Busting!

Riley is eight, but his bladder does not seem to know that know that. At least once a week, usually more, we reach the end of the street that his school is on and he declares he is, "Busting!". It is quite a small street, so from the time that he gets into the car and we get to the end of the street is about one minute tops. A minute prior when he has got into the car there is no sign of busting and then 60 seconds later it is a matter of urgency that we stop immediately so he can get out and wee on the verge.

Until very recently I used to stop on the side of the road and let him get out. I did this because there is nothing I hate more than busting to go to the loo and because I didn't want to have to clean up the mess if he didn't make it.

Yesterday, like clockwork, there was the cry of 'busting' and after the frustrating conversation of, "Why didn't you go before you left school?", I didn't need to.", I thought I would test him, because when I'm busting it is because I have consciously held on for too long, this is not the case with him. Miraculously he made it all the way home, although I could feel the car bouncing as he tried to keep it in. I had a serious talk with him about going at the end of school. Yes mum, he agreed.

Today, as we got to the end of the road the school is on, what did I hear? "Busting!"

Happy Days

Sometimes Riley's cuteness and innocence makes my heart really soar. Today I got home from work and he and Cliff were searching for 'gems' on our front verge. His idea of a gem is basically any rock, mostly bluestone. He is pretty convinced that with a good whack from a hammer a beautiful gem will appear and then, he says, we can drive around in a limo with a spa in it. Oh Riley, I really would like to see that vision!

He asked our neighbours, who had spent the day sanding down the weatherboard from the front of their house if they had had a good day. He asked if they were going to paint their house red. He has absolutely no idea and it is so very cute.

The thing about parenting is that you are always thinking about your child, sometimes you are worrying, sometimes sad, sometimes indignant, so the days when you are happy and laughing are pretty sweet.

A Little Star

I love picking Riley up from school. I only do it twice a week due to work and they have a kiss and drive which I also love as I am quite antisocial.  I really feel a huge surge of love as I see Riley running over to my car with his big bag bouncing behind him.

Every time he gets into the car I ask him about his day, he always says it was 'great'. Sometimes I get more information, but more often than not, 'great' is all I hear. I always ask him what the best bit of the day was and he always say, "Seeing You". This is sweet, but after 400 plus days I would like to hear a different highlight.

Today when I picked Riley up I could see that he was clutching a piece of paper about the size of an award certificate and he was smiling the biggest smile ever. He got into the car and yes, he did have an award. He was so excited, he said he got his award, two stickers, a round of applause, a stamp and a rubber from the special award box.

This might sound pretty standard to many people, but we have spent the last three years at a school that does not believe in awards, so aside from pre-primary, this is the first award he has received. As soon as we got home he ran to the neighbour's house to show her his award. Cute, but even cuter given that fact that we barely know this woman. Fortunately she kindly read the award and told him well done.

When we got inside he took a photo out of another frame and placed his award inside.

He is so proud, we are so proud. Sometimes its the small things.

Back on the Wagon

I fell off the blogging wagon, I can't even blame the Olympics, because I watched about, three hours of it in total. I just kept thinking that I didn't have anything interesting enough to write about. A friend keeps telling me to start blogging again, she tells me that she misses my blog. I thought for a while that I might just stop, I wanted my blog to be big and important, and it wasn't.  As I have thought this over for the last few weeks, waiting for something big and important to come along, I realised the fact that amazing, newsworthy things probably won't happen on a daily basis. My life isn't big and important. There will be times when things happen that are more interesting than others and I have realised that I can still write even when the exciting stuff isn't happening. I live a small and generally uninteresting life, and this is my record of that life.

I was going to write about my new iPhone app, picfx, which I totally love and makes me feel like a professional photographer (see above and below), but just then I saw something more worthy of sharing.

I just went to pick up the clothes that Riley had strewn through the house pre-bath and noticed that he did not wear underpants, again, today. This happens more often than not. Now he did announce that his penis was named Buzza to us a few weeks ago, so I wondered if perhaps that was why he so often went sans undies, but I just asked him and Buzza has nothing to do with it. He just forgets.

I did have to tell him to put his polo top on the right way this morning as it was on back to front and he had not realised, so clearly, the fact that he is not wearing undies would not register.

I still have the occasional dream about turning up at school and discovering that I have no top or bra on, this dream was quite common through high school and uni. I now fear that one day Riley's pants may be pulled down at school and the kids around will discover that it was just him and Buzza in those pants, no undies! My child struggles enough, we would definitely have to change schools, again, if that happened.

Review - The Heritage Brassiere

On Saturdays I write a review on a goods or service, today I’m reviewing the Heritage Brassiere. The Old Royal Insurance Building has been revamped and is now a bar, brassiere and board room. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. We went there for dinner with another couple last Saturday.

Firstly the place looks great; the designers have done an excellent job on the renovations. It is light and airy with clean lines and a great use of space. Sadly, that about the only praise I have for the place.

With our friends running late my husband and I had to eventually call a waiter over to order drinks and water.  When our friend arrived we ordered a bottle of wine, we picked the second cheapest, a Huia Sauvignon Blanc, for $52 dollars, this retails for $23 so that is a nice little profit. The majority of the wines on the list are French, which I’ve said before I think is really pretentious. Again the service left a lot to be desired, with only one of us being poured wine, we had to call the waiter, who had to call the wine waiter over to pour the rest of us a glass. When we ordered our second bottle, instead of a bottle they brought a glass. The service was rough to say the least.

