Life on the hill: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Thank you

Image credit Well, this is a little embarrassing. I was very surprised to receive an email the other night notifying me, that one of YOU, my lovely readers, nominated me for the Best Australian Blogs 2013 Competition. This is an initiative of the Australian Writers' Centre. The People’s Choice Award is now open. Which means YOU can now vote in the competition until 5pm on Tuesday 30 April 2013. While the entrants to the competition needed to be Australian, voting...

Affirmation art doodles

Playing along with Trish for wordless Wednesday My Little Drummer Boys Posted with Blog...

Branded.

There are some dates that are branded into my brain. Seared into the soft tissue, a deep, dark ugly scar. 21 March is one. 18 October 2013 is another. The first is the man that is my fathers birthday. The second - the day he is eligible for parole. It marks 9 years that he has been in prison. 9 years from when 12 complete strangers believed me and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment for the abuse he committed against me. How did that nine years go so fast? Why is the monster...

Looking for fairies and unicorns, when all I can find are ogres and trolls

It's strange the things that trigger me. I'm still surprised when it happens. The come back from where the nightmares live is quicker, but the residual feeling of general irritability remains. Aston handed me this morning a worksheet that requested information on significant events that have occurred in his life, starting from age 1 through to 5. My initial reaction was to freeze, and dive into refusal to participate. A 100 images and memories played through my head in microseconds, none of them...

Doing the chicken dance while hat juggling

(Product Review - this is not a sponsored post. I was gifted a $50 voucher. Opinions are my own. Authentic and with integrity.) When I had children I made the decision that regardless of their sex, they would be self sufficient when they left home. And that means being able to cook something other then toast! Laura can cook independently, but doesn't particularly get enjoyment out of it. Nathan needs a little supervision and guidance with some dishes. He is building up quite a repatiore of...

23. Art workshop with a new medium

Ticking another thing of my bucket list. I have started watercolour classes, a medium I have wanted to learn for ages. In a beautiful piece of serendipity a man came into the shop I'm working at looking for something. We got talking and he informed me that he teaches water colour classes, that are just up the road from me, on a Monday, and at a price that can't be beaten! It's lovely to be using a new medium, and learning a whole lot of fundamentals in the process as well. While I have no desire...

Hat Juggling

Image Credit This is what the week before I started working, and the week of, looked like. Week before: Nathan gets cranky because he will not be able to play soccer, as I work on Saturdays and will need him to look after Aston on that day. The fact that he is getting paid to do this doesn't seem to matter. A whole lot of "it's not fair" "this sucks" "I hate my life" are heard. Loudly. The washing machine breaks down, my to my delight. On informing Laura, her response is, "Well it had better...

I added another "hat" to my wardrobe.

When I fell pregnant with my first child in 1995, I was the Supervisor of Operations, Financial Services, St. George Bank. I even had a business card, and an office. My first. I loved my job. I had started at St. George when I was 20, as a teller, and then moved to head office, working as a administration clerk in first the Visa department, then the Financial Services Department. I quickly worked through the ranks - first 2-i-c, then Supervisor. Falling pregnant wasn't in "the plan"....