Early Mornings and Car Shows

Early mornings in our house are reserved for weekdays only - and they are because Hubby has to leave for work early - but the rest of us can stay in bed longer.

Not yesterday though. Sunday morning and the alarm went at 5:50am. We were out the door at 6:30am. We ended up arriving in Devonport - after fog and idiot drivers just after 8am.

There were 4 cars that left - we pick up one on the way out of the car park, two up at Hagley, and then three more just outside Devonport.

It was a great day - so many cars!!! There were over 300 of them in all. I will post photo's a bit later. I've had a busy (and tiring) morning in Alexander's classroom. It's amazing - did you know that you CAN jump rope in high heels? I learnt that one today :-)

To start, but not to finish...

I am an avid knitter and cross-stitcher.

I've been cross-stitching for about 15 years. And knitting (seriously) for about 3 years - before then I could knit scarves - that was the extent of my knowledge.

I have so many things on the go, I buy new wool, or a new cross-stitch kit and start something, before putting it down to continue something else......... It took me 7 years to complete a sampler cross-stitch, because I did other things in between.

I've made a list now of what I have started and what remains sealed in their packets, or balls of wool purchases for projects that I haven't touched (yet).

I have 4 different knitting projects that I have started and are on needles or stitch holders.
* A rug for our daughter that is made of 90 squares (her birthday present)
* A black cardigan for myself
* A pink jumper for myself (started 2 years ago, undone and restarted in a different style)
* A fluffy hot water bottle cover for my mother....

Then there is the wool for 5 other projects.... plus lots of other assorted wool.......

There are 8 different cross-stitch projects that I have started..... The oldest one having been started about 5 years ago.
Along with these 8 are 14 kits, still sealed in their packets waiting to be done (10 of the 14 are Tatty Teddies)

I DO finish projects. I have done knitted presents for friends, cross-stitches as presents for my dad. I've just finished a shrug for our daughter to wear at her Auntie's wedding in May - in case it's cold.

I just need to finish some of the older projects before picking up some new ones......

Back to it......

Back to work!

Ok, so last Wednesday was my first day back, but it was only a half day... Yesterday was my first full day back. My role has changed, I'm now doing admin and promotions - it's a change, and it's interesting.

It was so easy to get back into the swing of things - and my household goals? Well the house is pretty tidy - heck I've even vacuumed today!

Last night we treated ourselves to a night out - dinner and movie. Dinner at KFC, followed by Hubby winning me a scary green monster toy out of a skill tester (from Monsters Vs Aliens), and then seeing 'Love the Beast'.

The movie was great - for anyone that hasn't seen it - GO AND SEE IT! Eric Bana seems the most down to earth person - from the red carpet to racing in Tassie and chatting with his mates!

But the downside to the night.... losing my car keys...... how stupid could I have been? I left them sitting in KFC....... ooops...
By the time I realised they were missing (which was after the movie) the girl in at KFC had locked then in the safe, which is on a timer delay - and wouldn't open again until 7am.

Luckily I have a little brother who came and rescued us!!!

I will double and triple check from now on that I have my keys....

Goal Setting

This is something I used to do all the time. That and making lists - lots of lists.

I've been through and used the Flylady technique to keep my house tidy - gave that one up as a bad joke after a few weeks. ButI still have my Flylady list - will use it on occasions where I want to spring clean.

Then I used the 'Smiley Face' list. You write a list of 7 things you want to achieve in the day. It can be very simple things like 'Do the dishes', or 'Hang out the washing'. And each time you complete a task, you draw yourself a smiley face. A simple reward. But for me it was a simple reward that ended up unappealing - and how many times did I manage to achieve all 7 things in a day? Not that many.

These days I just do what needs to be done to keep the house reasonably tidy. My biggest problem? Me...... I have a very bad habit of putting things down and then walking away.... coming back a week later to clean up. Half my couch is taken up by my stuff - but it WAS clean a week and a half ago - the stuff just all came back.

I think today I'm going to make an effort (a real one this time). To clean my stuff up - so my poor husband doesn't come home and wonder 'Where am I going to sit?' I won't set goals - I'll just say 'Tidy'.....

We'll see how it goes.

Where did the week go?

I looked at my blog today and went - OMG it's been a week since I've written anything! What did I do this week??

