Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

And hit the ground running. I left this morning to travel home, and while I was incredibly relaxed after a week of six hands for two children, a plane trip home let me down. Then of course I didn't stop and am now almost as stressed as when I left.

The BIG news is that there is a contract on our house. See what happens when you leave town? Settlement is set down for the 14th of January, so I have a bit of time to organise myself, which is what I'm doing now. Making lists. I may share them with you at some point. Or I might not. They're quite scary.

What I have decided to do is keep running lists in each "category" of things I have to do, and then work on each of them each day.

For example three of the highest priorities at the moment are: Kiki's 3rd Birthday Party, Tupperware Xmas Sale and Packing & Delivering the 10 boxes of Tupperware currently adorning my dining room (pics to come).

So tomorrow I will focus on: getting invites out for Kiki's birthday party, collecting all stock for the xmas sale, and packing the orders and calling hosts to arrange delivery times. See how this works? Once I've done all that I'll look at other lists like: Moving House, and call and book the removalist.

It's a plan. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

In other news, our holiday was AMAZING, and I'll be posting pics as soon as I get myself sorted, and a bit more time up my sleeves (at this point probably next week). But by far the most exciting news of the holiday (apart from selling the house) is that M&M can SWIM! And Kiki is not far behind. I'm actually looking forward to swimming lessons this weekend so they can show off their new skills. M&M has been "practicing" all week to show her teacher, and yesterday she and Kiki both let me push them down to touch their hands to the bottom of the pool. Hundreds of times.

I also spent every night playing Jonola with my step-mother and the week actually ended in a draw. She normally beats me convincingly, and repeatedly.

That's about it from me. I noticed I've been tagged for a couple of meme's in the comments, so I'll try and get to those as soon as I can. I also have 375 unread posts in my reader, so I'll be ploughing through those as much as I can over the next few days, and catching up on all my bloggy friends.

And on that note, I'm off to my comfy bed, without Kiki. Ah, it's good to be home!

cause I literally have 7.5 minutes of internet time on the machine downtairs.

We spent most of the time in the water today, and M&M decided she could swim!! Exciting stuff. She and Berry were having races and they can both nearly swim the full width of the pool (about 10m). A very proud Mummy here - especially considering a week ago she wouldn't even put her nose in the water. She is also letting me push her down to touch the bottom. And Kiki's confidence is growing, to the point of jumping a couple of metres to get to the noodle and then kicking herself around the pool.

We're also in the flight path to Coolangatta airport, so I've got some great shots of planes coming in to land. I'll post those when we get home.

That'll do, still need to do a few other things in the remaining 5 minutes.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

Well, Dad to the rescue. He's turned up with not one but two laptops, and we have (very slowww!!!) Internet access in the room.

I just noticed logging in that this was my 150th post - wow! That's gone rather quick (well, for me it has, I can't say for any of you).

The flight down was uneventful, and the kids are over excited and over tired and still awake (at 10pm!!! Their cousin Bells arrived tonight so they're very excited (understandably). We've already been for a swim in the pool, and M&M's confidence is growing - she's happy to move herself around on her noodle with no assistance. Kiki is getting there.

Tomorrow morning we're off to the beach, which incidentally I can hear (and see if I turn around) from here. We're on the 12th floor and have a beautiful view. The beach is literally on the back doorstep of the resort as well.

We also stopped in to see one of my Dad's cousin's tonight. It's been about 10 years since I've seen him, so that was nice to catch up, and he was very excited to see the girls.

Best go and actually put the kids to bed now. Thanks for all the comments, they're very much appreciated. I'll keep you posted on our holiday (but no pictures til we get home - sorry)

And it's only going to get worse. The big week finished "officially" yesterday, and while my final sales aren't yet known, they're a good way past my unofficial target. Go me!

And in the midst of all that I've been organising our trip to the Gold Coast - and we're leaving this afternoon. So while I will have some internet access while I'm away, I can imagine my parents when I tell them I need to go update my blog. Hmm, that will go down well. I'll see how things go.

