A Bit Of Dog Sitting For Me

Hello everyone, I am coming to you from another place not home, why because I am dog sitting for my brother who has gone to our nieces wedding in Queensland, Kirsty is marrying her partner Jacob this afternoon.

My brother is attending in place of our parents as my dad has been really sick a lot recently add to that mum isn't really comfortable driving such a long distance. Even though Tim and I not attending I did send a present up with my niece Kelli and Jonathon, since Kelli and Jonathon naturally went this meant my grandson Blain has had a holiday in Queensland this last week and this I am very happy about as it would be his first family holiday well the first one that I know about.

I am the only person that my brother and sister in-law are comfortable with staying here to watch the dogs, the only thing I don't like that much is the bed it is not that comfortable but it is only a few nights and I can cope with that.

This morning I went to the local plaza and did a bit of shopping then I had to go home to pick up my phone charger so while I was home I had a bath and did Tim's medication up for the next week so I don't have to go home tomorrow. Tim said he wanted me to go home and get him tomorrow to take him over to Kathy's place but I really don't want to and will suggest that he rides his motor bike here and e then go from here to Kathy's. David only lives 5 minutes from Kathy so I would rather do what I said but we will see.

Yeah last night when I got here I discovered that I had left my phone charger at home so before I went to bed last night I turned my phone off, I rarely turn my phone off but since I was going to bed it was ok and this morning I tried charging it in the car with the car charger but it is stuffed and not working, I am going to suggest to Tim that we get another one as I do use it a lot more then I thought I would.

The reason I had a bath at home this morning is because my bath is a larger bath then the one here, it is deeper and longer and wider so a better size for this larger woman. Why is it I wonder why baths now days are generally smaller then they were 30 years or so ago, my bath is the same one we had when we moved into the place 28years ago. I also remember the bath that was in this house when it was Aunty Joyce's house it was a large bath like mine but it was in a terrible state and when my brother did some renovations to the house they put in a new bathroom and that meant getting a new smaller bath.

Well that is enough dribble for this post.

Feeling Better and Port Arthur Massacre

Hello all, I am much better today, thankfully I was in bed bloody early last night and by bloody early I mean 7.15pm I couldn't see the point in staying up when I felt like shit.

Today is the 20^th anniversary of the Port Arthur Massacre, Port Arthur is in Tasmania it is a former prison colony and a popular tourist site, 35 people were killed and 23 wounded when a mad man because let's be honest do sane people go around killing innocent people me thinks not although some are pretty sane but this fella wasn't one of them.

The killer was a 28 year old from Hobart his name was Martin Bryant, he was found guilty and given 35 life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Moving on I had an appointment this morning at Leo's school with his principal nothing bad though she just wanted to touch base with me as Leo will be going to Creative Times it is run by the Samaritans and is an after school group for 8-12 year olds, although I think Jessica said he might be going during school hours, the hope is that he will learn how to interact with other as at times he as a problem with interacting. I also found out that last term Leo's whole class did different activates at Creative Times so he knows a little about the place already.

The principal said Leo is a charming boy and very popular with the staff and has a lot of friends as well but at times he has problems understanding non verbal signs like if another child is finding Leo a bit full on unless the child says something Leo can't tell that he is annoying the other child.

Ok that is all I have for today, I am in pain with my back and arm so I am going to sit back put my feet up and watch The Chase

How I feel tonight

A bit more about me...........my education

Ok let us talk about my education, this could be a short post, since I have bugga all education......lol

Ok I started school when I was 5, I went to Gateshead primary school, then onto Gateshead high school, I left at the end of year 10. When I was at school you could leave any time after turning 14yrs & 9mths, however, now days you are expected to go through to the end of year 12 which I think is stupid as I can tell you there was no way I could have done years 11 & 12 I just wasn't smart enough.

