and so this is xmas

As others have put their feelings towards christmas down i shall follow. This has never been a happy time for me, filled with long memories of christmas past. In a previous life that is before we moved up here I had always been in casual labour hire employment. Usually by this time of the year the factories which i had been working in on a regular basis would have closed for christmas and therefore all income would have stopped. Yes I would have had heaps of overtime and therefore lots of money in the bank. but... usually by this time I would have registration on a car, insurance car and contents, plus I knew very well that sometime between 24th dec and 1st jan someone was going to come around and read the power, gas and water meters, therefore no money. So down to centrelink I would go, the hour long drive into geelong full well knowing that my regular job would go back in feb so that we would have money to buy food for christmas. Ahh the bad old days, always bleak. Thankfuly those days are behind us and while yes I have to work through the christmas and new year period I'd rather that than no money and no food for 2 months.

december

It is here again, time to take the kids on that 3 and a half hour trip into the big smoke and look at Myer's pathetic attempt to do a window display to beat melbourne. To ride the train around santa land. Wondering whether i should part with $85 for a smile that would serve as a mormen recruting poster, justifying why they dont do christmas? ahh yes i started doing this when we moved here. So i guess i will have to keep doing it, its all worth it in the end. Maybe no.2 might be able to hop on this year, who knows, the things we do for our kids let me tell you i would not have it any other way. So join me on this adventure the wonderful journey of parenthood.

advent

And this weekend is the start of Advent it is a time where we light a few candles and at the end someone puts the baby in the nativity scene (we catholics put the baby in after it is born, not before like others). Ahh the ignorant bliss i can sit back, stand when told, sit when told, kneel when told, kiss the ring and go home. Right... wrong, you see there is a little thing called Gods plan and what was gods plan? well so far it's meet a hot chick, hot chick gets pregant, children come along and children ask questions. Now the grandparents say that it is so much easier now days, back in our day... blah blah... whinge whinge.. You see you have it easy, all you have to do is google and all the answers are there at your finger tips. And so there 2 coloring sheets were found, so we could start teaching about advent, there are 4 candles and the white one but that does not count till the end. Three are purple, one is pink, the white one which goes in the middle on the 25 dec, this goes around a green wreath. Two purple are lit first, then the pink one on the 3rd week and the final purple one on the 4 week. The white one gets lit on the 25 of december to signify the birth, each candle has a meaning that you are too focus on each week. I would tell you what these were as they were printed on the candles to be coloured in, the problem is it was turned into a paper airoplane and number 2 hid has relocated it to a top secret loction only known to itself, that even james bond may struggle finding. But if you want to know what the meanings are google it.
p.s. we don't kiss the ring anymore, apparently things like coldsores and hep b can remain on the surface of the ring and this is why we don't kiss it. I do not find that one on google by the way, it was told tome by a bishop.

the bee

last Saturday our no1 child performed in her first performance i would say half the island was there to watch the kids preform i knew most of the people there i nearly missed it though lucky they were late starting it must have been a site with me running down the road at 5pm with a baby strapped to my front we both got there at 535pm i would have to say i did not recognise my own child with all the gear on my other half had to point out who my no1 child was how sad for me and that was after the performance when we got home we asked no1 child what was the best part the applause and the bowing at the end maybe a diva in the making let me tell you i will not be making any trips other then to Australia over seas to watch her get a gong like some other brave soles we know

connextions

we recently went on a trip down south to visit family and old friends it was nice to catch up with people that we have not seen for a while it was also good to get off the island and visit Australia taking the kids to the zoo and into town to see the big city and out to the bush and beach of our former home down there took some pics of heads to show liddy what i am talking about sadly it was not displaying its might on that day and looked rather still which will weaken my argument on mother nature fury interesting times were also had at work in my absent and i now thing others now have a understanding of what i do in there so now at least i am ready to be run into the ground again just in time for Xmas yea

