Read All About It.

Headline Stories at Sparkly Street, since the last post:

• MISTER FIXIT QUITS ANNOYING JOB TO RETURN TO HIS TRADE •



This is definitely a good news story.  The Warehouse Manager job that he left was driving Fixit crazy. It was stressful, badly paid, physically tiring and gave him no job satisfaction.  It was the job he got after he was retrenched from his Airline Mechanic job, and he took it so we could pay our rent. At first it seemed okay; they realised he was a good worker and they appreciated him, which was good for his self-esteem after retrenchment. But it gradually became quite toxic, and he was hating the job and his employers (family business, high staff turnover, no actual systems to run things properly, you get the idea...). He started looking for work back in the industry for which he had qualifications, and despite there not being a great deal on offer, he came very close to getting an airline job. At the last minute they said they had to give precedence to mechanics working for the company in casual positions. The logical step at that point was to apply for a casual job so that he could be back in the system again, and hope for the best when permanent jobs came up again. He's been a casual employee since June, working 4 night-shifts in a row with 4-day rests in between. It's not perfect (no sick leave, no holiday pay, no job security) but it's better. 

• FIXIT FAMILY ADJUSTS TO HAVING DAD WORK NIGHT-SHIFT •

 

The cat thinks the new arrangement is pretty good. On night-shift blocks there is nearly always a human in the big bed to cuddle up with. I'm enjoying seeing more of Fixit - we get to hang out and go for coffee dates during daylight hours. Also, he is contributing more to daily life.  The kids, particularly Climber, have had to step up on the evenings that Fixit and I are both working (I teach 2 nights a week) so that we can manage getting them to and from their sporting/work commitments, (Climber has a job, he's a gymnastics coach!  Also: he has started shaving OMG.) but they're older now so we felt confident that they could do this. I've been very proud of them. They catch public transport or ride their bikes, and then they get themselves off to bed. They're good boys. None of it is unmanageable, it just calls for forethought and organisation.  It's good that we now live so much closer to everything, certainly makes a difference. Fixit is coping remarkably well with staying awake all night. I don't think I'd cope nearly as well at all. Still. It would be good to win the lottery so he could give up work and spend his time pottering round the shed and likely being a neighbourhood handyman.



• STOMPER GIRL GOES TO CRAFT CAMP (AGAIN) •



Mid-winter craft camps are best.



A whole 4 days away from the daily grind. Comfort food, woodfires. No insects. This year I got to meet Tracy in person after years of blog friendship; we found each other to be just as we'd imagined. I suspect that means we have our online voices right. I was awarded the Princess Room, which is the one where you don't share with anyone and you get a queensize bed all to yourself. I made a rhubarb and apple pie for my turn at the cooking.

As for my crafting, I had two successes and one failure. Success #1 was an Orphan Annie frock (adapted from the Clothkits Tea-Dress) for a fancydress party (We put a baldcap and a suit on Fixit and he was Daddy Warbucks).



The failure was a bias cut top with under-bust darts, the Curlew tank from the Merchant & Mills workbook.  The under-bust darts turned into weird side air pockets around my rib cage.  We think it's meant to be worn by women with a more ample bust. But then I made a Ruby top out of a tablecloth and all was well.



I love going away with my Crafty Friends.  More photos here.



• STOMPER GIRL BUYS THE BEST PAIR OF TAP SHOES EVER •



All the way from New York. Miller & Ben SporTaps. So good in every way.

• STOMPER GIRL IS EMPLOYED AS A PROFESSIONAL WUTHERING HEIGHTS INSTRUCTRESS •



This may need it's own post, but in precis I can tell you it was slightly bonkers but enormous fun, several thousand people on a perfect Melbourne day clad in red dresses and re-creating the dance from Kate Bush's song Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home and I'm so co-o-o-old.



• CHERUB BREAKS HAND IN FINAL GAME OF SOCCER SEASON •

Cherub's team was playing the top team in the league, and when one of the opposition players couldn't stop Cherub making one of his excellent runs with the ball, they resorted to a foul push which sent my poor lad hurtling to the ground.  The Ref said as he helped Cherub up they seem to be targeting you. Cherub landed on his fist with all his body weight on top.  He was awarded a free kick, but soon afterwards asked to come off and didn't play for the rest of the game.



