ecosopher

I kind of kept away from these because I always thought it seems obvious who's who etc, but it occurs to me that I assume too much :) and it might be helpful to point out some stuff that's not clear to people who stumble across the journal.

Persons of note:

M: partner. Hails from merry England (the North), still finds the Australian summers disgusting. Enjoys music, drawing, gaming. We like each other.

S: older son. Born March 2007. Enjoys drawing, and playing Minecraft. Prone to toilet-talk, and spends quite a bit of time in Stupidworld* which I expect will only worsen in years to come. Otherwise quite gentle and sweet, though. Less rough-and-tumble than your average 'boyish boy'.

T: older daughter. Born September 2008. Talks ALL THE TIME. High maintenance, very spirited (read: major, major tantrum-thrower and boundary-pusher). Gregarious, sunny-natured and usually a big hit with friends and strangers alike. Likes to lead, not follow. We anticipate interesting times ahead, until she's at least 30.

J: younger daughter. Born March 2011. Smiley, happy baby. Sociable, but seems to consider other babies beneath her. Would much prefer the company of older children. She's delighted that she can now walk – so she can get away from those annoying other babies. 'Thank goodness,' she thinks, 'I'm the youngest.'... 


B: younger son. Born August 2012. Personality to be determined! So far, he's snuggly.




Molly: dog. Brown and white, medium-sized. Adopted from the pound. Very affectionate; loves babies, however, thinks the days when the children are away are heaven. Her favourite being is Sasha.

Sasha: cat. The first cat, and the only one bought from a pet-shop. Originally bought as a birthday present for me, she prefers M. Getting a bit cranky in her old age. Likes warm laps and tinned fish.

Banjo: cat. The only boy-cat and possibly my favourite. Very good to snuggle with on a night, or during any daytime nap you might happen to get. Quite likes to share a bed with T, if he can't do so with M and me. Doesn't like babies – is the only one who will scratch when provoked. We monitor this, but also see it as a lesson the babies need to learn: animals should be treated with respect. Also, they were here before the babies and are valuable household members.

Miko: cat. The black and white one in my icon. Fluffy and has the face of an anime character, and very pretty, but fights like a demon. We suspect she was dropped on her head as a kitten; she is quirky, a tad dim-witted, and LOUD. Which is great, because I love loud cats.

Chooks: two, of the white leghorn variety. I'm their human. They had names but don't really seem to care about that, so I just call them “girls” and it works well for us all.

Yours truly (Bec, or Rebecca): 37 years old, which surprises me. A lot of things surprise me. I used to be a hippie but then I had four children and ruined my green credentials.  I guess I'll just have to indoctrinate my offspring as best I can.  I spent over a decade at university and ended up as a high school teacher, although that's more 'something I do' rather than 'who I am'.  Sometimes I worry about the environment, and politics, and human rights, and the economy.  But life has taught me that there's little in the world that can't be fixed by a few quiet minutes in the garden, with a good cup of tea and a piece of black forest cake. I guess most of everything else about me you'll probably discover along the way... but of course, feel free to ask and I'll always reply :)

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I also started a new journal purely for writing/NaNoWriMo/therealljidol etc.  

Feel free to add me there, if you're interested on reading anything to do with those.  If you've just added me through NaNoWriMo, then I'll be adding you back on this journal:  bringing_words

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*for the uninitiated, Stupidworld is a place which exists within the same time and space as the regular world, but where the inhabitants find it impossible to listen to logic, and must do everything stupidly. This includes how they eat and talk as well as their general behaviour.

I have a friend (haha, I know -- bear with me) and this friend... you know, she's that kind of person where you think, how is all this bullshit happening to you right now, and how are you still going, still able to see the silver lining? How is it you haven't given up and fallen in a heap? I mean, don't get me wrong, she's got some lovely people in her life, and she's talented and funny and caring. But life and work has really been a drag for her over the last 12 months.

And of course, being her, she doesn't fall in a heap. She gets back up again and starts her own business.

That's just the kind of person she is.

She's taking on a small publishing house which has already had some successful and exciting publications, and has some innovative ideas about where she wants to take it.

How cool is that?! A publishing house!

Obviously, jumping from unemployed to managing a publishing business brings some financial challenges, and so she's set up an Indiegogo campaign so that she can raise some money to help pay for the costs of starting up. This is why I really want to boost the signal. The campaign only has a few days left to run, and it could really use some more support. And I know that there are a lot of campaigns out there and sometimes people get donor fatigue, but I really wanted to bring this one to your attention. Obviously I'm biased because it's my friend, but I think you'll agree that she's got a pretty small goal to reach, and every little bit counts (plus there are some rather decent perks in there, too).

