Just a bit about my latest appointment and about my family.

Hello everyone, it is now Thursday afternoon and I have just had a bath and thought I would quickly write a post for the day, there is family news but can't tell you been told by my daughters yes more then one of them have told me I cannot share their news on my blog of Facebook so since I can't tell you that news I will have to think of something else to tell.

I went back to the specialist about my tremor in my right arm and leg, he has changed my medication as the Artane isn't working so I will start something else tomorrow and go back and see him in 4 months time. What has annoyed me is that the appointment is at 4pm and I do not like afternoon appointments but what can I do, if that is when it has to be then so be it, although I think it clashes with our trip to Tassie I will have to check that and if it clashes I will have to ring and change it.

He said it is still too difficult to say what is causing it there are a few different types of tremors and it is still to early to tell what it is, we will see how the new medication goes. One thing he said it could be caused by stress alone as it does get worse when I am feeling upset and stressed but we will see what happens with the new medication.

Natasha has not been getting as much work this week, she isn't sure why, she has not been working with the same woman also this annoys her because less hours been less money and she said she is going to talk to the boss because if she is going to loss her job she needs to know so she can start looking for something else.

Natasha has been feeling really stressed the last week or so she is so fed up with how the boys act when they are together and when they are apart too, she is so over Blain's attitude all the time and Leo's getting upset and lying and carrying on over nothing. On Easter Sunday she lost it with both boys they had been fighting a lot on the drive home from Cessnock (a 45 minute drive) and when she got home she did her block with both of them. Then on Easter Monday she went off again at Blain who was giving her a lot of attitude and not listening to her.

Ok that is all I have for today's post.

Photo Wednesday

Peppa Pig written by Kathy-Lee

PEPPA PIG

As a parent of 2 young children I tend to hear a lot of other parents opinions on TV shows and which ones are allowed. I also hear about the shows they hate or can’t stand. I’ve had a few people tell me they can’t stand Dora the Explorer, Go Diego, Go, In the Night Garden and one I’m sure was written by drunk people…….Teletubbies. But the one that springs to mind the most is Peppa Pig.

Peppa Pig lives in a small community where everyone knows everyone. She has a mum, a dad and a little brother and her best friend is a rabbit. There’s a grown rabbit doing a different job in each episode, her sister rabbit popping out baby rabbits, a rhino working with heavy machinery, a clumsy daddy pig; the list goes on. There’s always the joke of telling children that the bacon they’re eating came from a pig, most likely a relative of Peppa Pig. I mean honestly, does Peppa Pig have any educational value or is it just one of those mindless shows that someone thought up to give children a bit of mindless enjoyment?

As a mother to 2 young children and someone who has spent a bit of time studying early childhood education; I can honestly say Peppa Pig has to be one of the best children’s shows I have ever seen. I watch this show and I link this little pigs’ development against something called the Early Years Learning Framework and the 5 outcomes identified in this interesting document. I can also honestly admit I have a lot of spare time on my hands while I wait to begin my bachelors in education (early childhood).

I have found this show to also give me handy little ideas on how I can entertain my children on cold and wet days. Until I watched this show I had never heard of thing called the rainy day game. Can you believe that there are actually parents out there are willing to put aside their phones and computers just so they can positively interact with their children?

 Especially on a rainy day when all you want to do is sit and watch TV, game or sleep.

After watching the show for a few weeks I thought it was interesting to see no meats to be consumed by these characters, but a lot of fruit and vegetables are eaten. I have come to the conclusion that maybe there is some subliminal messaging in this part. Try your fruits and vegetables. They can be eaten in many different ways; soups, smoothies, baked, fried. George doesn’t like his vegetables, but grandpa pig gets creative and turns his meal into a dinosaur. This doesn’t work for my children, but it might for some. I have to grate each vegetable into practically a powder before it can be eaten.

