Painting?

I have bought a oil painting from photo that was on a new website that Mim found for us all.  It is a page that just collates all the Scoopons, Deal of the Day and all the other possible deals in your city that day.  I am afraid it only works for Australia but I'll bet there is an alternate one in USA.  The website is Buyii and it has everything that I have watched in the way of deals and more.  I particularly look for travel type deals and things like canvas photographs.  So anyway, I have been looking through some photos of Frankie and the boys to try to decide which one to use. 

It has made me look through the happy days and it has been a blessing for me to look at these photos.  It reminds me that he (and I) were very happy.  It reminds me that there was a time that he was just a kid running around with his brothers!  He has the chubby Prednisone cheeks in all of these photos but really only I see that.  I have been thinking about Frank a little in the last few days.  So has Levi, interestingly, but I would need to talk to another person to completely talk about that.  I love that Levi thinks about Frank.  I love that he seems to know who he is without the emotional backlash that would be possible for this situation. 

These photos are some of the finalists in the "Get to an Oil Painting" competition!  I wish it was much easier to choose!

To God or not to God

We have received something from the school.  It is a letter asking us to select our preferred method of religious instruction at school.  I am stumped.  I really have no idea what I want.  Actually I know what I want but I am not sure that it is achievable.  Here are my options:

Option 1: The Non-denominational Combined Churches Program - With a focus on both Old and New Testament.

Option 2: The Baha'i Program - The students learn about the role they can play in bringing about peace.  They study the spiritual laws common to all religions and learn about basic human virtues.

Option 3: Students not participating in either of the above programs will do classroom work under the supervision of a teacher. 

I am swaying toward Option 2, because it is closest to what I want and I am less afraid of the teachers.  I will have to say that I am unsure of the option 1 teachers.  I am afraid that some well meaning but generally clueless teacher tries to teach Levi the nastier parts of the Christian religion.  I don't want him being taught to hate his uncle because he happened to be born gay.  I don't want him spouting off the nonsense that he brings home at the moment (from another child - same one every time) about how he is going to Hell because he doesn't go to church.  I am afraid of the people who are teaching that child.  I don't want them teaching my child!

I still want Levi to learn about religion.  I want him to learn honour and morals, but I think that it is possible (however unlikely) to learn that from me.  It would be fabulous if he could learn the beauty of all the religions, rather than the Hell and Brimstone stuff.  I have always wanted for him to have the tools to make up his own mind.  I can provide some of those tools but I also strongly believe that they shouldn't all come from me.  I don't want him to believe what I believe by default as so many children do.  I am happy if he chooses something different, so long as he chooses and it is a reasoned decision made with full disclosure. 

So that is my dilemma for the night! 

Dad

Today four years ago, Dad died.  Jo is in Tasmania, so I have no ability to help her today.  There are a lot of things that I am sad that my Dad never saw, but most of that centers around Levi.  I am sad that they never really had a chance to get to know each other.  They both think the same way and I think that Dad would have loved to watch and nurture that. 

When I talked about coming back to Australia, I wanted to buy a house that I could renovate while I was living in it.  Dad loved the idea and I think part of my joy in coming back was that he and I could spend weekends working on the house.  He had certainly talked enough about that too, to think that he too wanted to have some of that time together.  I miss that time, even though he died before I even returned.  So Dad, I miss you and even though he doesn't really know, Levi misses you as well.

Working Boy

I have decided Levi needs to work a little harder!  OK, Not really.  He is only 6, but he wants to work along side me when I have to do yard work.  So we went and bought a small size leaf blower.  It runs off a Lithium Ion battery so it is very lightweight.  The blower lasts about 15 minutes, which is about 3 minutes longer than Levi's ability to blow leaves!  Now when I go out and mow (which will happen this morning) he can help as well.  The tiles around the house get slick with mould in the summer wet season and this is accentuated by the rotting leaves, so I am attempting this year to stay ahead of it all.  I am trying to get rid of the leaves and that involves blowing!  There was another blower here bought by my Dad before he died.  Dad never in his life ever bought a small anything.  If he bought a tool, it was always the strongest.  If he bought a power tool, it was always the most powerful and by extension the heaviest.  Now that works well for grown men but if I want Levi (and Jo) to use the blower, I need something that doesn't require an act of God to start and that they can lift for longer than a minute.  I found it!  Let's see if they use it.

I have had trouble uploading photos to this blog in the last few days, but it seems that has resolved itself without my having to find out the problem.  That is lucky because I haven't the first idea of how to try to repair or trouble shoot.

