I cannot believe that J is 23 months old.
One month until he's 2.
Where did the last 2 years go??? Don't answer that - a good chunk of last year was well and truely a write-off, as much as I tried to be conscious of J's growth and development while one stressed-out mamma about Mr Trifectagirl.
His favourite things at the moment are his wooden train set, water, baseball set, water, Fireman Sam, Lazy Town, Thomas, Giggle and Hoot, chasing mum with a spray bottle full of water, ice (frozen juice or frozen oranges or strawberries), bathtime. This kid is a water baby.
Party plans are in full swing. We're going to the same park as last year since it gives options for older kids to run around - and I suspect J will only stop long enough to inhale some cake that a friend is making for us, and get back into playing himself.
Gift wise he goes up to the toddler room at childcare on his birthday, so he'll get a new bag and hat on his birthday. I also want to get him a sand pit, but that will have to happen later with grandpa's help.
Other gifts I've been told about are an easel, bathtub stickers, a quilt cover set and some size 2 clothes - and since it looks like he had a growth spurt Saturday, he'll be in them sooner rather than later, I think!
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
New Years Organising Revolution - Week 2
This post is part of an organising contest that I'm participating in through I'm an Organizing Junkie.
Please vote for me from Friday - it's the one labelled "39 Trifectagirl". Thank you!!
I missed week one. I'd planned to work on my desk, but that just got a bit too much last week.
This week the challenge area is the kitchen, so I chose to organise my utensils drawer. I had sorted through my counter-top caddies just after the kitchen renovations, but not tackled the drawer yet.
I've had a pretty good double decker drawer divider/utensil holder for a number of years, so organising in this case was simply a case of 'empty, purge and allocate a home for what's left'.
My starting point was this jumbled hodge-podge mess.
J loves pulling things out of this drawer, so I had already removed most of the knives (but I happened to find a few I'd forgotten about at the bottom of the pile). I found multiple citrus zesters, pizza cutters, items I have no idea what they are, a chestnut cracker and 3 carving forks over and above my grandmother's good set.
I grouped things together, such as salad servers, useful but not used often (on the bottom rack!), skewers, spatulas and measuring spoons and long or chunky items.
I've decided I need to get one of these dividers from my cutlery drawer. I'm using the moulded one that came with the kitchen, and realised tonight after doing this sort out that there is a bunch of wasted space in the existing set-up.
In the drawer I worked on, and my top one, I found a bunch of tea and hot chocolate items, so I bundled them together and have stored them in a glass mug with the tea and teapots.
One thing I stumbled on in the drawer was a tea-bag squeezer, which I had forgotten I had. I've stored this in the jar of teabags that sit on a lazy susan on my bench with the rest of my every-day coffee/tea making things.
This was a pretty quick project - if I'd not also done 2 loads of laundry and folded them, I'd have achieved the sort and this post while J was doing this:
I missed week one. I'd planned to work on my desk, but that just got a bit too much last week.
This week the challenge area is the kitchen, so I chose to organise my utensils drawer. I had sorted through my counter-top caddies just after the kitchen renovations, but not tackled the drawer yet.
I've had a pretty good double decker drawer divider/utensil holder for a number of years, so organising in this case was simply a case of 'empty, purge and allocate a home for what's left'.
My starting point was this jumbled hodge-podge mess.
J loves pulling things out of this drawer, so I had already removed most of the knives (but I happened to find a few I'd forgotten about at the bottom of the pile). I found multiple citrus zesters, pizza cutters, items I have no idea what they are, a chestnut cracker and 3 carving forks over and above my grandmother's good set.
I grouped things together, such as salad servers, useful but not used often (on the bottom rack!), skewers, spatulas and measuring spoons and long or chunky items.
The top layer is things like can openers, garlic press, microplane and peelers. Since finishing this and cooking a meal, I've done a bit of tweaking putting the microplane to the side and the nutmeg/ginger grater fits at the front of the divider.
I've decided I need to get one of these dividers from my cutlery drawer. I'm using the moulded one that came with the kitchen, and realised tonight after doing this sort out that there is a bunch of wasted space in the existing set-up.
In the drawer I worked on, and my top one, I found a bunch of tea and hot chocolate items, so I bundled them together and have stored them in a glass mug with the tea and teapots.
One thing I stumbled on in the drawer was a tea-bag squeezer, which I had forgotten I had. I've stored this in the jar of teabags that sit on a lazy susan on my bench with the rest of my every-day coffee/tea making things.
