something meaningful to write about. There’s always the upcoming Federal Election I suppose…. ewww…. no thanks.

Might be back tomorrow. :)

Posted by Welsh Dog at 5:49 am  

Gardening, such fun.

 Health, Home and Hearth  No Responses »
Oct 292007

Had a good day on Sunday. Woke up early because the dogs don’t understand daylight saving any more than I do (see previous posts) and once up… I stay up.

Started off mowing our little patch of heaven. Took ages but the sky was overcast and so was a bit cooler than usual. Also of course I’m a bit fitter than I was so I quite enjoyed it! After that the wife who’d been trying to catch up three weeks washing, came out to play as well and did some serious planting and weedingwhile I watered the containers and pots etc where our little veggie patch is developing.

I did some watering… and then helped with the weeding. Boy can I feel it this morning? Back, hips, knees… all aching! Still it was worth it… the place doesn’t look much better but it feels better to have done it! :)

After that we wandered over to the ice rink where the youngest took part in a rehearsal for the upcoming Xmas Show. While she was at it, the rest of us went for a quick turn around the lake. During the walk the wife and youngest decided to race up the fire escape of a building in the neighbourhood. The youngest won, but the wife came a close second.

It looked so easy… I decided to have a go. Well I managed to get half way up without collapsing… but then had to walk the rest of the way. The eldest was down before I finished getting up!! :)

Soon after we got back the rehearsal ended and we all trooped off to the local Outback Restaurant for a quick meal (too late to cook). Wife and I had a small steak and salad, the youngest had calamari… the eldest ribs. Nice! Afterwards they had a dessert… as people do. The wife had a huge Pavlova concoction while the kids had ice-cream. I just sat and watched with my tongue hanging out a little.

Oddly enough, I was filled by the steak and salad, so wasn’t really hungry as such… it was just having all this sweet food around me. I *could* have had a square of dark chocolate when I got home, but as I said to the wife, I’d really not take risks with the diet. Right now it’s working and I’m not allowing myself to stray off it *at all* this time until the weight is down to an acceptable level.

How long that’ll take is a moot point… but it’s moving and so there is hope yet. Maybe by August next year I’ll be ‘normal’ again. Time will tell.

Still, as the round up to my birthday I think it was a good finale. I hope I have another one next year… birthday that is, not finale!! :)

Posted by Welsh Dog at 10:34 am  

Home alone?

 Health  No Responses »
Oct 292007

Home alone?? I think not. The daughter was complaining over the past few days of a sore throat so this morning, off to the docs we go. He decided she has tonsillitis and has to have at least two days off. Oh gee thanks.

Still it was worth going. She now has both a course of antibiotic to fix this problem, but also has a referral for an ultrasound to investigate and ‘enlarged thyroid’ which was hinted at last time we went but had done nothing about until now. There are all sorts of physiological reasons for it to be enlarged so we aren’t too worried. The only real cause for concern is that her mother had her thyroid out… so better safe than sorry.

It also means I can’t go to the gym this morning though I should be able to go this afternoon. She’s old enough I think to be left behind while I go to get the youngest from school and take her to ice skating. The only issue with that is the wife not getting home until 7:00 p.m. or so this evening so *she’d* be ‘home alone’ for some four hours!

Can’t really do much about that. She needs to be home… the youngest needs to practice for her upcoming competition. I need to be in two places at once but, as the daughter is eleven, maybe we can assume she’s old enough to sit quietly and watch tv or films without the need for close supervision.

We’ll see.

Posted by Welsh Dog at 10:17 am  

Daylight saving.

 General Ramblings  No Responses »
Oct 272007

I forgot to mention the start to my day. Daylight saving starts tonight… but because the wife was home Friday I got a bit disorientated and thought it was *today*.

I woke at 5:15 a.m. to start nagging the kids to get dressed. The youngest has a skating lesson at 6:30 a.m. and the eldest now belongs to the gym so comes with me to get herself a bit fitter.

Of all mornings, *this* had to be the one to get wrong. As I slowly tried to get my head in gear I thought “Oooh… clocks have changed! We’re late!!” and proceeded to roust the kids out of bed to hurry to the tasks. We were *at* the skating rink before I discovered that I was a day ahead of myself… and only then when I talked to some of the staff at the rink and got some dissonance from their responses.

