Hey big spender!

Guess what Wii bought today! It's pretty cool actually, and it would appear that Chickie is a damn good boxer. He's not so crash hot at bowling yet and we haven't tried the others so far. We've got the Wii sports, an extra remote that comes with some games and also bought a Shrek game (Chickie doesn't know about that one yet - one thing at a time!)

I love the fact that it suggests you take a break. We should perhaps make sure Chickie listens to that!

We've never actually had a game console in this house before. J had an old Playstation a loooong time ago but his sister borrowed it and we never saw it again. We weren't too worried anyway. Anyway, I liked the fact with this that you can get up and move with it. Chickie's already worked up quite a sweat with his boxing. Though I should note here that he was also performing many unnecessary moves such as kicking and spins.

I can see this is going to be very popular!

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Chickie had his second school orientation visit today. He was hanging back with us and not wanting to join in with the other kids, so J and I left rather than hang around (we had the option of doing either today). He seemed fine with us going - but I was a bundle of nerves! Heaven help me on his first full day...

When we came back later he seemed to be having lots of fun playing with the other kids on the playground, so I presume it all went well. I must admit I was quietly pleased with how well he was listening and following the teacher's requests. Some of the kids were running about like madmen. I definitely think I made the right decision not to be a primary school teacher (I did a year and a half at teacher's college after school).

At the end of the session I started to go up to the teacher to check how Chickie handled it but she was in tears. I didn't know why, but figured she wouldn't want to be bothered then, so we just went home. J and I couldn't work out what was going on.

Later (on the way to buy the Wii) I discovered that I'd missed a call on my mobile. I listened to the message to find it was the Junior School Principal saying she would discuss the incident next visit. From her message it sounds like one of the parents said something rather nasty and uncalled for to the teacher. If that's the case, way to set your child up for a positive school experience there mum/dad!

I need one of these...

A friend sent me this today - I need one!

Arrgh!

Channel Ten's news just used the line 'The liberation of Paris" to describe Paris Hilton's release from jail. I'll bet they've been waiting for weeks to use that line.

Pardon me while I roll my eyes...

And what's with Sandra Sully's hair tonight??

Been a quiet couple of days in the caramaena household. Nothing really blog-worthy happening here. Saw Blades of Glory yesterday (typical Will Ferrell, liked it, don't leave as soon as the credits first roll), gave blood today and Chickie has his second school orientation visit this coming Friday. Will probably need some advice from other parents with school aged kids soon.

Orientation

Chickie had his first school orientation session today. He was looking forward to it (oddly enough he even appears to be looking forward to homework!). In the car on the way, he said 'I hope all my new friends are glad to see me'.

We rolled up at 9am and the kids and parents went down to the classroom (there's about 9 or 10 other kids starting at the same time). Chickie and the other kids sat down to listen to their teacher (L) read a story and then do some drawing, while the parents had a bit of a tour of the building with the Junior Primary Principal. It took a little bit of convincing for Chickie to stay with L so she suggested that J sit with him for a few minutes.

Later all the kids went out with the other classes and did some skipping for their fitness session (they do some sort of physical activity every day, adding up to about 100 minutes a week). Chickie just watched, which I wasn't surprised with. He's always been the sort of kid to sit back and watch unfamiliar things before participating.

Later the principal took us up to the library to get the rest of the details we needed and answer any questions we had. I couldn't think of any then, but I have a few now! We have two more orientation visits over the next two weeks, so I'm not too worried.

After that we went down and picked up the kids. Chickie had drawn two pictures and had received a star and a sticker, so he was thrilled.

All in all, he's decided he liked it. I anticipate that might be the attitude until the second full day of school ;)

One grumpy woman

You know that feeling where you're just fed up with things and just want to be left alone? That was me yesterday. I think I was just feeling crowded - particularly by Chickie but also by my cats - some days none of them will leave me be.

Yesterday, Chickie got up early, as he always does (gah), so J got up and left to go on his hike (he's been doing that the last few Sundays), while I tried to sleep a little longer. Chickie is usually ok to eat his toast and watch tv, but he seems to have this thing against sleep (ie: why would anyone want to sleep in?), so he'll come in every ten minutes or so. I had that yesterday, as well as the cats either jumping up on my bedside chest of drawers, knocking stuff off, or kneading my stomach (aka clawing me to death).

