Staying inside

Tuesday:

We've had a few cooler (comparatively) days, but back to blazing hot today and tomorrow. We couldn't leave the house this morning waiting for tradesmen, but I don't think I would have wanted to anyway. Even going to the movies or something indoors would probably involve leaving the car outside in the sun for a while. So hard to drive when the steering wheel is burning your hands.

We'd had a minor problem with the heat pump for the pool, one corner of the touch screen wasn't responding which was annoying. The screen part was replaced this morning. Still under warranty, obviously. We haven't been using the heater lately of course, no need to in summer.

Also I had organised a Salvation Army pickup and that was this morning. Two bicycles that the kids had grown out of and a few bits of children's furniture and other things a bit heavy/big/unwieldy for me to get to a drop off centre. Tim and I put it all in front of the garage this morning and later in the day it all disappeared. I assume it was the Salvos! If they knocked I didn't hear. But they had a list of what I wanted to donate so it was probably obvious that this cluster of items was for them.

I made an gaffe over it though. Two years ago when we moved here, Tim's cousin gave us a house-warming present that didn't suit my personal taste. On the weekend I put it next to the door to remember to put it out for the Salvos, still in the original box. And that cousin came over for dinner on Sunday night. They didn't say anything and I only realised after they had gone that it was a bit obvious I had never used it and was getting rid of it. I hope they weren't offended. I think they are too sensible to be bothered. Not everyone likes the same things. My sister-in-law has been known to give something back to be exchanged, and I didn't mind at all. I'd rather she had something she liked (or in that case was cookware that didn't fit her small oven).

We still have a lot of things to get rid of, but not worthy of passing on, and I have organised a council pickup in January. The garage is already looking much emptier.

Another cleanup project was started today, Aiden's bedroom. He has a small bedroom and a lot of stuff. He is given more and more things every birthday and Christmas, and we don't cull much of the old stuff. A lot of it is great, for instance for his birthday he got a big remote-control boat (used in the pool when no-one is swimming) and a couple of build-your-own-robot things. Lots of fun, but they are bulky items that take up a lot of shelf space. Today we cleared half the floor and the top of his chest of drawers. A good start. I need to buy some boxes for his Lego. He has accumulated a huge amount over the years and it's currently in a couple of really big plastic boxes that he can't lift or move. I think several smaller ones would be better to make them accessible. He's not as keen on Lego as he used to be though. In a few years we can pass it on to the younger kids in the family.

We swam later in the afternoon when the sun was less burny.

Here is Grumpy the blue-tongue, looking bad-tempered as usual.

 And Draco the water dragon.

 He went behind the big pot, climbed up, and is peeking at me from over the rim.

Grumpy's wife

Thursday:

We have two kinds of weather at the moment, blazing hot or stormy. Neither is particularly good for gardening (but great for the garden) and the grass has got very long. I went out the back, considering a bit of a mow by the pool, but I could feel the hair on my arms crisping up so decided against it. But I was pulling a few weeds as I wandered around when there was movement beside me and I jumped about a foot into the air.

It seems Grumpy has found himself a wife! She's hiding between the rocks in the shade of the passionfruit vine. She was probably sunning herself on the paving tile before we startled each other.

I wasn't very impressed with Grumpy, he stayed still while I watched but the moment I turned away he scuttled off behind the shed, leaving her alone to face the human. I know almost nothing about lizards but I'd already decided that Grumpy was male and this new one is bigger and more blue/grey, (he's more brown) so that is good enough for me to label her as the female (and maybe pregnant because she is fatter!) Wouldn't it be lovely if they had a family.

I'll have to think of a name for her. I'm not going to call her Mrs Grumpy, how old fashioned and sexist!

I had a swim by myself this afternoon because I knew we wouldn't have time after school (but I might suggest an after-dinner swim if it's still hot). I say "swim", I mean I mostly sat in the water or moved slowly around. The only place in the shade in the water at that time of day was in the grotto, a sort of cave under the waterfall which has a ledge under water to sit on and another ledge out of the water that you can put things on. The water feature sticks out all around, so to get my book there I held it in my mouth and dog-paddled over! Dried my hands on my hair then sat and read in the shade, rib deep in cool water. It was lovely.

