Spitting Into the Wind

If your family is anything like ours you have no less than 6 remote controls around for all the gadgetry in the lounge-room and bedrooms. There's nothing more frustrating than losing one, except perhaps when you're trying to find the right one!

On Christmas day I gathered up all the wrapping paper and put it straight out in the recycling bin, because it was getting emptied the next day. The first couple of days, after a quick search, I wasn't too concerned about not finding the TV remote. We went away for a few days and when we got home I did a pretty thorough search for the missing remote. I was beginning to think I might have picked it up with the gift wrap and we'd never see it again. For the first couple of weeks during January I continued to search the house in the hope of finding the remote. One day I got Alex to help me to lift up the lounge (a big, heavy, 3-seater), and sure enough, there it was. I was so happy. Now we could go back to being lounge lizards and not have to get up every time to change channels or turn the volume up or down.

About the 4th week in January, I gave Alex's room the best cleaning its ever had. We hauled everything out of there except the furniture, and proceeded to sort things in the lounge room. I ended up with a huge pile of remote controllers for old cars that went into the bin, along with lots of piles for the bin and charity. Lauren called in with Zeke when the mess was everywhere in the lounge room, so we quickly took all the piles to either the car or the bins, and the next day I couldn't find the TV remote again.

This time I went out and nearly emptied the garbage bin trying to find it but with no luck. I lifted the lounge, I checked under every pillow and cushion, behind the furniture, everywhere I could think. I became the butt of many a joke about the lost controller. I still hadn't completely given up hope that it would turn up again, and today I got home from work and Alex had found it. Down beside a cushion on the lounge, that I'm sure I've checked a dozen times.

When we can't find the handset for the phone, there's a button you can push that makes the handset beep. I wish someone would come up with something similar the the TV remote.

Posted at 6:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I took a couple of hours off work today so I could drive Alex and two of his mates over to Wagga to get the bus to take them to Wollongong for the NSW Touch Association's Junior State Cup. There are 286 teams registered to compete which makes the event the largest of its kind in touch football. Teams from 49 different affilaites will compete in age groups from Under 10 - Under 18 in Boys and Girls divisions in a non-stop weekend of fast and furious action featuring the brightest and best of New South Wales junior touch football talent.

The boys were all very excited, and Alex had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I'm not going up, so he has strict instructions to behave, brush his teeth, put everything back in his bag, etc. The only other time he's been away was on the school excursion, where there was lots of teacher supervision and I must admit to being a little worried.

I'm sure he'll have a great time and come home missing a few pairs of socks (I packed 10 pairs!!) and I hope their team does well.

Posted at 10:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

It's not as bad as it looks. Daniel was right there with Zeke and he had a very anxious mother looking on. It's great to see that kids still get enjoyment from the simple things in life.

I got a great email just the other day all about having survived the last 5 decades. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our pushbikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drink with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chatrooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given slingshots for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Under 12 footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. Lets pray our children can do the same.

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

We're off to The Great Aussie Resort from December 27th to January 1st with Lauren, Daniel and Zeke and I'm soooo looking forward to a relaxing holiday once the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over. It's a great spot, only about a 2-hour drive, so I plan to pack up the trailer with all our camping gear and head off for five fun days. Each year New Years Eve has a theme where everyone gets into the swing and the elaborate costumes come out. And all for good reason as they have great prizes to be won for family groups and individuals. This year the theme is "P" so we'll have to pack our pinks and purples, and princess and pirate gear (AAAARRR!!!). We'll also pack the tennis racquets, and Alex will no doubt take his bike, and Daniel can throw his BMX into the trailer too.

There’s the movie theatre, grass synthetic tennis courts which are floodlit so we can play at night, volleyball and badminton courts, a disc golf course, a solar heated pool with a kiddies pool on the side, a cool adventure playground, super sand pit, the animal nursery with pony rides, kids club and totally teens (which Carly will probably think she's too old for!!!). I'm looking forward to it.

Posted at 8:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Before leaving work this afternoon I had a very emotional conversation about teenage attitudes and how they're on a downward spiral. The sad thing is there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. It's getting worse.

