Leaky Eyes and Retail Therapy

Well.

The year and a bit of court proceedings in two countries did not do it.

Finding out my husband wanted to divorce me a year and before he began the court proceedings did not do it.

Packing my life into 35 boxes and several rolled paper packages and sending it all off on a ship did not do it.

Living with friends and their children and my children and being carless and homeless and slightly stressed did it. My eyes they leak. At least that is what I told my children repeatedly this morning before we took them to school. I could not take it anymore. Living in someone elses home and not having a vehicle tipped me over the edge. I cried my way through the lunch prep, breakfast routine and school drop off. My oldest did point out to me that my eyes were not leaky, I was crying and he'd really like to know why. He was on a warpath. My middle opted to cry with me, which only made the leaking worse. My youngest chose to ignore the leaking altogether, the leaking was occuring within the first ten minutes of her waking to begin with, and therefore falls into the catagory of NOT ACTUALLY HAPPENING-mornings are hideous enough, why make it worse by acknowledging the leaky problem?

I decided to take back some of my independence. I can not control the ducts in my eyes but I can control just how much I pay for a used car. I knew what I wanted. I had researched. The used car dealer had no idea I had learned all I have ever known about negotiations from my experiences in mediation with my ex-husband and his slimy lawyer, that and my dear friend Dr. Fiona who told me prior to the mediation to channel the smiling assassin. Ta for that one Fiona, now it has come in handy twice. I wanted the car. I needed the car. My son has a soccer tournament 2 and a half hours drive from here this weekend. White is my favourite color for a car. I really like Honda, I think they run forever. I did not really want the car that was down the road that I had driven after looking at the white one. All information that I knew that I chose not to share with the used car guy. I gave him my offer, I looked him in the eye, I smiled, and I waited. I am actually quite comfortable with silence, I have 3 children silence is rare, embrace it, savor, and enjoy. So I did. He left the room. He came back. I smiled. he talked about stuff, you know, taxes, title and other fees. I gave him my offer, I looked him in the eye and I smiled. I got my price, my warranty, and same day - my white car.

I do not suggest repairing leaky eyes with retail therapy, but it worked for me today.

Next time, it's Half Price Books for me,
and I might just stick to buying books for my kids.

Lightening Bugs and Margaritas

I took the dreaded jack russell who has a napoleonic view of the world for another walk. We are walking alot lately. He needs the exercise to tame that attitude and settle him a bit for his indoor life. I need the endorphines that generate from the exercise after looking after six kids, and I need the silence of walking in a quiet neighbourhood. While we walk I am retraining the dog-who-thinks-he-rules-the-planet, one of the nieghbours dog, a beautifully natured lab, has in the past had issue with the jack russell trying to overpower her. It has been interesting reminding little napoleon that walking is a much nicer outing when he sits and watches as beautiful lab walks by rather than morphing into a tyrannt, that his overindulgent owner has let him get away with previously.

So we walk.

A couple nights ago we walked and on the way home, I spotted Lightening BUGS!
The bugs brought to mind a sweet time in my childhood. Before my mum married my stepfather, my sister and I used to roam free as little birds, as a parent I find my mum's hands-off laizefaire attitude to childrearing slightly scary, but as a little urchin I LOVED it. I wandered the neighbourhood completely independent of adult input, climbing to my hearts content, and running around with the other urchins in the neighbourhood, occassionally I had to tolerate my sister's input but that too was rare, we came to an understanding quite young in our life "she who tattles -SUFFERS!" It worked for us. She ran and got me an icepack, an ice cream sandwich and a neighbour when I got partially impalled on a tree. True sisterly love. The lightening bugs brought it all back.

I did not see lightening bugs in Australia.

I realize now that I missed them.
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Post walk and budget talks with my friends that I am staying with I caught up with a friend in town. She had blown in to rapid fire advertise all over town for her upcoming shin-dig. We met up, and parked ourselves at a cute little Mexican cantina look-alike, to talk life over Margaritas and chips and queso. Life is ever so sweet. Good friends are precious, and friends who have seen you through years of stuff in life are a commodity that can not be measured. Nice to see the town I currently live in and have chosen to raise my babies in, through another's eyes. Eyes that like mine like to see the good all around us. Optimism is fabulous and catching.