In fact, where I was telling the kids off for making us arrive at 7:20, i.e. forty minutes late… for the first time ever we were had in fact arrived at 6:20… 10 minutes *early*!!

What a start to the day eh?? :)

I wonder if it would work next week as well??

Posted by Welsh Dog at 4:28 pm  

Happy birthday me!!

 Home and Hearth  No Responses »
Oct 272007

Yes it’s true… Welsh Dog has finally reached the ‘Big Six Ohhhhh…. ‘, i.e. 60, today. Do I feel it? Well I didn’t until I went to the gym this morning and flogged myself into a stupor. Actually I decided there is nothing to be gained from over exerting myself any more.

Since this ‘person’ has overtaken what seemed to be an insurmountable lead in the ‘Biggest Loser’ competition I lost a bit of interest in ‘winning’ as such and am just going to carry on with my usual hard but not excessive routine which burns up somewhere in the region of 2,500 – 3,000 calories a day.

Obviously there was more to my day than the pain… for a start there were presents!! :)

The wife had already bought, and presented me, with a great watch to help me make sure I don’t push my heart rate into overdrive so the pressies were from the kids! The eldest produced ‘World Without End’ by Ken Follet which looks like a good read. That will probably stay in the car so I can read it at opportune moments… like the time spent in traffic jams between school and gym in the mornings!! :)

The youngest one changed the the tone with a set of barbells… 2 x 1 kilo and 2 x 2 kilos in a case with an exercise DVD. The eldest continued with that theme when she produced a ‘family present’… a ‘My Gym Fitness System’ which looks like a ‘stepper’ that has a lot of rubber bands underneath to which you attach handles. You then do various exercises from different positions all intended to tone and trim various muscles and parts of the body. Not got it fully assembled yet… but it looks like fun!!

It *also* came with an exercise DVD and a wall chart of the various things you can do with it. The thing will most probably be used in the evenings as we watch TV rather than during the day when I have access to an actual gym. All in all I think the presents were a well thought out package and I gave one and all a big cuddle and kiss to say thanks. :D

Not everything went as smoothly as it could have. Our Labrador who’s erratic behaviour has earned him the name ‘Stupid’ seems to think any open door is an excuse to bolt…so does. He vanished this morning before we left the house and I had to go out in the car to collect him. He’s a little aggravating… especially when, as this morning, he did it *again* but this time so fast the wife was unable to locate him and he was ‘lost’ for almost five hours!!

We’d all bar given up finding him, and as my youngest daughter thought she’d like to play with a friend this afternoon, went out in the car to take her.  As we rounded the corner, there was the dog in amongst a gaggle of kids who were trying to find out where he lived having found him on a main road blithely crossing alone. We said thanks, but had to drive on so weren’t as effusive as perhaps we should have been under the circumstances.

Actually I think the wife was less than pleased he was home… he has never been one of her favourite members of the family and I got the distinct impression she was looking forward to not having him around any more! :)

Too bad.

As we were a little late we took him with us to drop the youngest off and then went on to a Garden Centre to buy compost, and plants. I wanted a couple of dwarf Watermelons… the eldest wanted a Passionflower… the wife wanted to go home! I also wanted a Bougainvillea to grow up into a eucalyptus on the street that looks (to me at least) to be a bit plain and boring.

I found a really nice golden coloured one… and though the assistant was a bit dubious about which plant would kill the other first… I bought it anyway. If the Bougainvillea *does* kill the tree it would take years to happen and it’s more than likely the eucalyptus will finish off the other first. As far as I can tell, eucalyptus trees don’t like things growing on, near or in them, usually… but over the next 10 – 15 years we’ll find out… *if* the Bougainvillea thrives.

We’ll see.

So. The birthday has been a mixed event. Aggravation followed by exhaustion followed by pleasure!

The wife is going to cook a nice t-bone steak for dinner with salad or steamed veg. I’m just about to go out into the garden with the eldest to plant some of the plants and seeds we bought… and then maybe a quiet evening indoors watching a DVD and relaxing.