Monday - Got the kids ready for school, and then helped out in son's class until recess - we were glazing the clay apples that they had made. Went to see kids dad and get back home readers that were forgotten. Went home - returned a phonecall to my boss - who told me that work starts on Wednesday, although not a full day for the first day. Then I went grocery shopping - took the hubby with me because he was home due to the rain. Came home and unpacked groceries while talking to my mother (who had phoned while we were out).
Sat down for a second and hubby says 'We should buy a new chest of drawers for daughter' - hers had fallen apart....again..... They're only a few years old, but made out of chipboard and plywood - not the best thing for a rough 6 year old.
So out again to buy a chest of drawers, you buy in one place and then drive across town (a whole 15 minute drive) to pick up the package. Get home, drag the thing out of the car and then out of the box... a mammoth effort considering how well packed the thing was. Shove it into daughters room - go and pick up the kids from school.
Usual mad afterschool routine of reading home readers, getting dinner ready, showers and then bed. Before I crash on the couch and don't move (it's Desperate Housewives night!)

Tuesday - Same morning routine with kids getting to school. I go shopping then for some work pants and a shirt for me - because the ones I have at home - well them one of the pairs of pants attract every bit of fluff in a 5 mile radius and don't de-fluff easily and the other pair have been taken in, but are most uncomfortable having done so.... I always like buying new shirts...... so another one for the collection!
Then I head to the bookstore to buy some workbooks for son - to help with his handwriting and reading - we're working on digraphs. I found the teachers section (after asking because they hide it away.) and there was so much amazing stuff there.
I get home, and somehow manage to waste 4 hours on the computer........ ?????????
I pick up the kids from school and repeat yesterdays afternoon routine..... Tonight though was NCIS night!

Wednesday - Usual morning routine (again). But I then go to work! I have been back in the office since I left in June last year, but it's really just been to pick up things and do some photocopying. But my boss had left me a list of things that he needed done - and I got to it!
I left at 1pm to come home, check e-mails etc and fluff around until it was time to pick up the kids. And repeat every other afternoon! Nothing worth watching on TV tonight - Lost is on far too late for me.... Yes I do go to bed early.......

Thursday - Usual morning routine. But today is a home day - supposed to tidy and do household chores - you know the usual washing, vacuuming, dusting..... I managed to do 3 (or was it 4) loads of washing, vacuumed the floors, clean out the bird cage and the fish tank - but I had to go and buy another filter for the tank - because the filter, well the best way to describe it would be Ewwwwwww...... So in the afternoon I picked up the kids, and did the usual thing. Thursday night is Grey's Anatomy night - even hubby sits and watches it with me now! :-)

Friday - Usual morning routine - but not as chaotic as a usual Friday, because the kids are coming back rather than going to their dads - we had a birthday BBQ to go to on Saturday. I did parent help in daughters classroom this morning. Her teacher has offered me a wonderful opportunity - that both benefits her and me. She has said that I am quite welcome to go in as often as I like (every day if I like) to help out - especially in the maths period - when more hands are needed and a teacher can only be in one place at one time. This would be great for getting my confidence back and then possibly doing some relief teachings.
After my last post about wanting to get back into teaching this made me actually look at the teacher registration forms - something I didn't even do when I graduated!!
I go home, manage to achieve not much, before going back and picking up the kids later on.
At home it's more of a rushed afternoon, we have dinner earlier because I have to head off to work at about 6pm, I like us to eat together as a family. I go to work, get home, we read stories before the kids go to bed.

Saturday - My sister-in-law to be's 21st birthday (isn't that just a mouthful). We veg around all morning, before heading off to my parents for the birthday BBQ. Lots of family time and organising who's doing what while my parents are in the UK (they leave in 2 weeks). We get home around dinner time, I chuck some pizzas in the oven and the kids only have a piece each!! Very unusual for them! Daughter complains of a tummy ache -so we prepare the bedroom (take all the stuffed toys of her bed) "just in case".... They sit up late(ish) watching a movie on TV - and promise to sleep in in the morning....

Sunday - Sleep ing??? Nope didn't happen..... So they were tired and crabby. In a mad rush I got the kids ready to go back to their dads - realised at the last minute that we'd forgotten lunchboxes and drink bottles and library books. But they were ready by the time he arrived. I then spent the remainder of the morning tidying their bedrooms before heading to work...
I have to say that work dragged for the first 2 hours - I looked at my watch every 10 minutes thinking at least 30 minutes had to have passed, but it was not to be. The final hour passed in such a mad rush though!! Dinner at my lovely mother in laws - her oven decided to break - and she only found out about an hour before dinner, when she found that the lamb was still a pretty pink and not smelling like it was cooking..... So take out for dinner. And hubby brought the roast home to be cooked in our oven.
The rest of my evening was spent finishing tidying the kids rooms and talking to hubby about his idea of starting his own business (of which I am 110% behind) before again heading to bed....

