Just Like Heaven

Life Lessons

Well I'm pretty sure it's official now.  Our beloved Basil-cat is not coming back. :(

Yesterday I saw Madeleine in the backyard sitting at the picnic table looking through a scrapbook of pages she'd made herself.  I went and sat with her and asked her what she was doing.  She told me she was really missing Basil and if she showed him her scrapbook with photos of him in it, he'd realise how much she loves him and then he would come home to her.

Oh it just broke my heart.  She truly thought he left because he didn't realise that we love him so much.  Then she thought maybe he didn't like the food we were feeding him and a whole host of other reasons that all made perfect sense.  It was awful, in fact I am still choking up thinking about it.

So we told both kids the truth, that we think he has died.

And they were heartbroken.  We all were.  Nathan too.  We all cried.  And cried.  And cried.  And poor Alex was just so so sad.  It was one of those horrible moments where you wish you could hug their pain away.  But of course I couldn't.  It was just awful.  We had no explanation for them.  Except that death is part of life.  We shared funny happy memories and told the kids it's okay to be sad.  But it's okay to be happy too. 

So after an exhaustive sook-session, Nathan took the kids to play with some friends and it was the perfect distraction.  Alex was sad again last night but I think they'll be okay.  It's a hard thing to learn but not a lesson we can avoid forever.  I can't help but keep checking the front door looking for him though. :(  I'm heartbroken. That furry little creature has been with us forever. :(  But life goes on....

I scrapped my behind off yesterday.  I have masses of mojo and creative energy and am hanging out to channel it somewhere!  Wish I had more time to make stuff - grr...

Kids are on holidays from today and they were wild.  Oh dear they are so energetic and BOTH blessed with the gift of verbal diarrhea.   Lucky me.  Not.  Oh boy I'm hanging out for some serenity already and it's only the first day!  I was a bit busy finishing off work stuff so preoccupied I guess but tomorrow we might do some cooking I think.  I put them to work tonight putting washing away and doing other chores and have told them if they tell me they're bored, the grout in the bathroom needs a clean, the windows need washing and the car needs a clean.  Reckon they'll be bored tomorrow.  Nope I don't!  I'm hoping we make it out for a bike ride tomorrow.  That should tire them out!

They did give me two minutes of their time today though.  I need this for a class sample and they turned out better than I anticipated - yay!!

You can hardly tell they spent a large portion of today bickering at each other - lol.  Little treasures. I actually do love having them home on holidays.  Mostly - lol!

That's it for today - seeya xx

Today....

Okay so I *may* have dropped my bundle last night.

I *may* have had too much to drink 'blush'

I *may* have dragged my pathetic sooky ass to bed very early last night.

But today is a new day right?

I'm still sad about my cat.  Shattered still, but life goes on right?  And the other stuff.  Well I've come this far right?

Hmm......here's what I found in the issue of Scrapbooking Memories that I picked up at the shops today.

 
I did this during that feral heatwave we had earlier this year!  Bit weird to think about that now after seeing snow from my window on the mountains.  IT hasn't lasted long this year. :(  So far...

Well I've managed to fritter away just about all day today and achieve nothing.  Grr....Nath is fishing, kids are being good and I feel crap and can't be stuffed doing anything!

Meh, who cares it's the holidays right?

Lol...

 

Speedy

I've been so insanely busy this week but it's been a good kind of busy.  I'm working on a couple of magazine features and they're due next week and as usual, my inspiration hasn't hit until close to the deadline and now I'm working on it all like a mad woman.  It never hits me until near the deadline and to be honest I haven't come up with all the ideas I need yet.  But I'm not fussed.  I've never missed a deadline yet so it's all good.

I've been very needed this week.  It's good to be needed don't you think?  Sometimes I know we can all get a bit overwhelmed when people need us but it's nice to know that people think of me when they are in need if that makes sense.  I'm teaching Grade Threes how to make friendship bands today, done the medicine run for a friend's sick child, helped someone who had a fall, kept an eye on my Dad, listened to someone cry, given art materials advice and fixed some stuff,  listened to my baby read and it goes on.  Sometimes I get fed up when I feel like I'm needed all the damn time but can you imagine no-one ever needing, or worse still wanting anything from you?  There's my big thought for the day - I'm grateful to be needed, or at least seem reliable enough to be of help.

Okay enough of the philosophical thoughts for today, here is this week's class sample - Doodling for Boys.



Took me AGES to draw all that!

Oh and we had this in the local paper this week.  This is the crew of Simply Said.



Ugh looking at that photo, my hair is way too long.  I'm getting it chopped off tonight hooray!

Okay I better get moving - I have a quiche to bake and washing and scrapping to get sorted before teaching these Grade Threes, getting haircuts and racing to Basketball!  Phew - gotta love being busy, never a dull moment!

Have a good weekend - seeya!

I'm thinking that.....

.....pyjama days should just be renamed to "do-twice-as-much-tomorrow" day.

Grr, a little bit of slacking yesterday and I had to spend today catching up!  What a pain!

Of COURSE I ran all day, and of COURSE we were out of all the essential stuff and of COURSE the boys got to go to the movies while I had to do the @#$%^&* grocery shopping - BLAH, then home again to piles of washing, a bigger pile of ironing and a big huge mess!  Double, triple, quadruple BLAH!

Of course if I'd left it all, our whole week will be disorganised and I have to admit I've spent much of today grumbling about how women of this century are no less oppressed than the women of last century and what can I do to ensure my daughter has a better way of living than I do.

That was sparked by a dinner conversation I had last night.  We had dinner and drinks at the home of friends of ours and usually we end up partying the night away but honestly none of us could be bothered last night.  We went thinking that we'd have to leave the kids and Nathan and I would stumble home having had too much to drink as per usual, but we didn't.  I only had a couple of drinks over a few hours.  Kids came home and I even drove.  Unusual for us.  We still had a lovely night but we were ALL saying how much we needed to sleep.  Are we getting old?  Is it the cold weather?  Is it our lifestyles?  Will it EVER slow down?  Will we EVER cram all the stuff in that we try to?  I wonder if things ever slow down because I'm certainly not the only busy person in the world.  Everyone is busy pretty much and while I'd rather be busy than bored, I thought that I'd get some breathing space.  But not for now.  There's always something I NEED to do. Mind you I had so much stuff I NEEDED to do today I was grateful to be doing it without a hangover! 

Maybe it's the way I prioritise.  Maybe I don't manage my time well.  Maybe in this day and age women are not only expected to manage the house and family but also expected to maintain a fabulous relationship, a job and career, AND a social life while keeping fit and active and  and and and and......I wonder if anyone has worked out the secret of juggling it all yet.

If they have I wish they'd show me how it's done because right now I feel like I'm not keeping on top of all the stuff I'm meant to at all!  Bills need to be paid, things need to be sorted, deadlines need to be met, gardens need weeding, car needs cleaning blah blah de blah blah! Not to mention all the people in my life I haven't gotten around to visiting/catching up with and it's not because I don't want to......sigh....

Overall though I've got it all pretty good, but I wonder if we have things better or worse than those who've come before us.  I'm feeling a bit philosophical about it all really, wondering how things will be for my kids as adults, in particular Madeleine given that she'll be a woman.  I guess only time will tell and we can only do what we think is best at the time...

Off the topic now, I'm off to Bridge Club tomorrow and I CAN'T WAIT!  That's the other reason I've been running like a mad woman.  I'll be out all day tomorrow, then work this week and other stuff so I need to be super organised.  I'm there now I think - everything is ironed, shopped for, sorted.

Fingers crossed I'm prepared for another crazy fast week! Hope you are too. :)