Farewell 2009...

So here we are, the last day of the year for 2009.

Boy have I been a bad Blogger! How I have negelected thee. But you know, life takes over and all that stuff and we did have the silly season in between my last post and now.

But here I am to wrap up the year.

Much has happened for us, both good and bad but mostly good. So I really don't have much to complain about. It would be quicker and easier not to rehash the entire year to now, so I will just fill in the blanks of December.

We went away for a short family holiday at the start of the month to Merry Beach, halfway between Batemans Baby and Ulladulla and I highly recommend it to anyone. We are planning to go back at Easter next year. 4 days of sun, surf and swimming and it was great, the kids had a ball, The Farmer got much needed R&R and I got to do some shopping.

I am no longer the keeper of secrets - The Madwoman finally got the balls up to tell the IL's about the baby just before she went to her parents for Christmas. But I think she left her run a bit too late because the bulging belly gave it away a few weeks ago and MIL wanted to avoid that whole ugly "gee you're getting fat" senario so she stayed schtum and just waited for the inevitable announcement. It did cushion the blow though so it all worked out OK in the end.

So now we are in the lead up to Christmas and everyone just starts going crazy, panicing about getting all the shopping done in time and finalising all their plans. We decided to "UN" Christmas this year and just take it easy. The Farmer hates Christmas with a passion so he was keen for it. The tree didn't get put up till the 23rd, and no decorations around the rest of the house. Everything was very un-christmassy. The only presents the kids got under the tree were from Nan Kush (my Nan) and one for Monkey Nuts from us because they were getting just two big presents this year to share - a Motorbike and a cubby house and poor little Monkey Nuts is too little to ride the bike yet and the girls shaft him out of the cubby house pretty quick. Lunch was a laid back affair with my Mum and youngest brother coming over for a cold lunch of ham and salad. We did head over to the IL's for the whole she-bang of a dinner as usual, but it was still quite laid back because SIL and G came down and they are very casual people too so it was great. Admittedly it did feel a bit anti-climatic coming home from their place Christmas night, but in the same way that it feels every year when it's all over.

But the best news of all was that we got RAIN!!!!!! Nearly 3 inches of it (or 75mm for you city folk) we got the first fall of 92pts (23mm) and then we got a second fall on Sunday of a whopping 180 pts!! (45mm) the house dam is chocka-block full and the grass is all green and lush and gorgeous. A perfect way to cap off the year.

Awww bugger! Now I have to wait till Wednesday.

Don't you just hate it when you are expecting something in the mail and it doesn't come that day? I ordered a dress from Ezibuy last weekend and I thought it would turn up in the mail today but it didn't. So now I have to wait till the next mail day on Wednesday.

Monkey see, Monkey do

We are fast discovering that Monkey Nuts is a great mimic and a FAST LEARNER. If there is anything that you don't want him to learn how to do, you cannot under any circumstances let him see you do it. We have found him with tools trying to 'fix' things, he turns on the hoses trying to water the plants. Lately he is fixated on the work The Farmer is doing, well, around the farm. If The Farmer is in the sheep yards drafting sheep, then Monkey Nuts is right there with him, in the way, worse than a mongrel fox terrier dog. Over the weekend I have had to fetch him not once, but twice from down the driveway and then up the hill because he is following where his father has gone. This morning his escapade was to get the sheep in. We have 250 weaner lambs and about 30 of them got out. Monkey Nuts took it upon himself to get them back into the paddock.

^ This is Monkey Nuts after all the lambs ran away.

^ These are the lambs running down the driveway.

^ This is Monkey Nuts following them down the driveway, while calling out "Back in the paddock!" I was nearly wetting my pants laughing it was hilarious to watch - a real little farmer in the making. We always said he was The Farmer's Mini Me but this is ridiculous.

So I went and got him in the car for the third time in as many days and asked him what he was doing and he told me "Put sheep back in paddock" in such a matter of fact way, as if to say how could I possibly think anything different. We did get all bar two of the lambs back in the paddock. The Farmer can get the stragglers later.

Just 5 kilos before Christmas

Bum fat, not crack cocaine incase you were wondering ;)

I have 3 down and only 2 to go, but by golly they are stubborn! I'm doing all the right things, but my butt just isn't parting with it *sigh* all I can do is keep on keeping on.

