LATCH KEY KID

WORKING MUM v STAY AT HOME MUM

 As I was born the youngest of five children, I guess I was the one that broke the camels back.  The family obviously must have been struggling financially as all I can remember is my poor Mum working most of my childhood.

Firstly she became a kindergarten assistant.  Yes, thats right at the kinder I attended and guess what, as a result I was kept down an extra year so she could spend time with her baby. With this I was always the eldest in my grade which I hated as the other kids thought I had been kept down and picked on me.

So after having spent two years at my Mum's kinder, my first day of Preps was started by being driven to my friend Laurel's house.  Laurel's Mum took the two of us to school which was very kind of her but at the time I hated it because I wanted my Mum to take me for the first day of school.  I remember being so upset that at morning recess Laurel and I decided we had had enough, so started walking home.  Unfortunately the canteen ladies caught us and took us back to our teacher.

When I was in the younger grades I remember always going to a friends house after school until Mum arrived home.  When I was in about grade two or three I hated school so much I pretended to be sick so I could go home.  Mrs. Rowlands a friend of our family used to take me to her house which I loved, so this made me do it all the more. She had a large family also and I was treated like another daughter. During the school holidays and when I was sick our neighbour Mrs Anderson would mind me and she used to take me on outings.

After Mum finished working at the kinder, she then started minding two little boys for a doctor in South Yarra.  Mum didn't have a license so went everywhere by public transport. I enjoyed going there to play during the school holidays, then my eldest sister would pick us up and drove us home. Mum also looked after another doctors little girl every now and then.

As I grew older when Mum was working I had to come home to an empty house.  I was so scared thinking every little creak was a monster coming to get me. We had bushes out the front which I hid in sometimes for safety.  I had a very vivid imagination.  I think it was shortly after my eldest sister was married that Mum stopped working at South Yarra, then had a few odd jobs around the local area.  This was good as she was home after school for me and I was safe.

When I started secondary school Mum looked after two children from the local primary school in their home.  So I would walk there after school most nights and we would catch the bus home at 6.30pm when their parents arrived home.

Being a latch key kid made me determined not to do the same to my children.  Bruce's Mum was a stay at home mum, so I was fortunate enough to be at home for when my children arrived home from school with their afternoon tea waiting.  It was the time we shared all the news of their days adventure at school. I always looked forward to the school holidays to spend more time with them and go on outings. The only down side I lost all my work skills and wasn't able to get back into the work force until 2005 BUT I wouldn't change it for the world.

LAKE GUTHRIDGE SALE

The last day of Bruce's holidays we wanted to make it special, so we headed towards Sale for a picnic.On the way we stopped at Moe Mcdonalds for refreshements.  Bruce had a cup of tea and I had an iced mocha frappe which was delicious.

We arrived at Sale and headed for Lake Guthridge where we found a lovely spot for our picnic.  This time we did remember our sun cream and our dorky hats.  We had some birds hanging around making a strange squeeling noise but they didn't want our food. They kept pulling up grass blades and eating the roots, they were fascinating.

We enjoyed a nice lunch of rolls and cup of tea followed by fruit.  It was so relaxing as if we were on a deserted island by ourselves, although we could see factories over the other side of the creek and there were so many people either walking or jogging around the lake.

All good things must come to an end, it was time to pack up and head home.  We stopped at Yarragon for a cold drink, then arived home about 7pm to cook a bbq for dinner and back to our everyday routines.

remember slip slop slap

When we went for our rye picnic we forgot proper sunhats and sun scream. Just remembered the important things of course...food and drink lol!

Anway this is what happens when you forget.

Poor Papa

Silly Nanny

Ouchy!

RYE PICNIC

 Whilst Bruce was off work for the week we decided to go for a drive towards Red Hill for a picnic. Obviously we took the wrong road and found ourselves at Flinders Beach firstly.  It was a really busy day there and we couldn't get a table, so continued on our way.

We just headed off without a definite destination.  An hour later we came to Rye beach where we found a nice table overlooking the beach near the boat launching ramp. Bruce unpacked and set up all our picnic gear. Whilst we waited for the kettle to boil I had to pay a visit so went for what I thought was a short walk to a prettily painted toilet block.  As I approached I could see the door were padlocked, then saw a sign saying another ammenties block is 200 metres either way.  I thought I have come this far so might as well keep going further away. Boy did I pay for this with my stupid hips.

Anyway I arrived back at the table after my long hike and the kettle still wasn't boiled.  So I started making our sandwiches.  finally we had a cup of tea to go with our lunch.  NOTHING LIKE A NICE HOT CUP OF TEA!  We watched several boats being launch and some people daring to wade into the water. It was obviously cold as they yelled out in agony. There was a lone pelican wandering up the beach but surprisingly neither of us had our cameras which was disappointing.

After lunch we packed up our picnic, put it back in the car and got our cameras.  Bruce suggested we walk down the pier which I hate at the best of times.  Every step the pier creeked , so I held on tightly to Bruce and said if it collapses he will have to rescue me as I don't swim. He kept reassuring me it will be fine. We finally arrived at the end where there was a family fishing.  One of the men caught a small gummy shark but threw it back in.  Didn't kiss it though lol! I sat down on a seat for a little while to give my hips a rest whilst Bruce had a good look around.

Then we headed back down the creeky pier, I was so glad to arrive safely back on the beach. Phew! As we approached our car I noticed a sign saying the carpark is a paid carpark area. OOps! Luckily we didn't get a fine.

We drove home along the beach road which was very pretty and decided after seeing the family fishing we would buy fish to bbq for dinner. It was delicious.

