Take 45 mins of solitary bliss

The irony of it all. Even with my newfound emancipation ever since Rhian has graduated away from toddlerhood and is now in full time schooling, it has NOT been easy to find time to write. Whenever I get a spot of time away from the mad rush of drudgery, I just flop and space out. And wonder of wonders, I realized that I have been succumbing to catnaps in the afternoon. A door is opened!!!

I don't know if I should be happy or worried about this. Perhaps my age has dawned on my ignorant body and is telling me to watch it. I'm no spring chicken. What a terrible thought.

Like I keep telling my newfound Japanese comrade in motherhood battle, an "obasan"!

Again, I can't dally as long as I like. When my sandwich is munched up, and my tummy fortified to allay morning rumbles, there's vacuuming to be done, laundry to fold and clothes to iron. This is now almost half past nine in the morning, and by the time all that load is done, I'm probably just in time to do a little lunch. Or not. Depends on how zesty I will tackle the housework this morn.

And I haven't forgotten that I'm down to a quarter tank of fuel, and it needs filling up. I'm nervous about making another trip to the petrol station. I know I have to do it this afternoon before the kids are back, so the car is topped up for the long trip to their Chinese classes tomorrow morning ... but I really don't feel like doing that. really really don't.

I have been out all morning yesterday - shopping! There. The ugly truth is out. However, it's on an important mission. Hey! It really is! My sis will stand testimony to the fact that I'm no shopper. I have been faithfully wearing her hand-me-downs all my life and will continue to do so. She's the one with The Eye. Incidentally, she's the one making me do all the running because I have to coordinate my kids' clothing with hers. Coordinating children's wear across a continent is no mean feat.

My sandwich is gone.

I don't want to go but I have to. My bottom may atrophy onto my carpet if I let be.

Independence Dayzzz

R has started Pre-School already and I'm rewarded with 5 full days of unnatural emancipation for 6 whole hours to do whatever I like!

Awesome.

The first day Rhian went to school, I was left feeling a little lost though. The house was so quiet. So very quiet without her incessant chatter. Hubby says I ought to make a recording of her voice and play it during the day to make the day seem "normal".

That seems like an idea. I kept wondering at intervals what she was doing at school, and if she was fitting in okay.

The very next day, the second day she was due to attend school, however, the teachers went on semi-strike. They all stopped work for a half-day to conduct a meeting. It looks like they are fighting for good reasons though, which I'm sort of in favour of. I'm still of the firm belief that teachers belong to this very noble group who willingly dedicate their lives towards the education of little terrors. I mean, I'm really up to my neck, and I probably sink many times, so what is my two little ones compared to their class-full??? It's an awfully heavy responsibility to mind and teach them. Not everyone has the emotional mettle to be a good teacher.

So, here I am with a bit of time again. And I decide to start writing a little again. I'm ambling ... I haven't really gotten my mind round to the fact of my 6-hour liberation for 5 days at a stretch! Besides "penning" down my thoughts now and then in this blog, I haven't a clue yet about how to structure my time. In a constructive manner as opposed to my spacing out.

Someone broke into my car!

We were all trooping back merrily to my after B's Jujitsu class at the Melville Recreation Centre. And me being forever, a Blur Queen, got into my seat, reached for my GPS, and discovered that it was not in the compartment. Still, I continued to calmly rummage around for it at the front. I thought B had stashed it elsewhere for me. So, I got out to get round to to the back. Then, I see this big hole in my side panel window .......

oooh .... my .... god ....

There were shattered glass shards and splinters strewn all over the back seat.

What a baaaaaaaaad way to end the day.

I lost my trusty GPS, the in-car entertainment set for my kids which was 2 TV screens, remote controls, game consoles, and the player itself ... On the bright side though, my lovely boy and girl were not the least bit concerned about losing their back seat entertainment. Instead, they exclaimed, "Oh, poor mummy! How will you get around without the GPS? You will get lost???"

That's me. I'm so hopeless and my kids are so wonderfully aware about this. So, despite the unlucky hassle of not only losing stuff, but having to pay to replace lost items, and not to mention, the nasty cleanup in my car, it does soothe the shaken senses when your kids care more about you than their "toys".

2008

Glitter Generators

Come and Join Me in Australia!

Hey Everyone,

Australia is in serious shortage of skilled, experienced engineers for the Oil & Gas sector here. I'm working with a bunch of great guys, or should I say, 2 great guys. Mmmm, sorry girls, these guys are taken. Mine including. Keep coming back and I will unravel the mystery.

Come over and check out Novexx, a niche headhunting firm, with a global recruitment outlook for the energy and resources sector.

Are you game to switch to ...

