The 'I'm too Busy to Write So Here Are Some Photos' series

Kaiden is away at Army Cadet camp this week. Learning to be a Junior Non Commissioned Officer.

Goodness help us!

I have noticed this week that someone seems to be missing Kaiden a lot. I'm often finding Charlie in Kaiden's empty room just looking around.


I'm just like my big brother Kaiden.

I'm in the Army 'Tadets', too.



Yes, sir!



Hmmm.... what do you do with this bit?

Oh, oops. I didn't mean to do that.



Do you think Kaiden will be mad that I broke his hat?



Nah, I'm too cute for him to be angry.


(Apologies for the poor photo quality. Certain models have yet to learn they need to stand STILL for a decent photo to happen.)

Looking for sympathy.

Charlie's a little ill at the moment. Nothing major, just an annoying virus that's manifested itself with a temperature and conjunctivitis.

He's been a real trooper and is so patient and lays still when we have to put ointment in his eyes.

The chocolate we bribe him with helps too, I'm sure.


Look at those poor sore little eyes....



But even more, keep an eye on that bottom lip.



Especially once he notices I'm watching him.



Oh.



Oh dear.



The bottom lip is just killing me.



Do you feel sorry for him yet?



Oh baby, don't cry!!! No!



How could I not give him a great big lot of love when he pulls the bottom lip trick on me?

Personally, I feel it's a performance worthy of an academy award.

My boy's talented......

..... and contagious.

Is it so sad .....

.... that I get such a great sense of satisfaction from viewing my recently tidied and sorted pantry?



Oh.

Ok, fine then.

But I am an eccentric.

It says so in my blog title.

Fashionable Friday

Who says being a Stay At Home/Work At Home mum, means you must look frumpy?


(Pose much?)

My mission is to inspire women of the world to dress to make themselves feel good.

I love dressing up, it makes me happy and picks me up when I feel down or stressed. It gives me confidence, and I love the smile on my husbands face when he comes home to a pretty wife!



And special thanks go to my little assistant Charlie, who chose the fabulous red shoes this morning, which I then based the whole outfit around.

Springtime and sunshine are here!

Here in my corner of the world, Spring has sprung. At long last warm sunshine bathes the earth, the birds sing in the trees once again and I hear the constant noise of sniffing as my family battles severe hayfever.

Oh, Spring how I love thee. (spring really is in the air if I'm getting all poetic).

This year the turning of the seasons has been calling to me, I feel the energy of Spring coursing through my body. It's the season of new life, new beginnings.

I have had this need to get my hands dirty and plant something. Anything. It's been gnawing at me for the last week or two, so on Sunday Del and I trekked to the markets to buy some seedlings to start our very own herb and vegetable garden.

Now we don't have very much room in our back garden, what with the pool, Charlie's outdoor toys everywhere, and the older boys rusty bikes scattered about, so we have started our 'pot garden'.


It's only small but it's a start!



Mmmm, who doesn't love fresh strawberries?

I foresee members of this family sneaking out to pick the first strawberries before anyone else gets to them.



Cherry tomatoes for summer salads.



Capsicum plants, a mix of red and yellow for colour.



The strawberry pot with asparagus growing in the top. It's an odd combination I know, but this blog is titled My Eccentricity for a reason!!!

Charlie loves getting out there each morning with his little watering can and giving all the plants their drink. Of course he usually ends up completely soaked himself, but isn't that the fun of being a kid?

I now also have little pots of herbs growing on my kitchen window sill, just like a proper kitchen witch. We plan to add to this small beginning, but at least my need for surrounding myself with new growing things has been fulfilled.


And btw this the 100th post on My Eccentricity !!! Time to celebrate and party. Either that or have an early night and get some sleep. Tough choice.

A boy in a box

Hey, there. What's up?


Bet you're all mighty jealous of my new digs.


Yeah, I know. At first I was all like, yeah, whatever with the box.

But then I realised how versatile it was.

Plenty of room if you need to stretch out. Or play 'Jack in the Box'.

And it's a great place to hang out when life all gets too much.

Or you want to scare the cat as he walks past.

Then if you just need to take a quick nap, no problem.





I don't know about you, but I love my box.

When in a funk....

Last night I was in a funk.

Just ask my poor long suffering husband, I'm sure he would more than confirm it. But being the wonderful husband he is, he said and did all the right things.

I was just in one of those moods where everything in life seems difficult and the thought of a different life is extremely alluring. So we talked of life changes and dreams we would like to fulfill.

I'm pleased to say that our dreams mesh nicely together and are achievable. Gosh it would be terrible if our dreams clashed. Say for example he wanted to be a cowboy in a big hat riding off into the sunset and I wanted to be a world famous supermodel. I just don't see that working.

(Disclaimer : Del doesn't really want to be a cowboy, though personally I think he'd look great in a pair of chaps. And I would like to have a go at being a world famous supermodel, but I would need to grow at least a foot taller and become stunningly beautiful first.)

After our deep and meaningful chat, I did what I usually do when I feel unsettled. I turned to my cards.

Specifically, my Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards.

I use these gorgeous cards regularly, as they are quick and easy to use, and I just love the images upon them. So I shuffled the cards for a while, getting the feel for them, then took a deep breathe, asked for guidance, and cut the deck.

And the lady Aeracura (Air-uh-cure-uh) was revealed.




Aeracura is a Celtic goddess who acted as Earth Mother, a fairy queen and a bridge between earthly life and the hereafter. How appropriate for this time of year! Her message is that I am ready for a new beginning, ready to blossom and grow, but I can't rush the process. Take the time to learn, gather ideas and plan. Soon enough I'll get the signal that it's time for action.

I could hardly believe how appropriate her message was. Del and I had just come to the conclusion that any major changes to our lives would have to wait a few years till Kaiden had finished high school, but in the mean time we would research, plot and plan.

I just love it when I get confirmation that we're on the right path.

And just like that, my funk was over and I was smiling.

My love affair with the 50's

I love to look nice, I love being a homemaker, I love being a wife and mother. If I was living in the 1950's I'd be in my element.

I'm fascinated by pictures of women in the 50's, they look so lovely and elegant. Ready to step out the door at a moments notice. You never see them dressed dowdily.

I try to dress nicely each day, style my hair and wear makeup. I have to admit that even if it's a day at home with just Charlie, I dress up. No track pants and bed hair around here! I like to look nice for myself, but I also like to look nice for my husband. It may be very old fashioned but I think he deserves a wife who looks nice and takes pride in her appearance,as well as her home and family.

So lately I've been going for a modern version of a 1950's look.

,

Very Stepford wife, I've been told more than once.



I take it as a compliment.

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1.03.01

Just an ordinary day

It's only 2.24pm and I'm tired.

So far today I've

• got up and showered before anyone else was up (a rare treat but had to sacrifice a bit of extra sleep to achieve it)
• organised breakfast for 3 boys and myself,
• made school lunches and did the dishes
• threw a load of washing on (mixing whites and darks together, terrible homemaking skills there)
• drove the big boys to two different schools, then drove home singing Wheels on the Bus over and over again to Charlie
• got to sit down to drink a quick cup of coffee, but had to do it picnic style on a rug on the floor with Charlie
• checked work tasks & emails etc whilst feeding Charlie (I'm getting good at multi tasking)
• vacuumed
• dusted
• hung out two loads of washing in the sunshine, while admiring Charlie's new ant friends
• changed a dirty nappy (bet you really wanted to know that LOL)
• took Charlie and our dog to the park for a run in the sun
• fed Charlie lunch whilst trying to divert a two year old meltdown, due to the fact that Roary the Racing Car is no longer on tv (so what do you want me to do about it, kid?)
• cleaned spagetti bolognese off the floor
• read Charlie a story, skipping all the boring bits because I was tired
• sung him his lullaby and put him down for his nap
• took a big breathe
• made myself some lunch
• got stuck into work
• got overwhelmed and stressed by how much work there is to do, due to someone being away sick for a week and me having to do two jobs
• stopped working to write this blog post.