Have you noticed that even Peppa Pig has a night time routine? They have a bath, clean their teeth, have a bed time story then go to sleep at exactly 7pm every night. Allowing your child to have a simple routine like this gives them some peace of mind. They know what’s going to happen and in most cases will work with you instead of against you. It’s flexible and allows the child to know what’s going to happen next, such as when they can get some rest.

When it comes time to say goodbye, the parents don’t dawdle. The parent will talk to the person who will be caring for the child in a positive or happy tone then let the child know they are going. There’s none of this sneaking out while the child isn’t looking and causing some form anxiety in the child. It’s a straight forward “see you later”. My eldest daughter does not like it when I leave her at school. She will cling to me for what I feel is her life and then cry as I manage to loosen her grip and attach her to her teachers. I’ve read everything I could find on how to manage this situation.

I’ve reassured my child that it’s ok to be anxious or nervous. I’ve told her who will be there at the end of each day. I spent as much time as I could with her so she had that one on one time with me. I got to know her teachers and her classroom. I even know all of her friends. But a few weeks I decided that I’d had enough. Now some may think of this as a little mean, but I took a page out of mummy and daddy pigs book. I now go into the school with her, place her bag in the right spot, talk to her teacher for like a second then say “see you at 3” and walk away. After a week I discovered this technique to bloody work. Those tears are drying up and she no longer clings.

One of the nicest things about this show is how mummy pig can be a working stay at home mum who volunteers at the fire station with the other mummies. Daddy pig also knows how to cook, clean, do laundry and care for his children without complaint. There’s not just stay at home mums these days, it’s also dads. I like how this show informs children that even dads can do certain house hold chores while caring for his child/ren while mum is at work.

The most important thing for children to see in their home when both parents are together is how much each parent cares for each other.

My Good Friday

Hello everyone, it is Good Friday here and that means Tim cooking fish for lunch which he did, yesterday I went to the shops to get a few things. I didn't do all my weekly shopping as I really didn't have the time, I wanted to go to Blain's Easter Hat Parade which I did do and then I only had time to go and check the mail and get fish for today’s lunch before going back to get him (Blain) from school.

So even though it was Thursday night and not Friday night I allow Leo to stay over as Blain was going to his father's he will be back here on Sunday some time, I think Natasha will be going to get him.

Now yesterday afternoon when Jessica was here to drop off Leo and pick up Blain she said something about the school holidays and I said yeah they start next Friday and she goes no today is the last day of the school term and she would not believe me she had to get online and check it out and guess what I was right, there is one more week of school left.

Now this morning I didn't feel 100% so after a couple of hours I went back to bed, I just really felt tired and I slept till 11.30am when Natasha work me for lunch. Now I don't eat fish but I do eat chips so while everyone else had fish and chips I just had chips with tom tit sauce (tomato sauce) I do not know why I call it tom tit sauce just always have.

Now let's go back to Leo for a minute, last night when he was here riding his bike he got all pissy he storms in side yelling and swearing and throwing things around. I tried to talk to him but he was in a right foul mood. Turns out that a couple of the neighbours told him to be careful and watch out for cars and that set him off. I ended up ringing his mum and telling her if he continued to carry on I will be getting her to come and get him. I ended up convincing him to have a bath which he did and by the time he got out he was in a better frame of mind and settled right down. I love him but I am not going to put up with him carrying on throwing things and swearing and such, I am not his mum and when he is in a really foul mood his mum can be the one to deal with him. Right or wrong that is how I feel. 

Cooking a baked meal, having a few days off school and Easter shopping I have not done yet

Hi all, today I am going to chat a bit about what makes a good baked meal and how badly prepared/cooked food can influence how we prepare/cook food.

Last night I cooked tea for myself, Jessica, Kelli and all the boys Blain, Leo and Daemon all we had was a roast chook bought from Coles Supermarket with baked spuds and peas and corns. The suds I did in the oven now until recently like the last few years I had never cooked my baked spuds in the oven. I was taught to cook them in oil in the electric fry-pan but when Kelli was living here I was shown how to cook them in the oven.