When I was in high school I was in a C class, in fact I was in & 7C2 and was in the C2 class all way through high school this was the class above the “dummies” class which was 7D1 which was also known as the OA class which had those student who had some kind of intellectual disability but this class still in my days had around 20-30 students in it.

Now days there are generally two levels of classes for students with some kind of intellectual disability the first level is what is called an IM class, then there is the IO class, the IM class is for students with a mild intellectual disability or what is usually called a learning disability, the IO class is for students with a moderate intellectual disability.

So this said I think if I was in school today I would be in an IM class as the IO class is what we called the OA class. Tim was in an OA class when he was at school and he left half way through year 8 as soon as he was able to do so but this isn't a post about him it is about me.

As I said I left school at the end of year 10, now I can tell you when I sat the year 10 school certificate exams I failed the english exam getting only 48% the other exams science and maths I did better on getting around 60-70%.

When I left school I had no idea what I was going to do and had no intention of doing any more studying but as it turned out I did a secretarial course at Tafe (Technical and Further Education) only because my best friend at the time wanted to do one but as it turned out I got into the course and she didn't.

Did I like school?

No I did not but I went every bloody day because it was just what was expected, it never occurred to me not to attend each day. Yeah many students skip school but not me in a year I would have only 1 or 2 days off school because I was sick.

Lest we Forget

Hello all today is Anzac Day here in Australia, it is one of the nations most important days, it marks the anniversary of the first major military action undertook by Australian and New Zealand forces during the first world way.

The 25^th April was the day that the Anzac's landed at Gallipoli and even though the whole Gallipoli campaign was a failure it was at Gallipoli that for many the Anzac legend was born becoming an important part of the identity of both countries, shaping the way in which they were viewed both in the past in years to come.

The first Anzac Day commemorations were held on the 25^th April 1916 a year after the Gallipoli disaster. That day was marked by ceremonies and services across the country in Sydney march convoys of cars carried the soldiers wounded at Gallipoli. There was a march in London with around 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marching, a London newspaper used the headline “the knights of Gallipoli” there was as well and sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt.

For those who don't know when the First World War broke out Australia had only been a federated nation for 13 years, thus the government at the time was eager to establish a reputation among other nations of the world.

By the end of the Gallipoli campaign more the 8,000 Australian soldiers had died, Gallipoli had a profound impact on those back home in Australia and the 25^th April soon became the day which Australians would remember the sacrifice of those who died in the war, later on it would be come the nations day to remember all those who died in all wars.

It was in 1927 that for the first time all states observed some form of public holiday on Anzac Day by the mid 1930's all the rituals which are now associated with the Anzac Day were firmly established as part of the Anzac Day culture.

These rituals are the dawn service which was the time of the original landing at Gallipoli, later in the day ex-servicemen and women take part in marches through the major cities and in some smaller towns as well. There are more formal commemorative services held at the war memorials around the country.

A typical Anzac Day ceremony may include the following features: an introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, a recitation, the Last Post, a period of silence, either the Rouse or the Reveille, and the national anthem. After the Memorial’s ceremony, families often place red poppies beside the names of relatives on the Memorial’s Roll of Honour, as they also do after Remembrance Day services.

Now for a little about the Anzac biscuit, during the First World War friends and families of soldiers would send food to those fighting because of the time delay getting the food from here to there and the need for the items to not need refrigeration many would send biscuits.

Anzac biscuits are made with rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter,golden syrup, bi-carbonate and boiling water. Of course these biscuits where first known as the Soldiers' Biscuit, the name Anzac Biscuit came about due to our desire to recognise the Anzac traditional and the part the biscuit played in the diet of Gallipoli.

The Anzac biscuit is one of the few commodities that are able to be legally marketed in Australia using the word ‘Anzac’, which is protected by Federal Legislation.

A bit about clothes dryers

Good afternoon, how is everyone this fine Thursday afternoon, I just came in from pegging the washing on the line I don't know if it will dry or if it will rain but what the hell they can go out one the line as you all know I am not a big user of the clothes dryer.