Shopping for Big Boys Toys

Saturday was The Farmers Birthday. So on Sunday we had a family shopping trip to our nearest 'big town' so he could go shopping because Total Tools was having a sale (and trust me when I say 'Total Tools' must also be a factor when they employ people). Oh the joy it was, traipsing up the aisles looking at stuff I have zero interest in for an hour. To be fair he did let me do a bit of shopping too later on but at least I can recognise children about to revolt a mile away and will move on to the next shop. The Farmer is yet to learn that important parenting skill. His final purchases were a tool box and drop saw. Poor Mate in the back seat had to spend the entire trip home caged in the back penned in by the huge toolbox and dropsaw on a 40 degree day. It was almost like the Supercheap ad where the little boy is sent home in a taxi because dad overdid the shopping.

Santa Photos and terrified kids

Why do people do this? It never ceases to amaze me the amount of parents that subject their kids to this every year. It's horrifying for everyone involved. Now I don't begrudge a parent wanting to have a nice Christmas photo of the kids on Santa's lap, but fair go, if they are screaming because they are terrified of this strange bearded man, why do it? Is it really worth the mental anguish to your kids just so you can have a dodgy Santa pic complete with red-faced crying children?

Random Pondering #1 Where do flies go at night?

With the heat upon us we gets hundreds of blowflies congregating at the doors during the day - even our car shed is full of blowflies and as soon as anything goes near them they start buzzing around, which kinda freaks you out at first because blowflies sound an awful lot like a swarm of bees, but come nightfall they all disappear. So where do they go at night?

WTG Mr Whippy, great timing!

Yesterday was Little A's. It was hot and a little bit muggy so my group of kids were easily distracted as it was during our rotation on Discus and then we heard it, the ever-so-faint tinkle of Greensleeves. That can only mean one thing. Mr Whippy has decided to do the rounds. We thought we got off scott free, you could just hear it off in the distance and then it would peter out as he moved further away, then you could hear it again, then you couldn't. I kept exchanging furtive glances with the other Mum who was helping me when we realised that it had stopped fading out and was just getting louder and louder. But we pushed on, calling the kids up to have their next throw. It was only a matter of time before the kids heard it too. Then he pulled up on the street in front of the oval. I looked around and saw that the attention of a few of the kids had shifted to across the road, it was only a matter of time. Then the call came. "MR WHIPPY!!!!!" we'd lost. Mr Whippy had won their undivided attention and soon MrsM and I were alone, dust blowing in our faces from the trail of kids running past to get a better view of his van. Then he did the unthinkable. HE DROVE RIGHT INTO THE SPORTS GROUND!!! At that point hell broke loose. He parked literally 50 yards away and all my under 7's are over at the fence lined up chanting "ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM". I looked over at the Under 6's age manager and found it comforting that MrsM and I were not dealing with this alone, her group was also along the fence a bit further up from up. MrsM and I had no other choice but to submit and endure a few minutes of hot, chanting children until he had the good sense to leave. Only then could we finish our last round of discus.

To go or not to go? That is the question.

The Farmer wants a holiday. Nothing too long, just 3 nights away on the coast because he's craving fresh seafood. My issue is that holidays are only ever a holiday for him and the kids - for me it's a case of the same shit, different place and I'm really loathe to go, especially considering the kids haven't finished school yet so they would have to miss a few days not to mention the fact that he wants to go all el-cheapo and take linen with us to save on the unit cost. No bloody way! I refuse to take half a car full of linen on holiday, especially not a trip so short. So it's pistols drawn at 10 paces. I said he could go on his own and spare me the nightmare, but he's adamant that we either all go or none of us go.

Monkey Nuts rocks it out.

I was in Target the other day and I only had Monkey Nuts with me because it was preschool day. Anyway while I am at the checkout paying for the new jocks that he wont wear (which is a post in itself) he is about 5 yards away and he's rocking it out playing air guitar on a roll of Christmas paper. It was the funniest thing ever and I wish I had a camera to catch the moment. The women on the checkout were beside themselves with laughter but then he stopped as soon as he realised we were all watching him. So he just puts the roll of paper back in the box and walks away as if to say "Sorry folks, nothing to see here". I can guarantee he will be the one doing the nudie run through the pub when he's 18...