BMX Boy

We found another track nearby.  Actually we didn't but some friends did and we followed them to it!  Levi is getting really good and is starting to get airtime.  OK that is stretching the truth a little.  He is incredibly excited when his front wheel lifts off even slightly and calls it "air time".  Here are some photos of the day!

Why I don’t care about your Virginity

I am amazed by the number of people who talk about saving themselves for their husbands or wives. Now don’t get me wrong, I actually think that it is a really good idea to treat sex with some sort of respect. I don’t think that it is possible to have sex for the first time without some sort of emotional ramification and so I am happy that teenagers decide to ‘save themselves’, but why do I have to know about it? I am happy that you made that decision, but really I don’t care!

They have these virginity pledges these days and this is an example that I ripped from Wikipedia;

"Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate, and my future children to a lifetime of purity including sexual abstinence from this day until the day I enter a Biblical marriage relationship."

Again, not having a problem with the pledge but stop talking about it. I just don’t care. If I walked up and randomly told you about my sex life you would be insulted. Well, wait, bored first but then insulted, but I have to see you talking about it on facebook pages and blogs. I know that I can just turn the computer off but what I really want if for those kids to really think about what they are writing, saying and pledging. When I hear that someone has pledged this I feel many emotions.

I feel grateful that the person pledging has had such a charmed life. I hear the pledge and see the millions of girls who, for a variety of reasons have never been allowed the respect of that choice. In my mind I see the children in Africa, mindlessly raped as their parents are killed in front of them. But you don’t have to go far abroad to have to see that. In USA and Australia every day, there are children ‘losing their virginity’ to their fathers, brothers and random adults. Where was their choice? Where is their ability to pledge?

I also feel sadness, that the person pledging loudly has so little ability to be empathetic to those who are not provided the tools or the self respect to see sex as anything other than a means to an end. Those children are as deserving of sympathy as the raped child.

So I guess what I am saying tonight, because I am in a pensive mood, is that I applaud your choice to wait and treat sex as the beautiful thing that it is, but please I don’t want to know. It is a choice that you make every time that you and your partner meet, but it is yours. You should know about it and fairly quickly your partner should too. Other than that it really isn’t anyone else’s business. It isn’t a badge of courage; courage is the person surviving when virginity was taken from them. It shows respect for your body when you abstain, but doesn’t show respect for those less fortunate, when you tout that decision blindly. Respect yourself, for that you have my full agreement, but yelling that from the rooftops, only glorifies yourself.

Falling on Concrete

Levi had a fall onto concrete coming out of school today.  He whacked his leg pretty impressively and decided that he was;

"Never going to walk again!"

I carried him to the car and into the house when we got there but after about a minute on the couch, he then decided that he wanted to go and roller blade.  So I am thinking that he will, in fact, survive this one! 

Other than that it has been a fairly uneventful day and afternoon.  Contrary to this lower photo - Levi dying from his shin injury!

Work

Levi came to work this afternoon, actually this evening.  It was one of those really long days that you just wish was over from the beginning.  Anyway, I had to take a bunch of photos of supporting a cough for a kid (a 6 year old to be precise) in a wheelchair.  So I brought Levi in to be that child in the photos.  He was great and did everything that I could ask of him! 

Levi loves helping out!  He had wanted to go to Sizzler tonight anyway and I had agreed.  Initially it was only He and I and Pam but eventually was most of the office.  I have the greatest office on earth!  It has been a bad week for many people fielding tough phone calls and hard stuff happening at home, but everyone is great to each other.  This dinner was another way to care.  We didn't talk about work at all.  We talked about food and life and anything except work and I think everyone went home feeling much better!  Levi is absolutely doted on by everyone. 

The other classic now is that we all tease Pam incessantly about her new baby.  She is tolerant but is quietly loving the attention that we all give her.  She will have a big support system in March when the baby is born.

I am trying to decide if I will do my Masters at the moment.  I have a project that I want to work on and perhaps the easiest way to do that is with the support of the University, but I am not sure that I am prepared for the deadlines and requirements that go along with it.  I am really sure that I am not prepared for the stats that go along with it as well.  I have to spend the next couple of days thinking hard about that decision.

Old Photos

I was trolling through some old photos that I haven't looked at for a while.  It is always fun to find photos like these.  They were taken in January last year so Levi is a whole 20 some months older now.  Look how much he has grown up in that time.  Kids are great, they look so much like themselves each photo but gradually, gradually they get older and suddenly, before you know it...not little children anymore!  There is a sweetness in his face.  I love that Levi has never really known major loss or pain.  I love that he can look at the world with an optimism and joy that is denied so many other children in the world, even in Australia.  The best that I can do for Levi and perhaps even the future in general, is to keep that look on Levi's face for as long as it is possible.  The world needs joy and the world needs optimism. 

