Fin-tastic

I usually dislike blowing my own kids trumpet, but for now I will put personal preferences aside and go for it because today was one of my proudest mummy moments of 2011. One week in and already the boy is going up on stage to accept an achievement of award. He even got to shake hands with the Principal, much to his delight.

Now Don Barba is a head to impress. He knows ALL the kids names, always has a smile on his face and never seems to raise his voice, even when under obvious stress (which I witnessed during the registration process before Christmas). He's also a sociable wotnot and has already organised a series of parents picnics and events for school families, what a trouper.

Fin's certificate was for being 'kind and considerate to others and demonstrating a grown up and confident approach to school'. When I was a kid I'm pretty sure I was doing everything humanly possible to get out of going to school, whilst D was on the other side of the world vomiting at the front gates. So quite where he gets this keen interest in being institutionalised is rather beyond us. Not that we're complaining of course...

Well done Fin, we are a very proud house this eve :)

Show me the jobs...

It's becoming increasingly apparent that unless you're a skilled person or some sort of office support worker, finding journalism or PR work in Perth is tricky business. Three agencies have now returned my CV citing 'we're sorry but we don't have any jobs to match your skill set, please try again later'. The local papers 'don't hire freelancers' and most office jobs are about schmoozing with the higher ranking officials and keeping the stakeholders happy. Urgh.

Come over as a plumber, sparkie, builder, engineer or secretary (basically anything that compliments housing or mining) and the world's your oyster, but the creative industry's are appearing a little harder to crack - possibly because there are fewer of them and the companies that do exist are already full to the brim with happy, hard-working people.

How to overcome this dilemma? Well to be honest, I'm not sure. I'm a mum who realistically needs flexible working hours, but I'm also a worker at heart who adores writing, photography, churning out press releases and working for a worthy cause. What I absolutely don't love is being stuck in an office filing papers and waiting for the clock to tick that little bit faster so I can go to lunch/sneak out for a coffee/go home. Shame really as there are TONS of part-time admin roles that I could go for...but not to the detriment of my soul...

I need to start bringing some dollars in. What would you do??????

Inspired.

Today started off with a couple of hours of work whilst the lady went to nursery followed by coffee at Linda's - Lucy's mum, Enfield gal and new Mount Lawley buddy with a huge million dollar home on North St. I was flabbergasted and impressed by their obvious interest in design and gawped in awe at the amazing vintage furniture and beautifully designed pool. Naturally Bay didn't want to leave so I had a bit of a task to peel her away from the confines of luxury and back to our 'rubbish house' as she now calls it. Kids sure do have high expectations these days...

This arvo involved a trip to Aunty G to sort my crook neck out, I wouldn't exactly call it a relaxing massage but as the saying goes, no pain no gain right? I think she worked a little bit of magic during the half hour session and am hoping these darned migraines will now begone once and for all.

The Walcott Street house was nice but a little bit pricey for the space and had a strong whiff of divorce in the air (which the agent confirmed). So a big no no for us. On to the next one!

Lazy Sunday

Today was a typical lazy Sunday - lay in, DVD, coffee, trip to book shop, beach, home, veg on couch. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Inglewood soccer club where the finster was signed up to his first pro footie club. The $400 bucks registration fee made my shift around in my sandals a bit, but according to D it's a good investment - especially if he becomes as good as David Beckham. We have high hopes...


We've started looking at houses and are off to see a little gem of a pad on Walcott Street tomorrow. It's close to school, is decked out beautifully and has a neat little plunge pool out back - perfect for those days when it hits 40 degrees and you need a quick cooling fix. It's way above our price range but hey-ho who cares, you have to aim high in this life right?

Grub's up!

Last night involved a trip to the South of the river to Glenn and Bec’s for the third in the latest line of monthly dinners. We were treated to roast lamb, asparagus, veggies and some of the most delicious miniature meringues I’ve ever tasted…this spread will take some beating! It’s our turn next so we’ve got quite a bit of prep to do. It’s turning into a bit of an informal Come Dine with Me, all we need are a few number cards (easy), some open honesty (errr yeah), a token drunkard (there’s usually several) and we’ll be golden J

On a different note we discovered a fab new pool today with flumes, a wave machine and outdoor inflatables, much to the kids delight. It’s been great to watch them increase in confidence – Fin has started launching himself into the water whilst Bay is constantly attempting to swim at every given opportunity.  My brother in law is scheduled to swim around Busselton Jetty tomorrow (all 3.6k’s of it) so perhaps with continued perserverance they’ll be as good one day.

Good luck for tomorrow Kim!

The Travel bug

I've picked up some real gems from the library of late, the most recent being Stephen Scourfield's book, Western Australia: An Untamed View. He has this amazing, instinctive ability to capture places and people in their natural environment and has explored each and every corner of the state (all half a million k's of it) to create his fantastic collection of images.

Thanks to Mr Scourfield, I now have a nice big long list of places to visit - Wave rock, The Bungle Bungles, Kelly's Knob, Denmark, The Capes, Geraldton, The Treewalk, Broome - all of which shall be transferred to the itinerary sometime soon and no doubt push the Green machine to its maximum capabilities. Speaking of which, the engine has become a little rattly of late and we had a suspicious water leak coming from underneath. This car is one big ball of bad karma, an exchange is on the cards soon methinks...

How much was that Lexus Hybrid again?

School begins!

Here we are at last - a new school year, a new teacher and lots of new faces for Fin to get to know. He leapt out of bed at 6.45am this morning and embarked on a full grooming routine to ensure he looked his best for his big day. Neat little socks, gel in the hair (he's rocking the slick Elvis look today), teeth cleaned, t-shirt buttons done up to the neck. It's funny watching him fuss over those little details that many kids of the same age miss - perhaps he'll be an architect or some sort of designer when he grows up...

Mrs Jasper was lovely and helped him find his seat. Next door buddies are Aoife and Matthew - both lovely kids and about a foot shorter than the boy. Papa Dave also came along to see the new day in and wished him 'the best of luck with the good looking sheila' - ie. Aoife - sat next to him. Naturally I had to suppress a little snigger...I completely see where my husband gets it from.

So all that remains is to wish my beautiful buddy the best luck in the world for his new school life. I feel excited, happy and relieved that we have an element of routine back into our lives and I know he feels the same...now to get the lady settled and we're home n dry. School rocks!