I'd like to post that I've achieved something so far this month, but I haven't.
Alastair has had both his school days off sick this week. He's going to school tomorrow, but Evie has to stay home from daycare. She's not acting sick but has spots of some sort so, since chicken pox is going around, I'm keeping her home to be safe.
Today, Garry was home sick too.
My deadline is on Monday. Emma's birthday is on Saturday, as is her party. I need 30 cupcakes for school on Monday, and 15 for the party. The in-laws are coming to visit on Sunday for E's birthday and the house is a mess even by my standards. Breaaaaaaathe.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Public transport and children (Day 3)
I read an interesting article today.
It's an American article, but applicable to many of us living in suburban Australia. Obviously access to decent public transport is a privilege, but I've sampled the public transport systems in Sydney, Brisbane/the Gold Coast and Adelaide, and have extensive experience of Perth's public transport system, and I would venture to say that most people in most suburbs have enough access to public transport to use it occasionally, at the very least. The more people use it and demand better services, by the way, the more likely we are to get better services.
Some points the author made that I really liked, or drove home a point:
- Cars discourage exercise. If I could hop in a car and drive whenever I felt like it, I probably would, even if I had good intentions. Since I don't have that option, the children and I get our 30 minutes of physical activity a day just doing the school runs. A short return trip on public transport with 5-10 minutes' walk at each end equals 20 to 40 minutes of walking without going out of your way.
- Air inside cars has significantly higher concentrations of carbon monoxide than the air directly outside of them.
- Cars are more deadly than any disease or other threat, and far more dangerous than buses or trains. When traveling to school, a child is eight times safer on a bus -- even without belts or boosters -- than in a car. Even when you factor in extremely rare instances of crime on transit, buses are still the safest way to travel on American roads. (I'm sure the statistics here are not vastly different.) This is a huge one for me. I've been flamed on the internet before for taking my kids in a taxi, occasionally, when we get 'stuck' somewhere, without carseats. Flamed by people who, without even thinking about it, put their children in the car for at least ten journeys a week (thinking of an average schooling family who drives to school, this doesn't even allow for weekend or evening outings). Obviously, both of these situations have risks, but at least I make this decision - maybe once every few months - aware of the risks and having exhausted other options.
On a lighter note, most of the time the public transport trips are great fun for my kids. Sometimes it's a challenge, sure, but this is often due more to poorly planned elements of the transport system, rudeness from fellow passengers, or rudeness from bus drivers, rather than simply the fact that we are not in a car. And in a few years, I'll be able to send the kids off on the bus by themselves, a long time before they'll be able to drive themselves! (And $50 on a SmartRider electronic bus/train ticket will go a lot further than $50 worth of petrol, let alone the costs of purchasing and maintaining a car, so I can give them the financial means to greater independence, too.
Why public transportation is good for kids
[...] My husband, Adam, and I live in Seattle, in a (somewhat) dense, (fairly) walkable neighborhood. We have two children, ages nine months and (as of today) three years. We enjoy books and brunch and basketball. (Actually, we enjoyed basketball before David Stern and Clay Bennett stole our team, but that's a topic for a different column.) We visit the Science Center and the Children's Museum and, weather permitting, lots of beaches and parks. We attend church on Sundays. We practically live at the library. Oh, and we don't own a car. On purpose.[...]
It's an American article, but applicable to many of us living in suburban Australia. Obviously access to decent public transport is a privilege, but I've sampled the public transport systems in Sydney, Brisbane/the Gold Coast and Adelaide, and have extensive experience of Perth's public transport system, and I would venture to say that most people in most suburbs have enough access to public transport to use it occasionally, at the very least. The more people use it and demand better services, by the way, the more likely we are to get better services.
Some points the author made that I really liked, or drove home a point:
- Cars discourage exercise. If I could hop in a car and drive whenever I felt like it, I probably would, even if I had good intentions. Since I don't have that option, the children and I get our 30 minutes of physical activity a day just doing the school runs. A short return trip on public transport with 5-10 minutes' walk at each end equals 20 to 40 minutes of walking without going out of your way.
- Air inside cars has significantly higher concentrations of carbon monoxide than the air directly outside of them.