Which brings us to today and now..... This week won't be as busy as last week (I don't think).

I remember.....

Both why I wanted to and why I chose not to become a teacher.....

From a young age I always wanted to be a teacher.... then it was a lawyer and a social worker.... But when it came to deciding my future that day filling out the Uni enrolment form I chose teacher.

Along the way I realised that although I love kids and working with kids that teaching wasn't the occupation for me.

I have always remained working with children in one way or another. When I had a 6 month break with Uni towards the end, and went and studied Child Care at TAFE. Both of my jobs have me working with children in various capacities, and I have just started doing parent help at school.

Standing in the classroom today (in a grade 3/4) I remembered what I liked about teaching - the interaction with the kids, teaching new things, seeing them learning new things. What I didn't like about teaching was the politics and the paperwork that went with it.

It's amazing how many people think that teaching is a 9:00-3:00pm job... Don't all teachers wish that this was true - also that they got all the holidays that the kids get. But that doesn't happen - there is all the planning, recording, assessment, meetings etc etc etc. So more like 7am - 12am were how my days ran when I was on prac - even when I was super organised.

I really, really enjoyed today - and part of me considered putting my hand up for more time in the classroom. Part of my brain then went let's get back into teaching, before the sensible part of my brain spoke up and went - "Are you nuts?!?!?!"

I might just stick to my mornings of parent help..... This afternoon, after school, I had to deal with a stubborn child who "couldn't" read his home reader - it made me realise that while I can send my own children to their rooms for a bit of time out (for both of us) when they're being difficult, doing that in a classroom is a little more difficult.

But here's to remembering what we wanted to do, but then realising things aren't always what they seem!

Distraction

So I'm supposed to still be tidying. I achieved quite a bit yesterday. We now have couches that our guests can sit on this weekend!

But then last night I did something that has distracted me all day today.... I booked a holiday for the family - we're off to Melbourne in September.

The questions then start arising - so plane tickets booked, but we need to stay somewhere... somewhere that isn't going to cost an arm and a leg, considering we'll be doing little much but sleep there, but then we have to eat out, so maybe a apartment hotel is an option. Well what's around? Spend the next hour looking for places to stay!!

Then we move on to 'What are we going to do there'. We're going for an extra day than last time. Last time we had a few things planned, and some other things in mind, but the kids were bored, and tired easily. So I've managed to spend 4 hours on the computer looking for interesting things for us all to do in Melbourne. Now I have enough to do for a flooping week - we've got 3 full days and 2 not quite half days..... So now I have to cut down the list....

All the meanwhile I'm still supposed to be tidying the house......

Keeping It Tidy

What am I talking about?

The clothing pile?
The kitchen?
The kids rooms?

Well yes and no.... Yes they are part of it, but no they are only part of the bigger picture! I'm talking about keeping the house tidy - the whole house...

This is something that I find a difficult task - something that I have struggled with really since I moved out... and it's never mattered if I've lived with someone, or by myself - it doesn't seem to make a difference - there is always something (usually lots) thats untidy.

I have various methods for trying to combat this - I have an altered method of Flylady - and how that works depends on what day of the week it is, and whether I'm working or not.

But I really think that the big problem is Me. Not really all that hard to admit - considering looking around the loungeroom now 99.9% of the "stuff" spread around is mine....

This week I do need to tidy up though. I'm having a Tupperware party here on Saturday, parents, in-laws and friends all coming here - hopefully to sit on clean chairs and carpet. But the way it's looking at the moment we might all have to squish on one lounge chair!

Wish me luck for tomorrow! The tidying frenzy begins then.

Renovations that never end......

12 months ago we started renovating.... We decided that the kids needed extra space because you couldn't move in their bedrooms, and when they dragged toys out into the loungeroom to play, you couldn't move in there either.... and no matter how many times we asked them to pack EVERYTHING away, things always ended up hiding under the couch, or the table, or just being left out.

So the master bedroom became the playroom, and we built a new master bedroom with ensuite and walk in robe - more room for us!

In the process we had to halve the existing bathroom - to make a hallway through to the new bedroom...... So lots of fun plumbing work too!

The whole process was not particularly overwhelming, but our original builder was found to be unreliable at the 11th hour - uncontactable the day before we'd arranged for an excavator to dig the new footings.... panic ensued, but we found a new builder very quickly - very very luckily. It's amazing how friends turn up when you need them at the right time, and know someone that can help!

