I know I've mentioned it a few times before, but I've joined my local CWA branch. Our hall has recently had some work done so it was pretty dusty and in need of a good clean.
So after our meeting the other day we got into it and cleaned the windows, some of the walls and the bathrooms.
It was then that we realised what a big job it is to clean a public hall. We'd been going for about two hours and had only done that much! There was SO much more to be done!!!
So, on the weekend I got a text inviting me to come and do another stint. The Big Fella was at work so I got to take the Little Big Fella with me. I packed a bag full of toys, and he decided to wear his Darth Vader costume. We jumped on our bikes and went to the hall.
I got the joyous job of cleaning walls. And I can tell you, I love cleaning walls about as much as I love cleaning windows!
I spent the next three hours cleaning one wall.
Yes. You read that correctly. Three hours, one wall.
As an experienced cleaner (ha!), why on earth would it take that long?????
BluTack, people!!!
OMG!!! I swear some of that BluTack had been there since the hall was built!!!! So it was solid and did not want to move to a new home!!!
My poor little fingers got cramps from pushing all that BluTack around to get it to come off.
And then there was the sticky stuff left behind by tape! I ended up riding home to get my bottle of eucalyptus oil to get that stuff off!
If I never see sticky stuff and BluTack again in my life...
Well, after about two minutes of "helping" me clean the wall, the Little Big Fella discovered that sugar soapy water and a rag makes "slug tracks" on a wooden floor.
At least he was entertained for about an hour, racing around the "track" like Turbo (a Disney/Pixar snail).
Never mind that once it dried the floors didn't look as clean as they were when we arrived. At least one wall was clean!
Today I was in charge of running a fundraiser for the the CWA. And I have to say, I am absolutely blown away by the generosity of people, and the willingness of those around me to help me fulfill my goal.
The goal was to raise funds to send through the Red Cross to those recovering from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. We ran a BBQ, with a cake stall and a "guess how many lollies are in the jar" competition. I was expecting to make somewhere between $300 and $400. But in just under 4 hours, we raised $747!!!!
Our very first transaction of the day was a man donating $10 while we were setting up.
Throughout the day we had many people tell us to "keep the change".
And at one point a man came over to find out what we were raising money for. After we told him, he walked over to the ATM, came back and dropped $200 on the table! We managed to convince him to have a sausage.
Then there were all my wonderful friends who baked delicious cakes, slices and cookies that we could sell on the cake stall! They looked wonderful and I'm pretty sure the people who bought them definitely enjoyed them!
And, of course, the wonderful people who made themselves available to stand out, next to a hot barbeque, on a really hot day, for no personal gain, who gladly paid for their own food and drinks, to cook and serve and set up and clean up. I am incredibly grateful for each of you, and the time and effort you gave to help make today such a success.
My husband, without whom I think the day would have been very difficult, even though he was desperate for sleep after a night shift.
My son's best friend's mum, who came and helped to set up, serve, and then took the Little Big Fella back to her place so that we didn't have to stress as he became bored and hot and cranky.
My friend who came and helped out for more than the hour she'd agreed to, and her friend who looked after her oldest two children so that she could.
Our CWA Treasurer, who really struggled in the heat, but hung around and helped all day, including packing up in the high heat of the day and counting all the money.
Our CWA President, her daughter and grandkids, who kept things running smoothly when I started to lose the plot this afternoon through exhaustion. And the re-supply of home-made baking that kept the cake stall running hot!
Our CWA Secretary and her husband who kept the stall running with enthusiasm when I was ready to end it early. And they stayed around to help deal with the pack up in the heat of the day, which is really the worst part of any event!
After working for three days at the end of this week (more about that in another post soon), I know that I wouldn't have been able to do this without all of you. And I would never have dreamed of being able to make such a wonderful donation without every one of the people who visited our little stall today.
Thank you! Thank you all so much!
One of the things that's kind of awesome about being an at-home mum is that you have a lot of time.
Sure! It gets filled with the needs of a child, the messes of a child, the friends and activities of a child, but as the parent of only 1 child I recognise that I have a lot of control over what happens and when in our house.
You may have noticed in reading my blog over the nearly two years I've been writing, that I tend to have periods of intense activity, followed by periods of totally boring domesticity.
With the development of Pinterest and the on-coming Christmas season, now is not a period of totally boring domesticity!
I have a few things on my plate right now and I'm starting to wonder if I'm in a little deep.