I'm SO looking forward to this holiday, it will be such a change of pace (I hope). Although the weather report is less than favourable. Which is a pity, but I'm sure there will be plenty of things for the kids to do. My brain still hasn't recovered well from the exam and weekend of Tupperware madness. I'm actually looking forward to a week without seeing any Tuppeware. Is that a bad thing to say? I hope not! Cause I'm going to be seeing a lot of it when I get home. Mother in law doesn't know it yet, but the day after we get home I will be enlisting her to help me sort the Tupperware. I'm guessing it's going to take all day.

So that's where I'm at. I'll try and get on while I'm away, but if I can't, I'll see you all when we get home next Thursday.

I'm exhausted. Shattered. Dying for sleep. And yet here I am. Damn the election coverage! I need my sleep!

Who was I kidding when I thought I would be able to (at 6.5 months pregnant) manage a law exam, 4 Tupperware parties, an open house and packing/preparing for a holiday all within a 7 day period??

Apparently myself.

Still suffering brain trauma after the exam on Thursday afternoon, I turned around yesterday and had my hair done, then took the entire family (ye gads!) to do a Tupperware party. The girls wanted to help, but in reality - not so much. They did make very useful fetchers though.

But it meant we were all out late last night, and all tired and cranky this morning. And late for swimming lessons. That left 2 hours to clean the house and vacate 4 people and a dog for the open (which seemed to go remarkably well, considering the election and all). No offers as yet, but the agent seems hopeful after today. We've been talking strategy this week, so maybe something will come of it.

So what did we do while we were out? Well, first we went to the shops to see Santa, but apparently Santa arriving at 10am means he's gone for the day by 12pm, and not back again til Monday. Who knew?

So we distracted the children with lunch and ice-cream, and tried again to find the missing lay-by. We now have about 75% of it, waiting on 2 dolls and an encyclopedia to turn up. Anytime before Christmas would be good guys.

We grabbed a bit of food shopping, and then headed in to vote. Hubby actually listened to me, and voted below the line on the Senate ballot, so it took FOREVER!, but that's ok. Democracy at work ladies and gentlemen.

But I'm TIRED, and my back is sore, and I have two parties to do tomorrow, and did I mention I'm TIRED??

But on the plus side, the house is still tidy! Mostly.

There will be lots of great things about this town that I'll miss when we move. The water, the boats, the weather.

But something I will miss (despite not ever getting used to it) is walking into a hospital appointment and having a familiar face peer at you and say "didn't I deliver one of your babies?" Ahem. Yes, you probably did. So far every midwife and doctor I've seen at the hospital this time around has somehow been involved in the births of my previous two children. And the "new" midwife, who wasn't, was my lactation consultant with the second.

Of course the amusing side of all this is that they're more excited than I am - they don't have to take the child home with them. So they do their best to scare me by telling me about their rebel children born around the same time as this one is due. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I already have one "highly spirited" child (Kiki) and one "sensitive" child (M&M). I'm honestly not sure which is worse at this point. Surely there's something in the middle?

But the outcome of the appointment was.... nothing. Both bub and I are increadibly healthy. Everything is on track and oh that's right, her head is almost engaged already!! That would explain the bruising under my right ribs. Thanks. Is i t any wonder it takes me a while to bond with my children??

And now, it's back to study!

You may have noticed I'm very quiet at the moment. My exam is coming up fast on Thursday, and today was the last day I had home alone to really focus. I'm pretty happy with how I'm going so far. I have comprehensive notes of everything I need to know, and am currently doing up the "correct" answers to some practice questions (I'm taking a break now) that I will the practice on under exam conditions over the next couple of days.

