So.  To start off on the right foot this lovely sunny Monday, I’ve started on the washing, got Owen ready for school and his made sure his homework was done (before we got to school), I’ve been to Woolworths to replenish the fridge (What?!  No apples OR yoghurt left!  Owen would have a mild heart attack if he ever found out!) and my trusty slow cooker is getting a workout today.  I feel like I’m getting on top of it all and it’s not even lunch time yet!   

Slow cooking anything is perfect for this time of year in Queensland.  And it’s perfect for a family like mine, where by 4pm everyone is getting to that bath-dinner-bed stage and they aren’t overly excited about me standing in the kitchen prepping and cooking their dinner.  So out comes my much loved slow cooker this morning, and I’m even trying something new in it!  Stephanie, over at A Year of Slow Cooking added this Pesto Spinach Lasagne recipe last year and I’ve been meaning to give it a try for a while now.  It was so simple to put together and I hope it will taste great! 

While I could take a picture of my slow cooker doing it’s thing, that’s not exactly exciting so we will have to wait until dinner time tonight to photograph and taste test.  I’m just hoping I can get it out of the slow cooker, still resembling a lasagne slice to plate up! 

Now off to hang out that washing and make a start on stuff all over the floor so I can see what state the floors are in!  Wish me luck!!!

Better let the removalist people know now…

So. Marc is starting his new job on Monday. With Sanofi-Aventis.

He’s doing 2 weeks down here as handover and then is having a week off to get to Brisbane (and to fit in a long weekend at the V8s in Sydney!!!).   He starts again at their new Consumer Division head office in Virginia on the 14th of December.

And then it will be no time at all before Christmas comes around and he has a few days off over the festive period!

It’s a tough life, isn’t it?!

We had a 50 minute steam train ride, with Percy pulling the carriages.

Owen got to ‘meet’ Thomas and have a look inside.

There were two small trains for the kids to ride on, face painting, a jumping castle, a picnic lunch in the park, and afternoon tea on our way home in Picton.

It was a long, but good day.  The kids all had a blast, and so did us big kids :o)

]]> http://www.harveysathome.com/2009/05/the-thomas-experience/feed/ 0 http://www.harveysathome.com/2008/12/the-baby-and-his-dad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-baby-and-his-dad http://www.harveysathome.com/2008/12/the-baby-and-his-dad/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:07:04 +0000 Meegan http://www.harveysathome.com/?p=1380

Hardly ever do I take a semi decent photo of Marc with either of the boys.  When I stopped to take this photo this is what was happening at our house:

• Marc had pretty much walked in the door
• I was trying to make dinner
• Owen was trying to “help”
• Reuben was being very needy – even after a bath, a feed, burp and cuddled

Just a typical evening at our house really :o)

Yesterday we spent four and a half hours at Westmead Hospital, mainly waiting for Owen to see the plastics surgeon and then to see a physio for his new hand mould thingy.  Our appointment was for 1:30pm and we didn’t walk in the door (at home) until 6:37pm.  Needless to say it was a very, very, very long afternoon.  For all of us.  I’m really glad Marc took the afternoon off work to come with us, because even though Owen was being really well behaved for nearly the whole time we were there, I think I would have been climbing the walls before long.  The upside to this visit to the hospital is that he doesn’t have to have surgery on his hand and they expect the muscles around his two broken metacarpels to pull the bones back into line and support them enough to help the healing process without having to open his hand up and put a plate in.  WooHoo!

Now, on to my randomness…

• It’s really hot here in North Western Sydney.  Almost uncomfortable hot.  Well it is for me anyway.  But carrying a small(ish) fit ball where your stomach used to be does tend to mess with a body’s temperature!  It’s the weather girl told me that it was going to be about 10° cooler tomorrow, but I’m not holding my breath…  Those weather people lie I tell you!
• Ice.  Must have ice.  Can’t make it fast enough.  Did I mention, it’s hot here right now?!
• Water.  Our water filter/chiller is working overtime at the moment.  I’m sure it’s going to need a new filter before the week is out.  Seem to be filling it constantly, but that’s not really a bad thing.
• Peanut m&m’s.  Marc is picking some more up for me on his way home.  Can’t stomach my favourite milk or dark chocolates at the moment, peanut m&m’s seem to be the only chocolates that don’t give me heartburn.  What a shame ;o)
• Icy water and peanut m&m’s will make everything all better.  Every single time.  And if it really is that bad, swap the water for Pepsi, but keep the ice!
• Owen has never ever been so still in all his life.  It’s all he can do to drink from his water bottle and lay about on the couch, watching the paralympics (yep, that’s what he wanted to watch…).  Hasn’t even asked to go outside all day.  Lucky, because he’s not allowed to do pretty much all of the things he normally does outside (hence this post’s title).  Pre school will be interesting for him tomorrow.
• Orange jelly is good, but not as good as port wine flavour.  All jelly is better with custard.  Just because you ask the Boy if he wants some and he says no, he’s lying and you will have to share.
• Yeah, Owen is going to pre school tomorrow.  Other than not being able to get his arm wet and to keep it in its sling he’s alright.  He may as well at least go in the morning and see what happens.  Miss Jane can always call me if anything’s wrong.

