Sign Of The Times?

Do you remember when you were growing up and you'd hear your grandparents say "Back in my day...." or your parents say "when I was a girl....."?  Do you remember rolling your eyes and thinking "yeh, yeh" and wondering what all the fuss was about?  Thinking that all of them were just old fogies who had no idea about what you were going through, about the type of world you were growing up in?  And thinking "when I'm a parent, I'm NEVER going to be like that!"?  Well, I feel like I'm in a never-ending version of that complete paragraph at present!

One word - Teenagers.

I want to know what on earth has happened in the 20 years since I finished being a teenager?  Since when did it become OK to do everything that it wasn't OK to do when I was a teenager?  Have I really been living under a rock BOULDER???  I don't think I'm naive, I don't think I'm a fuddy duddy, in fact I think I'm a pretty COOL MUM.  But if the teenage years get more eventful and more testing the older they get - I could lose my cool.....

At 14 years of age, I had only just relinquished my Barbie dolls, started filling out a bra and was not remotely interested in sex.  Don't get me wrong - I had a pulse, and hormones, so I knew the opposite sex existed - I just wasn't interested nor prepared to get involved in anything more than a kiss.

Fast forward to 2013........where 13 year olds think it's OK to drop the F bomb in front of their friends' Mum.  Where parents think it's ok for the same age girls to roam the streets after 5pm, hang out with boys unsupervised and wear the most ridiculously skimpy clothes known to man.  Morals are thrown out the window (or maybe they're just not taught?), restrictions on phone calls don't exist (can you imagine calling someone at 11pm back in 1988?) and writing on FB that you're on the phone to your "sexy boyfriend".  13.  THIRTEEN.

You may have guessed what I'm dealing with?  I thought the fact I had to go and borrow the "Where do I come from" book last week, for the younger members of the family, was enough sex talk for at least a month, but apparently not.  It seems my world has now become one of repetitive conversations about what is appropriate and/or inappropriate behaviour.  

Remember this little gem of a book?

The expectations I have as a parent are pretty simple - I thought?  But I'm slowly realising that perhaps my expectations are completely out of whack with the time I'm living in?  A certain someone said to me today that he was "glad he doesn't have daughters".  And I replied that I was glad I did, because I will teach my daughters (and my sons!) morals, self-esteem and love.  That my daughters will have a slew of restrictions of what/how they can and cannot wear, do, say and behave.  And that there will be consequences for the choices they make in their lives.  Am I really being THAT unrealistic to think that I can have so much input in to how my children are going to turn out?  Do I have to just give in to the fact that times have changed and expectations appear to be somewhat lowered?

I'm doing my best.  I'm having VERY open and honest conversations on a very regular basis.  I'm ensuring the teenager is informed and protected.  But I feel like I'm going "against the tide" so to speak.

Do you have teenagers?  Do you have expectations?  Discuss!

What Water Restrictions?

 Since I can remember, well at least since my second child was born nine years ago, Melbourne has lived through each and every Summer (and most of the year actually) with water restrictions.  There was only watering your gardens on alternate days, washing your car with a bucket of water - no hose, and most unfortunately - no sprinklers allowed!

We have had a bumper year of rain in 2012, which has led to 81% water storage levels!  Which in turn leads to the water restrictions being lifted - hoorah!

Last night, when the kids heard it was going to be 38 degrees today, they were bitching and moaning complaining about how hot they would be, and how would they live?  "Mum, you'll have to pick us up from school, we can't possibly walk home."  "Why don't we have a pool?"  Blah, blah, blah.....   Well, I fixed their little red wagon by announcing I would make a trip to the hardware store in the morning to buy them a sprinkler!

**********crickets***********

"What's a sprinkler???"

Andrew and I then went through describing what a sprinkler was.  I was quite disturbed by the fact that they had no idea what one was, and amused bored them with stories from when I was a girl.....

I remember ALWAYS having a sprinkler within tap's reach to run through on a hot day.  I won't mention that we also always had a pool to run and jump in to.  That is beside my point.  The sprinkler was FUN!  And how about the slip n slide?!?!?!?!  So many injuries gained from running and sliding in all kinds of strange manners down a dodgy hill covered in plastic (and sometimes doused with washing liquid).