Let's go back to when Tim and I were first together, we went over to his father's place one day for a meal and he did a “baked” meal, he cooked the spuds, pumpkin, and carrots in the oven and they were either hard and not cooked through or soft and not cooked to a crisp. When we left after the meal Tim said to me “that was a horrible meal” he didn't like it, in fact he said he didn't know what a good baked meal was till he had tasted my mother's cooking and he still says how he misses my grandmother's baked potatoes he says they were the best he ever tasted.

Of course Tim doesn't remember how much he didn't like his father's cooking now days but he does remember how much he likes my mum and nan's cooking and he says my cooking isn't that bad either.

Anyway what I am getting at is that because of how terrible that meal his father made was it turned me off baking veggies in the oven, but tasting how nice the spuds were when Kelli cooked them in the oven changed my mind. That said I still prefer to do my orange veggies in the fry-pan the way my mum taught me to do.

So how do you do a baked meal?

How often do you do a baked meal?

Have you ever been turned off doing something because when you tried it, it was awful?

Last day of school for a few days school goes back on Tuesday so that is 4 days off school for the kids, I will naturally have Leo tomorrow night if his mum wants me to. Saturday I will have to go and do my Easter shopping as yet Tim hasn't given me any money not even the $20 he said he would give me. Although I did spend $10 on some small eggs for the grandchildren but really need to get something else and not really thinking chocolate I want to get the boys some kind of gift.

Ok time to post and then put my feet up for a while, tomorrow will be a busy day washing and Tim will be cooking fish for lunch he will do the fish I will do the chips. 

Photo Wednesday/Australian War Memorial

My Tuesday

I haven't been around reading blogs today, just haven't had the time after I took Leo to school this morning I had to go and have my eyes checked at the optometrist cost for me $15, when Tim saw him last Saturday it cost him $39. Tim wanted to know why his cost so much more I asked him (Tim) if he told the guy he was my husband and Jeannie's (sister) brother in-law to which Tim said no why would I, well that may be part of the reason it cost you more Tim.

Then I went over to Leo's school for his Easter hat parade then home for only an hour till I had to go and get Blain then Leo from school, while on the drive home both boys were complaining that they were so hungry so when I got home I made tea (dinner) for them and they both said they were not hungry but I made them eat it anyway.

Jessica and Leo were here for tea this is going to be happening a lot more often like 3 or 4 times a week and while Jessica is here of an afternoon she will be make sure both boys are doing there homework before they go out to spend time with their friends, well they are Blain's friends really.

Blain's Easter parade is on Thursday but not sure what time will have to ring the school and try and find out time you would have thought the school would had sent a note home yesterday or today reminding parents about the Easter parade or at least have the information on their Facebook page.

So this is just letting you know a bit about my day. 

Monday Catch Up, a Post about Leo, Blain, Tim and Me

Hi all can you guess who has been feeling sick for the last few days, yeah me, aching body, headaches and just feeling kinda blah but it is now a lovely cool and wet Monday morning and I am feeling pretty much the same yeah I would love to be still in bed asleep but can't happen as Leo will be here soon as well as Summer and of course I have to take Leo to school and Summer will be here till her mum is able to get her.

So what has been happening in my life since I last wrote, well nothing much to be honest. I did have the girls here for lunch on Saturday and yeah I wasn't feeling good but still managed to do a mince stew for lunch which everyone seemed to like. Natasha had two lots as did Jessica, now as some of you will know Natasha often doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive so going back for more is out of the norm.

I also managed to do all the washing yesterday but had to have a nap as I was so tired and felt like shit.

Last night Natasha told me that Jono (Blain's dad) thinks that Blain should be staying with his mum while Natasha is at work as Tim and I don't punish Blain and don't feed him right as in don't cook many real meals. He is right about the meals because often it is just me and Blain and he doesn't usually want a proper meal, so I can't see the point.