• a happy balance between family and work,
• earn a darn sight more,
• live on your own land and not some hole in the sky,
• have great outdoor spaces and activities for your kids,
• to actually believe and watch your kids absolutely enjoying schooling and to realize you're not beset by any exam jitters at all,
• best of all, and this one is my personal favorite, to see my husband back by between 5-5.30pm, Mon-Fri
• that your husband is fully participating in your kids growth as much as you
• your bank savings are earning decent rates from 6% onwards
• no silly societal and peer pressure here, so ...
• no need to strive for 4Cs anymore, and keep up with the Joneses (or Changs, Durais' or god knows what else may come up!)
• no shame in being a bricklayer or in a hard labour trade which rakes in big, big bucks here
• no shame in working at MacDonald's or being a cashier ...
• no aspiring to climb the corporate ladder because a welder may be earning twice as much as a manager, and yet have less than half the worries ... I really like this as it is such a twist on allthat Machiavellian conniving so rift in the corporate world, nyyyaaaahh! So, basically, a person can say, "B*lls to you, who cares if you're some high-level managerial *ss if you're getting worse ... so don't you stick your snotty nose up at me ..." (me personal opinion and no offense intended, just wanting to highlight the funny but realistic side of this) - cool eh?
• almost left this out, the equivalent of CPF here is the Super which totally belongs to you and is yours to manage if you have the experience to do this. You are also free to invest it in a wide-ranging selection from property to stocks, australian or international, lots more - yes, not quite so narrow-minded here it seems. You do not need to have one leg in the grave to touch your super. Just the usual age eligibility of 65 will do. And the government here will not mess with your super or stick their fingers into it.
  

Now, let's turn to the papers here, in view of this shortage of skilled professionals, to show I'm really not B*llsh*tting.

A look at today's news headlined an article titled, Unconventional recruitment winning, (click to read full article). The following has been excerpted from the article.

According to the RCSA survey, engineers are in the most wanted category, closely followed by business professionals.

Interestingly, the skills shortage top 10 list includes, you wouldn't believe it!
- Receptionists and telephonists !!!

Do drop me a line and give me a buzz if you want to take up this challenge.

Yours truly,
Jas

Lotterywest Australia Day Skyworks Celebrations 2008

City of Perth

We'll be heading down to Langley Park to have a family day out and watch the kids go wild with all those activities galore starting from one end of the Swan River and swinging right around to the other side. This is a one BIG MOTHER of an event!

Yo people, check out this bursting menu of activities at the Skyworks Event 2008!

And we'll head back to our cosy suburb and nestle down by a good spot at our riverside and watch the fireworks spectacular far from the madding crowds. Bring our trusty picnic mat, picnic basket and we're set to wind down for a lovely evening dinner with a fantastic live dinner entertainment of pyrotechnics!

Cheers mates!!!

We buzzzzz ...

Merry Christmas! and Getting back in tempo

Our suburb


Wishing everyone a Very Merry X'mas!

We're finally up and running with the internet after a hiccup-fraught application which took many calls back and forth and 2 failed applications before it took off. Woo! Nothing but the f-word will describe that slow-moving agony ... nope, it's frustration!!! What were you guys thinking of?

Anyways, I believe my blog will stay neglected for a l-o-n-g while because there's too much to do and so much life to catch up on over here, back in Perth, and in a most picturesque suburb imaginable. It's north-facing, our townhouse is north-facing and we're very near the water - the Swan River - so, it's all plenty good as far as SL's career path feng shui goes. I was worried that we would only be getting the tail end of the fair weather after heading back here, since Dec brings back the heat slowly but surely. It's all good so far however, because, there have been cold fronts coming in and keeping the heat at bay. It's now a cool 16 degrees as I type this at night ....... so very lovely and cold ... what more could we ask for? So, before I lose myself and gush you all into yawning boredom, here are some pics to perk you up!

Jacaranda-lined streets make for pleasant walks

Thanks to this beautiful suburb, you find us outdoors an awful lot. The tree-lined streets with their purple over-hanging branches frames the street scape makes walking very pleasant indeed. Top that off with the cool weather favouring us at the moment, and it's BLISS!


My kids love cycling along the river. If we're out around 4pm or so and there are gusty winds coming in, you'll be greeted by fabulous views of the kite surfers with their huge, colorful kites dotting the air pulling the surfers beneath them over the waves. Fantastic sight! It's a popular spot for kite surfing on account of the strong sea breezes. I'm crossing my fingers that lovely, strong sea breezes will keep the summer heat at bay, and hold out all the way until it gets cool around April or so ...

One of our many cycling forays along the Swan foreshore just behind us

Our after dinner sunset strolls

If my kids can't get out cycling, they do it around the back yard. The roses are also coming into season and the terrors have been thrilled with the bursting colours of the blooms.