I'm sorry Adelaide and I'm gonna let you finish

But my place had the best heatwave of ALL TIME! Seriously, why are people so ansty about the heat? Adelaide has won the dubious title of longest heatwave with temps hovering just under 40 for the past 5 days. Ummm this is Australia people and it gets hot. Real Hot. You surely cannot be surprised when the mercury creeps past 35 and stays there for more than a day. It's not like we live in Europe, or even Tasmania for that matter where a heatwave is temps over 30. It is nothing for our little corner of Oz to stay at temps over 40 for weeks. Not days, but WEEKS. We have gotten too soft the past decade or so where we just can't even contemplate a summer day without the air con on full blast. The winkles hate me at the moment because I wont turn the air conditioner on, but it's really not that hot yet so just harden up. 20 years ago it just seemed like we were much better able to cope with hot summers.

Unleashing my Inner Granny

I have a guilty little pleasure that I indulge in. Now this will instantly age me about 50 years LOL, but I love my Brit TV. I love The Bill. I love Silent Witness. And I love Midsomer Murders. I love it so much I have started buying the box sets. I even sit there doing cross stitch while watching Barnaby and Troy solve murders in chocolate box villages full of quirky and eccentric characters.

Now that's a boy with a plan

This afternoon I go outside because I can hear Monkey Nuts with his dump truck at the back door muttering away to himself. Upon getting to the back door I am greeted with this

Now I have absolutely no idea what he was planning on doing with it - all I could get out of him was "Me tipped it out there" yeah mate, I can see that. At least I can use it on the pot plants around the corner.

Mmmmmmm Muffins....

Last night I made Chocolate choc chip muffins for The Farmer and the Winkles and they look sooooo yummy. Me, I can't have any because I am trying to kick my flabby ass' ass into shape and muffins just wouldn't be good at all.

If you're interested here is the recipe.

Recipe for Double Choc Chip Muffins:2 eggs 1/2 cup oil (125ml) 1 cup milk (240ml) 1 tsp. vanilla 1 3/4 cups plain flour (240g) 1/2 cup sugar (85g) 1/4 cup cocoa (35g) 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (85g) Extra chocolate chips to sprinkle on top (if desired) Preheat oven to 200 C and prepare muffin pan by greasing or fill with paper liners. A nonstick pan requires no greasing, although I like to just grease the bottoms. In large bowl mix well the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. In smaller bowl mix well the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips. Combine wet and dry mixtures and fold together gently until just mixed. Spoon into prepared pan and sprinkle choc chips of top of each. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Nice sprinkled with extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin before baking.

So excited!

The cubby house I brought the kids for Christmas will be delivered next week!! It is the Selwood Adventure Cubby House and they are going to love it.

Awww Crap! All my plans have changed again.

Uni plans that is. I have decided to do my Bachelor of Education through UNE. Fine, all good there. Spoke to them yesterday just asking general questions about admission for 2011 and I said I was going to do a single subject with CSU over summer to prove aptitude for study and the lovely person I was speaking to said with UNE I did not need to do that course as I was a mature age student and they recognised life skills and they also run a Pathways course that is part time for one year to get me up to speed with research techniques (and after being out of school for 15 years I'm sure they could do with a brush up) as well as completing 2 subjects that are part of the degree I want to do. The kicker? It is all FREE. yep, you heard right, I can do this for the next 12 months, do two subjects towards my degree and I don't pay a cent. So I have just enough time to get an application in, withdraw from my summer session (and best of all get the tuition fee back. BONUS!) and just sit back and let everything fall into place.

Oats and peas and barley grow...

OK, so only the barley. After having a crappy harvest for the past 4 years we finally got a good one! The Farmer grew the Barley crop to beat all Barley crops and he is stoked. All year he has been quietly watching his pride and joy grow, hoping for more rain and cheering when it came. This week it was time to reap what he'd sowed and it was perfect. 11.5bags (or 1.9 ton to the hectare) and it all went Malt. This means it's beer quality and you can ask for more than that. Shame that the buyers don't think so because they still have us over a barrel on prices but that's that rant for another day.

Oh boy! It was harder than I thought.