Have you ever thought about the clothes dryer, do you know when the first clothes dryer were invented and who was the first inventor of the clothes dryer. Well I turned to the internet to see what I could find out and you know what clothes dryers were first being invented in way back in the early 1800's what the hell. For some reason I didn't think it would had been so long ago, one of the early types of clothes dryer was the ventilator and the first one was built by a Frenchman named Pochon. It was a barrel-shaped metal drum with holes in it and was turned by hand over a fire.

The first electrical clothes dryers appeared around 1915, but it wasn't till around the late 1930's that the first automatic dryer came about when the Hamilton Manufacturing Company produced the first automatic clothes dyer.

Of course the cost of owning a dryer was to remain out of reach for most people till sometime in the 1960's, the cost of a dryer in the 1950's would had been equivalent of about $1,600 in today’s money can you imagine paying that type of money for a dyer, I know there is no way I would have done so.

However, with time came new technologies, production methods and generally lower costs meant to have a dryer in ones home was truly affordable by the late 1990's although I can tell you my parents have had a clothes dryer for as long as I can remember and Tim and I have also always had one so from my point of view they were pretty much affordable since the early 1980's.

Now as we all know technology is forever changing and the time of the tumble driver as we know it may come to an end to be replaced with dryers that make use of microwave technology or we could have solar dyers and vent-less dryers also known as compression or heap pump dryers. In fact this stage the design or function of a dryer has not changed in 200 years, many modern clothes dryers include electronic sensors that detect when the clothes are dry. Not the dryer I have though as I have a pretty standard (cheap) dryer.

When I first meet Tim the house he was living in had a vertical clothes dryer I had never seen anything like it before and only thought about it while writing this so tried to find out about them via the internet. The only thing like it I could find was a drying cabinet, which is an electrical machine designed to expedite the drying of items that are unsuitable for traditional tumble dryers. This could be what it was I don't really know Tim was told it was a vertical clothes dryer so I don't know.

What I do know is that even though I like my clothes dryer for wet days or days when the clothes just going to take forever to dry, I prefer to hang my clothes on the line and let the sun dry them.

Pinched from Facebook

A little about me

Do you have a favourite colour?

I for most of my life never thought much about having a favourite colour but recently I was talking to my granddaughter Sydney-May and she asked me what my favourite colour was and after thinking for a moment my answer was purple, I like different shades of purple and I also like different shades of pink I don't like hot pink the shades have to be softer shades also not big on deep purple I prefer the softer shades of purple.

When I was younger I liked to wear black a lot and yes still do like black but the older I get the more I like lighter and brighter colours. Although when it comes to prints I am not great at mixing prints if I wear a skirt that has a print I usually go for a block colour top and if I wear a block coloured skirt I will chose a printed top but I don't wear two different prints as I can't get them to mix when I have tried to wear two different prints they clash. Well I think they clash.

How are you at mixing prints can you do it or are you like me and feel they clash so you don't bother.

When I go out shopping or to have a meal I like to look nice, I like to wear some make-up and some jewellery and for many years a nice pair of heels. However, my days of wearing heels are long gone, I don't have the balance for heels now days and my knees are not good when I am wearing heels so I have moved onto shoes with only a slight heel. I can't wear flats as they make my legs ache, a lot.

I have a lot of jewellery not expensive stuff but nice looking cheaper stuff and I am one of those people who likes her jewellery to match. Hell I also like my eye-shadow to match what I am wearing, as in if I am wearing a pink top I will have pink eye-shadow if I am wearing black I will have a greyish eye-shadow. My girls tell me at times that I should wear neutral colour eye-shadow but that is not me. I also like to wear panty hose and knee high stockings if I am wearing long pants or a long skirt.

How about you do you like to match?

Do you wear much jewellery?

If you are male what do you think do you like to see women who have make-up on and some jewellery.

Do you think bare legs are nicer then legs in panty hose?

