Where do all the hours in the day go?

Either I'm completely disorganised or it is just a myth that you gain a whole lot of free time once your youngest child goes to school. People keep asking me "What are you doing with all your free time?"

?

What free time ?

Maybe it's because it's spring and there's so much to do in the garden.

Maybe it's because the kids have each had almost a week off each with flu.

Maybe it's because I've been helping out at school a bit.

Maybe it's because this youngest one seems to be finding it hard to transition to school.

Rain,

Leak in the hot water cylinder wetting all the sheets and blankets in the linen cupboard.

I don't know?

Roll on school holidays.

Blah blah multi task

I'm spinning green merino while the Dial Up loads.
I've done a little blog house-work too.

The house fairy hasn't done the dishes yet,
but she's got the hallway tidy enough that I don't trip over.
She lost count of the loads of washing she's done. Wood chopping, school lunches, dance classes, baking, homework, tea for sore throats and vacuuming too.
I paid the bills to help her out.
We Desecrated the environment by running the big boys in the car to "Will the lost years" more times than I can count on the fairies fingers and toes. (kind community drove them home after shows. 10.30pm)
The garden fairy planted some garlic and cleared some seedy weeds. She combed the garden and made: kitchen faerie rooster/barley/noodle soup with garden vegetables, which most of them turned their noses up at. Then the eaters claimed it made them fart (not too many onions and Jerusalem artichokes, I'm sure I told you faerie).
School holidays are in sight- Thank goodness.

Busy days

Neither gardening or crafting are being done. Pictures? Nope.
I miss them a bit, but equally important activities are taking place.
The youngest child in the family is being supported at school with weekly visits to his classroom. 5 years is feeling like a complete blur and I'm starting to think how much I'm going to miss the faces I see at Montessori and Playcentre on a regular basis. A smile and "Hello" at pre-school is often the only adult contact I get in a day.
Soooo..................
I'm making a little effort for me too, with a little support from some very loyal friends I might add. Now don't laugh, when I say I've been going to ZUMBA!! (I would link, but come on, you've all heared of Zumba right?) Exercise dancing!! I'm still as "unco" as my bro told me I was about 25 years ago, but it's good to get the heart pumping and the face smiling as well.
With that and other things, there doesn't seem to be alot of time left over each day at the moment.

PJ and the Red do dancing in town 2 nights a week and Pj is doing netball on Saturday morning. Skatey needs to be driven over the hill at 5.30am for weekend pig hunting and freaky evening "weigh ins " where I stand uncomfortably supporting him marveling at dead pigs, deer and rabbits lined up and shown off by the local hunting "tribe".
Then the teen also needed a bit of extra attention this week to prepare for some tramping with his outdoor Ed class. They're in the bush at the moment with maps and compasses on a trip they planned themselves. I wouldn't be a good mother if I wasn't freaking out about the swollen rivers after the recent rain and the cold while sleeping under a tarp. Has he taken enough food and warm clothes? I bought him some merino socks from Potters Patch to make sure his feet are warm and tried my best to walk past his room to see what gear was going in the pack. New tramping boots too. Did he wear them in? No. Did I nag him to do so? Yes!! Am I having nightmares? Yep quite a few.
I squeezed in a little preserving. Sweet chilli sauce: 6 bottles. Swapped one for wild duck breasts and took one as a gift for the hosts who had us to dinner on Saturday night.
Tomato puree: done.
Figs and Fejoias: waiting for me to do something with them.
Garlic: a little bit planted.
Weeds: quite tasty in salad.
Chooks: one laying.
Dog: ear might be getting better, touch wood.
Knitting socks: The second sock curse has taken effect.
Kindness: Feeling good about considering other peoples situations and feelings.
Reading: a selection of knitting books and mags + Jean. M. Auel, in hope that there'll be a new one soon. All my favorite blogs too, with the teen away the computer is MINE.
Listening: Still to the "Black Eyed Peas" and "Marianne Faithfull" probably because that "Lucy Jordan" birthday is looming fast.
Windows, lawns, housework, washing and wood: Waiting for a WOOFER or a visit from Granny.

Career choices

PJ loves monkeys.

