2lb elephant

a lick of paint

its been going on for a week now.

a lick of paint on crappy old rusty bits of wire.

now i understand why people bother with makeup.......

life under a rock

not that im complaining.

but life under a rock isnt all its cracked up to be.

but i imagine im here for a bit.

its been almost a whole year of getting ready in the morning.

lunch, socks, bag, undies. you know the list.

but the other morning i decided the only packing i was

capable of was packing for a road trip.

yep we wagged school and kinder and the 2 girls

and i packed our bags and our boot picnic and headed off

along the dry dusty hay plains.

not that adelaide is your dream destination, but if its a drive away

then ill be there.

we are back now still packing lunches etc 

but all the better for a dusty drive west.

3 posts in one day

its because this is only my 89th post

and

ive been blogging since  2007.....

do your maths...
i read a blog the other day celebrating their ...
300th post.

jeez.
not that this is a competition...right!

its more that i just get distracted.
in fact ive spent most of my life a little distracted.
there is probably a primary school report card of mine
in land fill somewhere saying exactly those words.

but its the little things in life that distract me

and

i dont think i would have it any other way.

so here is to girls that manage 12 posts a year.
nice work.

tins.     of chocolate and biscuits.
its old fashioned i know but what ever happened to them.

i have stacks of them.
but none are filled with biscuits or chocolates.

blogging at the moment feels a little bit like...
housework

and as you can see it isnt my strong point.

talking about strong, in the school newsletter today
was a glossy flyer for a gym...
with a women
and her 6 pack on the front.
nothing is sacred anymore.
im sure there are better ways to end my week...

its just me and my heater

in my sudio

working all hours

early in the morning til late into the night

why...

my two girls keep walking around the house,
sitting on the toilet and
riding to the shops singing,
the national anthem...

yes you know that tune, australians all let us rejoice....
blaa blaa blaa
at first it made me giggle....
not any more.

in fact today as they were hanging from the clothes line,
sing it again,
i had to stop myself from screaming out to STOP....
the neighbours were outside.

why...
well one word ..school...
i tell you brainwashing works,
and to top it off...
i was cycling down the street the other day
and guess what i was humming.....

the first book that i have illustrated was put on the shelves
this week.
the princess and the frozen packet of peas  by tony wilson.
go and have a look.

oh you know how it goes

plant
grow
wait
wait a bit longer
then pick.

so a little catch up.

yes as i thought one of those girls was a boy.
so he went back to thomastown, cultural hub of the western suburbs.
and we came back with 2 more.
so 4 in all they have taken over the back yard and a corner of my vegie patch.
i threatened them today, mumbling something about gaffa tape and their beaks.
but they are in bed now, fox proof, hopefully.

we went camping, real camping where you had to take in your water for the week,
different to my sisters camping where she plugs in her microwave...
i never thought i would say it but i think im getting the hang of this camping thing.

travelled up to sydney, and walked the dirty old streets of a city i thought was heaven,
i was 20 and i had come from adelaide....understandable.

read 'the slap' christos tsiolkas
and if you have ever been to india then you should definately read
'the white tiger' aravind adiga. india wants nothing to do with him....

otherwise ive been laying low in a house that reached 43 degrees inside 3 days in a row,
it was cooler outside.....

oh and i had a birthday.

but the date of my birthday clashed with our travelling plans
so we lied to our children and just chose another day to eat cake and blow out candles.

it was nice, i should lie more often

im the kind of mother....

im the kind of mother who remembers my child
has a birthday party to go to,
15 mins after it has already started...
and this isnt the first time.

and then there is the present thing.
what is it with 5 yr olds and presents.

along with the time and address
birthday invites for children should include:

and please no presents.
we live in a first world country.
my child has everything they could ever need...

so in the end we convinced marta that her presence
would be more than enough, and of course through
the excitment of it all no one noticed.
but maybe the next time we see this little friend,
we could hand over all the stamps we have steamed
of our mail and encourage her to start a stamp collection.

wholesome hey