Tag Archive for dad

Super Fudge by Judy Blume

01/04/2011 Joh family, gratitude, home, love, reading

This is the first chapter book I had read aloud to me in such a long time:-). Darin has been phoning his son each weeknight and reading a chapter from the book to him on the phone. It is one of my favourite times of the day. I absolutely love the whole idea of father/son bonding over a book, as a mother and a teacher. It’s such a great way for them to stay in touch. I recommend it for separated parents.

The story as it turns out is perfect because J (9) has just got a new brother. In the novel, the central character’s mum has just brought a new sister into the house and his younger sibling, Fudge, is not enjoying it. It’s really very funny and I’m sure there are things J can identify with. We didn’t plan it like that, J recommended the book as they were reading it at school, but  it has worked out really well. I’m really enjoying the story and it’s a series of books, so there are more to look forward to.

The good thing is tonight the kids are here! I love watching Darin with his children. He is such a patient and loving father. It’s beautiful to be around.

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The Jolly Blur that has been this week

25/12/2009 Joh family, friends, gratitude, relationships

It’s hard to believe it’s less than a week since Asha’s 21st. What a packed week I’ve had! It’s all been lovely and I have seen most of the people I love this week. I miss Kate and Tom today, but had Tom here this time last week for the weekend, which almost makes up for it. I’ve had two phone conversations with Kate this week so that’s pretty good too for someone who lives in the UK.  My brother Brendan is home from Darwin and Jane and Sam were here last weekend from WA, so these things have been the real gifts for me this week. Watching my daughter shine at her 21st and entertain all her family and friends with the beauty and grace she carries with her was also a priceless treat. I’ve had Darin by my side cooking, entertaining, cleaning up, holding me up when I’ve had a panic and just generally being rock solid there for me is worth more to me than I can say. I feel absolutely surrounded by goodness.

I received great stuff too, as you do at this time. I especially appreciated the camera from my parents. Darin and I bought a camera recently that has disappeared. I’ve really missed having a camera. I didn’t realise how much I would. I got it in time to capture some of the delight of Darin’s beautiful kids opening their presents today and the smiles and glee at playing with all their new toys. I’m not going to list all the other lovely things.

I’m off to bed, full of gratitude for all I have in my life. I hope all readers have had a safe and lovely festive season.

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Home Again

22/10/2009 Joh gratitude, home, travel, work

It was beautiful weather at Tamboritha. The creeks were full and flowing with the melted snow. We walked to Thomastown on the first day. The water was freezing, not that I wet more than my feet. It was numbing.

I rode the horses morning and afternoon on Tuesday. We rode through the bush and along the creek on the plains in front of the hut. It was sunny and the air was crisp. They were perfect conditions. I was at the back of the line so I missed a lot of the little thrills experienced by the kids, they certainly shared them that night in the huts in front of the fire. I laughed till tears rolled down my face and my stomach hurt. It still brings a chuckle thinking of some of the reactions of the students to their first horse ride.

The night sky was clear and there was no moon on Monday night giving the stars the best opportunity to show themselves. I felt really lucky to enjoy such a view. The second night the small sliver of a moon and the lightest clouds gave a different view, no less enjoyable.

I am so glad to be back from camp. I’m tired.  I love being home and I missed Darin. It was probably the longest length of time we’ve been apart since we met! My parents are home from their Winter nomading and it was great to see their tanned faces again. Knowing it was possibly my last year 9 camp at Tamboritha, I appreciated the environment and the conditions have never been better.

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Resting

08/09/2009 Joh family, friends, holidays, home, relationships

Tonight is a quiet night. Darin is already asleep on the couch and I won’t be far behind I think.

Sunday was busy, Wilma and Darryl came and fitted wooden venetian blinds to my windows. I love them. Asha visited briefly in the afternoon and it’s always lovely to see her. One of Tom’s mates, Phil dropped in too. Interestingly I’ve bumped into many of Tom’s friends this week, after missing them all for so long. Tom is coming home this weekend, so we are all looking forward to seeing him again. I can’t wait.

Darin cooked a delicious lunch of crumbed cutlets and salad with crusty bread for us all on Sunday. It was beautiful to watch him showing Jack how to cut things and crumb etc. He is so patient and makes a great teacher. I felt sorry that he had to cook on father’s day, when really I should have been looking after him, yet watching them do this together seemed perfect. I think he really enjoys it.

I tried to phone my dad for father’s day, but didn’t catch up with them (my parents) until the next day. They are in outback QLD currently and were not reachable. Sounds like they are having a good time though so all is well.

It’s only 8 days until the school holidays and although it’s only been a six week term for me due to my long service leave, work is a tense place currently, I’ll be happy to put a fullstop on this term.

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Downtime….

15/01/2009 Joh astrology, blogging, friends, gratitude, health

Andy’s phone line is down so I have taken this opportunity to have a guest post on Poohduck. How mercury retrograde is that! I have just changed the template on Poohduck and I like it. He hasn’t seen it yet, due to not being online since the changes were made… so hopefully he will approve.