Bruce wore a bucket hat whilst we were at Rye but we both forgot to slip slop slap.  Both of us suffered with really bad sunburn.  Ouch!

PAPA'S PORRIDGE

How do you have your porridge?

When I was a little girl my Mum or Dad would make porridge for breakfast and we would eat it with a lump of butter in the middle so it would melt, sprinkled with sugar and milk on top. It was so delicious and I thought that was the way everyone ate it. I still prefer to eat it this way.






I used to watch the add on tv for John Bull's porridge and the little boy saying 'thats not how you make porridge.' in his scottish accent.






As my husband Bruce is a shift worker he quite often doesn't eat until lunch time, then has a huge bowl of porridge. He makes it in a lot of different ways depending on how he feels. Sometimes he adds grated apple or stewed apples,  other times bananas and sultanas. Then when it comes time to eating it he either adds yoghurt, honey or maple syrup and eats it without milk.

We had our eldest granddaughter Amelia living with us when she was first born. When she went onto solids it was a treat for her to sit up with Papa and enjoy a bowl of his porridge. Everyday she would look forward to Papa's porridge. A few weeks ago she was at school when her family came for lunch and her brother Joshua had a bowl of Papa's porridge. She was so upset when she knew she had missed out. All the grandkids seem to enjoy eating Papa's porridge as if its a secret ingredient. I remember making it for Amelia one day but it wasn't as good as her Papa's of course.

So how do other families cook and eat their porridge?

BOO!

My eldest daughter joined a group called pay it forward where you make something within the year for three people. I liked the sound of this so thought before I commit myself to it I will do a little experiment.

My worst subject at school was sewing. All my classmates used to breeze through making garments whilst I sat there struggling, hating every minute of my time in class, which also made me hate the teacher. So I have never really indulged in sewing anything and cringed if anything needed repairing or even a button stitching on. When I saw Jen sewing recently making presents for Jacks little friends it gave me the inspiration to create something.

hand stitching

I had some cow print material which I had bought for my car seats. So decided to try making a cow of course as I am so obsessed with cows. I came up with an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look and thought I need a door stop to prop the front door open.

So I started cutting the body first which I tacked together. I dragged my sewing machine which Bruce bought me when we first married out of the back of the cupboard. (He had high hopes for me. lol!) Away we go, zoom.....the top looks ok...but the bottom is all gathered. Oh no what to do??? so I asked Jen if I could use her machine but kept stuffing it up. I was almost ready to give up thinking sewing isn't for me when I decided to use my mother in laws old faithful. Yay it works and sewing is fun after all. The body part finished now for the head. I could visualise how I wanted it to look but how to cut it outs another thing. I actually found myself in bed at night dreaming about it. Then VOILE it all came to me.

Woops, stitched my thumb!

Whilst Bruce was on the computer I spent my time sewing. Some parts I hand stitched as they were too dificult to machine stitch. OOps! Can you come and help please Darling, I've sewn through my thumb. We both had a good laugh about this and Bruce couldn't resist taking photos.

The head

Anyway I continued on my first sewing adventure and finished the head part. the next step was to stuff it and weigh it down with something. Bruce bought me some jasmine rice for the weight as he thought it would smell nice. I bought a bag of stuffing but ran out. Luckily I had virtually a draw full of old panty hose so used those as well.

Ta da!!

I was very impressed with my end product and are now eager to start on another sewing adventure.

Finishing touches...her footy scarf, Go Saints!!

only feels like yesterday I was rushing around having my hair done and getting ready for my wedding. when my brother came to drive Dad, my niece and I to the church felt like the longest wait of my life. He drove past our house so we could have a look at it and fill in some time.
walking down the isle on my Dads arm to meet my future husband was nerve wracking with everyone staring at me, as I was really shy in those days. we listened to the minister and took our vows but he didn't say anything like you may kiss the bride. so we did anyway.
after leaving the church we had heaps of photos taken, then my brother drove us to my sisters for the reception. after that we left for our first night together as husband and wife.

The following day we caught the train to Sydney for our honeymoon. We thought we heard an announcement that we were stopping at moss vale for 10 minutes, so got off to stretch our legs. We both decided to go to the toilet, when I heard the train departing. I ran out yelling to B to hurry so we could run to catch the train. It was too late. All embarrassed we went into the ticket masters office where is asked us a million questions. BUT WHY WOULD YOU GET OFF THE TRAIN TO GO TO THE TOILET WHEN THERE IS ONE ON THE TRAIN??? We were worried about our hand luggage whether it would be in Sydney when we arrived. the station master managed to get us seats on a suburban train which seemed to take forever to arrive in Sydney.

It took ages to find our luggage when we arrived then we caught a taxi to our motel. boy it was a real eye opener with cockroaches and a dead rat in the oven. great start to married life. we ate most of meals in a lovely little cafe downstairs.
One day we went for a walk and I said that's a nice shop, going to step inside. B quickly stopped me as it was a brothel. Oops me being so naive didn't know about those things.
Anyway we enjoyed our honey moon with lots of exploring around Sydney and trips on the ferries. the week went way to fast. We arrived home to a lovely surprise of our house set up nicely by B's parents.

We both had another week off work before we returned to work.

Yesterday was our 31st wedding anniversary. Wow that sounds such a LONG time. I think we have done well to reach that milestone but hopefully there will be plenty more years in this old girl and boy yet.

I will fill you in on what has taken place during the 31 years some other time.
bye for now L :)

Everyone seems to be getting into blogging lately, so I am feeling left out. After reading both my daughters blogs and future s-i-l as well as other peoples it made me want to do a blog also. So I have decided to start my own blog to see how I go. Let me know what you think and any suggestions would be appreciated.