So first thing this morning I was met with questions and reminders about how I would be picking them up from school and turning the sprinkler on for them.  I jumped in the car, took them to school and then took Chloe with me to the hardware store.  Straight to the "watering aisle".  And was presented with a wall of these: 

A bit high tech looking for me!

Is this a tractor sprinkler???

Remember these ones??

Ahhh, the old faithful - we had a few of these permanently planted around our yards growing up.

The old soaker hose.....

We chose this one!  Cheap and cheerful!

We made our purchase - along with a couple of big arse fans due to us not having airconditioning downstairs (that's a whole other blog post) and a hose to connect this little baby to!

The remainder of my day was filled with questions from the four year old.  When can I go in the sprinkler?  What time are the kids home?  Why can't I go in the sprinkler now?  Can you put my bathers on?  Well, you get the picture.  Traipsed up to school at 3.30 to do a good motherly deed and pick the two whinging, red faced school children up, and returned home again to never ending questions about when the sprinkler could be turned on.  I gave up at approximately 4pm.

And this is what happened:

 $12.95 for an hour's worth of fun!  Oh and a bonus hour of fun after dinner too!  Not to mention the obligatory "turn the sprinkler on whilst your husband is standing nearby"!!

What are you doing to keep cool this Summer?  Sprinkler?

Since When?

Since when did I become OLD???  A couple of things have occurred in my life just recently to beg the question.

Exhibit A:

I now sport an Lily Munster-inspired grey silver stripe in my hair!!  Since when did my hair colour NOT cover it??  I need a word with my hairdresser.....  And my Mother, whom I believe sports the same fashion statement......

Exhibit B:

I have a bevy of medications and supplements to supplement my breakfast.  This makes me think of my grandparents, and watching them, as a child, line up their tablets next to their cereal bowls.  Oh dear....

Whenever we made the trip to Port Macquarie to visit my grandparents, my sister and I would share one of the spare bedrooms.  With its springy mattresses and beautiful timber bedheads, divine old wardrobes and dozens of clocks (my Pop made grandfather clocks), we would settle in for our stay. 

Each and every morning, my Poppy would totter in to their bedroom with a pot of tea for my Grandma.  He was besotted with her til the day he died, and vice versa.  This memory brings a smile to my face.  He would also give her a hug and kiss, and every now and then - a gentle little grab of her behind!

These memories give me hope - hope that even when I AM OLD, I will still be young at heart!

Anything making you feel old?  Do you have memories of oldies to light up your face?

Lessons Learnt

A conversation last night, albeit via Skype,  led me to lots of thinking.  This is not new - my brain is generally on over-drive most days.  But it made me think about all of the lessons I have learnt over time, and made me question what makes some people tick?  Why do some of us take lessons in, suck the information in and take it as it is?  Why do others buck the trend, pushing boundaries and rules, only then to learn the lesson - sometimes too late?

Of all the lessons I have been taught, these are some that have stuck with me....

"Drugs will kill you" - I clearly remember this lesson, and took it on board!  From that day forward I believed that if I were ever tempted to try hard drugs, I would die.  It would be just my luck.  So I never did them.  Don't get me wrong - I'm no angel.  I gave Pot a go, but still have no idea all these years later what the appeal is?  I have also learnt, way too close to home, that this apparent "soft drug" can be much more harmful than it has ever been given credit for......

The Grim Reaper - remember him?  Those ads in the 80's of him standing in the bowling alley, knocking over people who had contracted AIDS, had me shaking in my boots.  It's a shame that we don't have such hard hitting ads aimed at teenagers these days.....

Special occasion hair and make up - DO NOT allow anyone in Myer in the 90's to do your make up an hour before your engagement party!  Lesson well and truly learnt there!

"Friendships Evolve" - A dear friend of mine shared this pearl of wisdom many years ago.  When we met, we were new Mums trying to make sense of the little human beings we had been entrusted with.  I was 11 years her junior, and took her wisdom for granted.  She was right on the money.