The world needs little boys in trees as well!  

Weekend

 This is our weekend!  Levi rode on his new bike and loved it.  I finally got to buy a new tube for the front wheel and with a lot of assistance fixed the front wheel.  frankly with all the help it is a miracle it was ever fixed!  He loves doing that sort of thing though.  Then he took the bike to his friend Ty's and they went for a five kilometre ride on the bike path near Stafford.  I spent the time doing yard work.  I cleaned up all the yard around Jane's cottage and cut all the weeds near the creek.  It is getting harder to do with the temperature and the humidity rising.  I did an experiment, weighing myself before and after.  I lost 2 kg in an hour!  Now that is a lot of sweat! 

He went to the movies that night as well and that gave me until about 8.30 at night to clean up the house again.  Levi arrived home hyped up on coke and candy and excitement.  He was very funny because he was so tired as well.  Eventually I got him calmed down by putting him in the shower and just letting the shower run until he was sleepy.  Sweet thing then just collapsed into sleep!

We went to Jak's house today and Levi and the kids played in the green pool.  It wasn't as bad as it looked but funny because the kids all called it the green pool as well!  The dog joined them as well.  Then he got excited and started to try to bite them as they jumped in, until he finally connected on Levi's chest, earning himself a one way ticket out of the pool fence, where he spent the next hour or so, barking at them.

Tomorrow is a student free day at school but I have to work, so Levi is going to stay at Zac's house and I will repay them by taking the family dinner tomorrow night!

Movies

I have been watching more movies lately.  For whatever reason, probably because TV has been bad lately and my social life is pretty minimal!  Anyway, I tend to buy the DVDs when they are really cheap and Australia does these 3 pack deals and sometimes 5 pack deals that drop the price to lower than a rental.  Frankly, I have no idea how movie rental companies stay afloat when buying a DVD costs so little.  Anyway I was thinking about movies. 

I think that my all time favourite is The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews made about a hundred years ago.  It is my favourite for lots of reasons, mostly because of the way he says "Sink Me".  I love that I think of my brother Bill who loved it as well and would use the same "Sink Me" regularly.  I love movies that make me think about people or even lines in movies that stand out.  One such movie for me was Return of the King (the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).  I remember going to see it the first night it was out.  Standing in line with Little Tom (who now towers over me) and the rest of his family.  It was the year that Frank had died and I was still struggling.  I was struggling with the decision to let him go.  I was struggling with a miscarriage straight after that.  Then a movie gave me the words, gave Frankie words to give to me.  Theoden says;

"My body is broken. You have to let me go"

It helped.  OK, I cried, but it helped.  It helped to know in the words that Frank never expressed, that there are times that you really do have to let them go. 

The other movie that I love for Frank as well is The Court Jester with Danny Kaye.  Now if Scarlet Pimpernel was made a hundred years ago, then this one must be a thousand years old!  It is really old but it is so much fun to watch.  Between that and Disney's Robin Hood, I can see Frankie watching them.  I can see him acting them out.  I can hear him talking about it and I can remember him, just a little bit more.  I love that the most.  I love movies that, even for a little while, give me back my brother and my son.

Customer Service

It has been beautiful at night at the moment, because the nights have been clear and the moon beautifully full.  I love the moon.  I love that it gets to travel all over the world in a day and that it is the same moon that watches over my friends and family in Oregon as the one that watches us here!

Jo brought home a toy the other day for Levi.  It was a lighted stick that you shot into the sky and in the dark it was just fabulous to watch.  He had a great time out there shooting it into the sky and then running after it.  They continued until the mosquitoes drove us all indoors.  As you can see, Levi has decided that his hair needs to be short again.  Really short because he doesn't do anything by halves.  He wanted me to cut it, which I did and then he ran his hands through his hair and said that is wasn't short enough because it wasn't 'spiky' enough!  I continued to buzz it until it was in fact, spiky enough!  He loves the spiky feel and I will have to admit that I love the feel as well!

Today I had some interesting interactions with the customer service.  My iPhone has been failing.  It turns itself off without a loss of charge and sometimes needs to be charging to do anything.  If I had to use it while it was charging, it would give you a mild electric shock for the pleasure.  Today I took it to Chermside because it is the only place on the Northside that has an Apple store.  They were great once I actually got through the waiting involved endlessly at Apple.  In fact, after they were able to replicate the charging silliness, they just replaced the phone.  