So, I got out of bed on the wrong side...

During the day, Chickie kept asking me if he could kiss me. Nothing wrong with that - except he wouldn't kiss me, he kept licking me! It was driving me nuts. When I refused to go near him when he asked for kisses, he started wrestling with me or sneaking up and licking me, then running off laughing. Ugh!

Combine all that with vague plans, to get out of the house and do something, that came to naught (J's mother's computer was playing up and it took longer than expected to fix) and you had one very grumpy woman in this house.

Luckily J had already organised to take me out last night. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then went and saw a Bollywood movie - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. I was feeling much better by the end of the night.

Then today, a nice undisturbed sleep-in, a relaxed day of doing little more than watching the latest Doctor Who (velcro - did you see it? Can't wait for the next one) and messing about on the computer, has put things right in the caramaena world.

So, how was your weekend?

Postman Chickie?

Chickie is getting a bit excited about starting school soon, I think. He wants to drive past it at least once a week, he talks about getting homework and can't wait for his orientation visits. One of the other children at his childcare centre has started doing his school visits too (he'll be going to a different school though), so Chickie was telling me all about what his friend had said.

So the other day Chickie asked me what happened after he finished at that school. The conversation went like this:

Chickie: "Where will I go after I finish my school? Will I go to high school?"

Me: "Yes, high school is after primary school"

Chickie: "And then what happens?"

Me: "You can go to university if you want, or get a job. What do you think you'd like to do? There's lots of things you can do - doctor, fireman, teacher, plumber, rock star" (heh, he pretends to be a rock star with his toy guitar all the time - he's got the moves down pat!).

Chickie (after thinking for a moment): "hmmm... I'm going to be a mailman"

Then he thinks a bit more and adds: "I could get one of those bikes and ride around on it all day. I'd deliver letters to everyone but not bills, because no one likes those. And then if someone gets a package I could bring it to them and then help them open it!"

So, there you go. How would you like Chickie as your mailman? You'd never have any more bills or have to open your own packages ever again!

Two things

H tagged me for the two things meme!

Two names you go by:
- Mu-um (yes, that does have two syllables)
- Babe (J calls me that and even Chickie has called me that once or twice)

Two things you are wearing right now:
- pjs (pink and white if you must know)
- black, white and grey jigsaw patterned socks

Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship:
- friendship
- someone who can make me laugh

Two of your favourite things to do:
- beading
- watching a good (mushy) chick flick

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
- to be able to lose 10 more kilos - preferably without exercising or watching what I eat (why are you laughing?)
- to be able to sleep a full night without one of the cats meowing to be let out and then just standing at the door deciding it's too cold after all...

Two pets you have had:
- a siamese cat called Simon (can't recall why I called him that, it was a long time ago now, I was a kid - ok?)
- a (half siamese) jet black cat called Tiki

Two people I would like to do this (if you're not interested though, just say!):
- Steve
- Robin

Two things you did last night:
- played Neopets
- watched tv (I had a really really boring night last night!)

Two things you ate today:
- Vogel's Soy and Linseed Bran for breakfast (Chickie calls it my 'stickies' cereal because they look like little sticks)
- a very small slice of chocolate cake (naughty but one of my team-mates is off on maternity leave and brought it in as a farewell - it would have been rude to refuse...)

Two people you last talked to:
- On the phone: J's mother
- In person: J

Two things you are doing tomorrow:
- hoping to visit the friend that recently had the 9 pound baby (if she's up to it)
- going to work (way, way too early in the day)

Two longest car rides:
- Do bus rides count? If so, I spent a few days on a bus from the north coast of NSW to Perth WA. That was a loooong trip.
- Caboolture QLD to Dubbo NSW. I drove by myself and it took two days (I don't drive at night, if I have a choice, since my night vision isn't as good as it could be). I've actually done trips of similar lengths a couple of times.

Two favourite holidays:
- 2 weeks in Japan. In our family our 21st present is a plane ticket to wherever and all we have to do is save for spending money.
- Our recent holiday to the Gold Coast was fun.