This was a pretty quick project - if I'd not also done 2 loads of laundry and folded them, I'd have achieved the sort and this post while J was doing this:
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Things I've Been Meaning to Do - 2013 plan
Previously I've done monthly 'Things I've been meaning to do' posts, and since I found them really useful to keep me moving on all those things I've been meaning to do, I'll resurrect them for 2013.
This list are things I've been meaning to do in some cases for years that I'd like to knock off in 2013. Many of these I can set smaller goals during the year on a month by month basis to get them done.
*The montly 'Things I've Been Meaning to Do' originally came from I'm A Lazy Mom.
This list are things I've been meaning to do in some cases for years that I'd like to knock off in 2013. Many of these I can set smaller goals during the year on a month by month basis to get them done.
- Make photo books of the photos I have of my mum and step-dad. I've got piles of baby and childhood photos, so I'd like to get them organised and published into photobooks. Only been on the list for 4 years or so.
- Finish J's baby cross-stitch. He's nearly 2. I need to get it done. I don't want it to be like the table cloth my mother started crocheting when she was pregnant with my sister in 1976. It was left unfinished when she passed in April 2008. By unfinished, there is one square to finish and and two to connect to the tablecloth!
- Sort through my filing cabinet. This is just a general maintenance task that needs to be done, but something I tend to avoid.
- Sell the stuff I've been planning to sell for ages - some of this also dates back 4 years.
- Tidy up the couch grass in my yard. It's invaded the garden beds and since I have good edging, I really should get in and clean it up. This will be a winter job when the ground is hopefully softer.
- Re-paint all the trim around the outside of the house, a job that is well, well overdue. I may use this as an opportunity to update the look.
*The montly 'Things I've Been Meaning to Do' originally came from I'm A Lazy Mom.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
New Years Organising Revolution
Some of my online friends have pinned/blogged etc about this link-party, and it looked interesting so I'm going to give it a go. It's not a blog I currently read, so will add it to the collection.
I've started sorting through some of the non-sentimental of Mr Trifectagirl's things (training calendars, manuals for long-gone electronic equipment and the like), so this will help with that process. As I clear, I can re-organise the space.
I've started sorting through some of the non-sentimental of Mr Trifectagirl's things (training calendars, manuals for long-gone electronic equipment and the like), so this will help with that process. As I clear, I can re-organise the space.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Seasonal Run-Around
I've made it part-way through my first holiday season without Mr Trifectagirl.
I'd hoped to be able to keep all the things Mr Trifectagirl and I did last year with J, but some I decided against on practical grounds. And of course best laid plans and all that...
I'd hoped to go to our Zoo's member picnic held on the first Sunday in December, like we did last year, but just wasn't up to dealing with J on my own in that environment. It is at least a two-adult event at the moment. Instead we went to our church's annual street party which directly clashes with the picnic.
On December 14th, which was the 6 month anniversary of Mr Trifectagirl's passing, I had hoped to take J to see a particular light display we went to last year - I'd really like it to become a tradition of that's what we do that day. But of course the stress of the anniversary had me sick with bronchitis and sinusitis. My sister, her 10 week old son, J and I finally got there on the 21st.
The anniversary was hard - I was sick, over-tired because J was sick, and work circumstances lead to a massive amount of pressure. So not so unexpectedly I had a melt-down and am now on a 3 week break (it was only going to be 10 days) to recharge.
Also on December 14th our Elf arrived. I must say, having to only come up with 10 hiding ideas makes this a good date to choose! After a couple of days J got the concept and started looking each morning for where the elf had moved to. It was cute to watch him check the last couple of places before he found it. The elf is still unnamed - we'll do that next year.
One of my uni crowds had our usual pre-Christmas catch up on the weekend before Christmas. J loves water so was happy as a clam once he figured out the slip-n-slide that was set up to deal with the 39C temps. The next morning he also started copying one of the older children's bowling action.
Christmas Eve was spent catching up with friends and J performing in the church children's nativity. Unfortunately for me during the rehearsals he discovered the organ niche, so kept making a bee-line for it. We usually sit up the back, so there are plenty of people to catch him if he makes a break for it one Sunday!
Christmas Day started with pancakes and gifts for J- he was rather spoilt, but I kept it relatively in check with the 4 gift rule of something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. His stocking had a bit more stuff in it, and I won't go as overboard next year. The Christmas morning church service was followed by a lovely long lunch - once my MIL's access cab showed up.
Boxing Day my sister and I brought forward our usual "get each other tickets to a musical" gift and went to see Les Mis. Both loving the musical, we enjoyed it, but also had some critiques.
