698 + 594 Weeks

This has been a horrible week.  Jeff and I lost a good friend from Las Vegas over the weekend.  We found out on Tuesday evening.  Jeff and Levi were very close, and we are also good friends with his wife Gina.  They have two children together, only 6 and 8 years old.  Levi was only 45 years old.  This has shaken us up so much, it's really hard to think of anything else.  It was an accident - they were riding in a jeep at the Dumont Dunes, and Levi lost control of the car.  As far as we know, Gina and the kids were in the car as well, but they only suffered minor injuries, while Levi died at the scene.  It has been absolutely gut-wrenching.

It's hard to even write about other things that happened, but I guess I should.  Arley had another sleep-over here at the house on Friday night.  Luca and Kai both slept over (Kai slept on the couch).  It was exhausting, but worth it. Luckily for us, Arley said he will not do a sleepover again, as Luca snored all night, and Arley didn't sleep.  In the morning, Arley woke Luca up and kicked him out of his room so he could sleep!  LOL.  The boys have been back here for a few after-school plays since, and the three of them are getting along very well.  It is chaos when they are here, but it is also so nice to see Arley navigating friendships!

Our air conditioner has been broken for weeks.  Apparently we have been cooling off the neighbourhood, as we have a hole in the duct and air is pumping out the side of the house.  Of course, we are in the middle of a heat wave, and our house has no ceiling fans.  Who builds a house with no ceiling fans in the sub-tropics??  So, it is painfully hot and muggy here.  Apparently the weather is breaking tomorrow, so things will ease up.

Carmie is doing well.  Arley didn't go to her social groups this week, so she is much happier!  I think I have managed to convince Arley that Carmie's groups are too boring for him, so I'm hoping it stays this way.  Carmie definitely needs her space.  I took her out to lunch yesterday (after a fun visit to the gynaecologist - more meds for Carmie, OMG!), and we had such a nice time.  One on one, she is the perfect date.  She gets overwhelmed in larger groups and crowded places, so there are only a few places she is willing to go, but we have one only a few minutes away.  She's looking really cute too, as Jeff took her to get her hair cut on Saturday.  Of course I have no photos to show of it!

I'm signing off now.  Sorry about the crap photos from this week!  I will do better next week :)

New friends :)

697 + 593 Weeks

I have not a single photo to show for this week. We have had a fairly good week though. Although, Arley is down at a D&D group with Carmie right now and he is very angrily texting me to come pick him up because he is hungry. He is so demanding!

I finally went to the doctor to get antibiotics because my cough had turned into a chest infection. The antibiotics are nasty and leave the most awful metallic taste in my mouth, but I’m feeling much better, even though I’m still coughing a bit. At least Jeff is no longer sleeping on the couch!

Carmie has had a good week. She is getting back into the swing of her groups. She returns home very animated and happy, and it is so nice to see. She has added two more groups onto her schedule, so now she is going out every day. It’s awesome. 

Arley finally had his sleepover with Luca. They had a great time! It was a school night though, so they had to go to bed a little early (if you call 9:30/10pm early!) and Arley kicked up quite a fuss.  We had a big talk the next day, so I’m hoping that doesn’t happen again. 

It was mine and Jeff’s 16 year anniversary yesterday!  We both forgot. I remembered mid afternoon and when Jeff walked in at 7pm I told him I had something to say. His face showed full-blown panic. LOL. Then I told him happy anniversary :). Mum and Geoff are coming over tonight to be with the kids so Jeffrey and I can go out to dinner and to a show. The kids are excited to see their grandparents and I am excited to go out, so win win!

696 + 592 Weeks

Something kinda huge happened this week.  Arley got the courage up to make some neighbourhood friends!  These two brothers, Luca who is 11 and Kai who is 8, have been stopping by asking for kids to play with, and for a while I've been trying to get Arley to meet them.  A few weeks ago I invited them into the house to meet him, and I took them straight into his bedroom - he was too nervous to come out.  Then last week I convinced him to get a hair cut so he looked cooler, then over the weekend we walked twice to their house (only about 6 houses away on our street) to see if they were around to play.  They were not, but on Monday afternoon when they got out of school, they came over for a play.  The boys hit it off so well!  Arley and Luca have clicked - they started out playing Xbox, then moved on to playing in his room.  It went so well.  The boys came over again the next day and stayed for hours.  It's so much better with Jeff's guitar school out of the house - the kids can make noise now!  They swam in the pool for ages, played Xbox, played outside.  This is EXACTLY what Arley needs!!  He and Luca are so excited to have found each other, they organised a sleepover at our place for tonight....It's not all roses though.  The sleepover is postponed because...wait for it...Arley gave Luca one of his 'realistic' toy guns.  Luca was thrilled, he loves it.  So, he took it to school.  Some kids saw it sticking out of his bag, and he's been suspended.  OMG.  They've only known each other for four days!  The mother thankfully is being very kind and not holding us accountable.  Luca has had to go to his grandmother's house while he is suspended.  How bad did I feel when I found out though?!!