Tomorrow we're home all day (washing day!) and the girls are all excited about a full day of TV while Mummy works. I've hidden a couple of DVD's from the last stock up we did, so they'll even have something new to watch if they want. I hate doing this but really, one day isn't going to hurt them is it? Wednesday we're literally out most of the day, leaving the house at 9am, and home probably no earlier than 2:30pm. 3pm is more likely, so that pretty much rules out a whole day. At least the kids will be exhausted and go to bed early. I hope.

Then they're off to daycare on Thursday, so I can put in a few more hours study before my exam in the afternoon. We might even grab Pizza and head down the lagoon on Thursday night, just for something different.

So, if you don't hear from me for the next couple of days, you'll know why. I do have another hospital appointment on Wednesday, so I'll definitely update if there's anything to update. Although in big news, Hubby will be allowing me full naming rights from our shortlist. I've already picked, but I'm not sharing just yet. I might share the shortlist (if I ever find it again) next week if I run out of things to talk about (ha!)

And on that note, I'm going to go back to work. Yeah, I had a coffee at 10pm. I've got at least 2 hours before I could possibly crash.

It's only taken us 7 years to get our acts together. Well, we didn't really, it was kind of handed to us by our wonderful in-laws. Have I mentioned lately how much I love them? Oh yeah, I have. Anyway. They offered us their second car for a bargain price, to be paid when the house sells.

So! We're a two car family. No more late nights dragging the girls from their beds to the car to pick Hubby up after a call-out. Or juggling work, study, kids and stuff with the one car.

Of course now I'm going to need to find the extra money in the budget somehow. But I'm sure the money's there. Somewhere.

In the meantime, we have two cars. YAY!

Well, a it seemed all my careful planning worked. The day wasn't a resounding success, but everyone was where they needed to be, when they needed to be there, fed, clothed and ready to go. Which is about as much as I can expect at this point.

Of course now I'm too tired to even think about what happened today, so sleep will have to do.

Just one of those days. People going in different directions. Careful time scheduling is required and planning for the children etc etc. It's just one thing after another. And study? Keeps getting pushed back and back. Maybe I'll get to it on Sunday.

No, I will get to it on Sunday, this is getting a bit hairy now.

But still things keep popping up.

And all I want to do is sleep. Sigh. Which is SO where I'm going now.

As you are no doubt aware, we're up to our elbows in cleaning the house ready for open inspections this coming weekend. I've been working my little (or not so little) butt off this weekend. I don't feel like I've achieved much, but I know we have.

What made today that much more plesant, was the phone call around lunch time, from my mother-in-law, telling me to not clean the bathroom because she would do that when she came over. And that she was bringing dinner.

Now I don't say this enough, but I LOVE my in-laws. And this weekend has shown why. Yesterday afternoon they took the girls for six whole hours!! so we could clean. And today my mother-in-law comes and cleans my bathroom, feeds us and even cleans up after herself. Father-in-law was also on hand to help Hubby in the garden (which is looking lovely!)

Unfortunately we didn't make it to the laundry today, which is by far the dirtiest room, but I'm counting on the agent not wanting to take a photo of that to put on the internet, so it has moved down the priority list. Tomorrow's list consists of a mad morning running around with work/kids, and an afternoon (or 3 hours) of getting the house in final shape for photos.

I've decided I'd just like to sleep, and wake up when the house is sold, if that's ok?

Phew, what a day. I didn't have anything prepared to post today, as I guest posted at Snoskred's blog Life in the Country. I had a lot of fun writing that post, and researching for it. It is great living in a small town, but I am looking forward to moving back to the city. Talking with a friend tonight about her daughter's school, the new shopping centre extension has me all excited.

I know it sounds strange to get excited over a shopping centre, but if you'd spent 4 hours at the same shopping centre I did today (long story but Hubby needed the car) you would understand. I was so bored after 3 hours I went looking at laptops. *whispers* Shhh, don't tell my baby that, he still thinks he's my favourite. I've had him just on 12 months now, and he's not let me down yet. *Kin gently strokes her laptop*

Ahem, yes. Where was I? Shops. Yes, a severe lack of shops. I did manage my Secret Santa shopping today, and a few other bits and pieces. And several cups of coffee at the coffee shop. And a magazine. I felt terribly spoiled, but also quite nauseous a lot of the day. I have been very good and eating well, drinking lots of water and resting a lot as well, so I will definitely be mentioning this to the doctor on Tuesday.

