Image via Wikipedia

After seeing Julia Gillard on the TV every day recently my baby, all of 5 years old, has declared she will be Prime Minister when she grows up.  No ifs or buts, it will just be so.  I love that confidence in kids that they can be and do whatever they choose, barriers be damned.

She’s obviously put a bit of thought into it and has a few policy ideas already.  So here’s your scoop.  Remember, you heard it here first.

Me: Why have you decided to be the Prime Minister of Australia?

Future PM: Because you get to be the boss of Australia and make all the rules

Me: What sort of things will you do when you’re Prime Minister?

FPM: I’ll make more hospitals so sick people can get better and I’ll put more carriages on the trains.  What else does the Prime Minister do? (she seems to have the right idea)

Me: Well, they try to make the whole country run better.  They make decisions about schools and roads and laws and how to spend the government’s money.

FPM: How do they make all the buildings?

Me: They don’t make the buildings themselves.  They talk about how they want it to be and then get some builders to make them.

FPM: Oh, so the government doesn’t do anything.  They have lots of meetings and talk about stuff and then someone else does all the work.

Me: Ummm, yes…

FPM: I’ll be good at that! (yes, she definitely understands what it’s all about. I’m so proud)

Over the weekend we took the kids down to Geelong’s waterfront for a bit of a wander.  It’s only 15 minutes from home and on a mild day, like it was on Sunday, it’s a fantastic place for a stroll.

I always kick myself when we do get down there.  We should take advantage of it much more often than we do.  It’s the old not appreciating what’s on your doorstep thing, I guess.

Anyway, the kids got to run, play, eat icecream and be held over the wall of the breakwater.  Hubby and I got some fresh air, a few minutes to ourselves and the fun of listening to the kids scream for their lives as they were held over the wall of the breakwater.  All good.

If you’re in Geelong with some time to kill, I absolutely recommend a visit to the waterfront.  It’s a beautiful part of our city.

This week sometime, I’ll have a post about it on Australia: Family Style.  Stay tuned.

A strange thing happened to me on the weekend. I felt a sense of calm and clarity that has been missing for a long time. I opened my computer and did a search for some decorating blogs.  Can you believe it?  I can’t!

I haven’t had an inkling of decorating urge for the longest time.  At least 5 years, and that’s a generous estimate.  I’ve had 74 lime lane in my reader for a little while, but have been just glancing over the posts.  Well on the weekend, I did a dig deep into the archives there.  Oh, the cuteness and inspiration.  I spent far too long immersed in etsy.  I even subscribed to Martha Stewart’s blog for goodness sake!

Then I went to the library and borrowed some decorating magazines.

It’s all very weird.  But nice.  I feel like I’m ready to tackle the mundaneness of the house and finally put a stamp on it.  Finally, after years of just cleaning up and making it look presentable, I’m inspired.

rsinner via flickr

Even more remarkable is I took action.  Yes, I finally found a use for the cute white frames that have been sitting in the corner of the study for 2 years.  I’ve printed out the images from this post and arranged them (very artistically, if you don’t mind) in the girls’ room.  I hung a mirror in there for them, too for a bit extra pizzaz.  Who would have known that all it took to get them out of my bathroom was a mirror on their bedroom wall?  I should’ve done that one a looooong time ago.

So here’s to my new decorating urge.  I don’t know how long it’ll last, but I’m going to enjoy it while it’s here.

Image via Wikipedia

As far as school holidays go, the last 10 days have been pretty reasonable.  We didn’t get to go away in the caravan, but we’ve had sleep in’s aplenty (if you count 7am as a sleep in), a few nights in the country, fun outings and even a party.

Here I was thinking to myself this morning, as I lazily made a coffee, that I could handle permanent school holidays.  No pressure in the mornings.  No running around after school.  And for the most part, the kids aren’t too sick of each other.  The girls had made up a new game “Healthy Kids” where they spent all day on the trampoline and only ate healthy food.  I was patting myself on the back for a job well done.  This is how it should be.

Then someone flicked the switch.  The five year old turned nasty.  Whingy, whiney and obnoxious to boot.  Were did all the good times go?  After so many good days, I was surprised how quickly it got to me.  But there I was bargaining with my husband to swap places this afternoon.  I would gladly lock myself away in the office and do whatever it is he does, rather than deal with the snooty kid.

Am I wrong to give up so quickly?

On perhaps the coldest day yet this year we piled the whole family into the car and headed for a footy ground out in the middle of the country side for The Engineer’s under 10′s lightening premiership.

While the girls were brushing up on their World Cup skills the boys were displaying their brutish strength.

Then it was on to the serious business of footy.  The boys obviously believe in the merits of flooding.  They practiced it all day.

Here’s the forward line:

and the back line:

It was all very exhausting but great fun.