Things to Like about School Holidays- Part 2

Oh, yes! There are more and they are not the usual going to a theme park in California or relaxing at a local idyllic tropical resort type ones. Do you think we would bump into Angelina and her crew there? Would we be able to exchange anecdotes about having twins and large families and breastage issues? So much in common we have and yet, so very little!

Meanwhile back in the real world...

Things to Like about School Holidays- Part 2

12. Recruiting chillun to help with boring time consuming tasks like painting the boys' chest of drawers. Last time I stained and estapolled this beast, the twins were on the verge of being born and it was no mean feat. This time they can contribute more than a huge bump. Many hands and all that. Using spray cans made it infinitely more appealing to them!

13. Playing the family "bored" game of my childhood that I loved whether they like it or not!

14. Finishing the book that I read to myself for myself at 1 a.m. and sleeping in next day.

15. Getting to Ikea for what may only be an annual pilgrimage now. There may have been a few small purchases including a stool for $15 which I almost paid $30 for at Matt Blatt the day before. You have to love the big IK!
Even the dolls house was Ikea-ed. How cute is this stuff?

16. Having sons build flat pack furniture for me. This is the new Lego for our family - cheaper, more functional and less agonising to stand on. There is a lot to be said for breeding your own small sweat shop.

17. Going to the hospital for all those annoying visits and not having my pay docked for the pleasure. This is a grey zone as I find it highly stressful and not a happy place. Adrenalin starts pumping and my flight/ fright impulse soars to alarming levels. I usually get teary as I start to speak to the Doctor. It's all just a series of triggers and post traumatic shock they tell me. All I really need is a good haircut and a massage! Trigger that. They should be on this list too but I never got there.

18. Watching movies with my whole brood that they loved when they were very small and introducing the youngest to the same. They actually sat through the whole thing and loved it. One even said he loved that music when he was small. It had been thrown out with the video player so its all fresh again.

19. The beach- rocks, kids and dog, perfect weather and a tiny bay. That's always a winner.

20. Catching up with some precious old friends and family. Lingering over tea with them and not having to rush to the next place.

21. Culling and tidying drawers of chillun wear. Minimise, minimise, minimise...
There was even time for a little wanton vignetting!

22. Watch other half finishing off the front deck with some painting, guttering and Japanese style rain drains instead of downpipes. I'm looking forward to the next big storm to watch them weave their magic.

23. Making it up as we go day by day without a set routine. Love it!

There are about twenty things left to do and one day of holidays left to do them in. We'll see how it goes.

Reach for the sky

*Sorry for being so sporadic in commenting and visiting lately. I have been unable to access lots of your sites due to technical difficulties but hope to be over that soon. 

Dr Jenny's Office

There is not a lot I'll miss about the hospital. There was the occasional happy surprise when a new piece of art appeared in a corridor...

Art or "eczema"

or when Dr Jenny had her new glossy monthly house magazines dropped off.

With the advent of smart phones there is no longer a need to cough and surreptitiously tear out a recipe or paint colour or fascinating article on Lucien Freud! Yes, I do read the articles.

"Sub dermal mass"

However there is something about those colourful gleaming houses that is a bit intoxicating. You know their owners are either obsessive compulsive or out of the country most of the year.

 "Cells Getting Reddy"

It's just nice to fantasise. See below- the boy with the pie-pod is on a most attractive Ikea covered box thing. I like that fabric and hadn't seen it on my last Ikea run. Possibly due to the fog of drugs I was floating on that day. Ikea on chemo drugs is pretty spectaculous!

"Boy with pie-pod"

I do love covering old Parker style TV chairs with new fabric too, except I went all Betty Beige during my last pregnancy and have yet to rectify the chairs. This one would suit nicely. Note again the accessory dog? That's where I'm going wrong in my styling. I have grubby childerbeasts on my furniture instead of nice, clean dogs.

"Dog with personal assistant"

We have this very stool bequeathed to us from elderly Bob, the best neighbour in the world, before he moved out. One of his boys made it at school and the eldest is now sixty. Mine is drab white and I'm liking this minty freshness very much.

"Stoolish"

Oh, for an enormous storage companion like this beasty. Where does one find a huge dresser like this to put all ones bits and bobs on in the kitchen? I know at least one of you has one of these. It has to be cheaper than another wall of built ins and we ARE living in a farmhouse of uncertain age. She prefers not to reveal her true age to us. We just know it was around the war years somewhere and leave it at that. Manners.

I could get the chairs too for when I move into my post- modern, post chillun house...when I'm eighty or Hell freezes over! Either way.

"Argh! My pumpkins are out of order!!!"

The Joy Of Banality

After dropping the fifth and final offspring at her place of play I decided to turn right at the lights instead of left and straight on till Ikea. Sometimes you just need to get out of Dodge for a while.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure dome decree...." or you could go to  Ikea.

This is the view as the lift opened in Ikea as seen by my eyeballs yesterday. It made me a little dizzy, thirsty and I needed some eye drops by the end. Such a creature of habit, I always enter at the exit and go to the "bargain" room first. Not only is it cheaper, you don't have to assemble it! I got lucky yesterday. Misplaced op shop karma! Then I like to walk back through the market upstream like a browsing salmon emerging at the cafe. Do you have a set Ikea method?

It was quite therapeutic to have a wander on my own without anybody knowing about my "issues". Even looking at the fake art was enjoyable... some nice ideas there....

including chicken cushions of the drawing ilk. 

These are some of my staples whenever I go to Ikea. The scissors, the dish mop, the octopus laundry hanger, the fat felt pens with stamps on one end...every time.

A set of glasses is usually purchased each time I go too. I fill them with water at the dispenser near the cafe which thankfully sells pizza as well as those dodgy hot dogs just before leaving. The restaurant was not within my ability range just yet. 

 The empty carbs were necessary to remodel the rear of the car for the "bargains".

Yes, that is a glockenspiel in the boot. I find it makes a pleasant tinkling sound when I take a sharp corner or drive over a speed bump and the sticks roll down its keys. Shorty is convinced there are fairies at the bottom of the wagon.

With a little manouvring from the boy at the loading dock who,  I suspect, may have a degree in physics, we managed to stuff it all in with the glockenspiel intact.

Ikea chocolate provided the sugar hit for the drive home. They think of everything don't they?

Having fulfilled the need for restoring some order in the chaos.....

there's a nice sunny to spot to sit and read this afternoon after I cancel the hospital appointments because now I'm too tired to go anywhere!