lives of the saints

During mass today in order to control my number 1 child's behaviour I decided to start reading a book of saints. Now I realise that I should be sitting dutifully during mass listening to the wonderful sermon but with a hearing impairment (even though i have hearing aids) sometimes the priest can be difficult to hear. Mrs Bean has taken the book of saints off the bookshelf in our pathetic attempts to control number 1's behaviour, this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Therefore, there i was sitting there reading a book of saints and a few of these saints i was reading about have jumped out at me. Before i rattle off those names, I have decided to share some of my personal favourites. One I will start with is saint Robert,this was the saint i chose for my confirmation which is a catholic sacrement that we all have to go through. Robert was a simple man who lived in a monestry, he was friends with a hermit and they would often discuss heavenly mysteries. I still to this day remember sitting in that window with Father Casey bearing over me doing what an irish priest does best telling me it was time to make my decision. The other saints that i like is saint theresa of lisieux, she was a carmelite nun. The other thing that means alot to me is our lady of mt carmel. Getting back to our original topic which was the book i was reading our number 1 child the saint that jumped out at me was saint louise de marillac, saint joachim, saint boniface, saint helen, saint nicholas, saint john nepomucene and finally saint lucy. if you want to know more goggle.

how long will it be?

I came home from the office today to find some of number 1's toys in the sink, which leaves the question, how long will it be before number 1 and number 2 will do the dishes? vaccum the floor? clean the toilet? put out the rubbish? mow the lawn? fetch my slippers? get my paper? hand over the remote? and make my soup? Am i dreaming? Is this all possible? Maybe it is or maybe it isn't but there could be a glimmer of hope as i see that number 1 was washing some of her toys in the sink. That it could be possible that some of the above tasks could be done by number 1 and 2.
Nah Im just dreaming.

big day out part ii

i think that a good day was had by all we went out just the three of us we left Mrs bean at home so she could rest so leaving at 730am and getting there about 930am before the gates open no.2 is old enough to go on rides now so i took no.2 on some with no.1 both loved it we also looked at the animals as well no.2 loves birds it is interesting to watch the look of peace wash over no.2 face as no.2 looks and listens to there sounds and as usual the resident cerlew came over to say hi no.1 even asked to go into the dark were they keep the night animals as long as i held no.1 hand but once in their and no.1 eyes adjusted no.1 was all over the place look at this look at that it has taken some time to get no.1 to go in there now no.1 loves it by the time lunch came around no.2 was asleep we went to our favorite restaurant i had no.2 covered up in the carrier i went and got no.1 lunch then got mine sat down to eat and this little hand comes out from the Carrier and takes a chicken nugget off my plate then the other little hand comes out and takes a piece of pumpkin of my plate both disappears into the Carrier i take the cover off the Carrier and there is no.2 happily munching away on food so i go and get no.2 a plate also we eventually got home by 7pm with both very tired and ready for bed.

the big day out

i went to Australia for the day taking my two down south for a bit of fun as we have no car over there any more i had to take public transport while some find this a problem i think it is a relaxing way to get around. As we made our way around the system one of the buses we had to get went past the motorway now in my final checks before leaving at 730am i clicked on a news items about an accident at 530am on a certain bridge in this city which if anything happens on that bridge this city stops well the traffic was crawling the inbound to get on to the motorway was full as was the cars in suburban streets to get on as we approached our destination and got a final look at the inbound traffic it was still crawling as far back at that point at 930am. To get to work these days it takes a 30 to 40 min walk depending on my speed at that time of the morning and 25min to walk home with the singing of the birds to keep me company up and back (sometimes auntie liddy drives me home but i think i will have to stop that as i am to FAT for her car) This makes remember how lucky i am to be working were i am on an island with no traffic worries. it was not always like this my former routine was to join all thous people on the motorway and try to get to work it would go some thing like this would get up turn on radio hear that there has been an accident on that bridge i would race around get ready get in the car drive down to motorway get on and drive as far as i could before stopping and traveling at 10km an hour and get to work 2 or 3 hours later it was the same coming home. when i worked on a Saturday that motorway would get me to work in 20min so weekday 3hrs weekend 20min this used to make me mad why well when we were living down south it used to take me 2.5 hrs to drive from my home on the south coast to my job in the city hear it was taking 3hrs to travel 20min down two motorways as a result we moved to this island. and i changed jobs

will i ever move back?