One of the unforeseen $$$$ grabbers that we found out after we had started (and had arranged out loan) was that because we wanted to put a Tastic in the new bathroom the whole house needed rewiring, because the wiring in the house was so old...... Not too much of a drama considering our new neighbour was an electrician and happy to help out! But in rewiring, we did some moving and remodelling - putting double powerpoints in instead of 2 singles, and turning 3 separate light switches into one double light switch! But that left holes in the walls and the architraves.......

Well it's been about 6 months since we've finished our reno... it took about 6 months to complete from start to finish - not too bad, considering that the thing that really took us the longest was the painting inside - lack of motivation on my part was the cause for that.

But we still have holes in the walls where power points used to be - UNTIL TODAY!!! It's amazing how a public holiday can spur you into action. We now no longer have holes, we have patches! The kitchen and the laundry still need repainting (I started painting the house when I moved in 4 years ago - OMG I really can't believe that it's been that long since I started that project!).

Walking around Bunnings this morning we were pointing out things that we still 'need' for the other 'projects' that we are doing - it's amazing what we start, but haven't quite finished, or things that do NEED to be done....

So what needs to be finished:
* Painting kids bathroom
* Painting kitchen and laundry (can't do this until the next project is completed)
* Put new benchtops on in kitchen
* Paint and put new handles on kitchen cupboards.
* Buy a new back flyscreen door - it was patched today, so that will do for the moment.
* Finish painting lattice work outside - I started that the other month..... did a bit but then again the enthusiasm wained....
* Finish putting shelf and drawer liners in (I've done the laundry, have to do the kitchen)
* Replace roof on back porch - the green stuff is loose, broken and flaps around.

But somehow I have managed to agree to paint one of the rooms in my brothers house - I think it's the room for their new addition :-) It's amazing how I can do things for others, but doing things for 'us' takes forever!

The problem with projects is that there are not just the house ones to be done, I have my own personal projects - knitting and cross-stitching to be done... but because something new comes up, other things get put on the backburner for another day... and things build up and up.....

Off to try to get some things under control!

The NOS is now working!

Well, it's amazing how changing one thing makes such a difference.

Hubby drag races, but we haven't been out to the track in over 12 months - changes out there and time have been two preventers for us going out there - oh and the fact that we nearly blew up the engine the last time we were out there might also have been a small factor.

About 3 weeks ago some of our friends decided that they were going to the next meet - their car was back together and they wanted to race.... Hubby says that it would be nice to go out.... I say lets go for it!

So in the space of three weeks we got the car race ready - brand new slicks, new filled NOS bottle - all ready to go! Yahoo! It had been pretty much ready anyway from 12 months ago.

Out there the day was good - the fastest time we ran was a 12.19 - that was a Personal Best (in this car) for Hubby. But after all the running around we'd done, the NOS wasn't working! Such a pain. We tried so many different things out there - change the jets over, turn around the NOS filter.... then started to wonder if something was blocked or there was a leak somewhere? Nothing could fix it! Stupid car! So the 12.19 was a run without the NOS (pretty darn good for a street legal Torana)

Back at home we have more time to look at it. The fuel pump was pumping at 40lbs - it was supposed to be pumping at about 12-15lbs..... hmmm could THAT be the problem??? So a new fuel pump later, tested the NOS out this morning - and it works! Woohoo!!!

Anyway I am supposed to be editing photos from the last round of the drags, to get them up on Facebook - but that is slow going....... such a painful process!

I will be back soon!!!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog! I thought it was about time I started - most other people in the world seem to have one or more of their own spaces - so this is mine.

So why TurnipRacing??

It's a play on the family surname - and my husband is into drag racing - therefore 'Turnip Racing.' We both own Toranas - hubby's is a street legal drag car (12 second 1/4 mile) and mine is a stock standard SLR, but it's all mine!

Anyway we have two kids, two cats, a neurotic bird, some goldfish and a catfish....

I have two casual jobs - both of which give me great flexibility to spend time with my kids, both at home and while they are at school - I love being parent help!


I did use to have three jobs - but that was reduced to the above two as of today - after much kicking and fussing from my now ex-employer. I have never known someone to get so narky about someone quitting a casual job - I'll probably vent a lot more about that later.


My hobbies - apart from spending far too much time on the computer?? I scrapbook, make cards, cross-stitch and knit. So expect a few photos!!

Well that's enough for now... I'll be back later with more.