Peeping lizard

Tuesday:

I was brushing my hair this morning when I heard a strange rustling outside the bedroom window. Grumpy the blue-tongue lizard was making his slow way along the sill outside.

He seemed quite interested in watching what I was doing. The wooden part of the sill is narrow and he kept half slipping off onto the wider brick part but getting himself back on. He was licking the glass occasionally, maybe picking up insects or little spiders? Or maybe just doesn't understand windows. He got to the end eventually and went and lay in the sun. 

Dragon

Tuesday:

We had a visit from a dragon today. I was out gardening and I had just edged around our resident blue-tongue lizard Grumpy (I wasn't scared of him, I just didn't want to disturb him) who was out getting some sun, when I saw a flash of extremely fast movement go up the rock wall and over the lip of the pool. So I walked around to the other side (no sudden movements) to see a water dragon clinging to the wall, unsuccessfully hiding from me.

It's a mineral pool, so it's not exactly drinking quality but shouldn't hurt him/her. It is good to know that despite us ripping just about every original plant out of the backyard and being a construction site for a year, the wildlife is still happy to live here.

I did an exam this morning, I do that subject online and it was multiple choice so I got my results straight away - 100%! It's worth 50% of the total for that subject - Copyright. So yay.

I thought 100% was pretty good, but then Jasmine came home and said she got 103% in her Spanish exam by getting everything right plus some bonus marks. Snotty kid.

Wildlife

Tuesday:

A kookaburra has started visiting us again. Apparently he likes cold roast lamb.

Today we got home at lunchtime and found a big lizard (some kind of skink, not sure if a blue-tongue lizard or not) on our front doorstep.

 
An hour after seeing him on our front steps, went outside and found him on our back steps! I assume it's the same one. We call him Grumpy, because he looks very cranky. Probably sick of us watching him. Can't he get a moment's peace somewhere in the garden? I gave him some cold chicken.

And finally a tropical hibiscus flower from our new garden.

(You know that thing in the middle is basically the flower's penis, right?)

I spent most of the day working on another assignment. A stupid one, that I feel is a big waste of time. Hours I'll never get back again. But it has to be done.

Skinky, son of skinky

Wednesday:

We have a new little lizard houseguest. Skinky I (the first) ended up in the ensuite bathroom before he disappeared some months ago (I like to believe he moved outside to enjoy the nice spring weather and find a mate), Skinky II was first spotted in the back hall so probably came in via the laundry door, he now seems to live in the kitchen. I do worry about stepping on him, he sometimes sits right in the middle of the floor. If I'm cooking and moving around there a lot he retreats to the wall. When I can't see him I assume he's under the fridge. He is so little and cute and unafraid. Not the same lizard as I'm sure he's smaller than the original became, but maybe he is the son of Skinky I.

The pool dramas go on. I've decided if you want a pool it's better to find a house that already has one and move! Today I've had the pool plumber to do some pre-plumbing, discovered he didn't know we want spa jets at the step/seat bit, organised for the site manager to bring those round today, soothed plumber whose schedule for the day is now messed up, organised a new tree company to come and look at the big twisted rooty stump remaining in our backyard - it came out of the pool hole - that no one seems to want to deal with, recovered from the price he quoted, got him to reduce it a bit but still horrendous. Got a list from the site manager of all the things I still need to do. Also the guy who did the steel cables last week came back to add a few more where the water feature will be.

Everything is covered in dust from the backyard, especially as Aiden likes to play out there in the dirt. He never went out there when it was covered in trees and shrubs. Yesterday he was smashing rocks with other rocks and breaking them to smithereens. Anyone read the Ramona books?

It's very hot for the third day in a row. Still only spring! The plumber pointed out that the plastic things holding the steel cables in place are melting. They've gone all wonky. I've spent a bit of time outside and I feel a bit hot and headachy. I don't know how the tradesmen do it. The plumber was there for hours in the heat. I did take him one cool drink.

