Has the year started yet? I'm sure it must have because my kids started school this week, and that is generally at the end of January. I always start the year off with lots of sparkly optimistic energy, filled with ideas and goals, and want to get cracking straight away. But then, and hands up if this is you too, all that energy is taken up with the relentless drone of hot hot hot summer holidays, umpiring squabbles large and small between the children, trips to the beach and the neighbours pool, and sleeping in. It's all so exhausting! To add insult to injury (and this is a record in this house) our broadband allowance was used up
by the middle of January, and is now excruciatingly slow until the first of next month. That is TWO WEEKS without proper internet speeds. It's cruel and unusual, and I don't like it.
So, be specific with your updates Mrs BC! I can't load any photos for a few days, these conditions are just prehistoric. But here are the updates anyway, and maybe we'll explore them when my technology is back in the 21st century.
The boys started a new school this year, and seem to be very happy about it so far. We are only on day 3, but so far, so good. I'm quietly optimistic that the culture and academic standards at the new school are going to be a very happy fit for us.
School shoes and uniforms where no trouble at all, but the drama, THE DRAMA involved with filling book lists! I think Office Works should have a bar, I'm sure they'd do a lot of business. Before you get all 'Oh, we just ordered ours online and they where delivered, it was super easy!' Let me stop you right there Smarty Pants, and point out that we had that option, and obviously didn't take it. Stupid, yes. To be honest I didn't have a spare $300 just before Christmas, and I planned on giving the list to Office Works who would then pack and deliver it for me, with a 10% discount on the quoted price. Great Plan! By the time I got to Office Works, however, they couldn't deliver until halfway through February, which is when the plan stopped being so great. So I took a deep breath and dove into the seething mass of frazzled parents and their fed up children. And then I got home and discovered that I would need to return to exchange some items, and get other stuff I had missed. Plus go to another shop 30 minutes away to get text books. Yesterday Monkey Boy's new teacher gave me back 10 A4 lined year 2 48 page notebooks and told me I need to actually get 10 A4 lined year 1 48 page notebooks. I also found out that at Office Works, you pay when you pick up, not when you place the order, so guess what I'll be doing next year? Not stressing, and having a cocktail, that's what.
Mr BC and the children made me a worm farm for Christmas, and I can't tell you how happy it makes me! We've moved a lot of stuff around in the garden, including putting all the fruit trees back into pots. I've been giving them a worm tea party every few days and they love it. This is something I thought I would never say, but I can't wait to get my hands on their poop. The tea is a bit of a miracle, I can only imagine the poop must be mind blowing.
We've caught up with a few friends over the holidays, and the highlights have been watching grown men and women cry over a hostesses home made chili sauce. It was really good chili sauce, but mega hot. People where saying 'Oh, yum! I like chili!' but then 10 seconds later realising they had half a teaspoon in their mouth when a match head might have been OK. I'm trying to get the recipe, because it is so good. Even people with almost visible flames coming out of their nostrils were still coming back for more!
The other highlight was catching up with a lovely blogger and her husband, who where up from Sydney. It was a lovely morning is an outdoor, water front cafe, and we laughed and joked and swapped stories and had a lot of fun. And then my husband turned up with the children and the dog. None of them had any shoes on, the dog's lead had been left at home so she had a bit of rope tied around her neck, and Mr BC's facial hair art installation had dwindled to Level: Ron Swanson. And at this point I just about died of embarrassment.
This weekend our internet is ramped up again, so normal programming will resume. This weekend is also the Chinese New Year, which is exciting because it's the year of the horse, when life sets off on a gallop and things start moving very quickly.
Bring it on.
xx