I think I have shingles. I know I should go to the doctors, but from past experience I know they can’t do anything and the last thing I feel like doing is sitting in a waiting room at the doctors. I don’t need a medical certificate, I’m on holidays. I am resting. The achey pain in my ear/jaw/neck has not responded to the penicillan the dentist gave me, although my gum has reduced in swelling. I thought I was all better until the panadol wore off. I am optimistic about such things. It stands to reason though, when I stopped taking vitamins because I was holidays, have been eating poorly, haven’t exercised or done any of the things I do to stay healthy. I have spent the last 6 weeks partying like an 18 year old and staying up late. Then I began doing massive physical jobs around the house, that it’s possible I was going to get a bit run down! When will I learn?

I have been feeling sorry for myself because I have so much I want to do. The friends and family are pitching in and helping a lot. Mum and dad have been especially wonderful, but I still feel frustrated and annoyed that I can’t do all the things I want to do. It will stop hurting when the pain goes away!

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Full Moon in Cancer – Sunday 11th January 2009

09/01/2009 Joh astrology, friends, home

The first full moon of the year falls in the homey, loving, mothering sign of Cancer. I have a few close Cancerian friends. You wouldn’t think so, me being a firey Sag and all that. My longest friend Jane,  John (who I have recently mentioned here) and an old friend who I have recently reconnected with Cath, are all Cancerians. I have noticed over the years they have in common an impenetrable outward appearance, that hides a loving, sensitive side. They are all fiercely protective parents and cook yummy comfort food. I think having a Cancerian parent would be a very nurturing thing!

This full moon, being in a water sign will be more emotional. Linda Hill’s Sabian Symbol: Waiting for that Sailboat, mentions that wistful feeling when you daydream or hope for some love or dream to come in. She goes on to mention all the other influences occuring at this time and there are lots of things happening in the skies right now.

Mercury is due to go retrograde on Monday, so try to get things that you don’t want to have to revisit, handled now and look forward to a time to do all things re: reflect, revisit, remember etc.  Aquarius Papers has a few current posts detailing what specifically is occuring during this retrograde as well as all the more technical occurances surrounding this time. Mystic Medusa has a new site for her blog and I love her take on the upcoming full moon and Mercury Retrograde.

I spent the day yesterday, washing down the walls in my bedroom and filling all the little holes so I can paint on the weekend. I had hoped to get the upstairs room done as well, but it was more time consuming than I’d expected. Perhaps it is this Cancerian Full Moon nesting thing that is finally getting me into action on my home. My dad helped me. I really enjoyed working with him for the day. We shared good conversation as well as a few laughs, not to mention he did all the parts I hate, like digging those little scraps of wallpaper from between the architraves and the wall with a stanley knife. He’s a great dad, I feel really lucky.

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Stripping Wallpaper

06/01/2009 Joh family

I’ve spent most of the day stripping the second layer of paper from the walls of the upstairs spare bedroom today. When I first moved into my home, the three bedrooms had really disgusting vinyl wallpaper on them. Not anything that I could live with, that’s for sure. I got straight into ripping off the outer vinyl layer of paper. I then spent a lot longer soaking and removing all the paper and glue traces in my bedroom.

Asha’s room was finally completed last year when Tom moved in there and he and his dad prepared it for painting, and then painted it. My ex-husband is always very particular about his handyman jobs so it was very well done. I’m not sure how I managed to get away with that, but I think Tom’s super influencing abilities won him over. Whose ex-husband paints a room in their house for them?

As I am preparing my house to let it out whilst I am away, I have to paint my bedroom and the other bedroom upstairs.  There was wallpaper on the ceilings of those upstairs rooms and I can’t tell you how much my arms ache from a day of it. I’m not finished yet either. My dad called in to help and brought me a step ladder. That helped a lot actually because I’d been using a rocking chair cause I was too lazy to bring a more stable chair upstairs. I’m like that. A health and safety nightmare.

I really appreciate my parents. They are so supportive of each of us to achieve whatever it is we want to do. I watched mum stress about Kate being away and I know she’ll fret about me just as much, but they still support us to do what we want to do. I feel unconditionally loved by them. All six of us live very different lifestyles and some hugely different to theirs and yet we are all helped out in different ways. I’ve only recognised that and appreciated it lately. I used to think everyones parents were like that.

I moved into this house 5 years ago and did plenty in the first year. Then I met Andy. He distracted me! I did pay someone to paint the kitchen whilst he was here, but in all honesty my redecorating came to a virtual standstill during this period. We were always going away to interesting places during the holidays and I rarely have enough left over energy during the term. 

I kind of like doing it though. I like seeing the improvement. I think a lot. Today I was thinking about the things that room has seen in the years we’ve lived here. I had my music up loud and I was remembering when Tom was learning the baritone saxophone and how the noise (and in the beginning it was just noise) would fill the whole court. I was remembering how relieved I was when the old guy on the corner told me he was in the city band and loved hearing the sound of the kids practising their instruments. Asha learnt the drums and flute so there was a lot of practising sounds. I can’t say I loved them.

