It's been a while. A few things to catch up on, so I'll do it as briefly as possible.

- Today marks the first anniversary of phase 2 of our marriage. Doesn't time fly??

- Father-in-law decided to have the surgery ... that was about a month ago now. Doctors are confident they got all the cancer, but it's proving to be a slow and painful recovery for him.

- Kids are doing great for the most part. The usual winter asthma that Connor suffers with, and minor coughs and colds for everyone else.

- This Friday is opening night for a one act play I'm in called "Swan Song". I play the drunken wife of a man who, on his last day of work before retirement, professes his love to his secretary. I'm always relieved when other cast members tell me, after I've done my makeup, "You still don't look like a wife of 36 years"!! Phew!!!!

That's all I can think of right now. I MUST get back into the swing of blogging!!

I wrote this post back in January about the death of the wife of the former head of the firm where I work. (Sorry that sounds so convoluted!) I got to work today to hear the news that Mr Heinz passed away this morning. He had remained in the nursing home since his wife died, gradually deteriorating.

From the office website

Interesting interview with a fascinating man

RIP Mr Heinz

Connor went to a birthday party yesterday after school at McDonalds.
Simon gave him $10 to take.
The mother of the birthday boy told Connor he didn't need it - she'd pay for his dinner.
Connor bought a round of sundaes for everybody at the party. :o)

... the worst of the bushfire season is over.

Just weeks ago, we had record breaking temperatures. Only yesterday we reached the low 30's - shorts and t-shirt weather. Today, 14 - jumper AND cardigan!. And the heavens opened up - thankfully in the right places.

Victoria's guardian angel arrived just in the nick of time. Coulda got here a bit earlier, but better late than never.

Tomorrow is gonna be hot and windy ... extreme fire danger. The kids' school and kinda will be closed. We know it's gonna be bad, but I wasn't expecting this text:

You're probably aware of the fires ravaging our state. For those of you not on onlylisa's FList, I suggest you drop by and have a look at her recent posts. She's mere miles away from the worst of it (Kinglake and Marysville being hardest hit). I won't go into it too much, I'll just be repeating what Lisa has already said.

The fires started on Saturday. Many are still burning almost a week later. I am about 200 kilometres from them. This morning I woke up to this:


My throat is tickly, my eyes sting. Outside, everything has a slight dirty orange tinge to it. And I'm miiiiiiles away. I can't imagine what it must be like for those close by; for those in the middle of it. It must have been terrifying.

There were other fires dotted around the state - the closest to me being in Bendigo about 100 kilometres away. Not nearly as ferocious as those around Kinglake, but it also claimed a life. And it claimed the house my father-in-law grew up in. It wasn't in the family any longer, but still upsetting to hear your childhood home has been burnt to the ground.

It's times like this, though, that the community pulls together to help out our fellow Aussies. In less than a week, financial donations have hit $77 million. Coles, one of our largest supermarket chains, is donating all today's profits to to the bushfire appeal. I'll be doing my weekly shopping there later tonight. Donations of clothes, toys, etc, have been so overwhelming, the public has been asked to hold off. I heard through a woman at work of an organisation called BADGER Wildlife Rescue ... one of the many shelters caring for wildlife injured by the fire. I will be donating some woollen blankets and pillow cases to them ... they will be made into 'marsupial pouches'. :)

Prayers of strength and courage to anybody who's been affected by the fires in any way.

I had been avoiding going into my previous post as the person in question has been floating around a fair bit.

Thank you all for your replies. Your advice and caring words of wisdom will be taken on board.

This really is a lovely place to share these sorts of issues (any sort, for that matter). I greatly appreciate your input on this particular topic.

H xxx

I mentioned recently about our concerns with Max's behaviour at school and to a lesser degree at home. At the end of last year, the special needs co-ordinator at school did a language assessment screening test, which he failed. Last week he was given a more intensive language assessment by a speech pathologist which has shown that Max has a "severe language disability" (I cringe at the word "disability"). It's quite bizarre (and maybe those of you with a teaching background can provide some input). Max reads at quite a high level ... he's about a year ahead. His expressive language was tested at above average, but his receptive language was extremely low.