You can tell its a break because the edges of the index knuckle, on the lift side, are not smooth and rounded, but slightly jagged. There was a also a wavy line -not visible here- in the middle of the bone where it had bowed at the point of impact.



We took him and his poor swollen hand to the Childrens' Hospital next day where they found a small break just below the knuckle, and he ended up with a splint and 6 weeks of showering with a plastic bag on his arm, no writing, no playing clarinet, and no gymnastics or swimming. He also had to miss playing with his school soccer team in the state finals. And then he came down with a virus/flu and was as miserable as I've ever seen him for 3 solid days, we assume because his immune system was concentrating on bone repair and couldn't fight the other nasties or because he'd been to a hospital and picked up something awful from there. Or both those things.



Good on you Fawkner, you dirty thugs.

At the End of Year presentations Cherub was awarded Best and Fairest for the season and I give you this picture to represent the highs and lows of sporting life: I call it Sling and Trophy



• FIXIT FAMILY FIND & RESTORE MISSING CAT •

This mini adventure felt like therapy for all of us, after the trauma of our own cat who went missing but never came home.

On a Sunday night Cherub heard cats meowing outside and we went to investigate, in case Basil was getting involved in a territory dispute.  A silver tabby saw us and ran off into the street, but at the time I did think his meows were strange, more hello can you help me than I hates your poncy cat.  The next day Fixit and I saw the Missing Cat sign, so I immediately rang and reported the sighting. We all felt really hopeful about re-uniting a lost cat with the worried owner, and were disappointed when the owners texted back saying they'd searched but hadn't found him. They also asked if we would catch him if we saw him again but as the days went by we thought we'd missed our chance.

Then on the Thursday night, Cherub ran down from the bedroom to say he'd heard the cat again. This time we grabbed some dried catfood and our cat-cage before we went out. Basil was looking mildly defensive (he was safely tucked between the wheelie bins, but he wasn't fluffed up and snarling) and the tabbycat looked at us warily. I could see he didn't want us to touch him but when we put some food on the ground he immediately came over to eat, and after many soft words and plenty of food and a bit of sneaking quietly round the back of him, I eventually got the cage lid on top of the kitty. Cherub sat on it to stop him getting out while Climber and I spent some time wrangling him into the cage with towels and trays and Cherub's one good hand.



The owner wasn't able to get to our house til late so the boys sat for a while keeping Juan company and we all hoped we had the right cat, and hadn't falsely kidnapped a non-lost feline.



At 11.30pm a very grateful young man arrived at our gate and confirmed that we'd captured the lost Juan. He was extremely apologetic about keeping me up so late and offered me money, but I explained that we didn't need rewarding because we'd lost a cat once and finding one for someone else had made us all very, very happy.  (He probably thought I was mad, but I'm just a good neighbour!) So he transferred Juan into his own cage and went on his way, texting me afterwards to thank us yet again.

We recently watched a documentary about cat behaviour and this experience did make we wonder about cat dynamics. Juan came to our house twice, so did he know that a house where another cat lives is a good option for a lost cat? And did Basil, who never behaved in a hostile way, recognise a fellow feline in distress?

PS. Last night the owners dropped round a very fancy looking bottle of wine as a thank you.



• WE FAREWELL THE FAITHFUL COROLLA •

My Dad has given us his old car which is in much better nick than my poor old beloved Corolla, and it's a stationwagon, which will be so handy for lugging stuff around, so I keep reminding myself that it's great news. But the truth is I'm a bit sad because I really loved my girly hatchback. I could park it anywhere, it was an automatic with aircon and four doors, which were my 3 prerequisites when I purchased a car in the lead-up to starting a family, the heater worked, the petrol economy was great, and the mechanic used to give it a fond slap after working on it and say Corollas, best cars in the world. What more do you really need? Sure, it didn't have cup-holders or button-click doors, and the driver window wouldn't wind up properly unless Fixit did it, and the stereo volume was stuck on full, and the rear windscreen wiper didn't work, but I was used to living with those things.  I must admit too, to a sneaking Luddite preference for car features that are mechanical rather than electrical or computer-chipped. They're easier to fix, especially if you have Mister Fixit in your life, and you'll never get trapped without air in a car that has an actual winding-stick for the window operation is what I'm saying.

But also, it was the car that I chose, a style that I'd admired when I'd seen others driving around, and one that I duly researched in the Trading Post before finding the model-I-wanted at the price-I-could-afford at a mansion in Toorak of all places. This was me on the day I bought him, sometime in 1998. He was extra awesome because the number-plate said FBI. That fact always made me happy.



And this was me yesterday, taking a last pic to remember him by. Eighteen years together. Sniff. I also re-read this post when I was looking for pictures and it made me smile. My Corolla was cool. It was probably the coolest car I'll ever own.




 Thank you for joining us for today's bulletin. Here is the Weather Report.

• WEATHER •

It's spring!  There is some sunshine coming into our house again.



* BONUS FEEL-GOOD STORY FEATURING CUTENESS •

It's a meerkat from the Childrens Hospital. Nnaww.

Last year of primary school

Well it's official - Cherub is enrolled for High School! His - and our - final year of primary school is slipping away so quickly, and I am not doing a very good job of recording it here!  So here are a few of the recent happenings for my Grade 6 boy.



Last night we watched his last ever primary school production, the Grade 5/6 kids doing Alice in Wonderland Jnr. Their normal drama teacher went on leave this term, and Cherub and his friends, who had been keenly looking forward to their last ever big production with that teacher, were very underwhelmed by the sudden change of plan.  They didn't put themselves forward for roles, and told us it was lame.  Which was a shame, and I kept exhorting them to change their tune and make the best of it. The show must go on etc. They looked unconvinced.



Actually, the show was completely fine. They hired costumes for it, and Cherub looked very cute in his lion suit.  Well, I'm pretty sure he was meant to be a lion. Other guesses include a dog, or a possum or a werewolf.  But his classmates looked quite like the cast of The Lion King, so I'm going with lion. We're still unclear as to what place wild animals have in the Alice in Wonderland storyline, but at least we parents didn't have to sew anything this year. The wig/mane looked so much like Cherub's own hair first thing in the morning that he was very easy to identify on stage.  As always, his dancing was very good indeed, and he fulfilled my stage mother requirements by being in the front row, although whether he was put there because of height or merit is unclear.



The best thing about it was it was very short, so we were none of us too tired to enjoy our traditional post-show gelati.



In other 'lasts' of primary school, Cherub had his final ever Bookweek Parade. A few years ago he went as Frodo from Lord of The Rings, this year he was determined to be Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit.



He insisted he needed a red coat, not too long, and we eventually found one to borrow from my sister.  I also made him a little green vest from a jumper I'd accidentally partially felted in a hot wash.  To make the ears I sewed some foam padding  rounds in half and threaded them on to a hairband made from hat elastic. Threading them meant the ears were adjustable on his head, I was actually pretty pleased with myself for thinking that design through.  I found a shirt and some shorts at the opshop, and for his overlarge and hairy bare hobbit feet we put a pair of Fixit's brown socks over a pair of sandshoes with some padding down the end, then used some flesh-coloured knee high stockings over the top, which we drew hairs all over.  It worked really well. He already had the Hobbit Sword and a Ring, but he didn't look for the ring until leaving time and it was nowhere to be found, so I had to quickly fashion one out of picture wire.



Here he is going off to school in costume with all his bags for Friday (music, futsal and school) ...

 

...and here he is parading.

 

While we're playing catch-up, here are some shots of the Friday Night Futsal team that Cherub has been playing in these last two terms with his school buddies.  All the kids really progressed throughout the season, and they even made it to the finals, which is so good considering they only started this year.



 

Also a shot from Cherub's last week of soccer, because hooray, soccer season is over and we don't need to be always taking the kids to soccer!



And we don't have to be the Team Managers any more, which was stressful and boring and bad for our relationship. Note to self, don't say yes to that job ever again.  Cherub's team played in a division too high for their abilities this year, so they got thrashed most weeks. Just at the very end of the season they started to hit their straps, and so they managed one win against the second-worst team and a draw against the 3rd-worst team, before finishing the season losing 8-0 to the league champions.  We were all pretty ecstatic the week they won, I can tell you! Here's the Team Captain looking happy.  He worked his guts out all season in defence, and made us proud every game.



To end this post on a good note : here are the lads enjoying a delicious home-cooked breakfast of pancakes and bacon for Mister Fixit.
 

Happy Fathers Day.

February from March

Somehow February skipped by, with all of its back-to-school-and-tap madness, without making a mark on the blog.  So before March marches out of control, here's what went on in the last month or so. 