Orientation yesterday. 9.30am to 1pm. I knew I was going to be sad, but I was unprepared for the watery eyes and the lump in the throat. I had to say a quick goodbye to her, I spoke with her teacher about her speech issues and that they may find it hard to understand her and got out of there as quick as I could before the waterworks started. Thankfully I made it back to the car before they did. I missed her so much and I was so happy to go and pick her up. The teacher said she didn't say a word to her or the other teacher at all LOL. But Doodlebug is like that. She is shy as anything but once she warms up to a person or situation shes fine and then you can't shut her up! I'm sure next week will see her open up.

P.S. She has her first wobbly tooth!

ARGH!!!! Why am I still up?

I am tired and I really should go to bed but I can't because I've spent too much time dicking around on the computer and I haven't finished washing clothes and I haven't done the dishes yet. I haven't even had a shower yet! I really need to get off here and get it done.

And Monkey Nuts went to bed when the other kids did.

"No, MY choc frog!"

said Monkey Nuts when I playfully tried to steal a bite of his Freddo frog. Then to stop me having another go he put the entire freddo in his mouth ROFL! It would appear that he is as possessive as his Mother when it comes to all things chocolate.

BTW, he is going to be up for hours tonight after waking up at 6pm from a 4hr sleep...

My Baby Girl is starting Orientation tomorrow!

This makes it all very real that next year my baby girl will be at Big School. She is soooo ready when it comes to social skills and being able to cope with formal learning, but on the emotional front sometimes I'm unsure. Maybe it's all just in my head and just because I still see her as my baby girl, but at times she can be quite the 'sook' and just doesn't seem as mature as Mate and Happy did when they started school. I suppose she still has the rest of summer to get to that point though. I will miss her terribly though, more than I did the other two.

Monkey Nuts on the scooter.

I finally got round to uploading all the pics and stuff from my phone onto the PC. This is a video of him on Mate's scooter.

And one last thing (for a little while at least ;) )

I have to share a link to the best site ever - www.bellybelly.com.au this place ROCKS and I would be lost without it!

Hark! The herald angels are singing

I have just realised that while sitting in here fuddling with this Happy and Doodlebug are listening to Christmas Carols! I could hear music, but they had it low enough that I couldn't make out what it was. I just walked past their door and they are happily singing along to 'Silent Night' and Monkey Nuts is doing his best to join in. FFS it's only the start of November! The Farmer has issewes with Christmas so expect a few more Christmas rants in the weeks to come...

By now you're probably thinking "what a nutter!"

But I'm not, really I'm not.

Don't forget that I have only just started this blog and I have loads of stuff racing around my head that will just spew out until I'm done ROFL.

I think I should tell you a little about me. I grew up in various places - spent the first 3 years of my life moving due to having a Dad in the army. Then he left and we settled in a very tiny village in country NSW and spent my childhood there. I moved out of home at 19 when I met The Farmer and we've been together nearly 13 years now. I have been a stay at home Mum since February 2001 but now my feet are getting itchy and I'm looking for something to do with the rest of my life. Kids grow up too damn fast these days and it wont be long till we are empty nesters and I don't want to be one of those Mums whose sole reason for living was her children - bugger that! So I've decided to go to Uni. I never went to Uni when I left school because well, I grew up in the type of family that thinks to go to Uni means you have grand notions about yourself and are rising above your station. Going out into the workforce and just getting stuck into earning a meagre living for the rest of your life is De Rigueur in my family. So when I have my degree I will be the first of my family on both sides to be University educated. And the thought of that makes be feel bloody proud. I hope I can prove to the Winkles that you don't have to be held back by your family or your upbringing and that anything is attainable.

Now for something completely different

A little bit about our life. We live on a farm. The Farmer is a 4th generation farmer and his family has continuously owned the same farm for over 100 years. The Farmer's great-great-grandfather was the first man to own property in this area lock, stock and barrel after making his fortune on the gold fields. He was also the first farmer to deliver wheat to the newly built silos back in 1923. So there is quite the legacy there and The Farmer doesn't want to be the one who drops the ball by selling up - which has been pretty tempting considering the drought we've been in since 2002.