- Cars are more deadly than any disease or other threat, and far more dangerous than buses or trains. When traveling to school, a child is eight times safer on a bus -- even without belts or boosters -- than in a car. Even when you factor in extremely rare instances of crime on transit, buses are still the safest way to travel on American roads. (I'm sure the statistics here are not vastly different.) This is a huge one for me. I've been flamed on the internet before for taking my kids in a taxi, occasionally, when we get 'stuck' somewhere, without carseats. Flamed by people who, without even thinking about it, put their children in the car for at least ten journeys a week (thinking of an average schooling family who drives to school, this doesn't even allow for weekend or evening outings). Obviously, both of these situations have risks, but at least I make this decision - maybe once every few months - aware of the risks and having exhausted other options.
On a lighter note, most of the time the public transport trips are great fun for my kids. Sometimes it's a challenge, sure, but this is often due more to poorly planned elements of the transport system, rudeness from fellow passengers, or rudeness from bus drivers, rather than simply the fact that we are not in a car. And in a few years, I'll be able to send the kids off on the bus by themselves, a long time before they'll be able to drive themselves! (And $50 on a SmartRider electronic bus/train ticket will go a lot further than $50 worth of petrol, let alone the costs of purchasing and maintaining a car, so I can give them the financial means to greater independence, too.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Day 2
I was going to try and actually do something interesting to post about, but Alastair is home sick so instead I'll share a picture of him asleep on the couch:
He almost never falls asleep during the day - it's a sure sign he's not well. That and the fact he feels like I could fry an egg on his forehead. I did manage to find a thermometer and take his temperature on Sunday evening: 39.4 degrees. I haven't treated it because he isn't actually acting very unwell, and isn't complaining of pain. So I will let the fever do its work. That and I think I threw out our bottle of children's Nurofen because it expired: that's how little we use it. Obviously I'd go and buy some if he needed it, and luckily for me there's a 24-hour chemist 10 minutes down the road.
Half of me is a little concerned it may be chicken pox. We had a suspected case at kindy the week before last, apparently it is hard to diagnose in a vaccinated child (as the child in question is) because it presents differently. None of my children are vaccinated for chicken pox, so we'll see. I keep checking his back and tummy for spots.
Here's a cute one of Evie, she was wearing her Hallowe'en costume, but you can't really see it. I made her ladybug wings that just go on like a cape - red velour from my stash, with black spots from scraps of the skirt I cut down for Emma's costume. Then she just wore red and black clothes. She was eating a dog bone meringue at our local bakery.
He almost never falls asleep during the day - it's a sure sign he's not well. That and the fact he feels like I could fry an egg on his forehead. I did manage to find a thermometer and take his temperature on Sunday evening: 39.4 degrees. I haven't treated it because he isn't actually acting very unwell, and isn't complaining of pain. So I will let the fever do its work. That and I think I threw out our bottle of children's Nurofen because it expired: that's how little we use it. Obviously I'd go and buy some if he needed it, and luckily for me there's a 24-hour chemist 10 minutes down the road.
Half of me is a little concerned it may be chicken pox. We had a suspected case at kindy the week before last, apparently it is hard to diagnose in a vaccinated child (as the child in question is) because it presents differently. None of my children are vaccinated for chicken pox, so we'll see. I keep checking his back and tummy for spots.
Here's a cute one of Evie, she was wearing her Hallowe'en costume, but you can't really see it. I made her ladybug wings that just go on like a cape - red velour from my stash, with black spots from scraps of the skirt I cut down for Emma's costume. Then she just wore red and black clothes. She was eating a dog bone meringue at our local bakery.
Monday, November 1, 2010
NaNoBloMo!
Thanks to the inspiring examples of Emma @ My House Smells Like Vanilla - who brought up the idea of NaNoBloMo - and April @ A Day in the Life, who did Blogtober, I am going to attempt to blog every day this month.
So, what's happening?
1. I've also signed up to Wardrobe Refashion this month, as we're trying to rein in the budget and I keep buying new clothes for the children. NO new clothes for the kiddos or me for two months. They have heaps, so I don't know how much refashioning I'll need to do, but I do need a pair of shorts, which I am going to attempt to make from scratch.
