The Briars

It was the long weekend in June and the little man and I had been down the beach house and I thought we should do something different on our way home.   I decided to go and check out The Briars in Mt Martha as I have been going to the Mornington Peninsula since before I was born and have never been.  Plus they had pony rides and face painting as well.

We arrived to a beautiful and tranquil setting with wide open spaces, three different nature walks, a café, visitors centre and a restaurant further up the hill. 

We waited in line for the pony ride and when it was the little mans turn he decided he didn’t want to go on the ride so we wondered off to the old trolley that was there and he happily played on it for about 20 minutes. 

We then went into the visitors centre and had a look around it and read the history of the place – very interesting indeed.

We walked up the hill to the carriage that sits there and the little man received a leg up and played in this for about 15 minutes.  The perfect winter’s sun on the day made it all the more stunning.

After this he decided that he wanted to go on the pony ride after all so we went back down the hill to this area and he had short 5 minute pony ride on buttercup and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

It was a lovely detour for about 1 hour and will definitely go back as we didn’t do any of the walks and would love to take a picnic lunch there as well.

Aftermath of an Autumn park visit

The little man and I decided one sunny Autumn morning to go to the park for a break in the mundane routine.  He happily played with other ‘best friends’ he made and was having a ball running around and expending the energy that I wanted him too!  As park time was nearing an end he decided to go down the slide!!

I thought I had warned him not to as it had rained over night and the plastic slides were wet, but if I had he chose to ignore his mothers advice and down he went.  He came up to me and said “I got wet pants.”  I thought he had had a toilet accident but realised it was all on his bottom and not the front.  Slide accident to the max.  Time to leave and take off his pants in the car and travel home in his wet undies; luckily it is only about a 3 minute drive.

Too be young and carefree again……

Wet undies

look no pants and love my gumboots!

Karma Reversed??

Well here are the details of my car accident I mentioned the other day.

I did a favour for my previous place of employment and worked some additional hours as they thought they were going to be left high and dry when I left.  I organised my mum to come and look after the little man and do kinder drop off.  I worked for 5 hours and wanted to get home in time for the little man to arrive home from kinder.

Now this may have been my down fall but in reality I am calling it Karma reversed!!!  I did the right thing and said yes to the additional hours for work and then driving home I had the accident.  I say it is karma reversed as I would never have been on that road on that day if I had not said yes to working.

Driving along and I hear a horn beep; normally I wouldn’t look as I knew I hadn’t done anything to deserve it but for some reason I did and when I looked back the car in front had stopped suddenly and BAM! Up the back of them; no damage to the eye of their vehicle at all as he did have a tow ball fitted!!!

I'm not sure if it was the impact of the accident or the air bags going off as well but it made a hell of a lot of noise at the time.  I will say that the seatbelts in Kia’s work exceptionally well as I hardly moved.  The smell of the airbags was not as pleasant as I actually though there was a fire in the car as that is what the airbags once deployed smelt of.  Plus the horn kept going off randomly which was extremely annoying as I kept thinking someone was tooting me!!

Funny thing was that there was another accident that had occurred 30 minutes prior to mine in exactly the same spot!  The two guys were waiting for a tow truck and laughing at me as it was a mirror image of these.  They were annoyed though as their radiator was leaking fluid whereas mine only had a few dents in it.

Looking at my baby there was only panel damage, spider web crack on the windscreen and the airbags but it is taking FOREVER to get repaired and I think I will be lucky to have it back before the end of next month! (sad face)  I am currently driving my parents 1980’s land cruiser truck and hating it as it is so heavy, no automatic anything and no CD player let alone an input for my iPod!!!!  It is amazing how lazy we become even with our cars as I had auto lights, keyless entry, heated seats and the list goes on……  no such luck in this car!!!

Bring my baby back to me in the same shape as I purchased her 13 months ago with not many extra kms on the dial or further damage.  A girlfriend’s parents took their car to the same panel beater and they damaged the other side of their car whilst fixing it and didn’t mention it to them they noticed it and had a go at them.  Dodgy brothers indeed.

Head on



Poor car



The Truck!

Homemade gifts

Here is the little man painting some gifts for nanna for “Mothers Day.”  This just proves my point that I have been off the airwaves for a long time.

We made a coaster out of icy pole sticks and then he painted it.  The best part of this little project was that he got to eat an icy pole every night as we had to get the ‘perfect’ stick before adding it to our little pile. 

I realised after we had given the gift to mum that I should have sealed the paint either with a sealer or maybe even clear nail polish as I am sure the first time she puts an ice cold glass on it the paint will run or end up on the bottom of the said glass.

He then did some general and finger painting and on the finger/hand painting I wrote a poem on it after it was dry called My Handprint.  Unfortunately I don’t have an image of this as I did it the morning of and straight into the car and off we went. 

It is hanging at nanna’s house in the exact same spot where she used to hand my brothers and my artwork from kinder and school.  Good to see some old habits never die. 

Where has 2 months gone?

I just realised that I last posted on May 6!!  That is nearly two months ago.  So much has happened in-between drinks, no I mean posts! 