She wants to work in a zoo, with monkeys.

We"re all very sad to hear that Ricky the Natureland zoo monkey has died.

I talk alot about how important it is for monkeys and other animals, to grow up in their own environment. Hoping I guess that one of the kids might grow up to be a radical environmental campaigner (because I didn't.)

Whoops we shouldn't live vicariously through our kids should we?

But my goodness it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to be a vet either. So far I have spent at least one weeks food bill, at the vet, on the dog who has earache, for goodness sake!!

RIP Ricky.

And Willow, the drops I'm putting in your ear will help you get better soon ( the least you could do is co-operate)

A Breath

Here goes, .............. a long deep breath before summer.


Pj needs new tap shoes and her term fees paid. Practice, practice, practice before the end of year concert.


Skatey will be off to school camp on his birthday. Trapping possums, eeling, orienteering, camp fire cooking and other adventures.

The school book and Country Fair. Fundraising for the solar heating on the new pool.


The teen will sit his exams and go on summer holiday early.

Grandpa will need help picking strawberries and peas at the farm.


I will sew for markets and events and grow a garden full of beautiful food.


Pj asked tonight " Mum when will we have raspberries and cream after dinner?"

Our future is uncertain here. But I can grow sprouts and herbs anywhere.

Mum gave me a plaque which I like:

"No matter what

No matter where

It's always home

If love is there."

Breathe

Music of my Youth

36, 20 years since I was 16, 1989.
My teen is alot better behaved than I was 20 years ago. My goodness 20 years seems such a long time. Music takes me back. We were doing " Annie get your Gun" at High School. I loved Art, U2 rocked, I loved Led Zep, The Volent Femmes, Joe Satriani, Marianne Faithful, and I was going out with the postman's son ( naughty, naughty) about to go totally off the rails with a bad boy from Oamaru. I hitch hiked to parties and spent weekends with friends. I quit violin and began to wear leather. If I was my mother I'd have been totally insane with worry. I also quite fancied a red head for a bit. If I could go back to 16 I wouldn't change a thing! Except I'd be confident that I was awesome as me and I'd love myself a bit more. On the eve of 36 I adore my kids and move forward with no regrets! I treasure these kids for their gifts, how lucky am I to know them.

My school report read " Gillian is a walking jewelery display and likes to be involved in activities. Can be distracted by others.",

"Gillian is an expressive worker but demands a high standard of herself. This can inhibit work at times but over all effect is good."

Mrs Bolt told me I wasn't going to pass my school cert music exam, so when I did I rang her to gloat.

She is still there at the teen's school, my school councillor is now the acting principal. The crusty old History teacher now teaches my son computer studies and my third form English teacher who I quite liked for debates about anti vivisection now teaches my son 5th form English and he is totally uninspired. Go Figure!

I'd quite like to teach textiles. My younger cousin teaches PE. J*** said to the teen, "hey Teen have you seen the hot new PE teacher? Teen said Dude she's my Mums cousin"

Man I loved High school. Skatey boy is off there next year and i finally fit in with a few mums my age.

Skatey loves Art and music and is sensitive.

Watch out Gilly!

Cough

Thanks for all those warm wishes on my last post. My sympathy to everyone else dealing with kid's winter ills, Briar mentioned being at the faintly hysterical stage, I can so relate to that! We sat at the emergency Dr's yesterday for hours because the red head's cough was developing into asthma which I find very scary to deal with in the middle of the night. A thorough search at home did not turn up the spacer the Dr gave us last winter to administer Ventolin, (totally beyond natural healing at this point) so there we were in in a cold waiting room full of people who would rather have been home by the fire I suspect, as the poor Dr struggled on his own to keep up. The red head impatiently wailed and whinged as each person went in before us until a nice man taking pity on me (or fed up with the persistent grizzling) let us go before him. The doc told me he'd done 3 swabs for swine flu that day, Y U C K! I was glad to get out of there with the spacer and some panadol ( I admit defeat) and home to the warm fire. I didn't get much more sleep than the previous few nights but the "red" was a little more cheerful today and so was I. The sun shone so I got three loads of washing almost dry. You have to count your small blessings don't you?