Now I have to go back to Chermside anyway.  I bought Levi a new bike!  There is more to this story and Levi has been really patient.  His old bike had a few minor problems.  The first is that the brakes are broken, broken so they freeze onto the wheel about once every 5 minutes or so.  The pedal is also broken and in the process of breaking, ripped out the thread.  The only way to replace the pedal without thread is to tighten the new pedal on as far as it will go and try to jam it in there at a funny angle.  It doesn't work very well.  The pedal falls off about every 10 minutes.  Levi didn't really complain but he would have to bring the bike in for repairs every seven and a half minutes or so!  So after being tight for about two months, I finally bought him a Transformers bike.

We took it home and then he and I put it together.  Only to find that the front bike tube was ripped and he couldn't use it anyway.  I had come home early because there was a big storm on the way and I had only computer work anyway, so I could do it at home.

Survivor - Not!

Survivor is back on TV.  I don't know why I do it to myself.  I watch it but it also drives me nuts.  I can't look away.  It is amazing because I know the producers are doing it to me but I still can't stop it driving me nuts!  The producers pick out the 22 people who are least likely to survive, well, anything!  These must be the dumbest 22 people on earth.  It makes me think of Monsters verses Aliens (Yes, all I really watch is kid movies) where they are talking about his lack of brains;

"Turns out you don't need one! Totally Overrated!!"

It is brilliant, but I am reminded of it every time I see Survivor.  I think that some of the time, these people must forget to breathe.  I can just see Jeff Probst going around and having to occasionally remind them to "Suck In".  This must be the hundredth season of Survivor.  There have been so many seasons, they must be running out of locations, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the next was; Survivor, New York.  But I digress, this show has been running forever and it hasn't really been played any differently, but still, they act as if they are surprised, devastated even if someone turns on them or back stabs them.  Hello, have you even watched this show before?  Still I am absorbed.  What is wrong with me?  Next I'll be watching Days of Our Lives!

Then this is the joke of the week from the Internet, hailed as a true story.  If it is true, Mt Isa is the likely setting!

Drunk Driver True story from Australia

Drunk Driving....THIS is absolutely brilliant! Only an Aussie could pull this one off!
A true story from Mount Isa in Queensland.

Recently a routine Police patrol car parked outside a local neighbourhood pub late in the evening. The officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.

The man stumbled around the car park for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five vehicles. The man managed to find his car, which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a fine dry night). Then flicked the indicators on, then off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights.

He moved the vehicle forward a few metres, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as some more vehicles left. At last he pulled out of the car park and started to drive slowly down the road. The Police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a random breathalyser test.

To his amazement the breathalyser indicated no evidence of the man's intoxication.

The Police officer said "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station - this breathalyser equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the man, "tonight I'm the designated decoy

Trying again

Ok, so I didn't win the photo contest with the last shot I took on the Great Ocean Road, but I haven't given up.  You can enter in subsequent weeks as well.  This is the next photo that I am going to submit in the hope that I can win a holiday.  A $30K holiday no less!  We had to submit it to 'Nothing Like Australia' contest. 

Cross your fingers!

Crystal Mining

Yesterday during the storm, Levi got bored.  Of Course!  So we pulled out one of the things from the 'Bored Shelf'.  It was a present from my cousin at Levi's birthday.  It was a Crystal Mining kit.  Levi just loved it!  He played and played and worked at it for hours.  Today he went back to it and scraped until he had excavated all the crystals and spent the rest of the day sorting them and playing a complicated game involving a lunch box and a 'Guess which Crystal' theme.  He washed them in water and then worked out that the plaster would reset if you added water.  Now he is making concrete, by adding water to all the plaster dust that he got for the crystals.  No wonder I can never keep this place clean!

Today was a strange one.  He had a party for one of the boys in his class at school, but after playing on the trampoline for about half an hour, suddenly went a bit white and then wanted to go home, feeling sick!  After we were home and he had a bit of a rest, he was fine again.  I have no idea what he is doing but he seems to perk up after a little bit.  I am hoping that whatever is upsetting his stomach goes away soon. 

Gods of War

Today the heavens have opened and it is pouring!  They have also released the Gods of War though because it is thundering like there is no tomorrow.  This means that Levi and I have some time here where there is really nothing to do but snuggle up and watch TV and make games.  Levi came up with a game to play.  Well more accurately, design, make, colour and play.