The house is officially on the market now, and The Nice Lady will be here Monday to take photos. Now everything is decluttered, I'm cleaning each room in turn, top to bottom, and then closing the door. So far I've done the Office and spare bedroom. Tomorrow will be the main bedroom and ensuite. Sunday the lounge and dining room. Monday the kids bedroom, main bathroom and kitchen. All things being equal the kitchen should be done Sunday too. I'll see how I go. So that's my agenda for the weekend, as well as the regular swimming lessons, and Hubby has lots of jobs to do in the garden.

Next week things don't look to be any simpler. Monday, thankfully, the kids will be in daycare while I clean like a woman posessed for these photos. Tuesday, for the Aussies, is Melbourne Cup Day as well as the day I book into the hospital, otherwise known as the day I spend 3 hours waiting around at the hospital. The traditional Melbourne Cup Lunch for Hubby's work is being held at the Boss's new house, 30 minutes out of town, which means we probably won't get home til quite late. The plus side? The house won't get trashed on Tuesday.

Wednesday is Swimming lessons. The girls are in the same lessons now and progressing very well. M&M is even voluntarily floating on her back on her own with her noodle - quite an improvement considering a week ago she wouldn't even float on her back with someone holding her. Kiki is still having some trouble, but is trying harder, which is nice to see. I am taking my uni work with me to the pool, and manage to learn a few things while waving from the side and chatting to other Mums. Wednesday afternoon, I think we'll collapse.

Thursday is the first open (I think) so expect another mad day of cleaning. Friday the girls are once again off to daycare, and I have a Tupperware meeting, as well as a party to organise for Saturday.

Saturday is another open, Hubby taking the girls to swimming lessons while I do a party, and then I am having a linen party here that night, and a friend staying over. Sunday will be a day of collapse. I mean rest.

So there you have it, the upcoming week at Kin's Home. Feel free to stop by for your daily dose of insanity, and I hope you enjoy your weekend.

When I make peace with myself about the level of work I want to do for Tupperware (ie none) parties fall out of the sky and into my lap? In the last couple of days I've booked in 2 parties, people who have called ME, and done a party that was booked from July.

I shouldn't complain. The money will be handy for getting the house on the market. I've looked at our weekend schedule and to get the house on the market before Christmas, I'm going to have to employ people to do most of the work. I'll be making phone calls on Wednesday (the assignment is due Tuesday remember!).

Speaking of uni, the assignment is officially 1/3 done, and all going well (ie I'm able to cope watching the Cowboys beat Manly tonight AND write my assignment at the same time) I should have 2/3 done before bed tonight. I'm so glad I spent the week doing the research, and organising the research. Putting it together is proving easier than I thought (though just as time consuming!)

M&M had a great day with her friend today, although Kiki missed her terribly, despite being occupied with Hubby for most of the day. How is everyone's weekend shaping up?

Phew! Am I glad today's over. It probably wasn't a stressful day by most standards, but I don't "do" pregnancy very well. I whinge and moan for 9 months, bascially.

So we were out the door by 9:10. Only 10 minutes late. Hubby to work, M&M & Kiki to daycare. Picked up a present from Big W for M&M's friend whose birthday party she's going to tomorrow. Got my nails done. Did a 40 minute round trip to deliver some catalogues. Went to a lunch/meeting. Home for food, to the library to study. Pick up Hubby, pick up kids, collapse on the bed.

But did you notice in there? I studied at the library! How amazing is it than in 90 minutes at the library, I can get more done than an entire week at home? Must make mental note. I think the library opens at 9:30 tomorrow....