Laundry

I've really appreciated the comments latley, especially one I got from Briar today about enjoying me keeping it real. I like to think that I'm like that.
On my blog I have always tried to find a balance between "keeping it real" and "airing my dirty laundry" of which there is quite a pile! So THANKS you just made my day.

To all who are waiting for the possum gloves pattern I have most of it typed up. I actually didn't realise how tricky it would be because I don't want to get anything wrong. I can see why people have pattern testers now. It is my goal this week to get it finished, that is if that jolly dirty laundry doesn't get on top of me.

Here is another super dooper keeping it real blog.

Never a dull moment

Oh you'd think a quiet life in the country with a garden, a few kids, pets and no bad habits would be a pretty quiet one, but something always pops up to keep me on my toes. Friday night the teen and his lovely but becoming delinquent friend conned me into taking them to a party. I was the reluctant parent wishing I'd raised a goody goody Mama's boy who just wanted to stay home and study. No such luck, he wants to party, with girls and alcohol and other kids who's habits I don't fully trust. Anyway while I was still working on the "in the car lecture" in my head, the house carried on around me. Skatey had a friend over, they were jumping their unicycles. No worries. L was home from work and surveying the concrete floor of the shed. No worries. Teenage boys doing their hair. No worries.? PJ and Red balancing on the timber, no worries right? Well no. PJ allegedly pushed Red who landed on a bar with his arm under him and PJ landed on top just for fun! RIGHT! Now I'm frazzled. Crying, Yelling, nagging and indecision ensued. L"s fatherly instinct said "he's alright, take teen to the party". My motherly instinct knew that the cry when the arm moved meant it was likely broken even if he could move his fingers. L, disinterested in doing the party run went outside to talk to the neighbour!!!! I did the party run and the lecture, oh and did I forget to mention that I rang the party hosts parents to make sure the supervision was going to be up to scratch. Apparently this is the highest form of uncoolness I could have possibly displayed. Go me, uncool rulz! So to cut another long yarn short, I got home issued bedtime orders and drove 50kms to A and E where red and I cuddled for 3 hours waiting for our turn. 1 fractured arm x ray ed and in plaster later, I got home just after 1am. A catch up on sleep weekend followed. The teen appeared to make it though the party without any damage except for his reputation which I damaged but ringing the folks. he he he.

We had a mini Earth hour. I hired "an inconvenient truth" in anticipation of lots of moaning from the biggest member of the family and we lit our candles and watched it. Hopefully I sowed a seed. Skatey and Red enjoyed the candles. PJ spent the rest of the weekend with the neighbour which was probably just as well because my temper may have been a little short for a pushy little miss.

PS, a friend mentioned trouble when posting comments to my blog. Is anyone else having trouble? Got time to email and let me know?

Painting update 3

Well first and foremost the painting is mostly finished, a vast improvement on the chipped and mouldy mess I had before, now I can lie in the bath and look at a ceiling not full of mould during my only quiet, unhassled minutes (half hour) of the day. I'm dying to accessorise now but don't want to spend a fortune so will have to be patient as usually exactly what I need turns up at a garage sale or in a box from a "fabulous Aunt". I did splash out on a new shower curtain today and the room is taking on a distinct black and white theme. I need to do something with the floor as well. The black and white checkered lino of my youth is occupying my thoughts at the moment.

I read back on some of my recent posts thinking some of them sound a little vague or random but actually that is quite what I'm like. Sometimes I have something quite interesting to share and other times it's a real waffle. Anyway I'm very unsettled without all the kids and my good friend and fellow mischief maker is also away so I'm all out of whack. I tried to sew tonight too but that felt all unco. (a word my brother's used to describe me as a child, short for unco-ordinated and generally hilarious) as well, I think there are too many things that I need/want to do that I don't know where to start. Procrastinating always works well on these occasions so I made sushi for tea and then later scoffed strawberries and cream, boiled up some bread and butter pickles and a batch of tomato soup in between reading my favorite bloggers most recent posts thinking "my goodness"! if the northerners are ordering seeds for spring I better be preserving more and gathering firewood.