Outback Australia

There are many things in life we take for granted such as living and one day dying but what about some of the other little things we take for granted now days, things like electricity and flushing toilets and have the rubbish picked up from the front of our house and taken away all we need to do is take the bloody bin out so it can be emptied for us each week.

Have you ever thought what it would be like to not have these things, I know when Tim starts on about how he would like to live in the outback I think of these things, granted we would still have electricity and flushing toilets but we may not have our rubbished picked up each week because some outback areas do not have that.

Same can be said for having shops that are close by so when we are out of something we can just jump in the car and pop down to the shops the whole thing will take maybe 10 minutes. If he was living in the outback there would not be any shops that close by to pop to, I think Tim sees things like living in the outback through rose coloured glasses.

Life in outback Australia is hard and Tim isn't up to a hard life maybe when he was in his 20's he would had been but at 55 not so much so I get annoyed when he says that he wants to go bush as he wants peace and quiet.

In fact living in outback Australia when one wants to go to the shops they will have to drive sometimes up to 3 hours, of course many people living in such areas have to rely on the flying doctor when they are unwell.

Children learn via way of the school of the air meaning they use a short wave radio or the internet to have school lessons.

Of course there are areas in the outback I would like to visit such as Uluru also known as Ayers Rock but I think most Australians would love to visit the rock. I however, have no interest in living in the outback and I really don't think Tim would like it either. 

Sunday 17th April/My Day

9.30am Sunday 17^th April 2016

Hello everyone how is everyone on this Sunday or Saturday whichever day it is that you are reading this. I have been somewhat busy, shock, horror, me busy who would had thought what have I been doing you wonder well shopping for food and housework which as we all know is never ending. I also spent most of yesterday either writing letters to pen pals or watching telly along with doing housework and making lunch for me, Kathy-Lee and Natasha. Jessica didn't come over for lunch because all I was going was chunky can soup with rice and bread it was nice though and easy and I had the soup in my cupboard for months. Tim was at work all day but is off today, Jessica and Leo are coming over today for lunch as today I am doing home-made chicken tenders with who knows what.

I am still walking of a morning although I am glad no one as in family members could see me yesterday as yesterday morning was a bad morning I had zero balance and was stumbling around like a drunk person and if the family saw or knew about that they would worry. This morning, however, I was fine no problems at all while walking, I did feel exhausted by the time I got home but over all I was fine.

10am

Ok just had to run out and get Natasha's work dusters off the line alone with the mop heads because it's raining and you know what no one came to help at first the Blain came out and got the mop heads off and he told papa to come help me which he did but by then I had everything off the line. Think I will be using the dryer today.

11.30am

I have done the chicken tenders and just put the pasta in to cook just packet pasta mix bacon carbonara Tim went out earlier to let a lizard go that he found during the week in his shed I am glad he took the car as it is pissing down rain. He also said he wanted to go to Bunnings and then to Coles so not sure how much longer he will be but he wouldn't eat lunch anyway so not going to wait for him.

12.30pm

Lunch is over and Tim is home, a load of washing is in the dryer and Natasha is outside smoking and Jessica is outside chatting to her, Natasha is the only daughter I have that smokes. Tim smokes but I don't never have never will.

4.15pm

Ok it is now later in the afternoon, I have just had a nice hot bath and it is still raining been raining all day. Tim and Natasha had a bit of talk about his attitude and her attitude and how we are worried about him and how we feel he is suffering from depression and would like to see him he take steps to correct that but he doesn't want to talk to any one and doesn't want to take medication for it so I do not know what is going to happen. We told him we believe he is depressed because of how negative he is about everything and how he twists everything to make it out that we are attacking him. He also has a terrible habit of walking away while people are trying to talk to him he says people talk over him all the time and yeah that may happen at times it happens to all of us it is part of life it doesn't mean we stop talking to others we just push on as it is what one does if one wants to be heard in this family at times.