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The Texas A&M women's soccer team dominated Uni of North Carolina. I took the kids to see the girls play last night. We parked ourselves with some friends and some of their friends in amongst the Uni students to yell our team to victory. UNC is ranked 4th, we are 9th. They were favourites. They were confident. 8,204 fans made sure we held that in check for them. Two halves passed with nil all. The first period of overtime passed still nil all. The Aggies had controlled the game each time they got the ball, quite regularlly stealing the ball to take a shot at goal. The second overtime period was drawing to a close, it was 10:28, the girls won the ball at halfway, sent it up, showed some grand skills and then rocketed a goal home with 2 minutes left on the clock. The stadium went bananas. It was loud and ruckus. My babies and I love it.

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I don't know why I worry.

But I do.

On the way home from the match, my oldest informed me that a girl asked him out today.

I visualised my favourite beach and calmly inquired what his response to that was, I get points somewhere for that.

He said "um, that's nice but no thank you." and then he added for my benefit, "what was she thinking mum? I'm way too young to date."

Bless you sweet innocent little Australian boy!

I might need a rum though.

So we had a visit from the sheriff.

I am looking after a couple extra children this weekend. Their parents are away with their older brother.

So five kids, a soccer tournament and a very hyper ill-mannered jack russell.

My son is playing his first tournament with his new team here. It has been a good day. The boys played well. The coaches are still sorting out who plays best where. It is interesting watching them catch onto that one. Between matches today I took the five I am watching, plus two home to play. The two extra-extras were a favor to their mum who needed to take her littlie home for a nap between the matches. And really once you are watching five, why blink at seven?

So the afternoon was great, fresh air, sunshine and lots of good healthy food. It is all good.

The morning, well, it was interesting.

Before 10 am we had set off the house alarm, not my children but the ones who actually live here and know that the alarm is set, broken a bowl, talked to the alarm company and had the visit from the sheriff.

The alarm people send a cop out when you set off the alarm and they call and you don't know the passcode. The sheriff, sans cowboy hat, said he figured I was not robbing the place, since I was in my pajamas and I had a whole "passel" of kids running wild. I am very glad he left the big hat in the car because that after "passel" I nearly lost it, he might have had to cart me off to the padded room for nutters because I barely kept my laughing inside until he was gone.

Yeah.

And generally, I try and save the robbing until after my morning Dr. Pepper.

Happy Hour

I have put a contract on a house. I might be crazy but at least we won't be homeless any longer.
My least responsible bone would dearly love to take the 3 kids and wander the planet and see what we see, learn about cultures different to the two we know intimately. Thankfully the mummabear part of my mind has won out. I will buy a house, settle my wandering feet and be thankful for the 6 monthly return trips to Australia. For as long as they might last. I will find a job and raise my half grown babies in a peaceful house full of madness. Only the good kind of course. The dancing around the kitchen while we're cooking and all talking at once about the good bits/bad bits of our days, running like looneys in the back garden while we try and whip each other at soccer, and wrestling - the boys mostly but little miss can hold her own.

Now if I can only convince a lender to give me the money. I would not if I was them but hey who am I to tell them what to do? It is not a habit I have, why start now?
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Kids are extremely resiliant. They amaze me. And inspire. The boys have started at new schools. The oldest at one he has NEVER been to before. They both know a couple kids at their schools, but don't actually have any in their classes. Yet I pick them up in the afternoon and ask them about the day. Good they say. They sat with so and so at lunch and the computer teacher blabs too much and could we just get on with it already? And they are happy. Amazing. We are on the opposite side of the planet, have switched seasons, left behind all the familiar (at least with regards to school) and they get up, get ready and happily attend school. I am impressed.
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3 adults 6 kids and 2 cars.

It is bedlam.

We all still like each other.