Climber started Year 9 and Cherub started his last year of Primary School.  Talk about grown-up.



They seem to have settled into their new year at school really well, despite Cherub being separated for the first time from his lifelong best-friend. They are doing well with it though, and it's quite sweet to hear them discussing with each other what they've been doing in their different classes when his bestie comes over for a regular Thursday afternoon play.  Probably can't call it a play anymore. Sniff.



Tap started back too, and is going really well. Good class numbers, excellent retention of current students and quite a few new faces too.  The tap-kids and I are madly getting ready for another performance at the Merri Creek fete. We're all very excited!



Climber got targeted by an unknown German man via his Instagram account and received some disturbing private messages which made me feel ill when I read them.  Not that there was anything highly explicit, and my feeling now that I've calmed down is that the sender was not an experienced predator and could possibly have just been a young gay guy trying his luck, but it's so hard to know who someone is just by looking at an Instagram account.  However, it is absolutely clear that Climber is only 14 years old when you look at his profile, so there is still a high level of wrongness, and the guy has been blocked, and other preventative strategies put in place. What I took a lot of comfort from, once the shock died down, was that Climber just thought the guy was being stupid and inappropriate and either said repressive things like that's none of your business or just didn't respond.  He is an awesome kid.  I worry so much about the corrupting influence of peers and internet and high school, but time and again Climber's true character shows me I needn't.



Fixit knocked down our cubbyhouse, seeing as how the only family members who used it were Fixit (for lawnmower storage) and Basil (for mid-afternoon catnaps).  I do feel a little bit sad, but it had to be done.  We've been looking around for a new place to live, but not with any luck so far.  We did find something which I thought was perfect, but they didn't even ring up our referees so I obviously need to work on how we present on a rental application form. Possibly we need to lie?  I don't really know how these things work.



We went to the zoo in the school holidays with Jen and her girls.  We rode our bikes there which made it even more fun. There's a lovely bike path the whole way there.



I took this photo against the seal window. 



Climber has grown so much since the last seal window shots in 2013.



We went Socceroo crazy during the Asian Cup, and were rewarded when Australia was crowned champion.  The final match was an absolute killer, it looked like we were going to win and then the North Korean team equalised with 1 minute to spare, forcing the match into extra time.  Cherub wept until the moment that Australia scored their second goal.  It was his first ever experience of putting his heart totally into a team and then finding that they could let you down.



Cherub has had his last ever primary school camp.  He had an excellent time, but was so tired when he got home Wednesday night that he didn't fully recover until Saturday.


Before camp


After camp

He also had his final primary school swimming carnival. Previously he has elected to specialise in breaststroke, but I wanted him to enter the other events just to see how he performed after all these years of swimming lessons.  He decided to go against this request, and I roused on him when I turned up at the carnival and found he was still dry; so having missed the chance to see how he'd do in freestyle and backstroke, he gave butterfly a go and got 3rd place. He also received 2nd in breaststroke and 2nd in the diving.  I just wanted him to enter to see how he went, not for ribbon glory, but I suspect having seen the rest of the field in the 12-year-olds, his attitude cost him a backstroke ribbon at the very least.  Anyway, the day after camp he represented his school in the breaststroke at the Zone Carnival and finished a creditable third in his heat.



I came home from tap on February 14th to find this lovely surprise on my pillow from Mister Fixit. I had forgotten it was St. Valentine's Day so I was even more gratified. Didn't have to hint or anything.



Fixit and I attended his cousin's wedding down at a winery on the Mornington Peninsula.  It was a very pleasant day, although it did seem a shame to be the designated driver at an event where the wine was likely to be very nice indeed!



Fixit's good shoes fell apart (the soles suddenly started disintegrating everywhere) so he had to leave the wedding between ceremony and reception to find a local shoe store. I think this is indicative of how little Fixit wears good shoes, but he should be set for a while now.



I made a wearable muslin of a 1950s style tea dress with princess seams, in preparation for some dressmaking at Crarf Camp, and I'm very pleased with it. The Tiny Tappers were very impressed, and somewhat distracted, by my Winnie-the-pooh dress when I taught them this week.  I sewed an invisible zip for the first time, not wholly successfully, but good enough for a practice dress.



And although there's more to be blogged, I am off to Crarf Camp tomorrow - yay!- so I will have more to say when I return.