Now we do try to discipline Blain but he has a right attitude and has told us that we are not his parents and can't tell him what to do, he is very cheeky and often talks back and gets this look on his face and rolls his eyes at us. Yes I know I am a softie but I do try, it is just not that easy at times. I have no problem with him spending a night or two at his other grandmothers place she has just as much right to see Blain as we do, now as I said I am a big softie but at times I think she is a bit to hard on him but then what do I know I am not there.

On Thursday night we had both Blain and Leo here but what a night at one stage Blain and Leo got into a bit of a tiff and then Tim got into a mood, he was so very angry over nothing really yes the boys where mucking up and Blain was being rude and disrespectful but Tim over-reacted and was making matters worse. I was calm and told Tim he was over-reacting and making matters worse which just made Tim angrier. The only thing all Tim's carry on did was make the boys side with each other and get over their tiff faster.

Tim was complaining that he had to get up early Friday morning at 3.30am and needed to go to sleep, the boys were not loud they were in the bedroom playing the Xbox but when I went to bed I forgot to close the bedroom door, I like to sleep with it opened and of course Leo came into our room to ask me if he could have an ice cream, he could but that made Tim yell that he was woken up and needed to get to sleep, in fact he kept going on for a few minutes I ended up telling him to just shut up, he snapped I have to get up at 3.30am and I snapped back then shut the hell up and go to sleep.

Moving on to Friday night, Tim yet again got so angry this time because Leo was getting frustrated. Leo had received a bike for his birthday and Tim had put it together and yesterday evening he was attempting to ride it and was getting frustrated because it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Tim ended up yelling and carrying on like a child saying his back hurt and something else can't remember what but I snapped back that I was on the phone and I also have a bad back, I always have a lot of back pain. Yet again Tim's anger was over the top.

Now you may think I am just bagging on Tim but I am worried about him these flare ups are a worried, yes he has always had flare ups like this when the girls were little but I do worry about it. Getting angry is one thing but he will also say things like why does he bother or he is wrong and he doesn't matter, he throws his hands in the air when he starts on his self bashing.

This is what worries me being angry is natural but we all don't go on and on, over-reacting and saying that the family don't love him and he doesn't matter in the family and if he wasn't here no one would care or we would be happier if he wasn't around. I would like him to go back on his medication for depression but he doesn't think he needs it. I, however, do think he needs it, but I don't know anything according to Tim.

Ok it is now late in the afternoon, had to stop writing for a while, first I had to take Tim down the road he had an appointment to have his eyes checked and was convinced he would not be able to drive home afterwards. Of course he was able to drive his eyes were not blurry like he thought they would be.

Then I had to cook lunch for the family, just a mince stew, everyone ate it and Natasha even went back for seconds which is a bit of a shock as she doesn't eat much at all. Then there was washing to hang out before Tim and I went to Officeworks to get ink for my printer. I come home and went to change the ink and guess what I bought the wrong ink so had to go straight back and change it, thankfully Officeworks is only just around the corner.

Jessica helped Leo learn to ride his bike, although when I rang her at 11.25am to see when she would be here and tell her that Leo wanted his mum to help him with his bike she said I am no good at things like that, which really annoyed me and Natasha and Kathy she is the mum she should stop saying things like this are too hard.

Leo at first had a lot of trouble he couldn't balance, and wanted the training wheels on it but they were shit and wouldn't go on right so in the end Tim took them off and Leo learnt to ride it without the training wheels.

He was so happy he still having some trouble with his balance but he has improved a lot and we told him the more he rides it the better he will get at it.

Back to Tim for a moment the girls all had a talk to him this morning about his temper and mood swings, he said he feels like a failure and they all asked what does he think he failed at. They all think he is the best dad, they all told him that growing up he was firm but fair and yes he punished them but he was never abusive or anything.