I've been Treasurer of our playgroup this year, which is a really easy job. But we're planning the end-of-year party and there's a few bits and pieces that need doing for that.
The Little Big Fella is starting Prep next year, so he's having Transition afternoons at school over these three weeks. And after meeting his teacher last week, we've been convinced that the more he knows in terms of letters and numbers, and the more independent he is, the easier starting school will be for him.
So he and the Big Fella have decided that the Little Big Fella can learn to spell his name (and then all the other words Daddy wants to teach him - he already knows the names of the letters but can only write 3 of them), and tie his shoelaces.
Which, of course, means that I'll be involved in support and supplementary teaching ;-)
Christmas is coming and I've been busily making cards, tree decorations, indoor decorations, outdoor decorations, trashing my house in a creative frenzy...
I joined the CWA this year as well and recently found out that our local supermarket offers the facilities to run fundraising BBQs. After seeing the effects of Typhoon Haiyan on TV, and my family having various connections with the Philippines, I suggested that we run a BBQ to raise funds to send for their recovery. You guessed it! I get to organise it.
Just to make it clear, I'm excited about it, and I'm hoping to get a decent turnout so we can make a reasonable donation, but it's another thing on my list. And, of course, I decided to make it slightly more intense by adding a cake stall, so I have to do a little cooking for it (as well as all the awesome people who've offered to contribute as well.
Then there are the various parties, events and Christmas gatherings over the next five weeks. And the housework and feeding and entertaining of my Fellas.
Then we need to add a final, and potentially apple-cart upsetting element. Last week I received an e-mail containing a letter of offer!
Back in March I applied for a 4-day-a-week position as a teller at one of the banks. I didn't receive it, but was contacted in May, I think, for an alternative position. Over the past months I've been waiting and going through various processes and have been offered a position as a casual relief teller, both in our closest town, and our closest large town.
Funnily enough, I spoke to the branch manager the next day and she hadn't heard from the Human Resources Department yet. But once all of those processes have been completed, I will be required for two weeks of full-time training.
Most likely before Christmas.
No doubt at some point in the very near future I will feel completely overwhelmed by all of this, but at this point, I'm actually feeling exhilarated! I have lots to do and I'm interested in what I'm doing.
All these crafty activities are encouraging to me because I'm good at them and I'm very satisfied with the results.
The organising tasks are exhilarating because I'm pretty good at that too! Hopefully I keep remembering to delegate - not only to keep from overwhelm, but also to allow others to participate and enjoy these activities, which are often the kinds of things that strengthen friendships.
Oh! And I finally caught up with the ironing tonight and have relocated the ironing board to the cupboard for the first time all week!
Am I in too deep? Probably! But all this activity, right now, makes for a pretty happy stay-at-home mum.
Now to reclaim my dining table from my frenzied craft activities, finish the stockings for the fence, put up the Christmas lights, finish the Christmas cards, make that wreath out of roadside weeds... and make sure I clean my oven before my grandparents get here for Christmas :-D
Obviously I haven't written a post in a while.
But, because it's not "work" for me, I don't have to! And I find that I get on a roll and want to write about everything sometimes, and other times nothing seems good enough to share, or is just too hard to write down.
However, I do like to provide the opportunity to allow people (especially family in other states) to keep up to date with what's happening with us.
So, what has been happening with us?
Well, we've been for a visit to our old town and hung out with my grandparents, sister and nephews (and briefly saw my brother-in-law - sucks to have to work for a living!).
I've collected the enrollment forms for the Little Big Fella for school. I just need a few signatures and a copy of his birth certificate and I can drop those off. Some time next term he'll have a day or two at the school in preparation for next year! It's all very exciting and a little bit trippy.
The Little Big Fella's best friend had his birthday party. It was a great day for all the kids and I met some wonderful women too.
Speaking of birthdays, the Big Fella turned 40 last week. But, being the Big Fella, not a big fuss was made. He hates cakes and cards and balloons and fuss.
Having said that, we had dinner with his mate the night before, dinner with a great couple on his birthday night, and some friends over for the afternoon/evening a couple of days later.
And the Big Fella and I gave each other rings. He gave me an eternity ring and I gave him a new wedding ring (his old one has been beaten and chipped and now sits, surprisingly sentimentally, in his drawer).
And although the Big Fella doesn't like fuss, I think ceremony is important. So, on the day he gave me my eternity ring, I gave him his ring (I'd had it for several weeks) and read out a page I'd written about our lives together so far and how much I love him. I guess it was our own, private re-commitment ceremony in our car, in the parking lot of a shopping centre.