First of all he drew a picture of what the game was going to look like and changed and added until he was happy.  It is a math game.  You start in the middle and then pick up cards that have problems on them.  If the answer is a positive you go in that direction but if the answer is negative, you go in the other direction.  If you hit the end in either direction you win!

Then we got a piece of cardboard and redrew the game board.  Levi followed my lines and then we wrote the cards.  Mostly sums like 5 + 6 and such as they can't add up to too much.  The board was too small for large solutions.  The negative sums were things like 8 - 12 and other smaller sums.  Then we placed the cards on the board and it was finished!  Every now and then there are cards in there, that say 5 X 5 and such, but I think Levi snuck those in.  They are a match winner by themselves!  Then we played the game with little 4 X 4 Lego pieces as our tokens.  I love this game and I think (and I am totally not bias) that it would be a great teaching game for kids Levi's age.  He loves playing it and although the sums are easy for him, because after all he wrote most of them, they will help him learn them visually and quickly.  Now I need to make a flash card one and we will be all set!

We played the game until he was tired out it, but I think we will bring it with us to dinner tonight.  They have a couple of kids around this age too.  I am sure it will be a hit.  I have to bring dessert as well and I think I am going to bring the ever popular 5 minute chocolate cake and icecream.  I might branch out and get strawberries as well!  Then the kids can make their our desserts in pairs and it will entertain them as well!

If you were wondering if Levi was actually still in his PJs and robe in the photos, yes, yes he is.  In my defense, it is raining, we live on a farm and even though it seems like we have done a lot, it is only 9 in the morning.  He does wake at the crack of dawn, even when it is dark and stormy.  He also is sitting on the sofa, eating popcorn, drinking a popper slushie and watching TV.  Yes I'll never make a Mum Blogger!  He goes to public school and loves it.  He gets his immunizations on time and his mother lets him stay in jammies and eat popcorn.  Ah well, lucky I am relaxed about not being the perfect mother!

Term Off

The last few days have been, who knows!  For want of a better word - tiring.  I am sick with a low grade thing that is not worth even whining about but enough to make it hurt a bit to breathe and to wear me out more than I should be.  Levi has been a bit off too but it doesn't look like he is sick or getting sick.  He and I are just getting back into the routines required for the next term.  He was having trouble going to sleep so I let him fall asleep on the sofa beside me.

This is a free term.  It means that Levi and I are not doing soccer and we are not doing swimming.  He is not starting judo or karate.  We are just having a stress free term.  We are not having to wake up at 7am on a Sunday morning.  It has been a fabulous first week.  We have slept in most mornings.  I am thinking there will come a time when taking a term off will no longer work, but for the next few years Levi and I are going to take Term 4 off.  It just makes sense!

Riding and Jumping

We had a whole flock of these grazing beside us!

 Today we went bike riding!  There is a BMX track in Caboolture that is just fantastic!  If you go early enough there are no big kids there and really for much of this morning our boys had the track pretty much to themselves.  This track is quite long but has lots of jumps and turns.  Levi, who only this time last year, I was despairing would ever learn to ride a bike, loved it.  He has started to jump hos bike and loves to slide out on turns.  He still isn't as confident as some of the other kids but he is doing well.  Frankly he is happy and that is all I really care about.

I love his helmet hair!  He went round and round the track until he was bright red and exhausted.  The other two boys weren't any better.  But there is not much that a rest and a Coke Slushie won't cure! 

There is a skate park at the same place.  Levi actually rode around and jumped out today!  This was the first time that I have seen him do anything that daring.  It is fun to watch him gradually pushing the limits.  Admittedly, it isn't how I did it.  I pushed limits for sure but there wasn't anything gradual about it!  Where Levi pushes his limits with a gentle hand, I tended to push my limits with a hammer!  I love watching him 'do it differently' even though I have to gag myself or sit on my hands at times to stop from trying to shove him forwards.

We start Term 4 in a couple of days and I am looking forward to it, more because Levi's bedtime drops back to 7pm from 8pm and I get more time at night.  I am selfish to want that so badly but I do treasure the time at night.  Time for me and the things that I want to do.  Admittedly most of the time it involves cleaning and vacuuming, but still at least I have fewer demands at night!  In Term 4, Levi starts swimming as a part of his PE program.  I love that the school starts to take over some of those tasks as well.  They start to make sure that everybody can swim.  

I called Cheryl this morning and Nate is doing well.  No rash.  No problems.  Just a tired little boy recovering from a bad day!