Jessica said dad look at us, none of your children are drug addicts, none have ever been arrested, they don't have a heap of children with no job and different fathers all your girls work and support their children. You have a wife who loves you and you have been with the same woman for over 30 years which is good. You taught us that working is part of life and after losing your temper with a child it is good to go back and have a clam talk with them and explain why you got so mad.

So all in all dad you have done a great job, you are loved and you are respected by us your daughters and yes we know our children at times do not show you the respect you deserve but we their mothers are working on getting that to change.

Now I have no idea if this all sunk in with Tim but I hope it did and that he realises how much he is loved and respected by his daughters and me. 

Photo Wednesday/My Family

Sliced Bread

Hello Monday, where did the weekend go, and why am I feeling like I have walked up a steep hill and then rolled down the other side. What does that mean you wonder, well it means that I am aching all over and feel sick in the tummy, but of course I have not told anyone except those who read my blog. Now some of you may be thinking if I am not feeling great why don't I go back to bed but that isn't going to happen as I have little Summer here while her mum is at work, Tasha is here but right now she has locked herself in Tim's room so she can do her exercises. Like her mum she likes to work out alone. I might feel better after I eat, haven't had the time to eat this morning but that is nothing new.

Moving on I am sure we have all heard the saying “best thing since sliced bread”, but how many of you/us know how long sliced bread has been around and who invented sliced bread. I didn't so I decided to find out.

Slice bread has been around since 1928 so less the a hundred years, some guy named Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the first bread slicer, well he started working on the invention it back in 1912.

The first commercial use of the slicing machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Company located in Chillicothe Missouri in 1928, their product “Kleen Maid Sliced Bread” was a success. Although many bread makers felt that the bread would go stale if sliced, because of this at first Rohwedder tried using hat pins to keep the pieces of bread together, naturally this didn't work out very well. So he came up with an invention that not only sliced the bread but wrapped it in wax paper.

Of course at first most bakers where not convinced that sliced bread was a good idea, this changed when the Chillicothe baking company started selling sliced bread and found their sales skyrocketed , so other companies also started to sell sliced bread.

The first bread slicing machine was about five-foot long and three-foot high, they are of course not so big any-more.

It was in 1930 that the Wonder Bread company began to commercially produce sliced bread loaves, thus popularising sliced bread and making it a household staple. Sliced bread was advertised as “the greatest step forward in the bread industry since the invention of wrapped bread.

Of course before the invention of pre-sliced bread, people either baked their own bread at home or bought full loaves of bread, whichever they did they had to cut of a slice of bread every time they wanted one. This meant that often the bread would be hacked up with slices not the same size.

What made me think of writing about sliced bread this morning, is the fact that on Friday Natasha brought home a couple of unsliced bread which since I was out of bread yesterday I used. I liked that I could cut it nice and thick I like a thick slice of bread, Tim, however, doesn't and because of that I usually buy bread sandwich sliced which for those who do not know is the thin sliced.

Anyway this morning when Kathy-Lee was here she sliced off a couple of slices to make a sandwich for Summer and she hacked at it one thickish slice and one not so thick slice, so then I started thinking about sliced bread.

Of course we all know that you can buy either sliced or unsliced bread, and there are heaps of different bread rolls one can buy.

What type of bread do you like?

I prefer white bread, or the high fiber low GI bread but that is 70 cents dearer so I don't get that one very often. I prefer to get my bread for Baker's Delight, I don't like to buy bread for the supermarket as it doesn't stay as fresh and doesn't taste as good but that is just me.

My boys, Blain & Leo

Hello Thursday, and what a hot Thursday it has been, this morning Leo got dressed in long pants for school and I had to insist that he change his pants and wear shorts as it has been around 36°c today and that is far to hot for long pants.