Last night I caught up with a bunch of girlfriends and another friend on his biannual trip home from London over dinner. Good food, good company and a lovely night all up. Topped off with J staying at the grandparents place, so I got to sleep in!
I just have New Years Eve to get through now, which will be spent with friends. Then I start the first calendar year without Mr Trifectagirl.
I'd hoped to be able to keep all the things Mr Trifectagirl and I did last year with J, but some I decided against on practical grounds. And of course best laid plans and all that...
I'd hoped to go to our Zoo's member picnic held on the first Sunday in December, like we did last year, but just wasn't up to dealing with J on my own in that environment. It is at least a two-adult event at the moment. Instead we went to our church's annual street party which directly clashes with the picnic.
On December 14th, which was the 6 month anniversary of Mr Trifectagirl's passing, I had hoped to take J to see a particular light display we went to last year - I'd really like it to become a tradition of that's what we do that day. But of course the stress of the anniversary had me sick with bronchitis and sinusitis. My sister, her 10 week old son, J and I finally got there on the 21st.
The anniversary was hard - I was sick, over-tired because J was sick, and work circumstances lead to a massive amount of pressure. So not so unexpectedly I had a melt-down and am now on a 3 week break (it was only going to be 10 days) to recharge.
Also on December 14th our Elf arrived. I must say, having to only come up with 10 hiding ideas makes this a good date to choose! After a couple of days J got the concept and started looking each morning for where the elf had moved to. It was cute to watch him check the last couple of places before he found it. The elf is still unnamed - we'll do that next year.
One of my uni crowds had our usual pre-Christmas catch up on the weekend before Christmas. J loves water so was happy as a clam once he figured out the slip-n-slide that was set up to deal with the 39C temps. The next morning he also started copying one of the older children's bowling action.
Christmas Eve was spent catching up with friends and J performing in the church children's nativity. Unfortunately for me during the rehearsals he discovered the organ niche, so kept making a bee-line for it. We usually sit up the back, so there are plenty of people to catch him if he makes a break for it one Sunday!
Christmas Day started with pancakes and gifts for J- he was rather spoilt, but I kept it relatively in check with the 4 gift rule of something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. His stocking had a bit more stuff in it, and I won't go as overboard next year. The Christmas morning church service was followed by a lovely long lunch - once my MIL's access cab showed up.
Boxing Day my sister and I brought forward our usual "get each other tickets to a musical" gift and went to see Les Mis. Both loving the musical, we enjoyed it, but also had some critiques.
Last night I caught up with a bunch of girlfriends and another friend on his biannual trip home from London over dinner. Good food, good company and a lovely night all up. Topped off with J staying at the grandparents place, so I got to sleep in!
I just have New Years Eve to get through now, which will be spent with friends. Then I start the first calendar year without Mr Trifectagirl.
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
Family for Christmas
About 6 years ago the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence program had Rosanne Haggerty as a Thinker in Residence.
One of the results of her program was the establishment of Common Ground properties in South Australia, and later across Australia. Common Ground provides access to a solid period of stable accommodation to homelss, as well as low-income access, giving them a stable base to then progress to study, employment and the private accomodation market, either as renters or home-owners.
Christmas Day I drove past one of the properties between Church and lunch. As I drove past, I saw a man probably in his 30s or 40s walk out of the gate with some older people. From the distance it really looked like this was a family get-together for Christmas.
As I headed to my combined extended, step and in-law family lunch, it was heartwarming to think that I'd seen possibly the someone's first opportunity to host the family Christmas gathering.
I happen to work at Adelaide Thinkers in Residence, and although Rosannne's residency pre-dates my employment, it was fantastic to see on Christmas Day what the program I work for can lead to.
One of the results of her program was the establishment of Common Ground properties in South Australia, and later across Australia. Common Ground provides access to a solid period of stable accommodation to homelss, as well as low-income access, giving them a stable base to then progress to study, employment and the private accomodation market, either as renters or home-owners.
Christmas Day I drove past one of the properties between Church and lunch. As I drove past, I saw a man probably in his 30s or 40s walk out of the gate with some older people. From the distance it really looked like this was a family get-together for Christmas.
As I headed to my combined extended, step and in-law family lunch, it was heartwarming to think that I'd seen possibly the someone's first opportunity to host the family Christmas gathering.
I happen to work at Adelaide Thinkers in Residence, and although Rosannne's residency pre-dates my employment, it was fantastic to see on Christmas Day what the program I work for can lead to.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
The Power of Choice - My Outsider's Response to Sandy Hook
All the discussion and debate around gun control following the Sandy Hook massacre appears to be saying that the President and the Government must do something. The opposite side is raising the second amendment and the right it enshrines to bare arms and opposing Government dictating their lives (as Aussies would say, the Nanny State).