The Farmer and I met after he'd been to a 21st and we've been going strong ever since. We now have the 4 Winkles and I'm looking to go to Uni for the first time to get a Bachelor of Education degree so I can go back to work once the Winkles are older and don't need me as much. So I have been a stay at home mum.

I come from a fairly disjointed family - parents separated when I was 10 and my Dad really is a Deadbeat Dad. I don't like him much at all. Mum can be a PITA but she's OK. I don't talk much to two of my brothers - no reason just don't have a lot in common with them and I don't see them much anyway. My sister I speak more to now since I got a mobile phone and she got on facebook than I did in the entire 3 years previously when she moved to melbourne. She has a gorgeous little girl who is nearly 3 and has cerebal palsy from birth trauma. My youngest brother I do see a bit because he's still at home, but he's all of a sudden turned into an Emo Kid ROFL. He's nearly 15 - Mums 'change of life baby'.

I will add more to this later.

The keeper of secrets.

OK, I have to post this now because I need to vent or I will bust. I am the keeper of a secret that I don't want to keep. I know that BIL and The Madwoman are having their third child. This we found out by accident because their eldest boy spilled the beans to Happy and Doodlebug when The Farmer called in at their place the other day. THIS IS NOT GOOD. Their marriage is shit - they have separated before when The Madwoman was pregnant with the second child but got back together when she realised that she would be raising 2 children on her own. Just the other day BIL said to The Farmer that if it were legal he'd shoot her (OK, so he really wouldn't do that but he really doesn't love her anymore either). She spends money they haven't got and he just wants her out of his life. So to her this is The Baby That Will Save Her Marriage. As such the IL's don't know about it yet. And I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall when they find out. The IL's don't like The Madwoman anymore because of all the nasty stuff she said and did the last time they separated and before the news broke about the second baby MIL told BIL not to have anymore children with her for the time being.

This is my predicament. The girls know something they shouldn't know and can only keep a secret for as long as it takes them to find someone to tell it to. They went with The Farmer the other day to pick something up and he wouldn't let them out of the car because he knew they would tell MIL the big news. I actually applaud his foresight on this in making them stay in the car. As much as I would love to see the shit hit the fan on this one, it is not up to my girls to fling it. I hate keeping this a secret.

The Motley Crew...

So this is what makes up my family, we're a pretty mixed bunch of personalities but it seems to work.

The Farmer - my husband and my beloved

MrsB - that's Me!

The Winkles - 'Mate' our firstborn child who is nearly 9 So named because he's my mate. He always gives me a helping hand if I ask him. 'Happy', named because well, she never is LOL. Our High Maintenance second born child and first daughter who has just turned 7. 'Doodlebug' our second born daughter and she's 5 and a half. She is my baby girl. And then there is 'Monkey Nuts' our lucky last child and second son. He's not long turned 2 and is full of life. He is also the daredevil of the family.

Then there is the outlaws.

FIL - great bloke, honest as the day is long. I see him as more of a father to me than my own Deadbeat Dad.

MIL - I have a lot of respect for her. She is Very Proper and Likes Things To Be Done The Right Way. Almost like a Hyacinth Bucket on crack.

SIL - The Farmer's younger sister. Great person I love to bits.

G - SIL's husband. We get on like a house on fire and have a lot in common. He's a Top Bloke.

BIL - The Farmer's younger brother. Bit of a Ra-Ra (rugby type person) who likes to keep up with the Jones' and wont get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day. He has an inflated sense of self.

The Madwoman - BIL's wife. She is a numpty who just isn't cut out for this farming life and spends money like no tomorrow. Thinks being a farmers wife makes her an extra on McLeod's Daughters (insert eyerolling emoticon here). Also currently pregnant with The Baby That Will Save Her Marriage.

Well fancy me having a blog!

I am the worst diarist (well I suppose I should use 'blogger' seeing as how this is the age of the interweb and all) but I reckon I can keep up with this seeing as how I'm on the computer all the bloody time anyway ROFL. Plus it will give me an outlet for venting about anything and everything that my husband has no interest in listening to me bitch about. When I whinge and bitch I want someone to agree with me 100%, not sit there and nod while you actually have not listened to a single word I said. Well I guess you can do that too, but I can't see you doing it so that's OK.

OK, I will have to come back later and fill you in on who I am and all that stuff but the winkles are asking for breakfast.