Monday, March 23, 2009

I got busy today

Mmmm russian borscht. And the liver loves it!




I made four jars but two have already gone with visitors!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

ANGUS AT TEN




Secret bloke's business, note how the towel is worn now!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

change in the weather




The change in the weather is soup inspiring.

Where did I put the last decade?













 



Angus is ten. My baby, my first baby is ten. He took me by the heart a decade ago and together we entered into a new world. Together we travelled emotional summits that at times I thought would we could never scale, but we did. So much joy has been had, so many laughs, happy, treasured moments have been provided by him. My funny, wacky, grumpy, crazy, intense little man is ten.

And here we are. I have been a mother for ten years and he is now living his life in double digits. There is still so much to come, so many "unknown" paths to be trod. So many things I have yet to teach him and I swallow nervously when I contemplate what kind of job I will do. Will I provide him with a sense of security that will give him courage and strength to recover from mistakes, make difficult choices, bounce back from rejections? Will I impress upon him the importance of accepting difference, weakness, fault in himself and others? Will he be able to forgive and move on- one of the hardest things to do in this life. How much of the man to be will I be responsible for and how much of the man can I accept will be, should be independant? There is so much to do with him and if the next ten years disappear like the first, I have better put my skates on!

Hall of Light



Here is our freshly painted hallway. It seems soooo big now. Okay, seeming is not being, I accept that! It is lovely and fresh though, so nice to walk in the door and not see first up big chunks of plaster missing (signs of little ones riding down the hall) out of red walls.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Well Harriet, where are you at?

When I started this blog I did make a hoo ha about living simply, wanting to simplify our lives...so a few months down the track I have to note.
- we are hanging out together more
- I am baking so much more
- we eat as a family more
- we actively avoid going to malls

However, I don't think that is that much changed from usual. The kids are just not up for spending the afternoon conversing. They have been at attention all day at school, they want to chill. TV, whatever view you may hold, CAN be good. Angus avidly watched ABC kids in the afternoon which airs good quality kids drama and TV. Currently he is Serious Andes, a reality kind of show that follows a trek up the Andes mountains, that is undertaken by young adolescents. So anyway, I still let them relax in front of it. Homework has to get done, they spend time in the yard either swimming or bouncing or in the treehouse so a bit of tv or ps2 is OK in my book. Really the aim was for me to engage properly with them after school and we all talk easily.

Are we greener? Well I haven't been buying heaps of junk and no new stuff unless really necessary. I have been using green cleaners, and we have used virtually no water in our garden this summer (with the extreme heat we just new we'd lose).

OVerall, I guess we are pointed in the right direction....

Monday, March 2, 2009

A week for Angus




This week belonged to Angus. Angus rocked! He got a student of the week award, he swam in three events in the district swimming carnival (he had virtually no prep but was pretty keen!) and he won a ribbon. Angus is a shy boy so needless to say public speaking is an activity he actively avoids, so when he came home and said he was standing for school council - class representative we were impressed and surprised! He worked so hard on his speech. When the election came, he ran against three other kids, he lost marginally to "a golden boy", but as we told him he won so much more. I really respect this kid, he sets a goal and charges at it. Today was a good day for him too, he got to have some one on one time with Dad and got a huge stack of buttermilk pancakes for breaky!