2. I made/improvised the children some costumes for Hallowe'en. We don't really *do* it here, but there were a couple of free local kids' events on, so I figured why not? The costumes cost me a total of about $6 and we gained a couple more items for the dress-up box. Pics to follow!
3. Christmas is coming. I need to make a pudding and cake soon, the old-fashioned way where you leave them to rest for well over a month. Most of the presents for the kids are either already hiding at home or on lay-by, so we're not doing too badly there.
4. I have a deadline for a 5000-word calendar, next Monday. Hmmm, this working from home thing is trickier than I thought.
One post down, 29 to go!
So, what's happening?
1. I've also signed up to Wardrobe Refashion this month, as we're trying to rein in the budget and I keep buying new clothes for the children. NO new clothes for the kiddos or me for two months. They have heaps, so I don't know how much refashioning I'll need to do, but I do need a pair of shorts, which I am going to attempt to make from scratch.
2. I made/improvised the children some costumes for Hallowe'en. We don't really *do* it here, but there were a couple of free local kids' events on, so I figured why not? The costumes cost me a total of about $6 and we gained a couple more items for the dress-up box. Pics to follow!
3. Christmas is coming. I need to make a pudding and cake soon, the old-fashioned way where you leave them to rest for well over a month. Most of the presents for the kids are either already hiding at home or on lay-by, so we're not doing too badly there.
4. I have a deadline for a 5000-word calendar, next Monday. Hmmm, this working from home thing is trickier than I thought.
One post down, 29 to go!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Yum, yum!
This afternoon we nibbled on some blueberries from the garden. We only have one small, young bush, so it's not exactly a harvest, but there are a handful ripening at a time, which is very exciting for the little ones. Maybe I should get some more of these (the Nellie Kelly variety) as it's so rare for me to grow anything successfully! Although, looking at that website now, possibly my efforts were helped by our unusually cold winter this year.
Currently, I have yogurt cheese draining on my kitchen bench. We get 10L of raw milk a week, and I think this will be a good way of using up any left over at the end of the week. Some weeks we use it all easily, others, like this week, we have quite a bit left over. I'm planning on using it where I'd use cream cheese or ricotta - both of which are pretty expensive if using a whole tub, so that's another advantage.
Currently, I have yogurt cheese draining on my kitchen bench. We get 10L of raw milk a week, and I think this will be a good way of using up any left over at the end of the week. Some weeks we use it all easily, others, like this week, we have quite a bit left over. I'm planning on using it where I'd use cream cheese or ricotta - both of which are pretty expensive if using a whole tub, so that's another advantage.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A great giveaway
(Not on my blog, someone else's.)
Check out the giveaway over here at Handmade by Carolyn to celebrate her one-year 'blogoversary'. Carolyn hails from my fair city of Perth, and I admire her style and the garments she churns out seemingly effortlessly! One day I aspire to be able to sew so much of my wardrobe myself.
Check out the giveaway over here at Handmade by Carolyn to celebrate her one-year 'blogoversary'. Carolyn hails from my fair city of Perth, and I admire her style and the garments she churns out seemingly effortlessly! One day I aspire to be able to sew so much of my wardrobe myself.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Efforts at gardening
I am a really bad gardener, but I do try. At our house, it is very frustrating trying to do so. The soil is extremely poor, and the layout doesn't work for me at all. Plus, there are a couple of large overhanging trees that we need to get professionally trimmed, so there is insufficient sunlight in most areas (nice and shady to sit in summer, however).
The kids and I have been trying to grow a few things in pots instead. I will try and get the garden landscaped when we have sorted out renovating the house (hah! So maybe never at the rate we're going).
Here are our results, in this lovely spring weather.
Alastair's dwarf lemon tree:
It's really dried out over the past few weeks and I need to nourish the soil.
Emma's blueberry bush:
A little pot of mint:
The kids and I have been trying to grow a few things in pots instead. I will try and get the garden landscaped when we have sorted out renovating the house (hah! So maybe never at the rate we're going).
Here are our results, in this lovely spring weather.
Alastair's dwarf lemon tree:
It's really dried out over the past few weeks and I need to nourish the soil.
Emma's blueberry bush:
A little pot of mint:
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