Two favourite beverages:
- lemon pepsi. Though I don't think they make it any more. Shame really, it was yummy. Not that I should be drinking normal soft drinks now anyway, so these days it's diet coke with lime.
- a good old fashioned bloody mary

So there you go - now you know even more about me!

J is crazy

Why would you sleep outside in the freezing cold - well 7 (44) degrees, which is cold enough (it is winter here after all!)- in a swag on the cold hard ground when you have a perfectly comfortable bed in a nicely warmed house available? I don't get it.

J's been talking about taking Chickie camping some day when he's older. Chickie's now five so J was thinking of testing the waters a bit. He borrowed his dad's tent and set it up out the back yard with his swag next to it. He and Chickie were talking about it for days. So come Chickie's bedtime, off they went and spent, oh perhaps 15 minutes out there. Chickie got cold (not surprisingly) and was a bit scared so they came inside and Chickie went to bed in comfort and warmth (ie: his own bed).

A few hours later, J said he was off to bed and headed outside! Yes, he slept there all night. Yes, he was cold and yes, it wasn't too comfortable. His back was bothering him a bit today. I'm still shaking my head over it.

Guess I'm just not the camping type...

RIP fairsCaPe

I woke up this morning to this very sad news in my email:

Jean died May 31 of cervical cancer.

Please tell anyone who knew Jean.
Women: please don't skip your pap smear.

Jean's blogs:
http://fairscape.blogspot.com/
http://homecarevent.blogspot.com/
http://poerotica.blogspot.com/
http://evilinfluences.blogspot.com/
http://cybersapienhunter.blogspot.com/

I'm in tears and I will miss her very much. Many condolences to her family.

8 things

I've been tagged by KindaBlue over at Every Generation. So here are 8 things you probably never wanted to know about me!

1. People call me a bit of a daredevil, but I don't really agree. I've been tandem skydiving, gliding, had a joyride in a tiger moth plane, a hot air balloon and a helicopter - but you'll never see me bungee jumping or on a boat where I can't see the shore (I'm terrified of drowning).

2. I've been told I 'sound blonde' (yes, direct quote there!). I used to be a radio announcer and met a listener at a function. She had a slightly puzzled look on her face and then said I wasn't what she expected. I asked why and that's when she said I sounded blonde (my hair colour is dark reddish brown).

3. I realised, at about mid afternoon today, that I'd put my undies on inside out. This is not the first time it's happened, but I guess you'll get that when you're getting ready for work in the dark...

4. I cannot read Terry Pratchett's books in public. I find his books so funny that I laugh out loud and people seem to think you're strange for doing that.

5. I have absolutely no sense of direction. I've worked in the same building for over seven years now and I can only remember that my desk is in the west wing by linking it in my mind with the tv show. I joke about it and tell people I subscribe to the Zen method of navigation (find someone who looks like they know where they're going and follow them). Funnily enough - that method did actually work for me once.

6. I once had a stalker. It wasn't a huge deal but it did make me feel a bit nervous and creeped out at the time. I was a volunteer on the local community radio station and this guy used to call up all the time and tell me about how his wife had left him and taken all the furniture except a bed, a chair and his radio. Was more annoying than anything (was near impossible to get him off the phone without being rude), until he started sending me flowers and other things, then calling me at home. He started hanging around the station (he became a volunteer) but when I saw him hanging around the apartment building I lived in, I got really creeped out. My then boyfriend and I moved and got a new (silent) number in his name and we also made sure I was never alone in the studio. Not long after that the boyfriend got a job in commercial radio so we moved a long way away.

7. I'm a bit of a spelling and pronunciation nazi. It seems like my eye is just automatically drawn to spelling errors (though there are some words I just cannot spell to save my life!), so I'm very embarrassed if I make typos in my posts!! Oh, and if you want to drive me batty just constantly mispronounce a few words. My mum pronounces film as fillum and I just want to pull my hair out when I hear it. J mispronounces mayor all the time. Makes me want to send this link to him. He says it as may-your. I think they both do it on purpose now... gah!