Anyway, tomorrow is looking nice for study too. M&M is getting picked up at 10 for the party, and returned..... "later" (*insert evil happy dance here!*) Hubby is taking Kiki out of the house (or maybe Mummy will be visiting the library until they close at 12:45....) and the assignment will hopefully be done by the time M&M gets home. I know that's wishful thinking, but I've got detailed notes of the first 600 words. And, . . . that's about it.

I have great faith in my ability to pull cr*p out of my behind when I need to when it comes to assignments, but I keep ending up on either one of two extremes. Too simple, or too complex for the assignment (1st year law remember). It's difficult to explain without going into too many details, but if anyone has experience that may be able to help, my email is in the left sidebar, right up the top. See it? Thanks.

I may have it. You never know. At this point, I just hope I pass. And thank goodness for leftover Pizza. Yeah, the menu plan is a bit slack this week.

It's scary how much she looks like her sisters at the same age. The same little button nose and longer forehead. As a plus, I've been shopping already.

For ages now I've been bemoaning the kids in our lounge room! I clean it up and 10 minutes later it's covered in toys and crap. SO I came up with the idea to set up a little lounge room in the dining room for them. I study and work on the computer in the dining room, and like most mothers spend a lot of time in the kitchen. This way they're supervised all the time, and have their own space (and we get our space back!)

As you can see there's a lot of wasted space there (and it's well used). Here's the after shot:

They had two massive boxes of toys which I sorted into musical instruments, tea set and "other" and along with their lego that makes up the 4 boxes on the shelf. Under the table with the tv will be boxes with their DVD's when I finish decluttering the lounge room. Those pictures are taken from the kitchen room, so you can see they're well supervised while I'm there. Past the clock on the wall is the laundry, so I'm never far away now.

It was quite a big job, and I'm glad it's done now. 1 room down, 10 to go :)

I get a glimse of what being the parent of a teenager is like.

Since I've known him my Hubby has been a volunteer in emergency services, specifically marine emergency services. Now while I've known him 10 years, lived with him for 7 years and been married for 6 years, I never get used to, or comfortable with the late night call outs. Granted tonight has been different. Two in one night is rare.

The thing is, apart from quick jobs, like someone running out of fuel, or rescuing people from boats that have run aground, most jobs can take a while, and often happen in less than favourable conditions.

I'm not a huge fan of the beach, or water, really, so I tend to stay away. And I probably shouldn't watch the news either, because tonight I saw that the wind is picking up here, and I noticed last time I drove near the water, a large number of boats in the bay. Probably the most I've ever seen when there hasn't been a cyclone bearing down on us. I'm guessing it's pretty rough out there. And my Hubby's out in it.

I know they have a great boat, and I know Hubby knows his boats, but it's one of those times you think "now I know how my parents felt". And feel bad for them. And me, because you know in 15 years I'll probably be lying in this same bed, hopefully with Hubby beside me, wondering where the girls are, and what they're doing. And I'll not be able to sleep until they're home. Just like now I can't sleep until Hubby's home.

An Island just off the coast:

So, as you can see, leaving here isn't exactly an easy choice. There are a couple of issues. One is the cost of living. I'm sure you can imagine the value of some of those houses in the first shot, and the real estate value of my old workplace? If not, here's a little hint. Add six zero's and you'll be getting close. Anyway, on top of that, wages don't necessarily fit the area. In fact being a regional area, wages are notoriously low, despite the obvious affluence of the region. Through a series of lucky coincidences (and bloody hard work) we've been able to buy here, even though at times it's been a bit of a struggle. But with child #3 around the corner, and Miss nearly 4 starting school in 18 months, other considerations added to our decision to make the move. The area we have picked in Brisbane to move to has an excellent reputation for schools, family friendly facilities, is precicely 40 minutes drive from my parents, and close to many long time, and new internet friends. All these combine to make the decision easier.

