Crises....of sorts

It would be a fair assumption to say I am at a crisis point.  Actually, I am at a crisis junction - too many crises!  Where to start?

#1 - I received Chloe's kindergarten forms last week.  Which was all very exciting.  Until reality struck.  My baby will only be home one day per week.  GREAT I hear you say?  Well that's what I thought I would be saying - but I'm now in panic mode.  14 years of having a child at home with me is coming to an end a little too suddenly.  I need to wrap my head around that.....

#2 - Work.  I have been at the same job for some 15 years.  Love my job.  Not so much loving the shift work attached to said job these days.  Working every second weekend has lost its appeal.  Having three out of four children playing weekend sport as well as a husband who widows me every Summer, has made this past year frustrating.  Shift work is ideal for families with small children, but as we move into this next phase of activity over-drive, I'm finding myself treading water.  Lucky I have an awesome boss who doesn't slap me around when I'm having my all-too-familiar meltdowns!

#3 - The Big Brown House.  It's becoming very real that in a matter of weeks, we will have a mortgage.  A very substantial mortgage at that.  Back in my past life, at the ripe old age of 21, I bought a house.  For $75k!  Now THAT was a mortgage.  As I lay in bed trying to work out where the ABC1 weather man gets his outfits from, I told Andrew I was having a bit of a heart attack.  About the mortgage.  He laughed.

#4 - Seal quite obviously needs some sexual healing.  I watched "The Voice" and felt the skin crawling off my bones during Emma's performance.  At about 1.10 minutes in, it gets uncomfortable.  He needs to learn how to hide his lust!  And how to get a private room......

I could go on.  But I shan't bore you all!  

Anything got your knickers in a knot??


ps. this is my 200th blog post!  I'm going to get an icy-pole to celebrate....cos that's how I roll!

Husband Love

Still school holidays here.  And Winter has struck.....which in turn means everyone will inevitably get cabin fever.  My darling husband came up with the idea of taking the kids ALL THE WAY over the other side of the city to visit him at his new work place, and go out for lunch.  So, seeing as though there were only two available days left to do this, yesterday, I packed the kids up (and if we weren't meeting him for lunch, we would have needed to pack one) and prepared them for the trip - To visit Daddy!

Forty-five minutes of mind-numbing freeway later, and ending up in the middle of no-frickin-where, we arrived at his work.  He really was not joking when he told me he worked in the middle of a paddock!  You are probably wondering what on earth he does for a job?  Or couldn't care less? He's in logistics.  

***crickets***

Logistics - the storing and moving of shit from one place to another.

He runs a whole big mother-trucking warehouse where said logistics take place.  He's the Boss.  The head honcho. The big cheese.....

Anyway.  I digress.  The visit was successful.  The kids surely think the warehouse is a gigantic version of hide and seek, and are impressed that Dad has his own kick-ass office, where he gets to boss people around all day.  They left him something to remember their visit.....

The main point of this post, cos I know you're wondering, is to profess my gratefulness to thy husband.  Although he has always worked a fair drive from home (he actually drives that freeway in peak hour both ways!), it was not until yesterday that I fully appreciated just how much time he spends commuting.  To make a living.  For us.

On occasion, I have been known to bitch chat about how much I do for the family.  All the running around, the cooking, cleaning, washing, washing and washing, as well as my own part time job.  And as much as it irks me at times, I would not change a damn thing.  

Tonight, I'm sending out some special Husband Love.  Thank you dear husband for sucking it up each and every day, and getting the job done! Bravo!

Have you ever taken the time to thank your other half for all they do?  Or are you the other half and do you ever get thanks?

Disclaimer...........Don't get me wrong - I'll still tell him he should bow down to me for everything I do - maybe just not so often....

Day 22 - Where I work

I often get asked what I do for a job?  As most people probably do.  When I tell them I am a Disability Carer, I get a variety of reactions.  The usual response is "Ohhhhh, You are such a special person doing that job".  It used to bother me and I would fob it off.  But over the last couple of years (I've had the same job for 15 years!) I have chosen to agree (somewhat sarcastically) that yes indeed - I am special!

One of the other responses I get bothered by, is after I tell them I work in a house.  The quizzical look on people's faces means that they either 

A)  Think that this house has padded walls and looks like a hospital

OR

B) People with disabilities aren't supposed to live in houses?

So this is my photo of where I work - the front door of a regular house, on a regular street where the people living there lead regular lives surrounded by regular people.

 Only a couple of nights ago, my husband and I were watching  "A Current Affair".  He  had told me that there was a story on Autism, and he proceeded to sit down with me to see what it was about.  If you didn't see it, it's about Ricky Stuart (famous NRL player and coach) and his family.  His daughter has autism, and they talk quite passionately about their lives.  It was quite a lovely story.  But right at the end of the story, when talking about the future for their daughter, and what that future may hold, both Ricky and his wife remarked that "there should be beautiful facilities for these kids to live in, and be well looked after". 

 I have to say - this annoyed me.

The home where I just happen to work, IS a home.  It is not a hospital, nor an institution, or a facility.  Those days are long gone.  It is a home for five amazing human beings, whom need assistance in their day to day life.  They also require support with some of the wonderful skills they have.  The majority of them also have loving and caring families who are very happy with the support we, as staff, give to 

their family members.

I realise that I will never be in these parents shoes, as I do not have a child with special needs, and I do not have the added worries about what will happen to them when I go, but I just wanted to reassure those that do have such worries - there is an answer.

Sure, there are not enough places and houses for all of those needing housing.  There will unfortunately always be waiting lists, because our Governments have budgets and can only do so much.  But for those of you who have children with disabilities, and are wondering what you are going to do when you are no longer around to care and support your children - rest assured that there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who carry out the same job as I do on a daily basis.  And we love the people we work with.  

They are our extended families too.

So - where do you work?

Today's Post is brought to you by the letter B

B......for BORED!

I have forgotten what Friday nights should look like.  My usual routine on a Friday is to go to work from 1pm - 8pm.  Come home in time to say goodnight to the kidlets and then sit around watching a bit of tv or do a bit of sewing.  Tonight?  Husband is watching soccer on the tele, and I'm here browsing the web.  I tried to hint to him - well, it wasn't so much a hint, I walked in to the lounge room, proclaimed I was bored and waited for him to say "You can watch what you like" - but it didn't happen.  So now I am chomping on Snakata whilst tapping away, sharing my bullshit with you!

 My youngest son played his first game of cricket this evening........I honestly didn't know whether to be happy for him or cry for myself!  You see, I am a cricket widow - our Summer's are written off mostly, because of my husband's penchant for long Saturdays standing on an oval getting burnt to a crisp.  Which is fine.  Except it also means that my Saturdays are spent herding children to said oval, chasing them with sunscreen in an effort to not have them resemble their Father's crisp, red skin!  So, it seems the start of another cricket career, means I have at least another 20 years of watching the grass grow ahead of me.  Joy.....

The ONLY good thing that shall come out of this is the following:

That is, once I work out how to ditch working Friday nights!

A couple of friends, whose sons are playing also, cracked open a bottle of bubbles. But considering I was actually working whilst at the cricket, I passed.  Oh, to be a lady of leisure!

Anyway, I'm now getting bored of my own blog post on boredom.....so will leave it there for now!  What's everyone else up to?