Language by Kathy

EDU10002: UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

ASSESSMENT 1: ESSAY

What roles do nature and nurture play in children’s language development?

KATHY-LEE MEADOWS

Communication through oral language gives a person a way to connect with others either as an individual or in social groups and settings (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014, p18). Language and cognitive development could be considered as a partnership or as something that is to be learnt at different stages. Nature could be considered a maturational and nativist perspective while nurture could be considered a behaviourist and social interactionist perspective. Theorists such as Jean Piaget (cognitive) and Lev Vygotsky (social & cognitive) have contributed to childhood education with their theories. Do children learn language first through cognitive development or through cognition and social interaction?

Both Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have valid theories and have contributed greatly to early childhood education. Piaget believed children grow and learn in a time suited to the individual and with little interference (maturation). His theories could be considered valid when you look at children before the age of 2. At this age children’s cognition is developing at a rapid pace. Children will have random uncontrollable movements and will gradually teach themselves how to control body movements which will in turn create a walking talking child (Oakley, 2004) This kind of development could be considered self-taught which was done so when the individual was ready to progress to the next step. The idea that language itself can be developed without little interference could be thought to be valid by the educational profession.

The maturational perspective is a theory believed that children are able to develop their language and cognition in their own time with little interference from their family and social network. It is theorised that children have an ‘inner clock’ which determines when children will begin to use oral language (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014, p50). It could be criticised that the lack of social interaction could delay when the child is ready to be taught something different. Example; children in the sensorimotor stage (0-2) (Piaget) who have developed their cognition in recognition of pictures and what they are may continue to use pictures as a way of communicating their needs.

It could be theorised, according to children, that the idea of using oral language can be delayed if use of pictorial communication is just as effective. Piaget has suggested cognitive development and maturation could be linked. As the human mind grows, so too does their thinking and grammatical skills (Oakley, 2004)

According to the nativist perspective it is believed that language acquisition is pre-built into our mind. Chromsky argued that the human brain is structured to acquire and use language and found it to astonishing how the human mind is able to create and understand syntactic systems or grammatical rules (as cited by Chromsky in Fellowes and Oakley, 2014, p49). Example; children use words they have heard and then place them into grammatically incorrect sentences i.e, A 3 year old could say “I can catched the balloon” after they let it go.

Vygotsky suggested children could develop their speech with the assistance of their peers, parents and teachers. When placed in a social situation children will interact with others and these interactions will result in learning (Oakley, 2004, p37). John Dewey believed children learn best when interacting with others working side by side and cooperatively with each other (Garhart Mooney, 2013, p16).

Children placed in social groups of a nurturing nature will find their peers scaffolding their learning. Example; Adults are able to communicate with each other using words children may not know how to say or know the semantics of each sentence. Children who are in the beginning stages of communication could require shorter words in shorter sentences thus enabling children to communicate with their peers.

According to Vygotsky, by the time children are 2 years of age, their thought and language process become related and assists children with cognitive and social development (as cited by Vygotsky in Oakley, 2004, p40). The social interactionist perspective believe children require short sentences to assist children in their understanding of oral language and the pragmatics of each sentence. Repetition of words and word order (syntactic) assists children in building their vocabulary and word meaning (Hill, 2012).

The behavioural perspective focuses on children and the environment they are in. It is believed children learn language through a nurturing environment. Where language is made up of phonemes, syntax and semantics communication through interactions with others will assist children in understanding pragmatics. Pragmatics could occur in children as early as 3 or 4 years of age (Hill, 2012).

Children who are involved in a nurturing environment where positive reinforcement is ample could see children continuing with the same words and actions and developing new words used from their social network. Example; children who say “mumma” and are positively greeted with “Mummy is here. Give Mummy cuddles” and is given kisses could soon learn how to say mummy and could associate cuddles with kisses (Fellowes and Oakley, 2014, p48).

