Congratulations...

Firstly, to my husband who just passed his Surf Life Saving Bronze Medallion and is now qualified as a volunteer life saver.  Do not mistake him for this guy...

The Hoff he is not - he calls himself "The Huff" as in "I huff and I puff and I collapse on the beach!"  His words - not mine.

The second lot of congratulations go to Miss 12 who walked away with the book award for academic excellence for her class in yesterday's school award ceremony.

And as for me?  It was confirmed yesterday that I had passed all my courses and am now a qualified education assistant (instead of just a pretend one!).

Hope the week is going just as well for you...

Journalling

I have started a new challenge with the kids for the summer holidays - journalling.  Santa gave them each a new journal and pens at the Christmas party yesterday, and I have a whole heap of journal prompts that we can pull out and write about.

The first one was "What Do I Most Want To Do This Summer?"  I wrote my entry and I was going to keep it private - then I thought "No - you deserve to see this too."  So - deep breath - here goes...

What Do I Most Want To Do This Summer?

This summer I would like to rediscover my creativity.  My creativity has been MIA since February - caused by a number of factors.

Depression is a big one, but I cannot solely blame it on that.  When I am depressed I cannot face my sewing room, I cannot face my assignments, the housework goes undone, and, when the black dog is biting severely, I cannot face the world.  If I am AWOL from my blog for more then a few weeks you would probably be right to suspect I have a black cloud looming over me.

Another factor would have to be a decided lack of organisation.  I don't know where it has gone!  It could be that life has gotten busier - between assignments, work, the occasional blitz on the housework, and the kids' (and hubby's) sporting activities, even planning dinner becomes a mission.

So back to the basics.  I've done it before, I can do it again.  I need a routine that I can stick to.  I will return to meal planning - a week at a time - and the big shop to go with it.  This will replace on the spot meal decisions and once a day shopping.  A baking day is needed once or twice a week - muffins, breads, pizza bases, biscuits - and a good way to spend time with Blondie whose favourite activity is baking.  There will be more emphasis on family cleaning rather than me feeling like a maid in a hotel.  And there will be greater use of the diary for planning.

And I WILL schedule time in the sewing room.  Scheduled time means that hopefully I will take that time - I will be able to ignore anything else for that time slot and just creaet.  Maybe?

Assignments are now a thing of the past - unless I stupidly decide to take on more study.  School finishes next week, Thursday for the kids, Friday for me.  T-ball finishes this Saturday, gymnastics is done for the year.  I can feel the shackles slowly releasing, one by one.  We still need to practise the trombone, we still will have swimming lessons (but not till after Christmas) and we still will have surf lifesaving.  But we do get a sleep-in back.

ZZZZZZZZ

I cannot guarantee this will all result in the return of creativity any time soon, although I hope it does.  Hopefully Miss Lottie that means that you will get some challenge quilts back in the mail in the near future.  And my nephew might finally get his snuggle quilt.  Christmas presents will get posted once I can face the post office - if they don't get to you on time, I am thinking of you - I love you all lots.

So to all my loving family - thanks for being my anchor.  You keep me grounded and pull me up from the depths.  I couldn't do it without you.

I promise...

...to post a real post soon.  When I feel more human.

I have just posted off my LAST assignment.  Soon I will graduate.  And hopefully life will return to some sort of normality.  The dishes might get done.  So might the laundry.  Vacuuming?  Maybe.

Blondie saw the plastic surgeons this morning at Princess Margaret Hospital and they have started to trim away the dead skin on the finger.  It looks great underneath - last appointment next week.

We are off to BHP's kids Christmas party this afternoon, so I'll try and remember the camera. (And the Christmas presents for Santa's helper that didn't get remembered until yesterday - SSHH!!)

Update on Blondie

Just a quick update on Blondie's finger.  I took her back to the doctor today as the swelling had gotten even worse.  They agreed for the need to drain the finger - but didn't feel comfortable doing it.  So they sent us to Princess Margaret Hospital - WA's children's hospital.  They are absolutely brilliant there - it's Blondie's second visit in four months.

They softened the finger up with some anaesthetic cream for an hour, then they gave her laughing gas and cut the finger open to drain out all the blood.  Then a compression bandage and a visit to the plastic surgeon next week to see about the nail.

She is such an excellent patient - she stoically sat there, no hysterics.

Get well soon Blondie.