Also this morning Blain didn't want to wear the only clean shirt he had as it was the really big shirt his mum bought him for school at the start of the year, so I told him to wear the one he wore yesterday and I would do a load of washing so he will have a clean shirt for tomorrow. Well he thought it would be cool to wear two shirts a normal tee shirt under his school shirt, and of course he got hot during the day. When asked why he didn't just take the tee shirt off he said his teacher wouldn't let him, I asked why didn't he just go to the boys toilets at either recess or lunch and take it off and shove it in his bag. He didn't think of that.

I don't think I mentioned that Leo got a letter home from school it was a formal warning that he is on what they call an intention to suspend what it is, is a caution due to inappropriate behaviour. This is because a week ago while playing at school another child threw sand in Leo's ear so Leo got pissed and threaten to punch the child for “being a dick” (Leo's words). So he got into trouble over that, this happened a week after he was accused of being racist when another boy, made a comment about how white Leo is and Leo said so what you're black. He didn't think it was wrong he was just stating a fact and wanted to know why the other boy could call him white but he couldn't say he was black, don't think the teacher liked Leo asking that question. With Leo, he rarely will start trouble but he will not walk away either, you throw sand in his ear he will stand up and threaten to punch you.

Blain just realised there is a push bike out the back, it is Leo's bike he got it for his birthday in January and pappa (Tim) put it together on the weekend but the tyres are flat and we couldn't find a pump so I told Blain I will be buying a bike pump tomorrow when I go shopping. I also told Blain that he will have to ask Leo if he can ride it, because if it was Blain's bike Leo would have to ask permission.

Also this week Jessica has picked Leo up from school each afternoon except on Monday and then that was only because she was waiting on her shopping to be delivered, so hopefully she will be able to get him tomorrow, as he will not be coming here tomorrow night due to being grounded. So I do not want to pick him up as it will only cause upset for him and me, spoke to her this afternoon asked how come she has been able to get him he said it was because the child she picks up has been getting out early but should be back to normal time out next week so I will be back to getting Leo next week.

Damn I just realised that Blain has gone to his friends place, yes I knew he was going but I was distracted and only just realise he was suppose to do his homework before going out, oh well I will call him and get him home and tell him he has to do his homework. I am expecting him to complain as he always complains when I ask him to do his homework, or anything really.

Words but not my words, just someone else's words

Another post by my daughter Kathy-Lee

Toilet training my almost 3 year old

How do you know your child is ready to be toilet trained? For me, it was my child’s occasional interest in the toilet and her need to be like her big sister. She would see her big sister go to the toilet and run after her saying it was her turn. There were times when she actually used the toilet, but for the most part she had already gone in her nappy. I was never disappointed that she there was no action on the toilet, in fact I was rather excited that she was showing an interest.

I wanted to toilet train my daughter at 18 months when she originally started to show an interest. All I could think about was how much money we could be saving by not buying nappies every week. I could be one of those mums who was able to get her child to use the toilet completely before she was 2. But in all honesty, what would I accomplish by attempting to toilet train my daughter at such a young age? Yes she was showing an interest, but she was still using a bottle and slept with a dummy. She liked to be cuddled and enjoyed playing. Toilet training at this age? I would encounter disappointment, stress and more laundry and toilet cleaning then I would like. 

I had to wait for that right moment. I had no idea when it was going to happen, but I knew it would be around her 3^rd birthday.

The very idea of toilet training can be a dread. There are parents who have years of experience and know exactly what they are doing, while there are people like me who research the best methods. There are people out there who claim they can have your child toilet trained in 3 days. I did my research on this and found that the child had to be without undies and pants for a minimum of 3 days and you could only leave the house for an hour at a time. You had to monitor your child and their movements and look for signs of them wanting to use the toilet. Then you had to get them to the toilet and praise them once they had used the toilet. What person wants to spend their day looking for signs their child needs to wee or poo?