To clarify about the teen and co. "The big bang theory" is an American show on TV about these nerdy guys who kind of talk computers while being very awkward about girls and like star wars and computer games. On Wednesday nights when it comes on we get yelled at "shut up, this is my programme". I think the character most like my teen is called Sheldon. So the teen and co. sound like that when they bike to our place with lap tops on backs, hook them up with their Ethernet cables and then talk "forward slash semi colon?" sentences followed by "Unreal tournament, Halo and Ghost recon" whatever that means. Oh and "did you see Get Smart?" They didn't even know it was a TV show when I was growing up.



Back to me, all dazed and confused,trying to decide what to do to feel like I'm living life to the fullest. For the last 15 years I've had a baby every third or 4th year so as my wee red goes on three and a half I think I'm experiencing a bit of, for want of a better cliche "mid life crisis". I've been asked by a shop in Wellington to supply some kids clothes, tossed around the idea of studying full or part time, flipping from herbal studies, Early childhood to Visual Arts degree, or staying home to be the sacrificial stay at home Mum. I'm not good at decisions and none of my ideas are screaming THIS IS IT so I may be set to be blogging about teens and skateys, thrifting and bags for another year, I don't know. A very laborious decision maker am I! My apologies for my atrocious punctuation maybe I better start with form 2 English before I do anything. As I prepare to post this I wait for "Nightline" to tell me the traits of people born in this the Chinese year of the OX, perhaps it will enlighten me as to why I'm a procrastinating, waffly, flip floppy, sewer, gardener, mother, wifey, sister, daughter, teacher, friend, blogger.





So apparently we're Strong leaders, Hard workers and demanding. Yep that fits me quite well sometimes too.

Janurary slipping away

I have taken the photos for my garlic plait tutorial, problem is the teenager has gone and decided to get a social life and the technology has gone and done something unexpected so I can't upload my photos. What were we thinking when we bought him a scooter?
It's alright really, he's with his cousins and one of my" fabulous Aunts". She has her granddaughter staying and her own later in life baby is around the (terrible/fabulous) teens age. They play tennis and go off to the beach all day while eating copious amounts of corn chips and junk. Extended families are so awesome, make sure you utilise them if you have them. We've also done our fair share of overnight stays during the holidays, not much family but friends bringing the total of kids on some nights up to 7. Dinner is made in a soup pot or roasting pan on those occasions and I'm getting quite good at massive bacon and egg pies with herbs and zucchini. L is home on annual leave for a month, so at least I'm getting some reprieve.
I'm celebrating a whole year as a part time solo Mum of four and am doing a wicked job if I do say so myself. Goodness knows how four kids survived infancy actually as last year I killed two Kefir bugs, a passion fruit vine, a tree tomato and two old rabbits. Thankfully for me the wonderful wet coast Sandra has sent me some more Kefir which is thriving and I am on the "Gillybean lazy diet" consisting of Kefir/blueberry/raspberry/banana smoothies,no coffee, less red meat and cheese, more sushi and no exercise (yet), diet.

The Pokororo fair was great! A chance to catch up on many of my old valley friends while selling a bit of garlic and sewing, I also came home with some lovely culinary lavender, 6lb of blueberries and some award winning essential oil. The cover has been on my sewing machine since then while I do my annual school holiday declutter and painting which I LOATHE! This year it's the bathroom and it's just going to be WHITE. As long as it gets rid of the peeling paint and mould I'll be happy.
L is off on holiday to his family next week with two of the kids so I hope I can get it finished, a bit of a summer social life in the evenings to top off the painting would be nice too.

I've updated my "Self sufficiency project" list and would like to introduce my good friend Melissa who is joining the awesome list of Kiwi bloggers.

Teen will be home soon to help with computer and babysitting.

Scraping horrible paint tomorrow!!

Come visiting and give me an excuse to stop work and make coffee!!!