We are ever so glad for Sonic Happy Hour.

last day of summer

I love the summer! Kids playing, staying up late, sleeping in, popcorn at all hours of the day, reading as many books as we can squeeze in, swimming, swimming, and more swimming.

We have only had two weeks officially of summer, but we've have sure loved it!

So today was our last day of summer. We slept late, played some games, floated in a friends blissful pool, ate pizza and brownies, lamented the fact that school starts tomorrow. If that's not a nice way to finish off the summer, I don't know what is.

As a mum, a not nice way to finish off the summer was the mad-house shopping on the eve of school commensing, even if I did go with two friends. I only needed dry erase markers, 3 pencil cases and black gym shorts and white t-shirts. My friends needed lots of other stuff. It turned into a marathon. 3 shops, 2 Sonic drinks and only 2 little bags later (for me anyway), a fair amount of laughter and we were done.

I can't say I am calm. I am not.

My boys are nervous, I am nervous. My sweet girl is not, she gets an extra week holidays, her school doesn't start for a week, she and I are equally thankful. I don't want them to struggle to be understood, I know they will though. I want them to ask questions about the things they don't understand, for the most part I am pretty sure they won't. I want them to have fun. I want them to make lots of friends. I just want it to all go smoothly. I hope the intermediateboy gets a great locker and cool mates to sit near. I hope elementaryboy finds a great mate to play with at recess. And I hope imperial maths comes easy to them both!
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House buying. I know the one I want now I just have to charm the bank into loaning me the money for it. So easily said.

Car buying. I've got my eye on one, I just need to wait until after the bank loans me the money for the house and then I can skippity-do-da over the the car place and purchase my lovely little second hand beauty.

Job-hunting. I am hopeful. There's a plan. Get the kids in school, a house and then tackle the job.

I got a mobile phone. I burst the poor little sales guys bubble. Do I want it to take photos? Do I want it to text message? Do I want it to play music? Do I want it email? GPS? Wash the dishes? Find me a bloke? Change the oil? Raise my kids? Track my kids? The poor bloke. I told him I wanted the phone to make calls and receive calls. And I did not wish to have the million minute plan. Practical and boring. But it works for me. So now I have a phone. The number is easy to remember, and it takes photos and I did not have to pay for that bit. Happy.
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My phone has a picture on the screen. It is a beach. Some bits of Australia just stick like sand to your sunkissed toes.

Tortilla chips and salsa

Food is a blissful thing.

Sharing spectacular food with great friends is beyond measure. This past weekend the kids and I left our house/car/school/phone hunting responsibilities 3 hours behind and traipsed off to Keller Tx to visit some friends. We drove straight through Calvert Tx, a tiny little town we all oogled at for it's oldtimeyness and it's reminiscent downtown storefronts, promising ourselves that next time we drive to Keller, mum will NOT forget the camera, we can take a photo of the the beautiful shopfront bearing the name Oscar Building.

Seeing the building stirred up a whole flurry of conversations about the brothers and the boy himself who bears the buildings name, happy-happy conversations! Only 18 wks until we see them again!

So Keller. The kids have grown and matured. Goes without saying, but it is still astonishing when you are looking face to face with a boy you have known since the Wiggles were cool in your house. And yes - time to face the music chinstickergirl, he is taller than you! With a graciousness that Mississippi breeds her husband encourages, humors, and baffles (it was the dancing no one thought I witnessed) and all without being over the top, pleasant to be welcomed in their home. Lots of swimming, feeding of the masses, dogwalks, late night talks and hugs later, and all is just a little bit sunnier in life.

It had been a bit over 14 months since I'd last visited. We have lived a decade in that time. We are somewhat hardened and softened all at the same time by what we have endured. Our year has been rough, but we have learned more than we will ever be able to put into words I am sure. But (yes, J there is always a but, lucky I am cute eh?) the kids walk in and it is as if we left last weekend. They are all bigger and with much longer hair, but the friendship that has spanned an ocean picks up right where it left off 14 months ago. That's just so pleasantly comforting.

And.


You can never consume too many tortilla chips.