Carmie came home from a D&D session last week letting us know that there was room for Arley to join.  So yesterday, Arley joined in for the session.  It didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped - apparently Arley unexpectedly changed the direction of the game and no one was really happy about it.  I have to tread lightly telling him about it, because if he thinks they are all annoyed at him, he will never go back.  I am so happy he has joined the group, and Carmie is handling it very well.

Carmie is doing great.  She has fully recovered from the flu, but Arley and I are still coughing.  It's rough.  She has started psychology and behaviour therapy again this week - both sessions went really well.  She is working on her anxiety, as well as trying to be more responsible in the house, wake up early, exercise etc.  Carmie is such a sweet girl, but she is quite hopeless with being motivated to do things.  Her ADHD makes her very forgetful, so we are trying to figure out a system where she can schedule her day and not need reminding from me so much.  It's not easy growing these kids into adults!

I've been painting more this week, which has been lovely, and Jeff's school is going well too.  It feels like we are getting on track a little, thank goodness!

691-695 + 587-591 Weeks

I have never gone so long without writing the blog!  It's been over a month!  Let's go back to September...

I took the kids on vacation for 10 days, down in Milton/Ulladulla.  My amazing parents drove down with all of our holiday gear (including Arley's computer!), and the kids and I flew down to Sydney with only our backpacks.  We then caught the train to Nowra where Lolo & Dida picked us up and drove us to Milton to my buddy Mark's house where we were all staying together.  I had the use of Mark's car too, so that made things easier.  Our vacation was a great success I think.  We spent quality time with Mum & Geoff, I caught up with old friends (so much has changed but also nothing at all!), the kids reconnected with their friends Delphi and Jasper, my sister and nephew came for a night, my cousin Tess and her son came for a night.  I was so busy - it wasn't what you'd call a relaxing vacation by any means, but it was still a good break.  I went to all our old stomping grounds, all the beaches that I wanted to see, out to old restaurants and new...it was really lovely to be back.  The kids went horse riding at Milea's, we spent a morning hanging out with Wes, the kids' old carer (they miss him so much!), and Carmie and I went fossicking like we used to.  I am happy to not be living down there anymore, but it is so nice to go back and visit.  And yes, I miss those south coast beaches very much!

Jeffrey stayed home in QLD, keeping his business going.  We had planned to move Jeff's guitar school into the new location before I left, but we ran out of time.  The kids and I got back on Tuesday 8th October, and Jeff had scheduled his first Sunday morning jam session for that coming weekend.  We spent all of Friday and Saturday down in the new space, putting together all the decor.  The place looks great!  We also had a great turnout for the jam session, and the students love their new space.  The real bugger was that on Friday morning, Carmie woke up really sick.  She had a terrible headache and sore throat, and I couldn't stay home to look after her.  I feel terribly guilty about it now - I didn't know how bad the illness was!

By Monday morning, Arley was sick too.  By Tuesday morning both kids were vomiting, and had headaches and sore throats etc.  I was in bed by lunch on Tuesday and I spent the next 8 days (!) battling the worse illness I have ever had.  We had tested Carmie twice for COVID, both tests being negative, so I have deduced that we had severe cases of Influenza A.  It was SO bad.  Jeff had to continue working (luckily out of the house!), so there was no one to take care of the three of us.  By Thursday afternoon I had run out of medicine and was so desperate that I posted in our community noticeboard on FB that I was very sick and needed medicine.  Some lovely neighbours I don't even know stopped by with medicine, and I am so thankful! I was still in bed on the weekend, but things finally started to turn for me on the Monday.  I am still weak and coughing now, and keeping Jeff and I up at night time, but I am up and about again.  The kids are doing great and got back to their social groups yesterday.  And Jeff has been immune, as usual!  Worst experience ever!!

I had big plans to cut down on the kids' screen time when we returned, and to get the token system in place again, but of course all that went out the window.  I have to say, going away was good for the kids in that their routine was shaken up, and it has made it a little easier to get Arley away from his computer.  I also think he has been so bored all of this week while I was sick, he is thankful to sometimes do something different.  I even managed to convince him to get a haircut this morning.  I thought it might never happen!

I'm sure there is so much I have missed out on, but everything is a bit of a blur!  It's good to be thinking clearly again, but I feel like the past month has literally disappeared!