I also read that one of the best methods to encourage toilet use is to put them straight into undies. This meant the use of pull ups was also not recommended. You would have to have at least 20 pairs of undies and a lot of dresses or loose pants. What about old towels? If your child hasn’t shown an interest but you want to have a go at it, you are going to need lots of old towels or hope the day outside is pleasant enough for you both to play on the grass.

I could go into many different methods of how best to toilet train your child, but in the end each child is different and the journey will vary for each family. I tried letting my daughter run around naked and taking note on when she needed to go. In the end I found myself doing a lot of laundry and dealing with what some people would call a wannabe nudist who actually enjoyed marking her territory. I guess I was lucky in some way, at least I didn’t have to scrub the poo of the carpet. She was kind enough to do it on the tiles in bathroom or in the nappy I placed on her because I had had enough.

One of the things you are told by professionals is to not get angry at your child when they don’t make it to the toilet. Put on a happy face and let them know ‘accidents’ happen; you as the parent or care giver are to continue asking your child if they need to use the toilet. Patience is a virtue.

I admittedly lost my cool just last week. The feeling of disgust I felt with myself brought me to tears. I was that angry at my child for once again not using the toilet like I knew she could. After that day, I put my daughter back in nappies and gave myself some time to think about what I should be doing. What was I doing wrong, my daughter is almost 3 years. She knows how to use the toilet, I’ve seen her do it. She knows her wees and poos go in the toilet. After every ‘accident’ my child told me she needed to use toilet. After a whole weekend of feeling like a failure and wracking my brain over what I could be doing, I decided that I would forego the toilet training for a few more weeks and wait until after her 3^rd birthday.

Come Monday morning and my daughter wakes with a dry nappy. I give her a morning cuddle and sit with her for 20 minutes while we Doc McStuffins. She turns to me and asks for apple juice. Placing her on the lounge I notice her nappy is still dry. Curiosity gets the better of me so I tell her I will get her apple juice if she goes to the toilet. Without hesitation my child runs to the bathroom and takes off her nappy. I follow her and listen outside the door, I can hear her placing the step near the toilet so she can sit down on the seat. Then it happens, she does her wee. I run to the kitchen and pour the glass of apple juice and place it on the table. Seconds after I place the glass down I hear “I did wees on the toilet”. I praise her by giving her a cuddle and her drink and go to her room to get her undies.

After that morning I realized that for my child, asking her when she needed to use the bathroom was pointless. The trick to toilet training my almost 3 year old was to have her use the toilet before she started something new, something she wanted. Now we have her go to the toilet before she gets in the car, goes outside, plays a new game, gets in the bath.

Five days later and we have had only one ‘accident’ each day. Even her day care said she seemed happier. It’s still early days, but something tells me this is how I will successfully toilet train my almost 3 year old. How do I know though? I don’t, but ask yourself; do you use the toilet before you start something new? When you start your shift at work, go to bed, wake up, go for a drive?

Kathy

I am a big ole softie, always have been, always will be, but my girls expect me to change and it isn't going to happen, this is me

Hello everyone it is now late on Monday and I am just getting around to writing a post, this morning I had Summer for a few hours while her mum went to work, looks like I am going to have her most Mondays and maybe one other day during the week. Kathy has decided to pull her out of daycare as she really can't afford it. In fact at times she feels like she is just working to pay for daycare. Summer is no trouble and she loves seeing “uncle Tasha”, in fact when Tasha left today for work Summer sobbed, she didn't even kiss her mum when Kathy left this morning but Tasha leaving really upset her.

I also had to drive Leo to school who isn't a happy little boy at the moment he is in trouble and grounded. This is because on Friday afternoon he wandered off and I was unable to find him, he went up the road to talk to some other little boys, who he said he thought he had met with Blain the day before. He didn't ask if he could go anywhere and I was in a right state because I was unable to find him, also because I had already had a bath and was in my pj's I was not happy having to wander up the driveway calling him. In fact if it wasn't for a little boy who lives in the complex telling me he saw Leo go out the driveway and turn right I wouldn't had any idea where to look. So on Saturday his mum grounded him and then last night he went and stole some chocolate and tried to hide it from his mum and lied about it and all in all his mum added a couple of days to his grounding.