"Smoking Kills" - And people still smoke.  Young people still take it up.  Just.  Don't.  Get.  It.

I wonder if the designers at this "up-market" label were on some sort of drugs when they decided to release this beauty?

90's fashion.  Wrong then.  Still wrong now.

First impressions are usually lasting - I don't know how many times it will take me to get this!  I can usually pick someone's personality the first time I meet them.  You know, whether they're my "kind of person"?  Sometimes, just sometimes, I get it wrong!  But most of the time - I get it right.

"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been different" - Oprah.  I've shared this one before, and will probably share it again.  It's worth sharing.  I miss Oprah.....

And last but not least?

Treat others as you would like to be treated.  I try my hardest to do this on a daily basis.  I am only human, so if I am pushed - I will push back.  But generally speaking, I can stick to my guns.  I definitely think my work helps.  Through working with people with disabilities, and also when I did some aged care, I have learnt how NOT to treat others.  Respect, dignity and a whole lot of patience can go a very long way.  Given - it is a whole lot harder to apply these to the general public at times!

So tell me - what are the greatest lessons you have learnt?  And are you passing them on?

Reality Cheque and Other Random Crap

Reality is hitting here.  We REALLY have bought a house.  Shit.  We have a mortgage.  Shit.  Don't mistake my cursing for regret - I am VERY excited.  But I am also VERY scared!  Yesterday I posted a very big pile of papers off to the conveyancer, after signing my life away - a million times.  Enclosed was also a VERY hefty cheque - for stamp duty - BOOOOO!  And today, two VERY big envelopes arrived from the bank.  More signing required it seems.

Today's school newsletter announced that I am retiring from the uniform shop!  Made me laugh.  Also received a letter from the kid's new school welcoming them.  Reality...again.

I have started doing what I do best.......shopping.  I made a very quick one hour trip to Spotlight on Monday, I only needed one metre of fabric.  I ended up in the homewares section and came home with half a dozen cushions, bath mats and curtains.  Whoops.

I also purchased some amazing fabric online last week, (on sale - thanks to The Intrepid Thread) as I am planning how to decorate the girl's bedrooms.  Andrew has suggested perhaps I have been watching too many episodes of "The Block"?  I haven't given him the real story - I've been spending too much time on Pinterest.  God I love that search button and the gasp of air that leaves me as I have a whole screen full of divine decorating ideas in the specified colours!  Bless the creators of Pinterest....

The other thing I have found myself doing, much more often than I used to, is taking photos of random things of interest.  If I find it somewhat amusing/disturbing or just plain wrong, I whip out my iPhone and file it away for future reference.  And You are the lucky ones that get to share them with me!

This text message came through last week in relation to my eldest son's basketball game.  I pee'd my pants laughing at the voicemail's text version of events.  Mostly because the club he is playing for is sometimes lovingly referred to as "Bosnia" instead of its correct suburban name.  Trailer Park Jets seemed quite fitting.....

I was strolling through Target yesterday and was deeply distressed by the sight of these revolting jumpers.  Not only are they in bizarre colours and prints, they are also knitted AND in the "groovy" section of the menswear department.  As I stood readying myself to capture this image, I was even more disturbed that a middle aged woman stopped to lovingly feel them and consider purchasing.  Shame.

Up until a couple of years ago, when Masterchef hit our screens, I had no idea what an actual proper macaroon was.  All I recalled were the coconut macaroon biscuits that were in The Woman's Weekly recipe books of the 80's.  It seems they're all the rage these days?  I took Ms Chloe for morning tea at the shops today and had my first ever macaroon.  Mine was the Lemon Tart version on the right.  Chloe's was the ghastly BubbleGum on the left.  I wasn't overly thrilled.  I need a chef.

This little beauty is the latest creation at Ms Midge.  I did a pattern review for The Oz Material Girls, which you can find HERE.  They are the prettiest ruffle skirts ever!