Which is kind of funny, given that we got engaged in a car, too! (Just to set the record straight, we'd been out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and had driven up to a lookout but it was raining.)
What else?
Oh! We got a shipping container delivered. No, we're not moving. The Big Fella calls it our drug lab, but it's got all his workshop tools in it. We now have so much more room under the house!!!
We had a stressful couple of days after the kindy teacher mentioned that the Little Big Fella might be lacking in some social skills, and possibly have sensory issues. After talking with her, and reflecting ourselves, we decided that he probably needs a bit more direction (most often in the form of play) from us. We're going to see how he's going in a couple of months and go from there if need be.
The CWA had a special morning tea before Father's Day. They play a game called "bug" where you roll dice and draw a bug based on what you roll. It's played in teams of 4 and is very fast-paced, and thus exciting. It sounds strange and kind of boring, but it really isn't.
The school had a big garage sale and I shared a "stall" with another lady to sell some of the playgroup's extraneous equipment. And baked some yo-yos (a traditional Christmas treat in my family) for the school's P&C to sell.
And, just this past weekend Australia had an election, so there was all the annoying advertising that goes with it to wade through in an attempt to make an informed decision. Ha!
Then there's the normal work, play, shop, fix, garden, de-clutter of our lives. And there you have about a month in a few short paragraphs!
Hopefully that will help me get back on the blogging horse for a while ;-)
I'm interrupting my Melbourne trip posts because of something that's been on my mind a fair bit lately.
There's been a lot of media coverage here in Australia lately about internet "trolls". You know, the people who write absolutely horrible things on Twitter and Facebook and blogs that are the complete opposite of "building people up". They get super personal, super rude, super critical, and downright bitchy!
I've mentioned before that I've joined the local CWA. Last week I went to the combined AGM for the three closest towns, and the guest speaker talked about re-thinking how we can support the women in our area. It got me thinking about what the CWA does, what the women around here do, what women and children here need, and how we might be able to meet those needs.
The other day I was speaking to one of the mums in town who is having a really hard time. She's an awesome mum and an active member of our community, but she's feeling down and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. From what I understand, a part of her suffering is negative comments from other women.
Women are an incredibly strong force! Individually, we stand up under immense pressures and carry on because it is necessary.
But as a group, we can be even more powerful!
Sometimes we use that power to pull each other down. This is particularly apparent in High School, where groups of girls can give each other such a hard time. As indicated above, we're really good at trolling too.
But I'm starting to wonder what might happen if we used this power to help each other up more often.
What if we gave each other big bear hugs more often? Not just a little greeting, but the kind that makes trouble seem so much smaller.
What if we told others what great mums they are? How their kids are turning out great and it's obvious that they're loved?
What if we complimented regularly? Genuine compliments - as simple as, "that's a great colour on you", to deeper ones like, "I really appreciate how you go out of your way to make everyone else's life smoother".
What if women supported one another in every way they could think of, rather than bitching behind their backs and turning the world against them?
What if gossip sessions turned into planning sessions for how to make someone else's day?
I know there are so many groups trying to add happiness to the world. I guess I'm just wondering how I can be a part of that in my little corner of the world. And because I'm surrounded by awesome women, how I can include and encourage them too.
And I guess I wonder if women, being such a powerful force, can actually change the world!
Today was a pretty big day. Up at 6 to have breakfast then do my workout before taking the Little Big Fella to kindy. Collect the mail, home to finish my food dishes for today's CWA luncheon, then everything in the car and off to the hall.
Each year the CWA chooses a country to focus on. This year was Turkey. The CWA ladies prepare appropriate food, and the children from our little school do a colouring page (grade Prep to year 2), a promotional poster (years 3 to 5), or an information poster (years 6 and 7). The winners are presented with prizes and their work goes on to compete in the division, then if they win there, on to the State level.
It's a pretty big deal and one of the "events" in our small town's calendar.
The ladies who run the day put in SO much effort to make it great! One of the ladies decorates the whole hall, all of the ladies cook at least one dish, they all help to clean and set up the hall, and people donate some wonderful prizes for the cent sale and raffle that is also held. It's a community effort and is a fun day out.
I got to make a red lentil soup, which sounds rather... dull. But it's actually quite delicious and everyone who tried it enjoyed it. I also made a carrot dip. Some of the other ladies made chicken in yoghurt (SOOOOO good!), meatballs in tomato sauce, spinach pie (mmmmm!), and, of course, Turkish delight :D
The kids' colouring and posters were fantastic and it was fun to see them receive prizes.