Now she has said to me that he will only spend as much time with me as she needs him to as I cannot be trusted to follow though on his punishment, which is to stay in my bedroom doing nothing when he is here. I said of a morning I do not have a problem with that but if that is how she feels then he shouldn't be here next Friday night, in fact if she says he can come I am going to tell her that I will let him watch TV but that is all. If she isn't happy with that then she shouldn't leave him here, because let's be honest here him being here is usually about her wanting a break more then him wanting to be here.

Oh yeah that reminds me he wasn't suppose to use the internet of Friday night and I told him he couldn't, but when he was here he asked if he could use my computer and I said yet but no internet if he just wanted to go into the paint program and do whatever he does on the program fine but no internet. So he sat at my computer thought about it and after a couple of minutes shut it and went back to watching telly. He did not use the internet but because he told his mum he was allowed to use the computer she thought I let him get online, this really pissed me off as she was saying I was lying.

I do feel that my girls have forgotten how lenient I was with them when they where children, many times their dad would ground them not tv, no nothing for a couple of weeks I stuck to it for the first week and on the second week I would say you can watch a little telly between the time they got home from school till when their dad got home from work. I have always been a softie when it came to discipline so why do they get all pissed off with me now, I have not changed I am still the big softie I have always been.

So it seems I am white, and I am not talking about the colour of my skin, because let's be honest that doesn't matter it is how I am inside that matters, just saying, also this is one ass long title for a post also just saying.

Hi all how are everyone today?

I was just looking through my unposted blog ideas folder looking for something to write about and found this idea titled I am white, it is some Facebook quiz thing I did last year and thought I would save what it said about me and use it as a blog post some time. Now to be honest I did this quiz thing so long ago I had forgotten all about it. Anyway you did the quiz and it gave you a colour and tells you what your colour says about your personality and such.

So I am going to share with you all what being “white” means now let's not forget that this is nothing about race it is about what type of person I am suppose to be, read what it says about me and tell me if you think it sounds like me or not.

Whites are motivated by Peace. They seek independence and require kindness. They resist confrontation at all costs. To them, feeling good is more important than being good. They are typically quiet by nature, process things very deeply and objectively with great clarity. Of all the colours,whites are the best listeners. They respect people who are direct but recoil from perceived hostility or verbal battle.

Whites need their "alone time" and refuse to be controlled by others. Whites want to do things their own way and in their own time. They ask little of others and resent others demanding much of them. Whites are much stronger than people think, but are not often seen for their strength because they don't easily reveal their feelings. Whites are even-tempered, diplomatic, and the voice of reason; but can also be indecisive, unexpressive, and silently stubborn. When you deal with a WHITE, be kind, accept and support their individuality, and look for non-verbal clues to understand their feelings.

So what do you think me or not?

Rest in Peace Mick

Hello blogland, it is now Wednesday, didn't do a post yesterday, why well no real reason just didn't get around to it. Anyway, what did I do yesterday I went to a funeral, yes it was my brother in-law's funeral. There was a good turn out, after the service his sisters where so upset that my sister had to get her father in-law to help support one of them. After the service there was a wake at the pup a crossed the road but I didn't go to that and neither did my parents we just came home. Most people turned up wearing a flannel shirts as Mick was forever wearing them along with fluoro shirts. It was another bloody hot day as is today temps in the mid to low 30's.

Anyway not doing a post just sharing this because well, because I have yet another bloody headache I am so over these headaches I have been getting a headache a lot lately. This morning when I went for my walk it was quiet cool, not cool now but at 6.30am it was cool enough to wear a light weight pair of longish pants. I am wearing shorts now.