8. I think I've killed my taste buds. Before being diagnosed with diabetes, you couldn't get me to even contemplate stuff with artificial sweeteners in it. I detested the after taste - especially diet drinks. I used to drink a 600ml bottle of coke every other day or thereabouts, so going from that to just water was hard to deal with. I tried a few different diet drinks but the taste was just blech. I found that I could handle diet coke with lime though and after several months of this I've found that I can also now handle coke zero and plain diet coke. In fact, I realised recently that I have a hard time telling the difference between normal coke and diet. Yep, I'm pretty sure I've killed my taste buds...

You know, I've been thinking about this post for a few days now. I thought I'd have heaps of trouble thinking of 8 facts about me, but I think I even have a few up my sleeve. Perhaps I'll talk about them sometime when I've run out of inspiration.

I'm supposed to tag a few people now. I always find this bit hard. You never know if people are interested in doing memes (and then the ones that are have usually done it already!). Let's see...

How about Tasha at Mommy Needs To Vent (she hasn't posted in a few weeks though), Tracey at Peppermint Patcher (she's just moved her blog over to Wordpress and reached 100 posts! Go say hi) and Kirsty at Two Lime Leaves (go check out the pear photo mosaic she has up at the moment - very cool). If you haven't been tagged yet and would like to do this meme, leave me a comment - I'd love to read yours.

Linky love

Want to win some really nice hand blown glass? Then have a look at gnat's site (link below).

Glass Blowing Pensacola Florida: Glass Contest Time...make your guess!

1st prize is one his new shells - and they're just lovely. I wouldn't mind one of those myself!

All you have to do is guess the number of marbles in the vase and if you come over from my blog and win - I get the large marble!

I've no idea if he's wanting to send stuff outside the U.S. just yet (I asked) but if not, have a look at some of his pics on the blog - very nice work.

tooth fairy time

Yup, it happened - Chickie has officially lost his first baby tooth! I got a call at work today because he was so excited about it. At first I was a bit worried since the childcare centre usually only call if he's sick.

It seems like it's happened rather quickly, but I suppose it has been loose a few weeks now. I had a look in his mouth a couple of days ago and could see the adult tooth coming up behind it, so I should have guessed it wouldn't take long. I'll tell you one thing though - his new tooth looks like it's HUUUUUGE!! Honestly it looks about 3 times the size of his baby tooth. I'm wondering how the heck his adult teeth are going to fit in his mouth.

So, what's the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?

On another exciting note, a friend has just had her second baby today. Another girl and another big one - 9 pounds, 15! The first was also in the 9 pound range so they were expecting it, but my goodness that's a big baby.

Post party wrap up

Well, I think it went well. It looked like everyone was having a good time. So, I think I'll call it a success.

I'd invited 15 kids (not including Chickie), 14 had rsvp'd with a yes, so I told the bowling alley a final count of 15. One parent called, in the morning, to say his son was ill and couldn't come. One of the other boys had brought his older brother (he and his mother were planning on bowling separately while the party was on) so I asked if he wanted to bowl with the kids too. So all in all, I didn't have to worry about paying for an unused spot.

We got there half an hour early and one boy was already there! Not a problem but I hope they hadn't been waiting too long. Didn't matter to Chickie as this was one of his good friends that had now started school, so they were excited to see each other.

We went up to the area they'd assigned us and the other kids started arriving. It was so funny to see the kids play together. At one stage they were doing this follow the leader thing around the place. During the bowling they were also play wrestling and mini-'racing' between the lanes. It's a good thing we were right off at the end, so no one else was being bothered.

Once everyone was there we started the food for the kids. There was heaps of food. The amount was probably more suited to older kids, rather than 5 year olds. They didn't eat a real lot to start with (probably too excited, but they all seemed to come back to pick at it while bowling). After they'd had a bit to eat we got them started bowling. We had three lanes with 5 kids in each, but only one ramp (the other ramps were taken with other lanes - the place was packed).

It was hilarious watching the kids bowl. One boy (I) knew how to bowl and apparently does it quite a bit. They put up the speed of the ball being bowled and I's were going at about 10 ks an hour. Some of the other kids were at about 1 k an hour. Many many times, the ball was going so slowly that it stopped half way down.

There was at least one strike that I saw and a couple of spares. The kids would get so excited when any pins were knocked over though. It was so cute!

The adult platters were served once the game started and then the ice cream cakes were served after the kids finished their game. After that, we all went home and collapsed in a heap!