Interested?

Check it out at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-fey-publishing-bring-new-talent-to-light?c=home


And well, I want to see this business succeed, because it was the business which put out the book I'm in :)

This has crept up on me, and I guess it's not surprising considering we're approaching 40, but what is the deal with people ending relationships lately? I spoke to my mum on the phone the other day, and she was telling me about my cousin. She'd been asking his dad if he (the cousin) saw his children regularly, and I said, 'Huh? Why wouldn't he?' 'Oh, he and [cousin's wife] broke up. A while ago. I'm sure I told you.' Me: 'THIS IS THE FIRST I KNOW OF THIS.'

And it occurred to me that well, perhaps this is the time of life. I know, people break up all the time, but I suppose I'm getting to 'that age' where it happens more often. Wow. All these people, they seemed so... forever. I guess that's usually the case, right? You're not going to get married if you don't think that. But still. In any case, I googled 'median age of divorce in Australia' and the results suggest that I should just expect this to continue for the next five years or so. Lucky for M and me we're not married!! :D


I've been such a slacker updating and commenting on others' entries, but please know I've been reading as much as I can. I'm actually scheduling this entry so that I can write it in dribs and drabs as I just find it hard to get more than a few minutes' where I can sit down and type. It's been insanely busy here as we clean and paint the house (geez! Paint is expensive!) and purge all the stuff we really don't need. We had the real estate agent out on Friday to give us a valuation and were pleasantly surprised that it may sell for more than we'd expected. Yay! I'm finding the constant phone calls and emails and everything to organise it all fairly tedious, but these are such first world problems, because it will all result in us having a new place to live, so I won't whinge about them here. Too much.



As for our little(?) family...


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B choked this evening.

He had been sitting on the floor in T and J's room while I was getting the older three to bed, and T had left a dress-up shirt on the floor -- it had flat plastic shiny disks on it, kind of like sequins but larger. I didn't see him playing with it but he's been putting everything in his mouth lately. Anyway, I picked him up and put him in the loungeroom while I went to talk to S* and after a few minutes, M came in to tell me that B was getting upset, sticking his hand in his mouth. I said goodnight to S and came out, saying it was probably teething, but then he started to cough, and something wasn't right.

I picked him up and he started to choke, and Jesus, that's scary. I held him in front of me and slapped him on the back a couple of times, but it seemed to do nothing, so I put my finger down the side of his cheek, and felt something, and he choked again. I sat him down on my lap and he gagged on some mucous, and I tried again, and finally, I got it. I know I scratched his mouth -- it was bleeding a little -- but he was breathing OK and almost immediately he started to relax.

Wow, you guys. It happens just that quickly.


I kind of want to take him into bed with me and listen to his quiet, steady breathing all night. I've checked on him three times already tonight and I only put him down at 20.30.

Close calls are good, because they're a reminder of how lucky we are.



*WHO GOT LUNCHTIME DETENTION TODAY FOR WRITING NOTES IN CLASS. WHAT.

( a birth story (TW: discussion of vaginal birth, a little trauma, poo, that sort of thing)Collapse )

Mothers' Day was pretty good. LOTS of tea and cake. S wrote me a card, which said,

'To Mum, I love you because you mack good cake. Love, S'

*heartmelt*


We planned for me to have a sleep-in but by 7-ish, J was screaming, 'MUMMEEEEE! MUMMEEEEE!' in the loungeroom so I figured I should just get up. It's nice to be wanted, I suppose?!


We have been cleaning out the binyard where we don't keep the bins, but where we do keep baby clothes, books, papers, and other bits and pieces. So much rubbish. I took 12 bags and three boxes to the charity bins at the local shopping centre this evening. I also found some awesome things from my childhood, some writing stuff, and photos, which I'll hopefully be able to post in the next few days. It's such a lovely feeling to rediscover little memories from your past! I went through an old exercise book of mine with S this evening, to show him the work I'd done. It was from when I was ten! And the scratch and sniff stickers still smell!! How awesome :D

Having this place appraised this week. Hence the clean up. We're trying to declutter for both our own benefit and to try to show a clean slate, for when we put this house on the market. It's amazing a) how much dirt the clutter has been hiding (and I'm a fairly good declutterer, so it's not like we're swimming in clutter! I mean, we don't have the room for it!) and b) how much bigger the house looks when there is less stuff in it. I know, that's obvious, but I'm talking like taking off the fridge magnets, that kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm SUPER FULL OF BOUNDLESS ENERGY... hahaha, just kidding ;D It's 22.50 and I need to be in bed. Hope everyone had a great Sunday, whether or not you celebrate Mothers' Day!