A CD given to us by our Aunty Liddy has brought me back to this question which has been asked of us so many times since we moved here. While i do miss the sound of the waves crashing on the Southern coast and the movement of the heads, there are alot of things of the former life that i don't miss. The unpredictability of employment is the first to spring to mind, then there was the heat pump, the thick fog. The long drive which used to make no.1 batty (she did get used to it eventually) and how could i forget the south wind which would blow for 5 months of the year, icy cold air which used to wreck havoc on Mrs beans and no.1's health. Then there was the family who was not impressed with the tiny hamlet we were living in. So many things have improved since we moved here. While i never expect anyone to understand why we did it (they still don't i believe) but we did it for us and its worked for us, so we are staying here. Down there is great for holidays but i will never live there again.

chain of command

While the boss is on a long deserving brake how he can do that by staying on this island i have no idea but there it is leaving his ever trusty 2ND in charge running the place now i do admit no one has any respect for the 2ic but weather we like it or not the 2ic is the 2ic and we must respect that my guess is there must be about 5 people who think they run the place while the boss is away while they have not tried to tell me what to do the famous 5 have been bossing others around i think it must be because of my time in the service that i take the chain of command seriously the people are in there position's are there you can not try to override because you think 2ic does not know what they are doing events in the workplace that are occurring are not being handle appropriately at Meany levels. All i can say is i am glad that were i am in the business runs separate too the rest of the place and that the famous five would not dare try to tell me what to do

the sun never sets on the british empire

The British peoples release of the lockerbie bomber is an interesting but not unexpected decision, it shows great leadership and foresight from a proud nation as a subject in the borders of the British Commonwealth I applaud the release of a dieing man from prison to return to his homeland. What compassion and Christan decision making has been shown here, Britain has always had good relations with the Arab world and this will help that relationship. Despite terror attacks within its borders it has shown the u.s to look like bullies and heartless thugs from a supposed Christan nation. Are we seeing the end of u.s imperialism that even Britain itself is prepared to stand up and give the mighty u.s of a the one finger salute? So what that he went home to a hero's welcome the more the Arab world knows that he is free the more they will realise that it was great Britain who released him and that the united kingdom do not always do what the u.s tells it. Remember people that he (the bomber) will have to soon face god, for he is the final judge not us. God save the queen rule Britannia.