But back to the topic. What was it again? Oh yes, thinking about the future. A couple of posts on Get Rich Slowly that have given me pause lately. I first came across Get Rich Slowly through a link to this article on Renting vs Buying which explores the possibility that buying is not always necessarily the best option. Reading through the comments it's obvious that the majority reject this notion. This aversion to non-traditional-home-ownership options can be seen further in the earlier article "Is it Better to Invest or Prepay a Mortgage?"

The reason this has come up for discussion in this household, is the cash we will walk away with from the sale of this house, is a decent start to a savings plan, and as we're looking at renting anyway, for a while, until we get used to the area, what would happen if we didn't buy? Continued renting and put all our spare money into a decent (balanced) managed fund? Conservative estimates put our retirement at 10 years away. That was an eye opener. Yes, we'd have to continue renting for that time, and continue to rent ever after, but for Hubby, who's not a fan of his industry, the prospect of retiring at 49 definitely makes him stop and pay attention.

Now at this stage, it's an interesting idea, and just that. But even taking into account buying a house at retirement, it would only take 12 years to save that money. And very conservative estimates.

Were we to buy a house, put all our spare money in, it would still take 20 years to pay off. Is renting for 12 years a good enough price to pay for retirement potentially 23 years earlier? This is the question we'll be asking ourselves before we make the final decision.

I finally managed to get around to my 14 week appointment today (at 14 weeks and 6 days). All is going well and the little bean is showing a strong resilliance the poor things mother is not. After a week with a cold and 10 weeks of nausea, the little bean proves he/she can survive on minimal food, simply by sucking up 13kg of my fat stores. Lovely. Unfortunately, mother is not coping so well on little food and losing her precious fat stores (hey, I worked hard on those!) to fund the growth of the little bean. The doctor is hopeful an appetite will return soon, and has left instructions to return if anymore weight is lost.

At this point all I can say is: thank goodness hubby is a wonderful cook, able to provide for himself and the little misses after a long days work. Because I don't think I've spent any time in the kitchen for 10 weeks.

And I'm still exhausted. This pregnancy is taking a lot out of me.

Ok, so we left here Thursday after lunch, and drove for 5 hours before stopping for the night. I shared a queen bed with the girls, and, let's just say, never again. I've got bruises on my lower back. Friday we took our time and drove the rest of the way, stopping for lunch with cousins and aunts and uncles on the way.Quiet dinner and early to bed.

Saturday dawned early and we were off for the school reunion. I was quite nervous really, but most of the people there were in fact friends, and we had a good catch up, culminating in lunch at McDonalds (not much changes ;)). I headed back to my parents stopping for a spot of shopping and to pick up the new Harry Potter book. Yes I'm shameless.

Sunday consisted of lunch at a friends, a cake with my parents and presents (DVD's and books). Still no time to read Harry Potter.

Monday Dad had to work, so we met for lunch at the shops, and I spent pretty much the rest of the day reading Harry Potter. Damn it was good. No spoilers here yet. I might discuss it in a month or so. Tuesday we left at 6am, and despite a 1hr delay behind a huge load (I'm talking 5 truck engines, 3 pulling and 2 pushing, 3 police escorts and 2 escort vehicles) we were home by 8pm. A long day but worth it.

Dad flew home yesterday, leaving me with unpacking, washing and cleaning to do (although hubby had made a remarkable effort while I was away). My focus at the moment is unfortunately finding the money for textbooks as uni goes back on Monday. I need to find $160. Funds are a little short this week, and while I have enough for text books, and we have enough food, there is the slight matter of two outstanding bills (one that's 5 weeks overdue) that are causing me some concern.

A bonus this week also was the phone call I'd been waiting for from the daycare centre. "Yes, we have a place for both girls on Fridays. When would you like them to start?" I'm sure you can guess the answer.

So my aim is to organise myself a bit more over the next few weeks, and you're all welcome on my journey. Come on. It'll be fun