Nothing Else For It!

OK I hate to complain, but mix this weather with a still incomplete front of the house (the mud, the dust, the depressing blandness of it all) and the entire house is feeling completely ... blah!!

I got it into my head a few weeks ago that if we weren't going to complete front of the house before Christmas then I was going to need to DO something to make it all feel a little more ... lush ... soft ... finished.

I've spent almost every spare minute I've had painting. But alas the top floor is still incomplete and the lower level isn't even started. I've run out of things that can be painted while it rains and it seem a long time since we've had a completely rain-free day.

So yesterday I spite of the rain (seeing we are a while off getting the front brick fence done) I decided to pull all of the pots that we were storing in the back yard, and create a border around the two dusty clay mounds that is our front yard.

This sounds like an easy job, it certainly did to me when I started but, well, we live and learn. This meant that I had to carry 20 terra cotta pots from the very back of our yard to the very front of our yard. I thought this would be easier if I used our box trolley, but learnt quickly that this just leads to broken terra cotta pots. Then today I had to find soil to fill them, perfect, I could use soil from our now defunked vege patch! But of course this had become our storage space for off cuts of wood. So I had to move all of the wood to one side, climb gingerly into the falling apart garden bed and start digging. Using the aforementioned box trolley, I then pushed aprox 15 buckets full of soil down to the front yard. And we were ready to plant!!

Hamish and I went to the local garden shop. I picked six types of salad greens/herbs and Hamish picked four types of pretty flowers (one for each of us). All for $30 but then I saw a hydrangea! The truth is as I started thinking about the front yard (all those months ago) all I wanted to fill it with what I think of as 'mum' plants. These are hard to explain as I don't know what they are until I see them but all of them have an English cottage garden feel. Sadly there were no 'mum' plants at the garden shop, except for hydrangeas which were more than I wanted to spends on a 'temporary garden'. So after looking at them for ages and calling AB to see if he thought they would survive in our yard I bought one.

When I got home I thought all I had to do was pick which plant went where? But mid planting one of my divine neighbours who had noticed me eyeing off one of her gorgeous huge and very pretty perennials came down with a gift. She had broken it into three amazing large clumps and asked if I wanted to have them. Ummm of course. So more pots and more soil. She then mentioned she had 5 extra cuttings of lavender all of which were ready to be repotted, would I like them. Ummm of course. So more pots and more soil trekked from the back yard.

By the end of the day I had potted up over 20 different pots, with loads of edibles and pretty, pretty plants. Dug holes in our clay front yard which I filled with geraniums and lined with old bricks By which time I was wet to the core and covered in clay and mud.

To finish off I grabbed our old wooden bench and table and popped them onto the deck so we have somewhere to sit.

It was a long, wet, muddy day. But I hope the new border stops the kids thinking they can walk over the mud to get into the house and for the moment it certainly softens the front of the house a bit. Plus once the greens take off hopefully I'll have enough for all the salads I'll start making once the weather warms up again!

Watching - Cowboys and Aliens, seeing as my expectations weren't high it exceeded them. Actually if I'm honest I liked it heaps and can't wait to watch it again.

Reading - still nothing AB being away means that after a full on days I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.

Listening - nada, but I'm keen to give Adalita a listen sometime soon.

State of mind - Really tired but feeling like the front of the house is looking a bit fresher. Oh and can I say now, I can't wait for school holidays!!

Facing Your Fears

A month ago we got a note home from school with the details for Jacks yearly musical extravaganza. Whilst I was talking to him about what they were doing he said intently "mumma, I really really don't want to do it". He went on to talk about the fact that he didn't want to dress up because the costume was wearing all black and then wearing red underpants over the top of his clothes.
Jack spent the first 4 years of his life almost constantly naked. But as he has gotten older he has become quite a private boy when it comes to his body.
He was completely beside himself at the idea of having to wear his knickers in front of the whole school (and honestly, who can blame him). So I approached the teacher and she agreed it was a bit uncool and spoke to the music teacher and the costume was changed to red shorts or skirts over black.
Great I though, now he can enjoy doing his concert. But alas! He was still concerned. I talked further with him about why, but in true Jack way (or perhaps it's a six year old boy way) he couldn't put his finger on why, sometimes it was that he couldn't remember the song, other times it was that he didn't know what shoes to wear, once it was because he was tired (two weeks before) and on it went. Finally I got it! He was nervous about getting up on stage and performing.
He is actually great at public speaking and gets very positive feed back on his speeches and class presentations but this was different, this was singing and dancing (and as it turned out, playing maracas) in front of half the school and he was freaking out.
Again in true Jack style, once it was pointed out that the whole class was performing he stopped trying to find ways to not do it because he didn't want to let the class down. But there was no way he was going he was going to embrace it!
The afternoon of the performance Jack was beside himself trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to wear. He changed pants twice, shoes three times, and spent a record amount of time in front of the mirror fiddling with his hair.
Finally we rocked into school, ate sausages and waited for the extravaganza to start. Jack had chilled out but gave me an extra long cuddle as I went to leave him to get ready. I could feel how nervous he was. The energy around him was positively electric. And I watched him with such pride, I mean there was no asking not to do it or clinging to my leg. Just a little boy making a decision to do something even though the idea of it scared him.
The performance was ... cute, as all kids singing and dancing are. Jack started slowly and then caught my eye and grinned. Together, Hamish and I standing at the side of the hall and Jack on stage, we grinned, danced, sang and shook our maracas. He didn't take his eyes off Hamish and I and sweetly, I realised he was trying extra hard because we were watching and loving him doing it.
Later that night as he lay in bed, I asked him how he felt about the extravaganza. He was quiet and then he said "you know mumma, I really didn't want to do the music extravaganza. I was scared to get up on stage, but I had a lot of fun! I'm so glad I did it".
And so once again my kids have taught me a life lesson. Some of the best things in life come from being scared and doing it anyway. And you know what! if a six year old boy can do it .... What's stopping me? Or you? Or anyone?
So next time I think of not doing something because it's out of my comfort zone, I'm going to have to remember Jack and the music extravaganza. Because goodness knows I can't possibly be outdone by my six year old .... although sometimes I wonder if I already have been, and if that's not part of the point of good parenting anyway.
Watching - It's zombie season once again, Season 2 of the walking dead.
Listening - Triple J whilst painting.
Reading - I have not picked up anything in days.
State of mind - Tonight I'm very tired but quietly content.