I'm feeling a bit stressed and when I am stressed I eat. At least I can't go out and buy junk while I'm expecting various tradesmen at any time! I'm restricted to whatever is currently in the house. Cheese and crackers and cashews, while not unhealthy in themselves, add up to a lot of calories.

Oh and a couple of days ago I went back to a little bit (half a sachet so 1.5 grams) of sugar in my tea. So much nicer! I still didn't like unsweetened at all, after nearly six weeks to give my taste buds time to change. I still plan to buy a Stevia plant and give that a go, but for now I'll keep my tiny bit of sugar.

....oh yeah, cool change and a sprinkle of rain. I went and stood outside in it for a little while.

Dessert and Skinky

Sunday:

We had extra people over for our family Sunday lunch today, and one offered to bring dessert. I said yes, of course, it is always lovely when people help out if you are cooking for 14. But I was secretly thinking I would make something myself as well, to give people a choice (ok, in case I didn't like what she brought) and to make sure we had enough. But literally as I was looking through my recipe folder she texted me to say not to make anything, she would make plenty. How did she know? It's almost like she'd met me before lol. I thought it was funny, but also a teensy bit annoying because now I couldn't make an extra dessert without hurting her feelings.

So she didn't actually get to our house until well after lunch as her toddler was napping, but sent her husband over with her contribution. As I expected, it was something I didn't like - trifle. Oh well, it's not like I need dessert! I honestly wasn't bothered and I had the satisfaction of being right! (And there wasn't really enough, either.) But then most people barely touched theirs, Jasmine said to me quietly that it tasted burnt. Apparently it was practically inedible. I just hope everyone knew I didn't make it. I really wished I had made that lemon tart I was planning.

The other drama was Skinky, the little skink lizard who has been living in our bathroom for a while now. I saw him today in his usual spot and considered mentioning him to our guests but didn't bother as they don't usually use our ensuite bathroom. But I should have! My sister-in-law and her family seemed to be taking a long time to leave, standing outside the front door for ages. So I went out. And was told they'd found a lizard in my bathroom and were putting him in the garden! Little Emma was fascinated. I couldn't tell them he was practically a pet, but I was a little upset. He likes living inside in the warm. I've tried putting him out before and he comes back in, but that was the back door and I wasn't sure if he'd find his way back in this time. Family eventually left and I took a little box outside. Skinky was still sitting exactly where they had put him, and he let me scoop him into the box, he is very tame, and I brought him back indoors. He is happily back sunning himself under the heated light and eating the tiny bugs that fly around the indoor plants.

Wildlife

Tuesday:

Nature seems to be visiting the house at the moment. We have a resident skink (little lizard). I've tried putting him outside but he was back in the next day. And why not? It's warm, there is probably plenty of food (my kids are 12 and 9 but you'd think they were about 3 from their messy eating, there are always bits on the floor). He is cute. We call him skinky.

The last three mornings I've woken to ants on the counter top, and today it was an invasion. This is the cupboard where I keep the bin, under the sink. I don't use insect sprays much, but I did today! Only in the cupboard and I hope skinky doesn't go in there, they do eat insects. I cleaned up all the dead ones of course.

It rained heavily all night and was gloomy this morning, but in the afternoon the sun came out and so did this lovely Rainbow Lorikeet, eating nectar.

Today we visited the doctor where I had my foot treated again. Then I took the kids to the library. Jasmine got several books, Aiden none. He loves being read to but isn't that keen on reading. Jasmine would happily spent all day reading, curled up on her bed. I picked up one book on the ethics of keeping animals as pets. I flicked through it and it was engagingly written so why not? The back mentions the author does have pets so she's not rabid on the issue, but she does think a lot of people are not responsible pet owners and also that some animals should never be kept as pets. I've owned two dogs, one when I lived alone and was working full time and I felt so guilty leaving her home alone all day, especially when she was a little puppy. The other when I was home all day and I felt like a much better owner (although we had to give him up when my mum got sick).

In the afternoon we played Trivial Pursuit. One of my birthday presents was a version that has a box of kids' questions and a box of normal questions (I was going to say adult questions but that sounds dodgy). The balance of difficulty seems about right.

I also spent some time in the kitchen getting as many meals as possible out of two chickens. The legs went into cream of chicken soup that we'll have tomorrow, the breasts in satay for dinner, the wings I roasted in the oven (with veges to catch the delicious juices) and we had them for lunch with leftovers from the weekend BBQ, and the carcasses I also roasted then simmered with vegetables for soup/stock/bone broth.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I ate more after blogging last night. I had one of my birthday chocolates. Then two cold lamb chops. Then a little piece of cheese. I didn't seem to be able to stop myself. Way too much food for an unnecessary evening snack, I wasn't even hungry. But it wasn't too unhealthy, at least. And I still lost half a kilo overnight. I will try to control myself today.

B: raspberries and yoghurt, tea.
L: chicken wings, lamb chop, salad, tea.
S: cream of chicken soup (I couldn't wait until tomorrow).
D: satay chicken and vegetables with quinoa.
S: I plan to have one birthday chocolate later.

I still have two more glasses of water to drink this evening but only 21 steps to reach my 5,000 so I'm confident.

Boris

Thursday:

Another creature has been added to the "this woman gives out free food" menagerie, or was probably hanging around all along and I just didn't see him. Boris is a lizard longer than my arm. Maybe from the water dragon family. There is a little creek just across the road and I've seen a couple around there. He keeps to the edges, probably trying to avoid kookaburras, but didn't seem particularly afraid of me. I didn't go too close.

The baby magpie annoyed me this morning. Turned up alone after all the food was gone, sat on my outdoor table and demanded attention very loudly and persistently, and poohed all over the table. Not that much different to a human baby I guess! Interesting to see it here without its parents after only a couple of supervised visits.

Really sleepy today with a dopey head and heavy eyelids. Just the heat I think. Another scorcher. I felt much better after the cool change came through in the evening. Weather is up and down, up and down. The forecast for Kangaroo Valley on the weekend is cool on Saturday, warm and rainy on Sunday. I'm trying not to think of it as camping and feeling more positive about it. Yes I'll have to endure some outdoor activities and an evening BBQ with the mosquitoes, but I get to sleep in a cabin with a real bed and bathroom, it is a pretty location, and there are cafes and a picturesque little town nearby if it does rain on the Sunday. I won't exactly be roughing it! The kids are very excited but Tim is exhausted with new job and long commutes and would really rather stay home (it was all his brother's idea in the first place). My complaining probably isn't helping his mood.

The pool guy came and it would be pretty expensive. We are still thinking about it. And it wouldn't be finished until mid-February, which is the end of summer! I think the kids would love a pool so much.

I haven't met any neighbours yet. I thought it would happen naturally if we were in our front yards at the same time, getting the mail or something, but that hasn't happened. The side and back fences are all high solid colourbond. I'm not really comfortable going and knocking on front doors. We've been out a lot on the weekends, or else buried inside unpacking. Lots of people have children the right ages to play with mine, but there are lots of schools around here so they go to different ones. I might have to be more pro-active about meeting people.

Botanic gardens

Sunday:

Daylight Savings started today, which is great for me as I've been waking up way too early ever since the pelvic pain thing. Clocks one hour forward.

We cleaned the house again - I am so over it! Luckily not much to do after big clean yesterday. Turned out only two people came through. I guess everyone has already seen it.

We went to the Botanic Gardens today. It is all Australian flora with all different areas of the country represented including rainforesty bits:

and "Red Centre" desert bits:

This is a statue of an oversized spiny devil:

but there was also plenty of real wildlife, lots of water dragons (lizards) sunning themselves:

little ducklings shepherded along by suspicious parents:

and even a bunny rabbit, seen here disappearing into the undergrowth:

Lots of native flowers in bloom too. Nice long walk in pretty surrounds.

Tim is loving that we are forced to get out of the house as a family so much lately.