There's no place like home...

Week 3 post-op and I had a "test run" in preparation for next week when school goes back. On Sunday I went home, via the in-laws because I desperately miss the girls, and stayed overnight (on my own as hubby had to fly to Sydney on business) just to see how I would go. I also had an appointment with my shrink on Monday that I didn't want to miss. So, Sunday went well - a lot of driving, so I was tired and uncomfortable (as opposed to sore) when we finally reached home. I was glad to just sit back and catch up with some favorite TV shows that I recorded as mum and dad don't have Foxtel...

Monday was a public-transport day to firstly get to the PO box in the CBD, as hubby hasn't been at all since my op, and then out to Richmond to see the shrink. All went well, and all targets achieved, but I gave in after the shrink and took a taxi to Spencer St (sorry, Southern Cross...) because I still had to catch the train back up to Castlemaine. I didn't want to stay "home alone" as hubby will be in Sydney all week for work.

All in all it was a success! I was *exhausted* by the time I got back to my parents, and slept until noon today, but didn't get any pain or other nasty side-effects from being so active so soon after surgery. Another week of R&R and I'll be back into the swing of the school term & "normal" life!

Change of tact...

OK, so obviously the challenge of blogging every day for a year didn't quite work out, so I'm just going back to a plain old rambling blog that I hope will be interesting to people out there, if not I'll just be talking to myself!

The girls went back to school today - and they were SO ready and SO happy to be back at school. There was great excitement in Abigail's year as there was a new girl starting this term. There was also great excitement in Leah's year because they are going on an excursion tomorrow - very exciting as it is the first excursion they are going on (they get to go by tram and everything!) The preppies are growing up - the school is taking them out in public! ;-)

So with school back (yes, they started later than other schools... it's a private school thing. You pay heaps and get more holidays... hmmm, am I missing something???) What was I saying? Oh yeah, with school back we are back in a routine - which is so good for me. I need it. I go nuts over the holidays because I don't have a strict daily routine. So girls happy to be back at school and me happy because I'm back into routine. Hubby is just working as per normal, so happy household!

Personal training tomorrow - always bloody hard work but I enjoy it and find it really satisfying and feel really good after. Hubby had training tonight and it was one of the weights programs (the other thing I like about training - different combinations of cardiac & strength each time) so I guess that's what I'll be doing tomorrow!

The new toy - Boxee - is great! We are "backing up" our DVDs onto a couple of 2TB external USB drives that will be plugged into the Boxee. Then the DVDs will be boxed up & stored (no law-breaking here!) Just to get the hang of things I put a few movies on the network to see how they worked and they are perfect - you'd swear you were watching the DVD - but with a couple of presses of a button, and no getting off the couch, you can change your mind and watch a completely different DVD! Brilliant!

Study is still going well and I'm learning so much & really enjoying it. I need to learn to code properly (again, because I have forgotten everything I leant at uni and did on the job in my early days in IT...) and so the best place to start is with C. And if you are going to learn C then you are going to need a copy of Kernaghan & Richie. There lies the problem - where's my K&R???!!!!

Well, back to the books & DVDs for me! And then a reasonably early night for once... hopefully...

Day 5 - And the school holidays begin...

It's true - the girls finished up term 2 today at 1pm. We are one of the schools that is either (a) stupid for having 3 weeks holiday in the middle of winter, or (b) smart for having 3 weeks holiday in the middle of winter so everyone can go skiing. Not being one for skiing, I vote for (a). I haven't even seen real snow in my entire life! Seriously!!!

As the school holidays don't tend to take into account the lives of those who work, even I, who am pretty flexible working for myself and now studying, have appointments that I can't just cancel. What to do with the girls? Grandparents!!! I packed a suitcase, bundled the girls into the car and took them out to hubby's parents for the next few days. That gets me through until mid-next week!

I think schools should dispense with holidays all together. I don't mean, or in any way suggest, teachers to give up their holidays - not at all! As the daughter of 2 teachers, I know the teachers really need the break! What I'm suggesting is 2 sets of teachers - one set teaches during the standard terms, and the other set teaches during what is currently the school holidays. Sounds good to me! Hey, and we pay enough in school fees - the least they can do is teach the full year! ;-)

x

Day 2 - Parent/Teacher Interviews

It's that time of year again - the end of semester 1 and reports are out and parent/teacher interviews are under-way. I got mine over and done with this afternoon, after receiving the girls' reports yesterday. No suprises in the reports, but the interviews we the wrong way around! The one I expected to have a lot to talk about had virtually nothing to talk about and the one I thought would be straight forward was anything but!

Confusion... But both girls are happy and socialising very well with their peers, so that's all I really care about at this point in their education - they are only in prep and year 2 after all! (And yes, they can both read and write and do all that basic stuff you need to be able to do...)

P/T interviews are weird - but maybe it's just me. I feel like I'm back at school having been called in to see the teacher or something. Ridiculous, I know, but that's the feeling I get none-the-less... It's like I'm being critiqued as a parent rather than being updated on how my daugther is going at school. But, like I said, that's just me and maybe I'm paranoid...

We are all becoming exhausted - as we always do at the end of term - so we are looking forward to school finishing at 1pm on Friday! Only 3 more sleeps!

x