We didn't end up eating until after 1 and dessert wasn't until after 2! I had to go collect the Little Big Fella from kindy, but we came back and helped to finish the clean up.
We finally got back home at 4.
The Little Big Fella was a bit hungry by this time (he'd had some lollies/candy at the hall but needed some "always food"). I was just coming out of the bathroom when I heard that sound.
Mums know this sound. It's the "run here because something is absolutely wrong!" sound.
Then it changed to the "run here and be here yesterday because it's even worse than it was a second ago" sound.
And I RAN!
I found the Little Big Fella in the kitchen, sitting on the floor with a bag of tortillas and a steak knife. He'd managed to stab the knife through the bag and cut his tall finger on his left hand. And yes, there was blood.
I grabbed his hand and put pressure on the wound and felt the blood pumping a little.
Oh shit!
The Big Fella was still at work. I couldn't drive to the doctor's or hospital and hold his hand at the same time. I couldn't see or hear the neighbours.
But I had my phone in my pocket! So I rang our emergency number and got put through to the ambulance.
It was so hard to talk to them because the Little Big Fella was crying so hard. But the first intelligible thing he said was, "I should have waited for you mummy". I guess there's a possibility he may have learned a lesson today.
By this time I'd grabbed a cloth to put over the wound and the bleeding seemed to have slowed or possibly even stopped. The guy on the phone gave me some instructions on what to do while I was waiting, and said that if certain things happened, that I should call again.
We moved inside and sat on the couch and turned on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that he could be comfortable, and hopefully a little distracted. He got a little bit cold and had a good cry again and kept asking where the ambulance was (nope, distraction didn't work!).
They got to our place in 20 to 30 minutes, which is basically as long as it takes to drive from the next town to ours. As they were coming to the stairs they saw a snake!
Sheesh! Really???
The snake slid into the "shed" under the house and the ambos came upstairs.
As soon as they wanted to touch or look at the wound, the Little Big Fella pretty much went into hysterics! I immediately worried that we'd have to get stitches and that it would be a major drama!!!
The ambos don't do stitches, but they cleaned the wound and bandaged it up. By this time the bleeding had basically stopped and was probably only going a little still because of the movement of the finger. They even put him in a sling, just to help him keep it safe :-D He loved it!
Just as they were leaving, the Big Fella arrived home from work! Totally freaked out about there being an ambulance in front of our house, but was fine once he saw that we were okay.
So he found and dealt with the snake and we went to the hospital in the next town because yes, we needed to get stitches, or (hopefully) glue the wound together.
I think we might have been the only people in emergency at that time because they took us straight through to the triage room and started asking all the usual questions, as well as injury-specific ones.
As soon as they started unwrapping the bandage, the Little Big Fella got upset and stressed out. And he was making noises like he was going to be sick. Thankfully the "sick bag" intrigued him for a little bit and mildly distracted him.
The nurses took a photo of the injury and texted it to the doctor on call (who happens to be our GP), asking if it needed stitching or could just be glued. We all crossed our fingers for glue!
After about 5 minutes we got the call saying that yes, it could be glued! Yay!!!!
Actually gluing it was a bit of a drama though. The Little Big Fella had a big cry (apparently it stings a little) and kept trying to pull his hand away. But eventually it was done and they wrapped it up and he was happy. He even got a certificate of bravery!
I have to say that the nurses were absolutely fantastic! Obviously they weren't particularly busy, but they still did everything they could for us, as quick as possible. And, as well as the certificate, they gave the Little Big Fella a juice box, "to replace all those tears".
He almost literally skipped out of the hospital! I guess he was feeling okay now that no one needed to see or touch his hand.
On the way home, we stopped at a local takeaway for kebabs/souvlaki for the Big Fella and me, and chips and prawn cutlets for the Little Big Fella. They were a bit past their prime by the time we got home, but still delicious and definitely better than having to cook!
Then it was time to wrap up the Little Big Fella's bandaged hand in a plastic bag and get him into the shower. First thing he did? Put his plastic hand in the water!
Here he is, all bandaged, showered and in bed (obviously before he completely crashed out):
Oh! And this one is where he's "web slingin'", because he'd been in his Spiderman suit when it all happened.
So, another successful visit to a small country hospital. I'd really like it to be more than 2 months before I see another one. Please! :-D