For entrees two of us ordered the shrimp cocktail, my husband had the beef carpaccio, apple & beetroot chutney, shaved Assagio and my friend had the twice baked Gruyere souffle, curry yoghurt & eggplant. I have a real thing about prawns being deveined, so falsely assumed this would be the case here, I was wrong, so ended up swapped my shrimp cocktail with my husband’s carpaccio. Sadly the capaccio was bland. My friend’s soufflé was delightful, light, fluffy and flavoursome.

Beef carpaccio

For mains two of us ordered the gain fed sirloin, this comes only with a sauce so we also ordered hand cut chips and mixed leaves. My husband had Seared scallops, risotto, cafe de paris, which he really enjoyed, but at $39 he was disappointed that there were only four scallops. My other friend had Barramundi pan-fried, seasonal vegetables, riesling sauce which she said was ok. I eat my steak rare, but I got the distinct impression that it had been par cooked prior to service and it was very tough and had no juices. My friend’s steak had a giant strip of gristle attached. I was still hungry so had the crème brulee for desert, this was lovely.

We all agreed that the food at The Heritage was a little ordinary, even disappointing, as was the service. We will not be going back, or recommending it to others. To eat this ordinary food we paid $470 which I think is outrageously bad value.

Feeling Anxious

You know that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach? I've always called it a sense of forboding and am lucky that I haven't felt it too often in my life, until now. That horrible feeling seems to be with me all of the time, for the last two weeks. I'm pretty sure it is anxiety and I am overly anxious at the moment, but I just want it to go away.

I'm anxious because my pay has dropped considerably (my choice) and the bills have not dropped accordingly and I'm anxious about my beautiful Riley who struggles so much at school and I can't help worrying for him. I have always been sympathetic towards those who do suffer from anxiety, but I don't think I have ever had a full understanding of the issue, but I feel like I am getting an insight into it at the moment.

Nothing seems to help, no amount of talking, or trying to put my worries to the back of my mind gets rid of the feeling. Today I bought some Bach's Rescue Remedy and I've been squirting, it hasn't helped yet, but maybe its a cumulative effect, that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

I know that the money issue is a small thing and I will stop worrying about it, it  will just take some adjustments in our household and that's fine. I can always go back to my teaching job if all else fails. What I don't think I can change is the constant worry I feel for Riley. I've watched him slip further and further behind his peers and it seems that there is nothing we can do about it.

I know there are people dealing with much bigger problems, but for me, right now, this problem seems huge.

Warning, we Steal!

Totally unconsciously, we have become a family of thieves. I pride myself on being an honest person, I will always tell a checkout operator if they have given me too much change, I will drive out of my way to return a lost purse and I am brutally honest. Tell me honestly, does my new haircut suit me? Well, actually no.

Riley wearing stolen goods

It has come to my attention that I have become a thief! I bought Riley one pair of winter pajamas this year, which, considering I gave all of his old ones to the Salvos, means he should have one pair of winter pajamas, he does not. He has four pairs of winter pajamas, I only bought one of them.

Riley wearing stolen goods

We have become that family who never returns things. There have been a few nights where we have had dinner at a friend's place, the kids have showered together and then Riley has gone home in a loan pair of pajamas. This is a very kind act and no doubt will never happen again, because each time we have kept the pajamas.

Riley wearing stolen goods

Actually, I'm not that worried about not getting another invite, because I do remember half of the pajamas I gave to the Salvos weren't ours either and we still mananged enough invites for a few more pairs of stolen pajamas. I really must be a better returner though!

I would personally like to thank the original pajama purchasers, you know who you are. As it is already August, we should probably just keep the pajamas now, by the time I get around to washing and returning them it will be nearly summer anyway...

Saturday's Hero

The whole family has been sick with the dreaded lurgie, Riley has spent the week moving from one surface to another in the quest to find a cooler spot to sleep in and I was in bed for most of five days. We are well again and I'm going to write about a guy I was going to write about a week ago, Oscar Pistorius.

Image credit

Oscar Pistorius is a 25 year old South African, he was born without fibula bones in either leg and had his lower legs amputated at an early age, learning to walk on prosthetics at that time. His nickname is Blade Runner. He claims that he does not see himself as having a disability, just a different set of feet. He runs the 400 metre qualifier on Saturday. If he qualifies he will also run in the 400 metre relay.

In South Africa he failed to qualify for the team, yet the officials included him anyway. In London his prosthetics have been called into question. Some people are claiming they will give him an unfair advantage.


In 2007 he competed in his first ‘able bodied’ athletics competition, soon after that the  International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) changed their competition rules to ban the use of  "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device". Apparently this was not aimed at Pistorius. Scientists monitored his performances and conducted tests, concluding that he had considerable advantages over athletes without prosthetic limbs. He was banned from able bodied athletic competitions. This decision was overturned in May 2008, and he missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by .7 of a second


He did compete in the Beijing 2008 Para Olympics and won gold in the 100, 200 and 400 metres.


My point is that here is a guy who does not have ankles or feet wanting to compete against those that do and the authorities have in the past banned him. Seriously? In my mind this guy is a hero. As if what he is running on was a choice that he made? I really hope that he makes the qualifier and then wins gold. Pistorius is a tremendous role model for disabled people, he is living proof that disabled people do not have to be marginalised, that there can be a fairy tale ending.


By the way, he does NOT like the name Blade Runner, make sure you complain to your TV provider when they call him that.