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.

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A bit about me part 1

Kathy's thoughts

My name is Kathy and I am a mother to 2 young girls aged 3 and 6.  I live with my partner with whom I have been with for 4 years.  These 3 people are my world and the people I live for.  I have worked in retail since I was 16 years old, that’s a massive 14 years of non-stop work.  I have always done casual hours and have only ever taken time off work to have my children.  Even then, I was only off work for no more than 8 weeks.  As a casual I couldn’t afford to take too much time off work.

About 3 years ago I became incredibly frustrated with knowing that I couldn’t make something of myself while I was working in the retail business.  I was literally in a dead end job with no possibility for progressing into an even better role.  So…

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Being a stay at home mum

Kathy's thoughts

I have always wanted to be a stay at home mum, but thought it was never going to happen.  In this day and age you have to work to pay the bills so you can have a roof over your head food, clothes and transportation of some kind as well as life’s little luxuries.

It took me a few years but I am finally one to wake up to the children without complaint, thanks to a morning routine I gave myself.  If it wasn’t for that sweet can of Red Bull or coffee I would be a morning wreck and both my girls and partner would be grumpy because of the lack of sleep I generally get each night.

A few weeks ago I was given the chance to be a full time stay at home mum.  After years of working casually up to 4 days a week between 4…

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Reading to my children

Kathy's thoughts

There is nothing more I enjoy than reading to my children.  When Sydney (my eldest) was younger she would sit in my lap and have me read to her for hours.  Her favourite stories were those hard cover stories that were designed for children of a certain age like my then 2 year old daughter.  I would have to read the same story more than 20 times each.

Admittedly I became fed up and decided to get a little creative with the story.  This is where I started using funny voices, or would ask questions about the story.  What colour dress is Cinderella wearing?  What kind of animal is Cushie Butterfield?  Can you tell me how the character is feeling?  Happy, sad, angry, annoyed, scared?  The list went on.

After a while, Sydney became so good at identify colours, animals, emotions and even page numbers.  I’m sure most mothers can…

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Listening to children communicate

My daughter has a blog now so I am going to reblog some of her posts till she get some followers

Kathy's thoughts

This afternoon I was walking home with my eldest daughter Sydney and her friend K and I decided to take a step back from talking to them and discussing their day and instead listen to them talk to each other while they walked.

I was absolutely fascinated at what they spoke about and how the conversation progressed into a new topic.  As we were crossing the road K yelled out “you can’t run across the road cos you could fall and a car might hit you and you will die”.  For a few minutes both girls were discussing how when you die you go to heaven which is some place in the sky.

What had me even more fascinated was how K described how you ‘get up into the sky’.  Her theory is that another part of you comes to take you to the sky.  Both girls were adamant that…

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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 Dyers

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.