Some random thoughts for the day:

* I should have had name tags for everyone. Some of the parents I didn't know at all - other than when they called to rsvp. So putting faces to names was a bit of a task. Plus some of them wouldn't have known many others, so thinking back it would have made it easier all round.

* I was really pleased that so many dads turned up. We had two where it was mum and dad, and four where it was just dad and their child/ren. I was initially worried that J would feel a bit 'odd man out' with no other guys there, so I'm glad it didn't turn out that way.

* I should have had Chickie wait to open presents until later or asked J to write the gift on the back of the card. While I said hello to the parent, J was helping Chickie open stuff and he grouped the cards with the right gift but at some point things were knocked over and neither he nor Chickie can remember who gave what. I did make a point of thanking everyone for coming at the end and thanking them for the gift but it was a bit embarrassing not knowing which gift!

* Speaking of toys, people are really generous! I was amazed at the generosity of the gifts. Chickie is thrilled with all his new toys.

* Some kids must find parties hard. One particular kid cried a number of times. I'm not even sure why, to be honest. J thought it might be for the attention but I don't know, to me he looked a little overwhelmed. One other girl cried as well, but that was because two other girls were playing with each other and she was feeling excluded. I think it was because the two girls turned out to be wearing the same outfit and they kept telling me they were twins.

* Stomper's recommendation of alcohol afterwards was spot on. J discovered about 3/4 of the way through that they sold alcohol there, so indulged in a Jack and coke (for his nerves!).

Chickie is 5 today!!

My sweet little baby boy is growing up. 5 years old today. He's such a boy now.

He got up at his usual time (6am...) and found two very intriguing parcels on the couch. I was already up since I had to work, so we got J out of bed and Chickie ripped into them.

J had taken him 'scouting' for present suggestions a few weeks back and one of the things he liked was the pull string Woody doll (from Toy Story). We found a double pack where for an extra $10 you also got Jessie. So now he has two talking dolls. We also got him a snakes and ladders game (he loves playing that and monopoly when he visits his grandparents) and some proper paints (his current set is useless, the paint is so watery it barely colours the page) and a Spiderman colouring/activity book and pencils set. He also got some DVD's and $20 from my mum and dad. It was so funny when he opened the card, he picked up the money by the corner, waved it around and asked if it was real!

I managed to croak a happy birthday to him. Unfortunately I still don't have much of a voice. I took yesterday off to see if a day of not speaking would bring it back. It's a little better but not enough that I can do much at work. I took one call - internal thankfully - and it was obvious that I'm not going to be able to do any calls at all. Not so good when you work in a call centre!

Anyway, tonight we'll have family and a couple of friends around for bbq and cake, one of Chickie's friends has a birthday party tomorrow and then Chickie's party is Sunday. Get set for a big weekend here! Hopefully I'll have my voice back for Chickie's party, otherwise that could be interesting...

I'm a little hoarse right now

Well, truth be told, I actually have very little voice left at all.

I told J I'd spent 45 minutes yelling at a customer and he got all concerned and wondered what had happened. It's very out of character for me to yell, let alone yell at a customer.

So, I had my little giggle and told him I'd actually been yelling to a customer. Long story short - the customer had emailed in about some username/password problems and even after questioning a fair bit, we couldn't work out if it was with the initial connection or his email (in case you're wondering - his Mac worked, his pc didn't). Eventually we asked him to call in and see if we could sort it out quicker. He said he would but commented that he was a bit deaf and the last time he'd called, he'd hung up in frustration because he spoke to someone with an accent and they wouldn't slow down even after he'd explained he couldn't hear and understand them.

Now, previously I've worked in radio and found that speaking slowly and clearly is one of my strengths, so I figured rather than have this guy take his chances, I'd call him (though it's not what we usually do). Well, we sorted the problem, even though it took ages - and many many many repetitions of commands. I was sitting there shouting down the phone line, with my team mates having a good laugh at my expense (heh, we all do it to each other). In the end the customer was so happy to have the problem sorted that he told me I should get employee of the month award!

I'm thinking now I should have warmed up my voice before I called (even though voice exercises are so very embarrassing to do in public)! My voice has just been getting worse and worse all day. I'm down to just whispering now.

I have to say though - the funniest thing was speaking with Chickie earlier. Once my voice was pretty much down to a whisper, he started whispering back to me. I explained he didn't have to but he couldn't seem to stop. The way he was acting, it was like telling him dinner was ready and to come have his teeth brushed etc, were all big secrets!

Just about sorted.

The numbers for Chickie's party are in with the bowling alley.

I ended up with 15 - not including the one that didn't respond, but the alley says they don't have a problem with adding at the last minute. Food shouldn't be a problem anyway since the kid's food is on platters rather than individual, plus I've ordered extra platters to feed the adults too.

So, now we wait and see how it turns out. I hope the kids have fun!

Actually... while I'm soliciting advice...

What are your thoughts on this:

Chickie will be 5 in less than a week (how the heck did that happen??!). On the Sunday after, we're throwing him a birthday party at the local 10 pin bowling place. We've invited our mum's group kids, a couple of kids from the childcare centre and a couple of kids who used to go to the centre with him, but have now gone to school. There's about 15 kids all up, including Chickie (am I mad? We'll find out, I guess).

Small dilemma is that it's at the local bowling place which means I pay per child and they want final numbers by this Tuesday. I asked for rsvp's by yesterday, but I figured I might have a few stragglers so wanted to allow a few extra days before the actual deadline. Now all but two have rsvp'd, so do I say yes for those two - just in case - or not? I'd be out about $30 if I say yes and they don't turn up.

Complicating the matter further, is that I can't just call the parents to confirm. I dropped off invites to the centre and they posted the invites for me (to the ones that have moved on to school). Of the two that haven't rsvp'd, one child still goes to the childcare centre but the other no longer does. I have asked the centre if they can pass on a reminder to the one who does still attend, but I'm not sure about the other. At least I still have a couple of days for them to contact me. If they don't though, do I say yes for them and hope for the best??

Fifteen 5 (and under) year olds sounds like an awful lot of kids but we haven't done a lot of parties for him. He had a biggish one (family and friends) for his first and then only little mum's group gatherings (ie cake etc at the usual mum's group meetup), so I'm happy to have something a bit bigger for the 5th birthday. Well, I say that now... but ask me again on Monday the 4th of June!.

Speaking of things toothy...

For those of you with older kids, at what age did they lose their first baby tooth?

Chickie is 4, well ok 5 in a week and a half, and believe it or not, he has a wobbly tooth! Isn't that a bit early? I thought kids started losing them at about 6 or 7.

It's not hugely wobbly but I can feel it. Plus he's finding it a bit uncomfortable eating. Any ideas how long it will take to come out after it starts wobbling? I can't remember back that far... hehe

In other news, I had my yearly performance review at work yesterday. It went well - very well in fact. I got the second highest 'grade'! This has a direct effect on my bonus and payrise. If a bonus is paid, the higher the grade the more money you get (same with payrise). So I'm thrilled :)

Oh and finally - I bought the lastest Sims 2 expansion pack recently (Sims 2 Seasons). I installed it today, so if I don't visit your blog in the next few days, it will be because I'm hanging out in Riverblossom Hills (the new neighbourhood in the game)!

slack-jawed yokel

Ayup, that's what I feel like right now...

I've been to the dentist again and this time I did need to get some anaesthetic. Because the tooth worked on was sort of front right at the bottom, the needle was put in just down near my lip and now half of my bottom lip feels enormous. It's not moving very well either. I looked in the mirror and smiled earlier - damn near frightened myself to death...

Chickie-isms

A phrase often heard, from me, in our house is 'Can I please just go to the bathroom in peace?!' - usually uttered in quite a plaintive tone.

If it's not Chickie bursting in to 'chat' (or coming in and singing at the top of his voice - good acoustics you see), it's the two cats pushing open the door and hanging out with me (heck, one keeps trying to sit on my lap!). Shut the door you say? Well, I try. Unfortunately, Chickie's tall enough to reach the handle now and the cats have this very irritating habit of pushing a paw under the door and rattling it. Having them hang out with me is the lesser of two evils!

So today, Chickie opens the door and very nicely asks me to get a toy down from a shelf, when I've finished. I said I would and he (very solicitously) says 'thanks mum, now I'll leave you in one piece'.

Good thing he walked away then... I had trouble keeping a straight face!