I had a car accident and still don’t have my baby back and I’m hoping it will be here before the end of July but not holding out much hope.  I will explain all in another post and pictures as well of the damage.

I have changed jobs and starting to settle into my new job share role with a girlfriend of mine.  We work a 5 day fortnight so one week I work 2 days and the following week 3 days.  Still trying to get my head around all the new processes and data but seem to be settling in quite well.  Again more in another post as I need to start writing again.

More issues with the little man’s father and that is doing my head in.  I’m lucky I have the will power to only have 1 glass of wine, when a bottle is open, and not the entire bottle at times!!!  A little teaser for you, the little man had gastro the other week and he vomited in his dad’s car on the way to his house.  When I arrived to get him the next afternoon waiting on the doorstep for me was the car seat, clothes and Pooh bear all soiled from the vomit the previous night.  What sort of parent and step parent doesn’t clean up vomit???  The mind boggles, well mine does anyway.

I’m starting a new exercise training program tomorrow and very excited about that as need to loose the baby weight from nearly 4 years ago.  Looking forward to doing something different and for me for a change and I have never seen or heard of this training method but results are meant to good.

Another girlfriend has just told her husband that they are over so trying to be  a shoulder for her and some advice of what to do and what to look out for.  I don’t have all if any answers for her but can only tell her about my experiences and I was never married!

Keep your eye out for some upcoming posts as I really want to get back into this as it is solace at times for my well being and a venting outlet as well.  Although I do try to not do this that often as no one wants to hear about my woes.

Feels good to be taping away at the keys again, hope you enjoy hearing from me again as well.

FOOTY

On Sunday we went off to see Carlton vs Melbourne at the iconic MCG.  Catching the train into Richmond station as much easier than driving and we haven’t been on a train in ages so that was a fun element for the little man.

At Richmond station we met up with my friend Bevan, also a Carlton supporter, and the little man was very excited to see him and couldn’t stop jumping on him and running around him like a headless chook.  Up to the G we walked all the while the little man talking about nothing of great importance but didn’t want the adults to exclude him.  Mind you he was very polite as every time he interrupted he said “excuse me Bevan” and then prattled on about nothing.

We got seats on the bottom stand and we could see Captain Carlton on the boundary line so Bevan wandered down there with the little man and the next thing I could see was Bevan taking a photo and the result is below

First off the little man was thirsty then he was hungry and didn’t want any of the food I had packed for him.  I offered hot chips which was met with a resounding yes and I’ll get them with Bevan you stay here scenario.  Off they went to purchase some hot chips and the game started. 

The little man was not overly interested but clapped with the crowd be it  for or against Carlton and at times even yelled out “go Carlton go” which seems to be his catch cry these days. 

By mid-way through the second quarter we had hit our limit.  It was a late starting game than normal 3.20pm instead of 2.40pm, so I was not surprised by his lack of enthusiasm and attention span of zero. I said we would leave at half time in a minute; mind you there were another 20 odd minutes to this time!  Naughty mum, for telling her son a little white lie so that she could stay and see more of the game.

Half time came and we said our farewells and walked back to the station for the train ride home.  After waiting in the biting wind on the station the train finally arrived 30 minutes later and we got on and sat near a couple in their 60s.  The little man proceeded to talk to them and then made the lady make all these animals from the newspaper!  There was an elephant, then a monster, a snail, a snake, a butterfly and finally a dinosaur.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of these ‘creatures made from the newspaper’ but it did keep him entertained for the 25 minute ride home.  Got to love strangers – at times of course….

Good Read

I do enjoy a good biograph and have read some really interesting ones over the years.  I saw this at the library the other day and decided to give it a read as I love the TV show, even though I don’t have foxtel and haven’t seen an episode since a friend taped the wedding!!  Sad I know….

Anyway this was better than I thought it was going to be and mentions the OJ Simpson case a fair bit as she and her first husband were extremely close to OJ and his wife Nicole. 

I also have a lot of admiration for her and the way she and her ex-husband maintained a great and loving relationship even though they were no longer a couple and she had remarried.  All for the sake of their children and I guess the love they had for one another at another time in their lives.

It made me think about my situation and that I know I will never be able to show that kind of relationship to my son as his dad is not the forgiving type and is out there to ‘get me’ or belittle me at every corner.  I know this will never change which is a great disappointment for my son, but it comes down to the way his dad wants to behave towards me.  I wish for the little man’s sake we could have a better relationship ,unfortunately this will not occur as he is still bitter about his first ex-wife and they have been divorced for years!!!

It can’t be healthy to hold on to such resentment and to portray this onto the children involved as it doesn’t do them any good to have one parent bad mouthing the other on a constant basis.  It is not of my concern as I have enough things to concern myself about rather than worry about his attitude towards me; don’t get me wrong sometimes I am stressed and upset beyond belief with the things he says and does to me but I can’t change it and have to keep moving forward as hard as that road is at times.

I do applaud Kris Kardashian for the way she has lived her life for her children, especially in the earlier years not necessarily later in life and the train wreck of a TV show that kept us all coming back for more.

If at all possible have a pleasant relationship with your ex for the sake of your children’s wellbeing and health and to show them what a relationship should be like.  After all it is all about the child and not about the parents.