Theorists such as Maria Montessori believed it was not only the environment children were in, but also the people who were around the children. Children who are in an environment which has been specifically adapted for the children were able to learn oral language. It can be suggested that by developing an environment where children can socially interact with their peers allows for cognitive development and language acquisition (Garhart Mooney, 2013).

In a modern society many perspectives are practiced in all kinds of educational fields. The roles that nature and nurture play in language development vary according to theorists. The nature role is based on children acquiring language at an age suited to the individual and preferably with little interference from peers, teachers and family. The nurture role is based on children acquiring language through social settings and interactions with smaller words and sentences used to assist language acquisition. To answer the initial question of how children acquire language, it could be suggested that Maria Montessori’s theory of a child like setting where children can interact with each other and their peers is the answer.

References

Oakley, L., Cognitive Development, 2004

Garhart Mooney, C., Theories of Childhood Second Edition, 2013

Hill, S., Developing Early Literacy: Assessment and Teaching, 2012

Fellowes, J., Oakley, G., Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, 2nd Edition, 2014

Lake Macquaire

A few years back I did a post about where I live but have decided to do another one as some readers may not have seen or read the other one hell I don't even remember what I wrote then so who has heard of Lake Macquarie?

I am not talking about the lake called Lake Macquarie which by the way is a ten minute walk from my place or a 2 minute drive, but instead I am talking about the city of Lake Macquarie although when I was a child it was Lake Macquarie County Council well I think it was, now it is Lake Macquarie City Council.

Lake Macquarie became a a city on the 7^th September 1984, not long before I was married not important just thought I would add that. The city is adjacent to the city of Newcastle, by adjacent we are talking bloody close I live in Lake Mac my brother who lives only 10 minutes from me in Wallsend is part of the Newcastle council, just so you know. The Shire of Lake Macquarie was proclaimed on the 6^th March 1906, and was a Municipality from 1^st March 1977.

The city of Lake Mac has a mayor Cr Jodie Harrison who is a member of the Labor Party, we vote every four years to elect a mayor and city councillors. When we vote the voting takes place generally at local schools, we can walk to the high school to vote it is only a 2-3 minute walk there.

From around 2015 there were 204,166 people living in Lake Mac with around 48% of them being male and the rest female, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander make up about 3% of the population which was higher than the national and state average. That said to be honest I don't see a lot of Aboriginal people around, I am sure they are here I just don't see them often, also many people feel that they don't want to live near Aboriginal people as they have a bad rep of drinking and fighting which I doubt is the truth, I am sure a few have caused the rep and the rest have to deal with it.

Lake Mac is about 150km north of Sydney, the Newcastle/Lake Mac area is the second oldest city in the state and was first used as a penal settlement for convicts in the 1800's. Newcastle is the world's largest coal export harbour, as far as I know. Our population is spread out around the lake in over 90 communities, our minimum temperature is around 10-11 °C and our top temperature is usually around 30-34°C although if you where to check some websites they top temperature is stated as being around 24°c but that is not right trust me.

Ok that will do for this post, I will write a bit about the lake its self in another post.

New Medication and Still Attitude

Hello everyone, been a few days since I have posted but that is nothing new as I don't often post over the weekend, I am busy watching telly and doing nothing much. I don't think I have mentioned that I have been back to see the specialist about my tremor, still can't say what it is or what it isn't but I have been put on a new medication “Kinson” I have been started on only half a tablet morning and night and over the next few weeks it will increase to 1 tablet 3 times a day. At this stage can't see any difference but we will see how things go over the next few weeks.

We has both Blain and Leo here last night, oh what fun that was there was a lot of fighting and dobbing on each other and both Natasha and I lost it a few times with them but since Jessica had agreed to pick her friend up from the train station at 4am, she didn't want to have Leo as she would had to wake him to go with her and she didn't want to do that.

This morning Natasha took both boys to the park for an hour or so then I drove Leo home before I went to the post office to post off a few letters and get a couple of aerogrammes as I have a few overseas letters to write and send off and the aerogrammes are cheaper then writing a letter and buying a stamp, they are about 35cents cheaper and it may not sound like much but when you have a few to do it all adds up.