This goes a long way in explaining why he has hated school so much ... I imagine that in the past the teacher would instruct the kids to, for example, get their books and sit on the floor. The rest of the class would do what was asked, but Max wouldn't because he hasn't been able to process the instructions. Then, of course, he'd be in trouble for not doing what he was told. Not to mention the amount of times that we've growled at him for "being disobedient".

So, what this means is that, subject to a psychological assessment which was done this week, and a submission prepared by the special needs co-ordinator, Max will be eligible for government funding for a teacher's aide.

Talk about mixed emotions. On the one hand, I'm happy that there is perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel. On the other hand ... "disability". :(

Simon and I had a lovely weekend away ... WITH NO KIDS!!!! An old friend of Simon's (they've been friends since they were 5) got married at the most beautiful winery in Red Hill down on the south east coast of Victoria. Stunning scenery, lovely ceremony, good company, and of course lots of wine!!

Highlights: Catching up with some old friends we haven't seen for a few years, and making some lovely new friends.

Lowlight: Both of us shedding tears as we drove over the Westgate Bridge. The terror that poor little girl must have felt as the man who was supposed to love and protect her so brutally dropped her into the water below. :(

Boys are back to school today ... and not a moment too soon!! These school holidays have felt like an eternity!!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/5289069

Too horrific to comment about.

She was the same age as Molly. Her brothers are close in age to Connor and Max.

A little too close to home.

Midnight ... 29 degrees (84.2F). WTF?!?!

Having a grumpy day is lousy.

Turning 41 is lousy.

Combine the two and you have the makings of a totally godawful day.

Well, not totally. My computer friends made me smile. Thank you.

xxx

Being Australia Day, I thought it appropriate to share a good Australian song.

So, here's an Aussie song I picked especially for today. The video is filmed in Melbourne and shows many well known landmarks.

Could I *be* any more subtle??? ;)

My dear friend onlylisa and I have a fair bit in common.

- We grew up in the same suburb.
- We went to the same school, although Lisa was a few years ahead of me (but now looks ten years younger).
- Our birthdays are two days apart. (Remember the pyjama party we had at Cusack's??)
- We became friends at a theatre group, and were fellow orphans in "Annie". ("It's a Hard Knock Life" could be our theme song!!)
- We were both accidents (I like to think I was a surprise) late in our parents' lives (my mum was 46 and my dad 45). Lisa described her childhood feelings as "lonely, unhappy, excluded". The same could be said for my childhood.

I remember when I first started playing Scrabble on Facebook, I said to someone that I'd never really played Scrabble before even though all the family used to play. Whenever I asked if I could join in, I was always told I was too young and I wouldn't be able to do it. I think that's why I'm so enjoying it now ... especially when I beat my sister!!

My brother (8 years older) played backyard cricket with me every day. Of course, he ALWAYS bowled me out first ball (which would leave me howling "you're a cheat!!"), but because I was always made to bowl, I became a pretty handy bowler (although not too good with the bat) at indoor cricket (something else that Lisa and I did together for a few years "Go BLF"!!). So I guess it's not all bad!

I've always thought that my childhood was a good argument FOR contraception. Not that I wish I wasn't around now, but childhood was difficult. I had the oldest parents of any of my friends. As a kid, I remember regularly being asked by shopkeepers and such "I see you're out with your nanna today". My mum would explain "No, I'm her mother". I hated that.

Add to that the fact that we were brought up to call my mum "Mother", not "Mum" multiplied the embarrassment and feelings of being different to everyone else.

Having come along so late in my parents' life, I never knew any of my grandparents, and I've now lost both parents at a relatively early age (Mum when I was 20 and Dad when I was 40).