On a Current Affair show last night on TV the presenter spoke to a parent who had 100 teenage gatecrashers absolutely trash his home. He was very emotional when he talked about how he worked hard his whole life to get where he was and in one night it had been destroyed. The worse thing was the attitude of the kids involved. Nobody knew anything! Every wall in this fellow's house had holes all over the gyprock. Watching it made me feel sorry for him, and at the same time I understood where he was coming from. A security guard who was interviewed said that teen attitudes have progressively gotten worse, and he could see no improvements, and expected this sort of thing to be more common in the future.

I've had run-ins with teenagers on several occasions and they just give you a mouthful of lip, knowing there's nothing you can do about it. A local woman pushed a kid here a couple of years ago, and the family of the kid put an AVO on her that went through court for over a year. Although she shouldn't have done it I can understand where she was coming from, because I've wanted to belt the same kid myself.

Another time a 15-year-old punched Alex (11) in the head and he had a lump like an egg on his forehead. I confronted the boy, saying that Alex was only a kid, and he said "So am I". I told him I could act like a kid too, but had to walk away in frustration because I couldn't touch him. Instead, I went to see his parents.

I'm just wondering if it will get better. I've been waiting for the body-piercing "fad" to wear off too, but it seems also to be getting worse. It's taken me 40+ years to understand the generation gap. Life was certainly different when I was a kid, and I remember my parents saying the same thing.

At home I have a problem with teenage attitudes, and Alex isn't even a teenager yet. I wonder if it's my own fault I have two smart-mouth kids who yell at me and refuse to do as I ask. I've over-indulged them, bought them what they want, and act like a taxi service for them, driving them here, there and everywhere. It seems that every day I'm paying out money for something.

As an example, today Carly had a school excursion that involved a movie about Global Warming, and then they were to have lunch and were allowed to go shopping. Unfortunately, some of the Year 11 boys behaved so badly in the theatre, throwing popcorn everywhere and carrying on, that the whole group was taken straight back to school after the movie. They didn't get lunch in Wagga or to go shopping.

Posted at 5:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I came home for lunch and was in shock when I opened my phone bill and horrified when I saw why it was $200 more than usual. All thanks to my darling daughter who is now grounded for a month, and on a phone ban.

I saw that phone bill and I wanted to cry. I saw Carly and I wanted to kill.

And what was her reaction you might ask? "I saw the phone bill", big deal, and the attitude said you can kiss my arse!

Well I've had it with the attitude and the phone. I spent most of my lunch break organising a lock on the phone, and now only local calls are available unless you have the pin numbers, which I'll change daily if necessary.

This same thing happened a couple of months ago, but not as bad, it was only $100 more than usual. This extra $200 was made up of just 4 phone calls, but the duration of the calls averaged 2 hours.

Posted at 6:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

This is Carly on September 28 when she went off to the school ball. She looked absolutely beautiful. All Carly's friends look great too, and it's obvious that everyone puts in a big effort to look good, even the boys. The photos she brought home were excellent, except for a few red eyes from the flash. She can use the camera way better than me. I fumble around and can't take a decent picture.

Carly is 13 and like most girls her age she wants to be allowed to do what she likes. It's a constant battle between us to see who gets their way. She's a great help around the house when she wants to be, and doesn't mind doing it if I pay her. Anything for the almighty dollar!

Thirty five years ago when I was Carly's age life was so different. We were sneaking into pubs at 15 and I was smoking at 12. Compared to me she's an angel. We had no computers or mobile phones, in fact, our family didn't have a phone. There was a payphone around the corner and Dad always said that was our phone. Ha ha. Though I do remember parking myself in that phonebox for hours at a time.

Television ended about 11 and I used to sit up with Mum and we'd watch the dot disappear. Sometimes it's midnight and I'm yelling at Carly to put the phone away and turn out the light. And she yells back. There's no way I would have done that!

I used to groan when my father told us how he had to milk the cows before school and then take the horse and cart 10 miles to school. Carly will be groaning when she reads this post. Life's different but it's still the same. There's still bitchy girlfriend problems, boy problems, school work problems, and money problems. Being a teenage girl can be tough.

Posted at 7:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |