Squibblog

back to school

There was palpable relief this morning, from both adults and kids, that school started again today. Not that we've had a bad school holidays - we've had a lot of wonderful adventures and a fair degree of relaxation. I think it was just relief that we could have absolute certainty of what to expect: school, work. We know what time to get dressed, we know when reading has to take place, we know when to leave (and then I know when I'll get coffee). Much as we might profess to be free spirited, we are creatures of routine here Chez Squibblog.

And if I get my work finished anytime soon, I might even tidy away the piles of toys I have been leaving (why pack away when we'll be playing again tomorrow?) and vacuum up a weeks' worth of crumbs from the carpet before the kids get home which would bring the house back to a state of normality as well.

Perhaps one of the reasons going back to school didn't seem like a hardship is the knowledge that we'll be off again on Friday: heading to Byron Bay for Ali's wedding and a four-day break. Hopefully I will be able to blog while we are away, so you can see how gorgeous the kids look during the ceremony.

In my haste to talk about my own, and then Nelly's contribution, to Ali's wedding, I've forgotten to mention that Zac is official stone-bearer. Ali and Lee will have a lump of rose quartz passed around, for us all to bless with our best loving thoughts. Zac is taking his quartz-bearing duties very seriously. He is certain Ali chose him because he has a gem-stone collection and knows where rose quartz comes from. Should I shatter his illusion and let him know he's the only nephew large enough to carry a lump of quartz the size of a football?

tutu dress ps - can you read Nell's mind?

I wonder if you can tell, just by looking, which way Nell wants to wear this dress. She makes her fashion choices pretty darned clear...

Tutu gorgeous

I spent the weekend up to my ears in tulle, making tutu dresses for Soy's sister Ali's wedding next weekend. Nell and her cousin Stella (and another little girl) are flower girls. Ali wants the wedding to be pretty unstructured, with a hippie vibe, so I thought tutus would work better than formal dresses. 

I had originally intended that these be worn as halter-neck dresses, but Nell says it is too puffy for that, and she prefers it as a skirt.

That made me panic for a moment, but in keeping with the unstructured theme I popped her in a singlet (the real underwear style singlet from Bonds, not a camisole shirt) and it looked super cute in a Carrie Bradshaw way. Only problem is it's likely to be quite cool in May, so the girls will wear their ballet wraps over the top and spoil the tulle-with-underwear aesthetic.

The dresses were made without a pattern, with instructions adapted from Sweet'n'Sassy Girls but I doubled or tripled the number of strips of tulle so that the skirts are thicker and sit out meringue-style. Then I stitched in some lining (back when I thought these would be dresses, the lining was for a modicum of 5 year-old modesty and warmth) and I bound the edges with satin ribbon to save the girls' hips from scratchy tulle rash.

I have to admit that having three pouffey tutu dresses hanging on hooks around my house has made me all dreamy and romantic - I'll be sad to see their fluffiness go.

pocket money - how much is enough?

We are hitting a new milestone Chez Squibblog, with Zac wanting an income of his own. It's fair enough, because he is willing to work for his cash, but I can rarely think of household jobs worthy of payment at the exact moment he wants to raise $12.95 to fund his Bakugan habit.

What I really need is a list of payment-worthy jobs that I can set the kids to when they decide they want to earn some new toys. Can you help? What jobs do your kids get paid to do around the house?

I guess I should start the discussion by saying that there are certain things I won't pay the kids to do - things I believe fall into the category of 'personal care' and therefore just come with the territory of being alive. Things like making beds, tidying rooms and packing away toys and clothes strewn about the house are just expected and I'm not prepared to pay for them.

Both my kids also have a 'family job' that they have to pitch in and do. I guess a kind of quid pro quo for the joys of being part of our clan. Nell has to empty the cutlery basket from the dishwasher and Zac has to empty the recycled paper basket into the big recycling bin outside.

None of those tasks attracts payment.

When Zac began pestering me yesterday for a job to raise some pocket money, I got him to help me pack away the groceries. He did a great job, if only I could find where he put the dishwashing detergent. But these jobs are not a daily thing. I really need a list of jobs that always need doing and that I can get the kids onto as soon as they want some money to spend. Any other suggestions?

Do you pay your kids pocket money? Is it contingent upon them doing jobs? When did you start and how much do they get?

Soy's Lizzie

Soy's Lizzie gets polished every day, here's a photo of him receiving it. That's the face of an award winning journo.

There's a funny story about the awards night. We got there late, coming straight from Passover. We knew that the organisers were holding off announcing the awards we had been nominated for (because they're lovely). 

So Soy ran up to the ballroom at the Casino, where the awards were being held, while I ducked into the loo. By the time got to the ballroom I could hear Soy's dulcet tones over the PA and knew that he must be on the dias making a speech.

I was so stoked for him I was jumping up and down and clapping outside. There was a guy standing in the doorway so I grabbed him and said "That guy up there, he won and he's mine!!" and the guy in the doorway turned to me and said "that's great".

And then I saw it was this guy:

Who later played a set for the awaiting crowd. 

I was slightly embarrassed, but then danced around like a slightly crazy person while he played his hits and I sang along, which was rather like having Tim Freedman play in my own loungeroom.

After the set he congratulated me on Soy's award and I thanked him for the awesome show at the Basement a few weeks ago, so everyone went home happy.

resurfacing

Wow, I didn't actually expect that last post to be so portentous. It's a rare confluence of events that keeps me away from my blog for that long (indeed, in the six years I've been writing here, I think that may have been my longest hiatus).

Phew. 

Work has settled down and I have had a chance to breathe again. Aside from paid work, which all landed at once, I had an essay on Matisse's Bonheur de Vivre to write. Strangely this is a painting which I have seen and loved before, but the more I looked an analysed it, the less I liked it. Towards the end I was actually feeling like it was one his worst works, even though it is a considered a masterpiece of 20th century art.

The rest of the family have been chugging along as normal, helping me to get things done in between work. The kids finished up their term at school with Zac receiving a learning medal for all his achievements in his Infants' school career. His cello has been coming along a treat - he is much more dedicated to it than I had given him credit for. 

Nell has just been her usual bubbly self, spending a lot more time with her grandfather and complaining about the fact that I have to work on Mummy and Nelly days. I did manage to spend a few days with her, though, including one where she chose to go to the gallery to see the Archibald prize. She spent a lot of time in front of various paintings, sketching her impressions. 

Touring the gallery with Nell is an eye-opening experience. She is clearly attracted more to colour than to images - it often takes her a while to identify the subject of a painting - so she makes her choices on the basis of which colours go well together. She is much more interested in abstract and indigenous art than she is in portraiture.

Her choices were not always the most predictable...

Last night was Passover and we celebrated with the usual dinner at Simon's Mum's house. I think it was our best Pesach yet, because the children are all starting to really get into the story-telling aspects of the dinner. They are also learning the Hebrew songs which I still have difficulty getting my head around. I think it was also helped by Simon's Mum buying masks representing the ten plagues, including this corker modeled by my nephew Leo.

Last night was topped off with the Annual IT Journo Awards aka the Lizzies. Soy was nominated in three categories, I was nominated in one. I think that brought up Soy's total nomination count to 12, so it was about time he brought home a trophy! We arrived late, after the Passover dinner, just in time for Soy's final category to be called and to see him win. He got up, gave what has been widely acclaimed as the greatest Lizzie speech ever, and then proceeded not to get drunk or disorderly having planned a bike ride at 6am today!

I can't really explain how proud I am of Soy, not only for winning the award, but also for his graciousness about it. The IT journo community really rallied around him, with constant Twitter traffic last night and all day today, including the tweet that just popped up on my screen as I'm typing this from our friend David Braue "Special congrats to @ssharwood, the Martin Scorsese of IT journalism, for breaking his hoodoo at last during #lizzies7"

He is loved, especially here at Chez Baxwood.

The rest of the weekend is packed with plans to catch up with family (more family!) and perhaps even make it to the Royal Easter Show if we can summon up the energy on Monday.

Happy Easter gentle readers, I promise not to leave it so long between posts next time.