Natasha has now just gone to work so it is just me and Blain home for a while both Natasha and Tim should be home by 8pm tonight.

We still are having problems with Blain and his attitude, when asked why he has attitude he will say it is because of Leo which I said is not a reason it is an excuse and he is trying to make a scapegoat out of Leo. Then he said it was because his mum has to go to work, we said she has been working for a year now and since he is now 10 he should be able to deal with his mum working as most parents work, it is part of life so that is not a good reason also when his mum is at work he is fine most of the time so I do not think it is the reason for the attitude. Natasha feels there is something bothering him that he will not tell us about. She has talked to his father and if his attitude doesn't improve he may have to go and live with his father for a while but we are not there yet but we are getting there.

I am still going for a walk most mornings even though Tim has said why do I torture myself as often by the time I get home I am exhausted my balance is terrible and my back is throbbing, I continue to walk as it is good for me, even though it doesn't feel like it at the time.

So now I am going to post this and spend the rest of the day watching telly and answering letters

Bullying

Yesterday I spoke about respect today or maybe tomorrow not sure if this will be posed tonight Thursday night or tomorrow Friday, anyway I am going to talk a little about bullying, why well I will tell you.

This afternoon Blain and Leo went over to a friend of Blain's place and I use the word friend loosely as I do not think this boy is much of a friend. Before they leave Natasha spoke to Blain about how this kid said he was going to smash Leo in a game of Bull Rush, Blain said it isn't going to happen and all is cool with Leo and this kid, so they went to the boys place and I am sure you can all guess what happened.

Well when they said they were going to play Bull Rush Leo said he was coming home he wasn't interested and that is when things turned into bullying. When Leo tried to use the walkie talkie to tell us he was coming home one boy snatched it away so he couldn't call us, then Leo started to walk away and they got in front of him and crapped him by his legs and pulled so he fell backwards and hit his head on the cement, he was crying and when he tried to run away they tackled him to the ground and started to punch him a few times. He managed to get away from them and ran home.

Blain told them to leave him alone but that is all he did, he said he was scared if he tried to intervene they would hit him too.

Jessica was here when Leo came home crying and she called Blain and told him to come home straight away, she was to say the least bloody mad. However, when she spoke to Blain she calmed down and was ok, she did ring his dad and after all was said and done it was decided that Blain would not be in trouble over this as he may have been scared and yes he may have been hurt if he tried to help Leo and he is only 10.

Now when Jessica called him to come home his so called friends told him not to come home to hid instead but he didn't do that he came straight home and he knew it wasn't going to be good since Leo had came home in tears and hurt and he knew it was wrong to do what they did to Leo.

To me this was bullying, the boys may have thought it was just a game but it was a game that Leo didn't want a part of and when he tried to leave they tried to stop him and that is when it goes from a game to bullying if you ask me.

Also it is now Friday morning so I was right I didn't get this finished last night. 

Respect

Hello Wednesday since yesterday all I posted was a picture of something the post I wanted to write yesterday but couldn't find the energy to do I will write and post today how does that sound?

I want to write about respect all of us have heard the word, we all should know what it means for those who are unsure of it's meaning according to my dictionary it means “to feel or show esteem or regard to; to treat considerately” ok we all know it means more then just that so don't go on about all the other meanings of it for my post that definition is enough.

We have had a problem with the boys Blain & Leo and showing no respect towards me and their mothers, I have had it, I am so over all this disrespect I am getting from both the boys, Blain is the worse offender. He has to argue the point with me over everything and has a habit of rolling his eyes which makes me want to slap him of course I have not slapped him I don't do that but it doesn't change the fact that I want to.

Leo can be just as bad although he doesn't generally roll his eyes he just gets this look on his face that makes me say “don't look at me like that” it is a look of disrespect, both the boys try our patience a lot lately. I said to Natasha I thought my days of dealing with disrespect from children on a daily basis.