I reckon my birthday could have been a *lot* worse!! :D

Posted by Welsh Dog at 4:21 pm  

Phone calls?

 Home and Hearth  1 Response »
Oct 262007

The wife was intending to call the old man in the UK to let him know she was safely back. Unfortunately by the time she’d come out of customs and I’d dragged her off to the school to drop the kids off it was far too late for her to call. :(

No doubt she *will* call to say she’s safe but it might take longer than you’d expect so we both apologise to the old man and will call asap. :)

Posted by Welsh Dog at 9:25 pm  

Ooh la my baby’s back!

 General Ramblings  No Responses »
Oct 262007

Picked the wife up… she’s home… all is well. :D

We staggered out of bed at 4:30 a.m., showered, dressed and made it to the car at 5:25 a.m. Trip was uneventful and we arrived at the airport just as the wife emerged from customs so no waiting for any of us.

Lots of hugs and kisses later, we zoomed off back to the school to try to get them there on time for their buses. In and out of traffic, up and down lanes… and we arrived three-quarters of an hour early and dropped them both off!! :)

Home for us followed by a shower and change of clothes for the wife and away *we* go to the civic centre to watch the ‘assembly’.

I actually enjoyed it. There was a ‘potted history’ of the school. singing by the Year 2 children in the Campanella choir (which included my youngest) and a lot of speeches and contratulatory ramblings from staff, ex-pupils and members of the school council. Even so I thought it was interesting.

After the assembly the kids, ‘special’ visitors, staff and the rest all trooped back off  to the school to eat a special cake, and enjoy a barbecue. How nice for them.

Us plebs who do nothing constructive to make the school run… other than *pay* for it all… were not invited.

Makes me seethe!!

Still, the wife is home and we’re all much happier to have her here and near.

Posted by Welsh Dog at 7:50 pm  

At the scene of the grime!!

 Home and Hearth  1 Response »
Oct 262007

Went up to the eldest daughters room after she’d gone to school and discovered… three towels over the floor plus her clothes from yesterday. In the bathroom was a dress… another towel and her underwear! This weekend she’ll be without her computer.

The youngest daughter made an effort. Even though her room wasn’t tidied (at least not by me) she at least made her bed when she got up and put her clothes from yesterday into the washing pile.

The youngest is quite happy with the new arrangements… the eldest isn’t!! :)

Posted by Welsh Dog at 7:41 pm  

On a theme…

 Gripes, Home and Hearth  1 Response »
Oct 252007

You may recall from the previous message that I sent the kids off to school with messages written in their diaries explaining to their teachers they might be late for their buses and asking if it would be ok if we took them straight to the civic centre.

When I picked them up I had a look at the diaries to see what answers their teachers had sent back. What was there? No message.

Despite knowing how important it was for them to have handed the books in and to have collected at least verbally what they were to do… didn’t do it.

I asked why and they just said “Sorry dad” which is their stock answer to any and everything they do that’s irresponsible or aggravating, regardless who it affects, how much it costs to rectify or what chaos it causes.

Things have to change and as *I’m* changing (possibly because the diet and exercise regime bringing me back to ‘normal’) so *they* will have to. This sloppy “Who cares??” attitude has to be stomped on hard… now.

To begin with I’ve told them there *will* be changes. Sanctions are on the card that are meaningful to *them* for example, the youngest one might be banned from skating, from TV, from using her computer… things she wants and will miss having access to. The eldest, not quite so easy as she is older cleverer and more able to cope with ‘deprivation’ but for her again TV, her computer, her MP3 player etc.

Can’t do much before the wife comes home… but things *will* change. Last week was an eye opener about how rude and selfish they can be without really trying.

Don’t get this wrong. To everyone else they are lovely girls, always polite and helpful. They’re great with other kids and we are constantly told what a pleasure it is to be around them. It’s here at home they are ignorant little gits. It’s almost certainly our fault… or maybe all *my* fault… but I figure it’s *our* turn to get some of this pleasant behaviour other people tell us about and if they have to learn under pressure then that’s just the way it’s going to have to be!!

I’ve had enough!

Posted by Welsh Dog at 6:23 pm  
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