All in all, I know a lot of people out there have had it far worse than me. They're only small scars I carry. But these scars have contributed to shaping me into the person I am today. So I appreciate my scars.

In our seemingly neverending quest to find the cause of Max's bad behaviour at school and general frustration and anger at home, we have had him to the GP who said his ears were blocked with wax. The doc syringed them, then referred him to an audiologist for a hearing test, and an ear, nose and throat specialist. He passed the hearing test (yay!!). The ENT was somewhat surprised that the GP had syringed the years of a 7 year old and explained that syringing them can cause damage to the ear drum. He was even more surprised when I told him that Max had had it done 3 or 4 times - the first being when he was 3. Sheesh!! So, the ENT dug a little more wax out with a long needle kinda thingamyjig, said there's nothing wrong with his ears, but if they get blocked again to come back to see him ... and that'll be $135, thank you very much!!

First day back at work today since Christmas. It was actually nice getting back to some mental stimulation. The firm I work for, Heinz & Partners, is headed by Mr Heinz (obviously). He's now 86 and until recently, still came in to the office regularly. He worked full time until he was around 82. He retired from the partnership some years ago. His son, Pete, has been a partner for 25 years or so. Both Mr Heinz and his wife took ill about six weeks ago, and were hospitalised together. Mr H wasn't well enough to go home and was put into a nursing home. Mrs H refused to go into a home, instead going to her own home with 24 hour home care. I got to work today to hear the news that Mrs H passed away last week. So so sad. Mr H is aware enough to be distraught. Pete and his daughter had to cut short a European holiday.

When at work, I usually have LJ and my email open in the background and have a read when things are quiet. At lunch time, I mentioned in passing to M who sits at the next desk that I was browsing the 'net. She said "you know you're not allowed to do that because a virus snuck in through someone's email". Fuck!! I had been told that we weren't allowed to go onto Facebook, but that was all. She said we got an office email ages ago, which I asked her to forward to me. It was sent before I started there. I forwarded it to the office manager with a suggestion that it be circulated to the 7 or 8 staff members who started since I started back!! Great security!! I was right in the middle of a really interesting email discussion, too!

As you know, Rocky had his 'testiculecomy' last week. We've been keeping a close eye on him and thought he was recovering well. But I'm wondering now whether I'll need to take him back to the vet as he's been foaming at the mouth.
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Rocky had a visit to vet today to have his 'ornaments taken down'. Poor fella is very sleepy and wonky on his feet. He managed to get himself up on my outdoor chair, and doesn't look like he wants to move in a hurry.

It hasn't been easy convincing the kids, particularly Molly, that Rocky needs to rest. Molly's idea of letting him rest is to lie all over him (in her words, "I'm just cuddling him"). At one point, she was outside with him and called out "Mum, come and have a look at this". She'd rolled him onto his back, paws up in the air, and explained with knowledge beyond her 4 years "Mum, this is where they took Rocky's testicles out". She's such a confident, outgoing girl that I just *know* the time will come when she'll tell a complete stranger that her dog doesn't have testicles any more!!

I finally caught Rocky and Kitka together on film. I really shoulda had the video going - it's not often you see a dog outsmart a cat.

1. Kitka usually bolts when she sees Rocky, but this time, Kitka was guarding a dead lizard (you can just make it out to the left of Kitka).


2. Rocky picked up the scent.


3. Rocky nonchalantly snuck into the bush. Kitka followed. Rocky came out the other side of the bush and happily picked up his prize.



Dry, innit?

Today, January 6, is the twelfth day of Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany, when the three wise men visited Jesus, and traditionally when the Christmas tree is taken down.

It is also my mum's birthday.

We're wondering whether Rocky may be cross-bred with a frog.


His other end is cuter - even after Molly poured sand all over him.


We took him to the lake on Christmas Eve ... he lurves the water!

As yet, there are no photos of Rocky and Kitka together ... their meetings so far have been very brief. Rocky just wants to be friends, but Kitka has other ideas. Aaaah, unrequited love!