I try to speak to the boys in a clam respectful manner, Leo will say he treats people how they treat him and I have said well if that is the case why are you being so disrespectful of me as I rarely speak to you in a disrespectful manner. He has told me he is sorry for his attitude at times and when he says sorry it comes across as heartfelt, when Blain says sorry it is because he has been told to do so and it is anything but heartfelt.

I generally like to ask the boys or anyone in fact to do things for me, over telling them, first I ask then I tell, then I demand this I got off my mum that is how she treated her children thus how I have treated mine and now my grandchildren.

I also have and still do say sorry when I speak to any of my girls or grandchildren in a disrespectful manner, usually this happens because I am angry and speak in anger and when that happens I am not sounding very respectful so when I have calmed down I go and say sorry. What I am apologizing for is my tone not necessarily what I said, there is a difference.

So have you had a problem with children being disrespectful of you and towards you, how do you deal with it when it happens.

I calmly tell the boys that I think they are being disrespectful and I do not like their tone, I also will say in a firm tone that I will not tolerate that tone or eye rolling or look and they can go to the bedroom till they are ready to speak to me how I should be spoken to. I am the adult I will not be told by a child what they are doing such as Blain will come home and say I am going to my friends, I say no you ask if you can go to your friends place do not tell me you are going, granted when asked I say yes more or less all the time but I like to be asked. I have said to the boys at school you do not say to the teach “ I am going to the toilet” you asked if you can go to the toilet because it is polite to ask.

No time to write a post so this is all you get, because I am exhausted

Monday's dribble

Good afternoon world, it is a lovely Monday afternoon here in Newie, for a change Natasha will be picking Blain up from school also I don't have to pick Leo up either as he isn't at school today. Tim has taken the car in to have the electric brake fitted to the car for when we tow the caravan, he also got the cheque made up to pay for the van as well.

Also yesterday daylight savings ended here and as such yesterday felt like that the day was dragging on, also today seems like it is a long ass day as well. I am so glad that daylight savings is over I like it but have to say to say we don't need like 6 months of it, it starts too early and ends too late. When I was a child it was shorter and that was better, also as many people will say as children they like daylight savings as parents not so much, I was not one of them but have to say it is annoying when it goes on and on and on and never seems like it is going to end but end it has now and for that I am glad.

Last Friday was Dawson's birthday he turned 17, this year he started a new school as I had mentioned back in January but he also a couple of girls who quiet like him and who he often talks to at night, this is a new thing but also a bit like his father who always has good relationships with females. Nan and pop are really pleased with the young man he has grown into, I mostly agree with them he still has his moments and at times I don’t like the way he talks to my mum (his nan) but he has grown and matured a fair bit but like all 17 year olds still has a ways to go.

I have decided that both Blain and Leo will have a set routine of a morning when they are here of the morning, they will have to have breakfast also each day before going to school. I also will continue to prepare proper meals each night for the boys and hell if it is only me and Blain here at night I will make him a decent meal more times then not.

Well that is all for this post, I will be back tomorrow.

Look what we bought

Hello all, it is now Sunday just after lunch and I am at last getting around to writing a post, just had lunch Natasha did tacos haven't had tacos in a long time, it was nice not having to do the cooking for a change.

Anyway guess what Tim and I did yesterday we bought this, it was a spur of the moment thing kinda, Tim saw it on his run yesterday but run I mean while driving the bus that type of run not the type that involves moving legs fast so moving faster then a walk. Trust me Tim couldn't run like that if his life depended on it.

It is a two berth van so just the right size for me and Tim, although Leo has already said he could come away with us in it.

We have been looking for a van for a few months so it was a spur of the moment decision to buy a van it was kind of spur of the moment in that he saw it went to check it out on his way home from work, rang me and had me go out and meet him to look at it and when I said yes I liked it he bought it there and then.