Mucking around and Roses we picked from our backyard

Flower-giving ceremony for the old folks
at the Fo Guang Shan Temple
where B+R became flower girls and boys

Claisemont Cove, Royal Street at East Perth
where we love hanging out. Now, the picture does not do it
justice but it's absolutely woweee when you're down there in the flesh.
Trust me, this is not your crowded, noisome UOB Boat Quay,
Clark Quay gala. It's much quieter, genteel and family-friendly!
Oh, there's a family pub there too but the noise level is tolerable.
If you don't like that, you can always stroll further down towards the park lands.

Well, that's our little update for now. As it is, we're still finding our feet here, and yes, we're taking our own very sweet time over it. Which, I might add, is very pleasant! Must be the Christmas season lulling us into a slower pace too I guess. There are parties to attend, places to go and to simply soak in the beautiful surrounds.

And until then, please ...
Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Transitional limbo

Queen's Park, East Perth

Desperation. A feeling I can do less with. I'm glad we got over this. It's been a frustration-filled two and a half week's worth of house hunting. The houses get snapped up so fast. Just gone in a blink ...

There was an open house we went to at 11am. It was advertised for 11am. We planned, we reached, a minute or two before 11am. And when we walked through the open door, we were greeted with

sorry, but it's been leased out ten minutes ago.

Leaves you speechless.

We changed options many times, looking at other areas, other choices. Bought the papers, scoured through the listings faithfully, and went to many home opens, drove by, and around many suburbs to get a feel of the areas - it was a lot of effort. Checked up the real estate website everday, we probably boosted their page views by a fair chunk. Instead of our usual screen savers, you saw the real estate home page. It was that bad, that frustrating, and that desperate.

It's all over now. I'm left curiously deflated. A hurdle crossed. But, curiously, empty. Aimless even. Nothing to solve, nothing to research for the time being. Tell me that again. That humans are strange and contradictory. Maybe it's just me.

At another crossroad

Good Morning!

Here we are safely ensconced in Perth once again. Happy smiling faces all around. It's good to be back. That's for a million times sure. Internet connection here has been tacky (as usual ... is there ANY place in AU where the connection is not? Since the whole thing is under the whimsical monopoly of Telstra). I have had trouble logging into my blog account. But, since this is a complimentary service that comes with this accommodation, it's still GREAT - yaaaay!


At least, we still get to do a great many things online. Here are some pictures of this terrace we're putting up at. It's a neat little place. Bedrooms, toilet, bathroom are upstairs. Open plan kitchen with full mod cons, dining and living are downstairs. A little breakfast baloney out front, overlooking the pool below - although the pool is closed at the moment ... place is also secure. Entry by keycards, one for the apartment and one for the parking area. Everything hunky dory as far as transitions go. The next step though has proven to be rather ... tricky, to er, put it mildly and to avoid getting my emotions up.


Location is convenient. Riverside is across the other side of the road. I walked to Swan Bell's and the Barrack Jetty with my kids in the bracing coolness. Wonderful!! How we have missed that in Darwin. Brandon was so happy,he kept yelling, "ooh, it's nice and cold! I love it!" We love walking in cold weather. You don't even work up a sweat! How fantastic is that? A pleasant, non-sweaty, cardio workout that you can enjoy together in tandem with your kids!!

YES, we have been walking to our heart's content, everywhere!! Queen's Park is just behind with a beautiful family of cygnets and lots of other water fowl, except you have to watch out for the bird poop. Otherwise, it's a beautiful, postcard perfect park. We've chosen to walk to the Murray/Hay street malls instead of hopping onto the CAT services, since it's not that far, and I wanted to just soak in the city sights along the way.


And oh! the scrummelicious food is pure heaven to get back to! SL is definitely back into his element here. He's been in food heaven ever since. And to sweeten it all, prices here are also wonderfully cheaper than in Darwin ... by jove, it's GOOOOOOOD to be here again.


We've forgotten that stuff in Perth is so much cheaper than in Darwin. Petrol is also cheaper @ 1.28!



What else is different for me?

Well, there are LOTS of vehicles out on the roads. I haven't gotten my nerves up to really drive about here yet ... if I can get them straight in the first place. Maybe, it's because we're smack in the midst of the CBD and that we've to go over the freeways each time we need to go into surburbia. It freaks me out. Too many lanes, too many exits clustered together, and too many roads telling you no right turn here, left turn only ... it's a nightmare gone berserk for a greenhorn like me!


The other royal headache has been the house hunting. It's been an extremely, insanely mad raceto get a rental over here! You can probably guess that it's been a frustrating hunt thus far. Rents have also gone up a fair bit since we've been gone and supply has shrunken to a pitiful trickle. We've been to a fair few viewings but have not turned up anything suitable.