You know it's full moon because:

Saturday 8am the sound that wakes you is a glockenspiel being practiced. Then siblings yelling at each other. Someone wants breakfast. At least it rained in the night, no watering today. Bird feathers on the floor, must vacume.
There's miles of housework to do, beds to strip and wash. Catch the skatey boy twice as he tries to slip off for the day. You try and stay calm when the teen challenges with "why do we have to clean up, why do we have to do dishes, why can't I go on the computer?'
You have to french plait the girl's hair for a performance at the old folks home.
A phone call from work, some one's complaining cos the water at the bach is not going. You feel like turning the phone off and not talking to anyone else today.
You overflow the washing machine because the teens sock blocked the tub! You rant and rave about socks to anyone still listening. Skatey boy's gone, girl's at the show. Fold a weeks worth of washing.
Investigate the beeping sound coming from the wash house. Washing machine is officially dead! Text husband with swear words. When no answer text mother with swear words. Go to the garden before doing something regrettable.
Why is teenager yelling and 3yr old crying? Pooh everywhere of course! Try a bit of lecturing, put one to bath and bed. Other one off quick smart sees mother's in a real mood.
Husband answers, not helpful.
Nothing inspiring for tea.
No one to talk to.
Count blessing again.
Chill a bit, wait for full moon to rise.


Thank goodness life's not perfect.

Christmas is ment to be winter

It is so wrong to have Christmas in summer as it is in our hemisphere! Instead of slowing down and sitting by the fire knitting and sewing in the evening we're playing sport and BBQ ing, swimming and doing all those fabulous summer activities. In October I always have great plans for homemade Christmas presents but I can't keep out of the garden so they go by the wayside. Then all of a sudden it's December and the weeds are growing fast and the social activity is cranking up and I'm getting in a Christmas present flap. Thank goodness for the softies book I bought earlier in the year, I made my wee nephew in Australia the cosmonaut devil yesterday afternoon and the red head grabbed it up and said "it's mine" so that one's worth replicating. I'd love the 2nd book for Christmas. So .....I've altered my list in a panic as usual. Dad is getting a mushroom kit ( because I'd like one of them too and he's so hard to buy for) PJ's getting a sewing kit instead of the poor doll with no hair, the boys are getting (see previous post) stunt bike and tickets to crusty demons. (The 18 year old rat bag in me totally wants to go!!!!) Mum is harder she's such an awesome support I wish I could give her all her heart desires. Instead it may be an apron and one of the fabulous PJ Heath's wooden spoons. Perhaps a goat. (She's a born again Christian, story for another day)

The fabulous Aunts are getting a snazzy miniature stockings filled with goodies (red baby booties). PJ and the red head are getting ukulele's cos we all love music and I believe it opens lots of mathematical pathways in the brain. L and I have already bought ourselves a dinky little BBQ for the beach and a food processor for pesto so our joy will be through our kids. I have plans of an oilskin man bag for him too though. Do you think I can squeeze in a few extra hours before Christmas? If I have dark rings under my eyes you'll know why, I've been sewing till midnight, working at Dad's farm, getting up for the market, trying to be supermum and a good friend to boot. Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Notes from a negligent blogger

Sometimes I compose really good blog posts in my head but they're long gone by the time I sit down. I'm very impressed by bloggers who can make even things like cleaning the oven sound fascinating, I should have payed a bit more attention during English at High school instead of filling a folder full of notes between my best friend and I or planning the weekends antics.



With the garden, I totally peaked at the wrong time so that when the planting moon was good I was exhausted. I got a few more seeds in but became disheartened as a few bad chooks escaped and scratched all the compost away from new plantings of lettuce, sunflowers and garlic. Everything needs weeding badly too.
Also each day I've noticed plants slowly going into decline along my back fence line, making me madder and madder. This morning I wrote a letter to the arrogant orchidist responsible and took photos as proof. As you can see he's been very heavy handed with "round up" possibly spraying it deliberately on my plants. It has damaged the mother wort, mugwort, some raspberries, a rose and grass on my side of the fence. All will recover but that's not the point. I have investigated and it's an offence under the pesticides act for his spray to go onto my property.

The plants are affected by going yellow at their tips. You'd have to lift your spray pretty high to contact the mugwort.
I'm so angry that i don't have words for it!

I'm working on letting it go and have done some sewing to make me smile.

PS. I looked for labels for this post and decided my "thinking" posts would for the most part be more appropriately labeled "ranting"