I'll hazard a guess there are a large number still remaining silent, or are conflicted.
One strategy I've not seen or heard to date in Australian media, and the limited US media I see is the use of personal power, corporate power and the power of the dollar in the choices that individuals and corporations make.
Gun buyers have the power of choice.
They can exercise their power through the choices of what and where to buy. They can choose not to purchase firearms and associated ammunition such as were used in this shooting, and decline offers when sales assistants ask ('Do you want fries with that?' NO). They can make the choice 'I will not buy from a store that also sells X, Y and/or Z types of firearms'. Another is 'I am willing to fore go a purchase until I find a store that fits this criteria'. And I will tell stores WHY I am not buying from them.
Anyone who already owns these type of weapons have the choice to freely relinquish them to authorities.
Non-gun buyers have the power of choice.
They can exercise their power through their choice of who they spend their money with. They can choose not to support corporations that have any role in the retail of, or manufacture of particular types of weapons. Gun buyers can also exercise this power.
This power is no different than ethical shopping decisions some may make in terms of animal cruelty, environmental concerns or human rights/labour concerns.
There's one week till Christmas, probably with lots of shopping to be done.
Dollars talk.
Corporations have the power of choice.
CEOs, Managing Directors, Boards can say 'effective immediately, we will no longer stock X, Y and/or Z weapons' and instruct stores to remove them from the shelves by the end of the day; They can install a purchasing policy - 'we will favour suppliers across our range (firearms and non-firearms) who do not manufacture these types of weapons'.
On-shore manufacturers can choose to remove these types of weapons from supply to retailers, deciding to supply only to Government (military, police and so forth).
Pawn shops, second hand retailers and so forth can choose to no longer accept or stock these types of weapons.
One blog I read called for mothers to march on Washington to demand change in legislation. Change in government purchasing policy can also be lobbied for. Corporate headquarters can also be marched on to demand change to purchasing and stock policies.
In incredibly simplistic terms, if no store in America stocks the weapons - either through choice not to stock, lack of supply, or it's no longer profitable to stock them- no one in America can legally buy them (subject to existing legislation on the direct second-hand market).
Change without a single piece of legislation in sight.
I'll hazard a guess there are a large number still remaining silent, or are conflicted.
One strategy I've not seen or heard to date in Australian media, and the limited US media I see is the use of personal power, corporate power and the power of the dollar in the choices that individuals and corporations make.
Gun buyers have the power of choice.
They can exercise their power through the choices of what and where to buy. They can choose not to purchase firearms and associated ammunition such as were used in this shooting, and decline offers when sales assistants ask ('Do you want fries with that?' NO). They can make the choice 'I will not buy from a store that also sells X, Y and/or Z types of firearms'. Another is 'I am willing to fore go a purchase until I find a store that fits this criteria'. And I will tell stores WHY I am not buying from them.
Anyone who already owns these type of weapons have the choice to freely relinquish them to authorities.
Non-gun buyers have the power of choice.
They can exercise their power through their choice of who they spend their money with. They can choose not to support corporations that have any role in the retail of, or manufacture of particular types of weapons. Gun buyers can also exercise this power.
This power is no different than ethical shopping decisions some may make in terms of animal cruelty, environmental concerns or human rights/labour concerns.
There's one week till Christmas, probably with lots of shopping to be done.
Dollars talk.
Corporations have the power of choice.
CEOs, Managing Directors, Boards can say 'effective immediately, we will no longer stock X, Y and/or Z weapons' and instruct stores to remove them from the shelves by the end of the day; They can install a purchasing policy - 'we will favour suppliers across our range (firearms and non-firearms) who do not manufacture these types of weapons'.
On-shore manufacturers can choose to remove these types of weapons from supply to retailers, deciding to supply only to Government (military, police and so forth).
Pawn shops, second hand retailers and so forth can choose to no longer accept or stock these types of weapons.
One blog I read called for mothers to march on Washington to demand change in legislation. Change in government purchasing policy can also be lobbied for. Corporate headquarters can also be marched on to demand change to purchasing and stock policies.
In incredibly simplistic terms, if no store in America stocks the weapons - either through choice not to stock, lack of supply, or it's no longer profitable to stock them- no one in America can legally buy them (subject to existing legislation on the direct second-hand market).
Change without a single piece of legislation in sight.
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