We've just spent the weekends and at least 3 evenings driving about, looking at houses, suburbs ...

It's been tiring for the kids but something we've needed to do. Tiring for my poor man too ...









On happier notes, my kids have been reacquainting themselves with King's Park, and loving it.

They love the lovely lawns and running all over the grounds.








From the high vantage point, we've been able to enjoy leisurely but spectacular views of the Red Bull Air Race. The planes were zipping and somersaulting overhead and we could watch their aerial acrobatics over the river.

Great picnic outing.







So, of course, we did it again the very next day!













Water Garden.













Walkway with Glassed Bridge overlooking the Old Swan Brewery.

We're now starting out our 3rd week here ... and many more to come.


See you again next time, that is, if I can login in ...

Cheerio!!

Versions of Mum,Mummy,Mom,Mommy,Mother ...

I have just discovered from chatting to one of the preschooler's mom (to Rhian's classmate) that she is working a 20-hour week from home, whilst still breast-feeding her 10-month old baby, and caring for 2 boys, a 4-year old and 6-year old! Wow! It's amazing ... I can't think of any amongst my peers who can juggle it THIS WELL on their own! We'd be screaming up the wall and have regular visits to the psychiatrist or crying for our mum's help, or maids ... ! On top of that, I see her smiling all the time, and she's kissing baby very often too. She's with IBM by the way, and still needs to fly into Sydney on occasion for meetings. Of course, there's a great deal of self-sacrifice there. She does work into the nights, stealing some quiet hours to work when baby's asleep but I still say holy moly ... and I still see her a very normal mum, well-adjusted, no sign of paranoia anywhere.

When I start to grumble I'll have to think twice. Getting your degree does not prepare you adequately to be a great mum. Nobody teaches you that. I don't know which is the worse off. That I'm not working, and have only 2 to deal with - what's that compared to her? Or to actually choose work over having to look after your own kids because you can't cope with full-time ie.,using work as an escapist strategy? Or to choose work over kids for the sake of having more money to pay for the maids, private daycare, extra classes for the kids, keep a bigger car and then grumble about not having enough time with your kids? Some mums are really, really strong! This is what I've been observing and learning here. An absolute sense of independance. No falling back on grandparents, or maids, or childcare. I keep seeing many cases of mums who are totally self-reliant, and hey! I'm learning something everyday. To be with your own kids 24/7 forever and happily after, requires patience of the highest order. This is a level of tolerance and patience which tests me daily. Sometimes I set new records, sometimes I metamorphose into a demented virago. Many times I wished to be single at my most depressed, or at least enjoying a kids-free twosome with my hubby.

Which brings me to this article I found as I was surfing around desultorily wondering why I'm a housewife. Yep, me and my mood fluxes. I'd been reading this article below about how an old couple managed to retire in luxury on $2,000 a month. Now, that cuts through like a shining path of real hope!!

If they can do that, then, anybody can do that!

Crawling along

Wooooh ... it's just 7.14am and the mercury is rising. It's already warming up outside! Another HOT, HOT, HOT day, and the start of the last school term for the year. Back to school for my kids today. And we're down to 11 days only before we fly. And escape before the cyclone season hits.

Somehow, it feels like I'm going back to "work" today. Have to make 3 tinkles today about our vacating this place and to pass on another challenging task to our removalist. Have to call the pest people. And one very important personal call. Oh, and I have to check my lottery tickets too! That's ultra important too.

Nothing eventful at the moment, nor yesterday. The days are just too hot to be outside, risking skin cancer and gallivanting under an UV radiation level of 14 ... you don't see any kids at all, nobody at the playgrounds, nobody cycling past even at 4pm. It's really too hot. With no social appointments yesterday, we were all snugly at home on a humdrum Sunday, and made chocolate chip cookies. Except for Brandon who got lucky. C - his classmate came over with his Dad to invite him to go for a movie with them. Since, Rhian had no invites, she was stuck with us, but, she gamely proclaimed that it was okay and she could finish up all the cookies for Brandon!

oops, gotta go hustle them to school now.

9am. Golly, almost missed some comments, since my laziness.

First off, a great big thank you to Healy for tagging me. Ummm, you've just tagged an almost hermit, so I've run out of people (bloggers). But if you want me to tag (recommend) books, now that's different! Okay, I've got one overiding wish.
Oh, please keep us midge-free forever. Those are nasty little buggers. One of my friends told me it'd take about 4-5 years for those scars to fade.

And I've to say sorry to Healy. But, my mind is preoccupied with our move at the moment. I've got my mother's gene for worrying. I won't stop thinking about it until it's over and done with. So, this is about what I can come up with ... sorry.

I hope to back online in a more active way when we're settled though.