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My Reasons to be Cheerful

12/10/2008 Joh gratitude, home, music

Kate made it and we have heard from her. It was great last night to get a message from her on facebook to say she was safe and it was 21 in London and sunny. Mum was here helping me garden yesterday and she was quite anxious waiting to hear from her. Dad and I confused her with time differences for a little while, but eventually she worked it out and went back to worrying and wondering why she hadn’t heard from her.

My garden looks amazing. It was overgrown with weeds and long grass when I woke up yesterday. The flowers and blooming wisteria and apple blossom were difficult to appreciate obscured by weedy beds. I channelled my parents anxiety into some physical labour and now I can sit outside in this magic weather without keeping my eyes closed. I was amazed at how much we got done in an afternoon. I felt it was beyond repair and had started to look at new houses, thinking it would be easier to move!

Fit Again! For the first time in over 2 months I have not coughed my way through the nights and woken up sounding like a burnt out chain smoker. I finally got fully back into exercise this week. It has taken all week to get back to the level of exercise I was doing in June, which isn’t too shabby really considering I had dramatically slashed the frequency of my exercise and spent around 3 weeks doing nothing. Interestingly I went to the doctors, finally, in the last week of the holidays. He gave me prescriptions for anti-biotics, steriods and ventolin. I also had to get blood tests and a chest xray. I was kind of anxious about that. I had the blood test, cause as far as I know there are no side effects from blood tests. I have neglected to get the prescription filled after looking up on the internet what the effects of the medication was. I haven’t had the xray due to a combination of too busy and not really wanting to know. I don’t think I need to bother now.

Musical highlights. During the last week of the holidays, my very gorgeous friend gave me some CD’s of musicians I hadn’t discovered and I have really got into them this week. Joan as Policewoman and Liz Phair were my favourites.

I also watched ‘The Angels’ documentary last night on SBS. It was pretty sad, but brought back lots of partying in my youth memories, which were pleasant. I felt the advertising during that show was a little cruel though. It seemed to me to be directed at old men and the entire experience including the aged appearances of the band, were a little confronting. In keeping with being cheerful though, I will focus on the pleasant memories.

The sunny weather and improved health have given me the energy to get my home back in order. I swam in the ocean today and feel like I can handle this busy term.

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Clean Windows

13/09/2008 Joh gratitude, home

What a great day! I really needed a warm day. I went for a walk down the street in the warmth this morning. I haven’t exercised for the last couple of weeks so I thought I’d gradually ease back into it. I really miss exercising to be honest. I like it. I have attempted to do shorter sessions a few times.

All the town seemed to be walking toward the football grounds as I was walking away. Finals season…. ugh! I imagine the pubs will be spilling over tonight with young men celebrating or commiserating. Glad I’m not out there. Hope they all return safely home.  

When I got home my dad was here mowing the lawns. It was a great surprise as I had sat outside this morning thinking about how to get the lawns done. That gave me time to wash my windows. I got about half of the bottom half of the house done. I love clean windows. When the sun returns there’s nothing better.

I had a delicious afternoon nap, complete with a dream worth having and woke up and pottered around a bit more. Have chatted to daughter, sister and friends online today and had a few in person visitors as well. A great Saturday.

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Spring and Mistakes

01/09/2008 Joh health, learn

Yay! Today was sunny and although I am still a bit bogged down with coughing and various other cold symptoms, I appreciated the sunlight. I went to school for half a day today and came home and slept all afternoon. When my son came home from school he put the heater on, but I thought it was already, cause I was so hot! My parents called tonight to say they should be home tomorrow. Mum can make me chicken soup then and I will be all better in no time! The tulips Andy planted a couple of years ago from me have multiplied and are about ready to flower. I am so glad we are heading for summer.

The only responses to my plea on Myspace were from students not in my English classes to say ‘Hi’. Many of my students had a learning experience today. They didn’t meet the challenge. The annoying thing was that quite a few of them had read the books and not yet got around to entering them. I made a conscious choice not to remember all the books I’d seen them reading and enter them all for them if they were year 9 students. I had a bit of a rant about it today with the worst offenders in my year 9 class (who have been through this process at least twice already) and when I said I took part responsiblity for being away for a few days last week with PD’s and illness, one of them disagreed with me. He said, it is our responsibility, we knew about it. I was very impressed and pleased to know that at least one of them will learn from it. Most students in this category though seemed to look regretful and I was pleased to see that and not because I’m a sadist.

We try too hard as teachers and parents to make young people successful at the things they attempt. Teachers track down and chase students for work, parents cajole their children to do the right things. It can prevent them from having the kinds of learning experiences I mentioned before. If they don’t get the chance to make a few mistakes and experience the consequences of them, they have a false perception of success and possibly don’t feel a sense of achievement. If all mistakes are opportunities to learn, which I believe they are, then you need to be able to make them without some concerned other rushing in and making it right for you. It’s hard to resist doing that sometimes, but possibly inhibits real growth.

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