New post over at path:ethic:

Race, Shoes and Penis Envy.

Now I shall endeavour to answer some comments and feed the baby. At the same time!!

The last couple of nights have been the horror.* J and B have both been up for hours after bedtime, meaning it's been after midnight before they even sleep (especially J). Not only is the overtired tantrumming so jarring on the nerves, it means I can't do anything but read (to them or to myself) or cuddle babies, and I don't even get a look in on the dishes.**

Here's hoping tonight is better.



Quote from T the other day:
Mum had asked J to come and sit on her lap because I was trying to feed B. J said, 'No!' and so Mum put her head in her hands and said, 'Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!' and sniffed and generally acted all upset. Cue T, from over on the loungeroom floor, where she was colouring:

'Grandma, that's such fake crying.'

Haha. To give Grandma her credit, she fully admitted that it was. While we fell about laughing.



It's a lovely day here in Perth. We had showers through most of yesterday, but now it's sunny and coolish, and everything is greening up outside. Despite this being our autumn, it's also a time of recovery from the summer. So I have roses still blooming, and the vincas I planted are doing really well. So far, the snails are unaware I did any gardening. That will change, I'm sure.



I am seriously considering playing LJ Idol: Exhibit B. This could be folly, since I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment, and that's not going to change anytime soon because...

this morning we are signing the forms to put an offer in on the house I saw on the weekend.

:D

So I guess I should be getting our current residence ready to sell, right?

Heeee!



OK. To do list for today:

- clean toilet
- bake bread
- playdate in the park
- write piece for path: ethic
- edit piece for Brenda's blog
- start breastfeeding piece for Kate
- drink several cups of tea

Might get onto that last one right now, I think.



*may be hyperbole.

**haha, this implies that I always wash up on an evening, which I can assure you is certainly not the case.

Latest post over at path:ethic.

Be Careful What You Wish For.

It's OK if you didn't realise I was gone.

No, really.


Thoughts on travel:

Car trips can be very exhausting. However, the children mostly coped OK. B was pretty fed up on a few occasions, but it was bearable.

The Volvo is really sturdy. I know. It's a Volvo, right? But it made for an easier journey than the Ford.

The trip back took around six and a half hours. It's only 400 km, so by rights it should really only have taken about four and a half, but I had to keep stopping, since I kept zoning out. Driver fatigue is so scary with four children in the back.

I got pulled over for RBT; obviously no issues. I guess I like the fact that they were out and about, because...

There are some really foolish people on the roads who seem to take unnecessary risks.

Albany Highway is mostly just dual carriageway (ie, one lane for each direction) so one generally ends up travelling in a convoy of sorts with a few other cars. I pass some, and other pass me, but there usually is a small group of us who are driving at a similar speed and so stick together. Then we get to Perth, and suddenly the roads widen and there are more lanes and multiple side roads to other destinations, and everyone takes a different direction, and I always felt some tiny sense of sadness as I lose my posse.



In other news, Dad and I went to look at a couple of houses. The second one, I ruled out because the third bedroom is tinytiny, plus there were a couple of other things which would need fixing straight away if we were to have bought it, and that's money we don't really have. Plus it was really a bit too much money -- right at the very end of our budget. But the first one. I LOVE IT. I want it, so much. And I know, it's the first one I've looked at, and M hasn't seen it, and probably there are all these things wrong with it, but the block is huge compared to those we've been seeing online, and it's got more space than we have here, and it's walking distance to a school, and there is a park two doors down, and the GARDEN. OMG, the garden. And there is a shed. And, and, and!!

We have looked for months and this is the best place we've seen which is a) not in a scummy area and b) on such a large block. It's not the most attractive looking house from the outside, and the garden is overgrown, but it has such potential. We could be comfortable there for at least a few years until we either decided to renovate and extend it, or move to a bigger house.

But I know there is a lot of emotion about this and I probably need to just get perspective and also we would need to have everything align perfectly for it ever to happen, not to mention how we will convince someone to loan us money as neither of us is bringing in much income right now... ah, details, details, right?! Probably by the time I get something organised, it will have been sold to someone else, anyway. <-- this is me, trying to logic my way out of my emotional attachment, in case that weren't obvious ;)





Finally, I was talking to Dad about typos and he showed me the front of his UWA diary, which is celebrating its centenary. I didn't have a camera to take a picture, so I'll just reproduce the text here for your enjoyment:

The University of Western Australia
1913 - 2013
Achive International Excellence.