Running on High

The older I get the more aware I am of what an intense personality I have. I think I have probably always been a high octave kind of person but there is no doubt that my lifestyle these days has exacerbated this trait.

Partially I think this is because this lifestyle, full of multi tasking, doesn't gel well with my other personality trait which is laziness. I use the word laziness with a certain amount of caution because it tends to lead people to envisage that I get nothing done. I get a lot done, but I seem to always try and find the easiest way of doing it and if there is a time where there is little to be done, I rarely get bored or look for things to fill my time. If anything I revel in these quiet moments and happily spend them doing nothing.

So add a generally lackadaisical personality to a high activity lifestyle and you get me, pretty consistently, running on high speed.

This is something that although I spend time occasionally pondering, doesn't bother me. I mean, I am who I am. It's not something that I apologies for especially as it rarely effects other people. But it is something that I would like to work on a bit.

You see there are some ... side effects. I miss details occasionally, I have trouble recalling them especially things like details people have told me in conversation, or the tiny tasks that need to be completed. I talk extremely fast at times, this probably means people also miss the details of things I have told them. And when I am in this state I speak without really hearing how what I'm about to say is going to come out.

But hey, we all have pieces of ourselves we know need work, most of us more than one. I am also aware that these traits give us something. My ability to talk fast means I can get out what I want to say in record time ;) it means that I really can multi task with the best of them. Sure doing so 24/7 means that occasionally small details get missed but hey the rest of the time I'm practically a work-a-holic.

So as I contemplate slowing down, thinking and acting more calmly I will also take time to remember the positive parts as well.

What personality traits do you have that you'd like to work on? What's stopping you? For me the reason I'm not exactly working on my hyperactive nature is that at the moment it still (mostly) serves me well.

It just may mean I have a few more grey hairs or wrinkles than I would if I could learn to relax a bit more often ;)

Watching - Rise of the planet of the apes. Don't know if it was just the right movie for the time but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Reading - when I get a chance I am reading (very very slowly) a book a friend of mine wrote. So far the words lush and whimsical come to mind.

Listening - I actually haven't listened to anything for days ... except the clogs of my own brain ticking over at high speed.

State of mind - generally, contently frantic.

Blog! What Blog?

Wow, I've been a very quite blogger recently. The truth is that other than painting, general life stuff and a few mini cool moments life isn't really feeling blog worthy.
We have had a bit of a heat wave recently and of course it coincided with me deciding to start painting the upper level of our house. So days of standing under a tin roof and sanding, sweating, filling, sweating, sanding again, sweating and then finally doing some painting has pretty much been all I have been doing.
As you can imagine, I'm pretty exhausted, but in a good way. The house if moving forward again and it's feeling great (no photos till I've done both levels).
This weekend once again we have taken advantage of our generous friends holiday house. I feel so lucky to have two gorgeous friends who both have very different but both amazing places that we are able to use for these mini breaks. They certainly have made both AB and I feel less claustrophobic about our city living as we can break out, without breaking the bank! So this afternoon we rocked into 'our' southbound holiday shack, and within two minutes the kids and the dogs were swimming and AB and I were having a drink sitting in the sun and relaxing.
Anyway this whole lackadaisical blogging thing has to stop! Maybe now that all the hard work on the house and the year is all winding down my brain will be able to think about things to blog about ... remind me, there is more to life than houses and kids isn't there? :) of course there is and as I sit here on my own, music blaring and candles burning I am suddenly reminded of that. You gotta love these mini breaks from reality to reset!
Watching - ... Um ...
Reading - a divine friend of mine has sent me some of her writings that will be read by the end of the weekend.
Listening - right now, 'Golden Years' by David Bowie, it's a classic and no I don't care that it could be considered a bit daggy. It was proceeded by Kimbra and will be followed by something equally as groovy I'm sure ;)
State of mind - getting there.