hmmm my ramblings are a little food/drink focused, aren’t they?!  Nothing new there though :o)

While reading her article, knowing full well that I should have been vacuuming, a job I have been postponing again and again because I really just don’t want to do it, I decided to bite the bullet and just get it done.  Simple you say?  Well, no.  And why not?  Being able to vacuum your floors usually means that you can see them, not just the toys and other Owen paraphernalia that seems to find itself all over our house.  All two living rooms, four bedrooms and two bathrooms of it.  The only room that is Owen free at the moment is the guest room, and I think that may be because I had closed the door!  The kitchen and laundry don’t count in this tally.  For some reason me constantly telling him to keep toys out from under peoples feet when there is hot stuff around has stuck in his little three year old brain, and the laundry must not be interesting enough!

Anyway, now you can just picture what our house looks like today, I can get back to my story.

I finished reading the post, commented and jumped up from my chair to get started, full of renewed enthusiasm to get at least one thing accomplished today before Owen gets home from preschool.  And after picking up after Owen in just the living room and the main bathroom, I don’t want to bend down an-y-more.  That’s why I need my Mum’s picker-upper-er thingy that she used after her two hip replacements! (it looks a bit like this…)  All the bending and standing up again is making me feel a little on the reflux-y side and light headed, so something to help me not have to bend so much would be useful right about now (and probably for the next couple of months).  So out the window goes that job for this morning… Again.

No matter, I have a plan!  I’m going to get Owen to help me when he gets home this afternoon, and then as his reward he gets to vacuum!  And yes, that really is a reward in his eyes, believe it or not.  Ever since we bought a new vacuum cleaner I haven’t let him have a go (new toy and all, even if it is an appliance!), so today can be the day!  And in the mean time, I’ll do some more washing and folding and general cleaning up so I’ll be all ready for him to pick up his stuff this afternoon.  If he’s lucky, I might even let him mop as well…!  Who needs a cleaning lady when you’ve got an Owen to do things for you?!

See, I will get something done today ;)

Take Owen to pre school (he wanted to go an hour before we needed to), and then I was planning on spending the day getting the boring stuff done that I didn’t do on Monday.

My first job was grocery shopping, this was only going to be a quick trip because I stocked up big time last week.  By the time I’d picked up fruit and vegetables, milk and bread etc, paid, got it all into the car, got home, unpacked the car and put away any cold stuff, I needed a sleep!  I have this theory – pushing a trolley around is not a good thing for me to do for the next 13 weeks.

So the rest of the day, of which there wasn’t much left, I rested on the couch.  I did manage a few loads of washing in between laying around like a beached whale, but other than that nothing else got crossed off my to do list (like clean the house, vacuum and mop, do some baking).  Not exactly the day I had planned for myself, but at least I know not to expect to do too many things off my list in one day from now on.  I really don’t know how Mum’s cope with working and looking after a family with younger kids (who need help with still so many tasks), try to look after themselves and their not yet born babies!

Anyway, all of a sudden it’s 3:15pm and I’ve got to go and grab Owen from pre school.  Not such an easy thing as it sounds since he refuses to come home, yelling on top note, I NOT GOING HOME WITH YOU!  ME STAYING HERE FOR EVER!  YOU GO HOME ALL BY YOURSELF!

At least I can happily say that he has a good time at pre school :o)

So after wrestling him off a trike, grabbing his things, signing out for the day and meeting his third teacher, Miss Darinka (she’s lovely too), we make it back to the car and he’s crying and snotting everywhere (we’ve all got nasty coughs and colds) and now telling me, ME NEEEEEED WEETBIX TO HELP MAKE MY TEARS GO AWAAAAAAAAAAY.  Apparently he was STARBING and needed weetbix to make him all happy again.

Yes, I agree, he is a little crazy.

After a bowl of weetbix and a huge drink of water he decided he was all better and was back to his normal self for the rest of the night.

I really hope he gets used to me having to come and get him from pre school soon!

It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch… Would it?

We have been thrown quite literally in the deep end of the rental market that is Sydney.  It’s not an uncommon site to see over 30 couples, not to mention kids in tow as well, trying to view a property in under 15 minutes.  And then have to make the decision on whether or not to apply for the said property.

Realistically, we will end up applying for several houses before we are approved for a property.  Apparently this is standard practice for most Sydney residents.  This is all new to us.  Fortunately, we have always been approved for any property we have applied for… I don’t know if I’m prepared for rejection, even if it is only from a real estate agent ;o)

This morning I called a real estate agent to ask a couple of questions about an application before I faxed it off.  This property isn’t available until the 12th May, and it was open for viewing on Saturday afternoon just gone.  The lovely lady on the other end of the phone ever so politely told me that I really needed to get our application in as soon as possible as there were already quite a few applications lodged and the property manager was starting to process these this morning.

Oh yeah, and she answered all of my questions as well :o)