the big picture

and there they were protesting about having to have to pay to use the car park on the mainland among other things which i will get to, but first the car park. These people all 40 of them, now lets not forget there are 5114 of us spread over 4 islands that make up this group. There has been a meeting about this once before about this issue, on one side you have the state government and local council and on the other the community groups. I will start with the state government, our premier has said about these islands there will be no bridge, i am placing the mangroves in the national park to help fish breeding there, there will be no sewerage as the pipe might leak in the national park, islands are islands you have too expect that some things will not be available or made available on them. Our council having been pested time and time again over the car park issue put a proposal forward to turn the mainland car park into some sort of airport style parking lot user pays for it, well there was a meeting, 2 in fact one on one island in the morning and one on my island in the afternoon. Well if what we heard happened at the morning meeting happened the mayor, chancellor were threatened their kids were threatened, so i fully understand why our police service was at the other meeting in the afternoon with full riot gear at the back, the locals here said that the council was intimidating them. On the community side there are three groups all pushing in different directions all with their own agendas, i know their agendas, all three of them and i can say because of where i work that the majority of these islanders don't want what the three are pushing, but that for another time. At these meetings our mayor was told that the new car park that had been proposed was not good engouth (This car park option has the full backing of the state government) the council said to residents that they would look into it. Now remember what i said above about the state government, the council is as green as they come, anti development and will make life very hard for you if you want to build here. The plan being that you will get so frustrated that you go somewhere else. Anyway there was a state election which in a way was a referendum on the future of these islands and what did these people do, they went down to the poling booth and put this government back in office. In doing so they bent over and said please oh please keep kicking me up the back side, i like it. So the car park with its charges will be in place by June next year, whether we like it or not. Now for my big picture, the mainland car park is a mess, it is a disgrace, i for one feel for the people living around it. I remember a house being up for sale and looking up the pics, they tried to sell it as having water views, the agent photo shopped all the cars out. It was really funny how the area could look if our 5000 cars weren't parked there. It was up for sale for 12 months, it is now a rental. I have never been comfortable with the fact the the car park is next to a war memorial in a children's park it does not look good, something has to be done. I will give you my thoughts on it at another time.
discloser i am one of the lucky few that have a job on this islands and as such i no longer have a car over there.

our friend auntie liddy

well how did auntie Liddy come into our lives. Well i guess it all started when she got moved to the back area of the place where we work. She used to work on the white floor, she now works on the brown floor where i work. She slowly lost her white floor super complex(people who work on the white floor think their better than those who work on the brown floor). We would have religious debates in the cold room because there is no better place to discuss God then in 0 temp. So this Catholic vs Protestant batter would start. As time went on people soon worked out what we were doing in there so we moved this to our houses and Internet. Liddy has been over here a few times and my kids warmed to her instantly. We have also gotten to know liddy's mum and sister, ditz. They have put us onto home schooling, ditz has been pressed/ ganged into teaching my no.1 child how to sing. Interestingly enough was when our kids real auntie showed up and liddy came over to meet her. To watch no.1 drop everything and run over to her and gave her a cuddle. no.2 was crawling along on knees with arms open for a cuddle saying liddy liddy asking to be picked up was great to see. when ditz and her mum showed up, well lets just say the message was delivered to sil clearly. I don't think we will be seeing sil here for some time now, as sil seems to have been spurred to reevaluate some things by her visit, which can only be a good thing. Thank you auntie liddy we came to this island to get away from family instead we found one you, you are now part of ours too. Gods work is truly wonderful.

PS To liddy's mum (i know your going to read this lol) i was educated in a government school, we did not learn spelling, punctuation, capital letters etc etc so go easy on me OK, thanks.

in sicknes and in health

having a family can be rewarding and trying both at the same time we have moved around allot i myself have never lived in a place that has had more then 15,000 people we now live interstate from were we come from we have lived in the suburbs twice and both times we have fled back to the bush we now live on an island with less then 2000 people we like it hear my wife is a wonderful woman who despite my moving job changes stands by me we have had some trying times over the years grate times too 2 children that we love too bits (even if no. 1 drives us insane with the chatter) and a load of memory's that will live in my hart forever she has done well with both our kids. A good one is we lived in a place once were we would have to drive at lease 1 hour before you got anywhere no.1 child had come used to very long car trips due to lots of work by my wife to prep no.1 for long trips. Now days if we want to go anywhere we have to get a boat last year when we went to visit granddad no.1 having stepped of the plain and into the car arrived at granddads house looked worried at us both going "what about the boat don't we have to get a boat to granddads house?" my wife's answer to that question was well put as no one else had an answer for it. Both our kids have had xrays today you have sat through both of them you are a wonderful wife and i love you forever.

heres to you

well hear it is everybody i have signed my life over to blogger, you have all been asking me to do this so i have. Especially 1 person we will call liddy. So my ramblings will be put here for all to read and to come back and haunt me in any future political career i may have or not have, well this will do for a first post till next time.