Today I have yet to :

• get Charlie up from his nap - I can hear him chatting away in his bed but he hasn't yet demanded "I get up NOW" so he can stay there a bit longer
• go and pick up the big boys from their schools
• take them to the train station to visit their dad for the afternoon and evening
• go to the furniture store to pick up the kitchen stools I had ordered that are now in
• struggle to get the boxes into the car, get frustrated and try not say a swear word in front of Charlie who is parroting everything back these day
• drive home in peak hour traffic
• arrive home more stressed than when I left
• make dinner whilst entertaining a hungry toddler hanging off my leg
• eat dinner
• bath Charlie and get completely soaked myself in the process
• feed Charlie his dessert
• fob Charlie off to Daddy as he walks through the door
• get changed into martial arts clothes
• go train with a 9th dan black belt
• release a lot of stress
• drive home
• shower
• collapse

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1.03.01

The trouble with an active mind

It's Sunday night and I'm tired. Bone weary and struggling to make it to bedtime.

Yet I'm baking chocolate chip cookies. Go figure.

I have no idea what I should write about, I'm fresh out of ideas. It's been an extremely full and busy week yet, nothing, my mind is blank. Perhaps too much has been happening and it's whirling around at a furious pace inside my head. Kind a like a blender of ideas and experiences, and goodness only knows how it will taste when it stops. It might need more vanilla.

Late at night, as I lay in bed on my left side, nice and relaxed, till I get too uncomfortable and have to turn over to my right side, well anyway, at that particular time my brain is choc full of wonderful, fantastic and the best ever things to write about. It's not like I have anything else to do, like sleep for example. My brain just doesn't want to stop and it's killing me.

I run through recent events and happenings and write blog posts in my mind. They're witty yet thought provoking and insightful all at the same time. I lay there constructing the perfect sentence in my head, the one that conveys everything I could ever want to convey in a sentence, and it's just the best writing ever. I even repeat it over and over in the vain effort that I will remember it in the morning. But of course I never do.

I only ever remember that I had constructed the BEST BLOG POST EVER.

And then forgot it.

I wonder what fabulous thing I'll think up tonight that will be lost forever in the deep recesses of my mind. If only I could turn my head on the side, give a couple of knocks and all those great ideas would come tumbling out. Do you think hypnosis might bring them back?

No? *sigh*

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1.03.01

Friday Night

Tonight I had half a glass of wine.

I know, I know. I should really watch my alcohol intake. I'm a parent of a teenager. I should be setting the example here.

But it was Friday, and I wanted to. So I did. And no-one can stop me.

It's not that I don't drink. It's more that I don't drink often. Neither Del nor I are big drinkers, not because we are boring or anything like that, mainly it's because we don't get time to drink. One evening blends into another around here lately. Del working till 8 or 9pm, then us sitting in front of mindless television that I'm sure would improve our quality of life if we didn't watch, with me multi-tasking by working on my laptop at the same time. No time for frivolous things such as relaxing and having a nice time.

So we don't go out much and we don't stay home and have a relaxing drink at all either. Though just so we don't sound totally old and lame, when we do go out, it's usually somewhere with loud music and an abundance of alcohol available, and trust me we do our best to sample a large portion on what's on offer.

So we do have fun. Honest. Picture this : Del blind drunk on the dance floor, music had finished and everyone else had left the floor, when I look up to see him still grooving away to the music in his head, all by himself on the empty dance floor. No more needs to be said.

Anyway, I'm sick of this everyday/night being the same, it could be Friday or Tuesday for all I know, and so today I had rebellious thoughts of MAKING FRIDAY NIGHT DIFFERENT. How to do that I pondered? Wild thoughts flowed through my mind.

We could.... no, can't do that one, don't have a babysitter. Oh wait, we could..... no, I think we're too old to get away with doing that one. Or we could...... no, what would the children say????

So I settled for a glass of wine instead. But you know, since I'm feeling so wild tonight, I may even bring out some cheese and crackers too.

You only live once after all.

Boys and their toys, oh I mean cakes.

There's really not a lot of difference between ......

...a 2 year old boy's birthday cake...

and........

....a 15 year old boy's birthday cake.

Cars never go out of style.