Finally - I am off to the Gold Coast in precisely EIGHT MORE SLEEPS!  Not that I'm counting.  I will be gone for three whole nights - CHILD FREE!  Not that I'm excited.  I will be spending the entire time with lifelong friends, and will be going to our 25 year primary school reunion!  I am so very excited but have one very big concern

WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO WEAR????
HELP

Royalty Reigns

Last night re-affirmed my belief that good karma comes to those who wait!  I am also of the belief that myself and my two gorgeous girlfriends must be good people to collect said karma.  This is how it all unfolded.....

My all-time, number one, favourite artist in the whole entire world is Prince.  I can still remember listening to him for the first time.  I was around nine years of age (circa 1984 - don't do the maths).  My older sister and her bestie - Tammy - were avid fans.  Tammy had a purple bedroom, plastered with posters.  She also had the most coolest purple guitar in the corner of her bedroom.  I was in awe of her coolness.  Her Dad was also a glazier, so her bedroom had full length mirrors on the walls.  The epitome of 80's coolness.  So I would listen to the music they listened to, and just loved the grooviness of Prince and his tunes.  Tammy said to me that when Prince finally came to Australia, one day, she would take me. Fab.

Fast forward to 1992, when Prince finally announced he would be touring Australia.  I was now 17, and Tammy was long gone in my life, but my bff's had finally caught on to what I had known all along.  Prince was the hottest artist in town. So we jumped on a train and went to our first ever concert.  BEST. NIGHT. EVER.

Press double fast forward now, to present time.  A month or so ago, Prince declared he would be touring again.  Hoorah!  I was thrilled that Hayles and Bec wanted to go.  Hayley jumped on line at 9am the Monday morning tickets went on sale.  At precisely 9.05am she had allocated tickets - right up in the "Gods" of Rod Laver Arena!  I was not bothered as I was going to see Prince!  Slightly bummed the next day when I realise two more concerts were for sale, with seats down low.  But I got on with life - I was going to see Prince!

So last night, we jumped in my car and travelled to the city.  Spent far too much time worrying about where the hell we were going to park, and whether we would be lucky enough to dodge the imminent rain on our walk to the arena.  Thank you Richmond Football Club for your open car park and thank you Mother Nature for turning off the water.

Excitedly entered the venue and found an usher to show us our seats in the northern hemisphere.  He asked us if we were all together to which we nodded.  He then walked off.  We were a bit confused, but then saw he had wandered down the small flight of stairs and was summoning us to join him.  "Give me your tickets girls, I need to change them over".  Huh??  Had we inadvertently found ourselves with scalper's tickets?  Were we in trouble?  "Just stay calm" he says.  He then handed us tickets for seats in the LOWER level - ROW G!!!!  Many expletives left my lips before I asked him his name.  "Allan" - couldn't help myself in the excitement - Allan........allan, allan, allan - was all I could say!  If you have no idea why I was blurting this out - watch this...

Allan!

I then asked if we could kiss him?!?!!?  As you do?  Of course he said Yes!  I could not believe our luck.  Or good karma?  Things like that just never happen to me, or my friends.  Thrilled beyond belief!  We very calmly (on the outside anyway) found our seats and were dumb-founded to see how close we were...

I spent the following few hours in awe of this amazing man and his talent.  It was like one big "jam".  Songs that I have listened to for nearly 30 years, live and right in front of me.  My feet were sore, my bladder was full (I couldn't miss a second for a toilet stop) and my hands stung from clapping.  A truly brilliant evening.

When we finally left, Hayley asked me if this concert was better than the first I saw?  I couldn't possibly compare.  The first concert you go to is always close to your heart, it's kind of a "right of passage" in my opinion.  And having the privilege of seeing the same artist some 20 years later.....you see it through different eyes.  Not just older, but more appreciative.

Here's a couple more pics from my most brilliant evening.

I'm still a little high from it all!  Who is your all-time favourite?  And have you seen them live?

Another Nanna Post

You may have read this is some form, somewhere, somehow on some sort of technological gadget, but I only received this via email today.  So, sticking to my seemingly Nanna-like behaviour of late, I am going to share it with you.  It literally made me laugh out loud.  I am also going to copy and paste it on to the 13 year old's Facebook and may even "tag" all of his friends in it?  Or would that make me REALLY look like a Nanna?  Enjoy....