Picking fruit at Mr Curly's, just like he did when he was little

Our view

At Funland with Wes

Narrawallee

At our old post-horse-riding bakery

Collers Beach

Fossicking

At Milea's

With Delphi and Jazzy J

At the Bommie

Carms & Delphi, two peas in a pod

Twice since we've been home we have had water dragons scaling our door!

Open for business!

Our first Sunday jam session in the new space

    

690 + 586 Weeks

I'm sitting here writing the blog a day late, drinking tea from my lovely new teacup and pot set that I got from my brother for my 50th birthday.  Yep, I turned 50 last week!  I'm quite excited to be 50, to be honest.  It was looming ahead of me, and now it's not, and it was the easiest hump to get over!

So, my birthday started out a little rough.  We were supposed to meet Mum & Geoff out at a cafe at 8:30 in the morning, which admittedly, is a little early for us, however we had a time crunch because Jeffrey had to get back home to a lesson at 10m, and Carmie was attending a D&D six-hour one shot session which also started at 10.  Jeff woke the kids up early and Carmie, remarkably, was fine, but Arley was not as he told his dad that he didn't get to sleep until after 1am.  We decided to leave without him, but before we left, he was up, saying he was coming but he just had to use the bathroom.  We waited and waited.  He was constipated.  Poor bugger.  First time experiencing it.  He told us to leave him.  Jeff had already left to meet my parents, so Carmie and I left poor Arley in the bathroom while we went for my birthday breakfast.  I had told him to call me if it gets worse...so, fifteen minutes later as I was walking into the cafe, Arley called, crying, and then hung up.  Then he wasn't answering his phone.  So before we even ordered, Jeff had to leave to go be with Arley.  Carmie and I had a delicious breakfast with Lolo & Dida, but then Carmie was all slouched over and odd, and then she told me she was sick and couldn't go to her D&D.  Arrrgh!  I dropped her home to bed, and continued on my day, which included a one hour float followed by a one hour massage.  I have never felt so physically relaxed in my life.  Oh my goodness, what a treat!  I'm still feeling great two days later!

It turned out I had a very chill, lovely birthday.  I went shopping for new headphones (thanks Pop!!) and lounged around for much of the day.  My friend Andrea had come over the night before for a drink.  I got a lovely new backpack, and my big pressie is an artist easel.  It is awesome.  I can't wait to use it!

It is school holidays here, so we haven't been doing much, just taking it very easy.  Jeff's new guitar school was painted, and the carpet is getting laid as I type.  I can't wait to see it fully finished!  There was a bit of drama this morning with our carpet not showing up, but they have given us a more expensive carpet instead, so it worked out OK in the end.  I am itching to go down there to start decorating!

Tomorrow morning the kids and I are catching a plane down to Sydney and then a train to the south coast.  Mum and Geoff left very early on Thursday morning to drive down.  Thankfully they have taken all of our luggage down too, so we won't have anything to carry on the plane.  They took Arley's computer down too (on advice from his therapists), but this meant that yesterday and today he has no computer.  He is doing fairly well, but waking up yesterday he was very upset.  He is scared of being bored and getting dysregulated and getting angry.  Poor guy, his anxiety really controls him.  I took the kids down to Mooloolaba yesterday for some treats, so that helped.  I am very excited to go away, but feel very sad for Jeffrey being left behind.  This will be the longest we have been away from each other in way over a decade.  He won't know what hit him!

689 + 585 Weeks

We haven't had too much drama this week, which is always refreshing!  Jeff's new location is coming along - the signage went up on Tuesday morning.  This was super exciting, but now we have a week to wait for the painting to start, and then carpeting and decor will happen after that.  Sadly our timing is a little off.  The space is being painted on the 25th & 26th (yes, on my birthday, and I'm turning 50 next week, OMG).  Then on the 27th, carpet is going down.  Then first thing in the morning on the 28th, the kids and I are hopping on a plane to go down to our old stomping ground, the South Coast of NSW, until October 8th.  We are staying in Milton at my friend Mark's house, as he is overseas.  Jeffrey is staying home to continue working and to look after Bella.  My parents are coming down to Milton too.  But our trip is terrible timing for finalising Jeff's guitar school space.  We were hoping to move him in on Monday Sept 30th, but I have a feeling we are pushing it a bit!  I'm not sure I trust Jeffrey to do all the decorating without me. I booked our flights for the trip before we even knew we were moving his school into a commercial space.  Bummer!

Here is the commission I completed last week.

 

Lolo and I took the kids to their local duck pond when we visited with her this week.

Signage is up!