  

   
   "If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda 

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty (PLEASE NOTE - THIS IS THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF THIS - NOT MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!), I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.  You've got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!  And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it! 

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!! (how many of you know the Dewey Decimal System???

2) There was no email!!  We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!  Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there!  Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.  As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes!  If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!  There were no CD players!  We had tape decks in our car.  We'd play our favourite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless.  Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby!  Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!!  Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!!  And then there's TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please!  You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!!  You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We had the Atari 2600!  With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.  Your screen guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your imagination!!!  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever!  And you could never win.  The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!  You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!!  NO REMOTES!!!  Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.  Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

12) And we didn't have microwaves.  If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove!  Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long.  Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort.  And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

14) And car seats - oh, please!  Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See!  That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten!  You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in the 1970's   or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd"

Relate much?  Or are you a young whipper-snapper whom this makes absolutely no sense to?

Makes You Happy

Yesterday - Day 11.  Makes you happy?  

Let these pictures speak for themselves....

Last night, we got our best glad-rags out and went in to 80's overdrive!  There is nothing more fun that spending the evening dressed up like a fool and dancing the night away to all of your favourite tunes, from the funniest decade.  So many memories come flooding back.  I found myself Googling tunes when I couldn't remember the artist.  Wa Wa Nee - how could I forget thee?  Had my girlfriends (who are all five years younger than me!!) in stitches with memories of concerts at Dreamworld (My Mum worked there - score), and the fact that I actually wore similar versions of these clothes back when they first flooded the stores!  Thank the Lord Supre still stocks them.....

My hair was in a mousse coma this morning, and my Husband woke from his own kind of Jack Daniels coma.....

What makes you happy?

7,8,9,10

I've slipped.  It's not that I forgot about my Photo A Day Challenge.  I just literally have not stopped to take a photo!  This week has gone a little like this:

Monday - swimming lessons resume.  Return home to start cleaning house.  Start doing some sewing.  Start doing washing.  Do not finish any of before-mentioned tasks due to play date!

Tuesday - had planned to sew all day.  Fail.  Can't even remember what it was that stopped me from plans.  Oh, hang on.  Yes, went shopping instead.  Whoops.

Wednesday - Went to work.  Got call at 1pm to say biggest boy was in sick bay.  Picked him up, took him home, administered Panadol and returned to work.  Turns out he had a virus with high temp.

  

Thursday - Biggest boy stays home from school.  I shelf all ideas of sewing - again.  Instead I get in car at 8.45am.  School run.  Shops to get husband's glasses fixed.  Visit "Gold Buyers" for first time ever, and am pleased to say they hand me $157 for the bracelet and ring I found lurking in my drawers.  Many thanks to my husband's ex-girlfriend for the spending money.  Drive around the world picking up bits and pieces and running errands.  Return home to sick child, who has miraculously managed to hang up my washing and make muffins.  Nice.

Today - Work again.  Slept in again.  Didn't have time for a shower again.  Just picked up children, posting this blog, then off to under 10's cricket.  Fascinating.

For those of you who have been waiting for my four days of photos - here they are:

Day 7 - Buttons.  Just happens that these little (well, big) beauties landed on my door on that very day!  45mm
self-covering buttons.  I obviously didn't measure 45mm when I ordered, as they are much larger than I thought!

Day 8 - The Sun.  Ok, so I didn't take a snap of it that day....just went out earlier on this strange day in Melbourne.  It's not actually that dark outside, my iPhone just didn't appreciate that glare when pointing directly at the sun!

Day 9 - Front Door.  Self explanatory.  This is the same front door I have looked at for almost eight years.  The same one I keep commenting to myself "needs to be painted".  Also the same front door I always forget has see through glass when I'm walking to our bedroom in my undies......

Day 10 - Self Portrait.  Just got home from work today.  So looked in my favourite mirror and laughed at my unkept look - but took a photo anyway!  This is what I look like when I sleep in on a work morning, and do not manage to make the shower....noice.

Tomorrow night we have an 80's party to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday.  I cannot decide between disguising myself as Wonder Woman or Madonna??  Obvious remarks from friends are that Wonder Woman has rather large lady lumps - something I do not have.   Help??