last rites, bits and bites

i have had a recurring dream throughout my life. i'm wandering aimlessly around my high school looking for, but not finding my classroom. every time i turn the corner and look up the stairs the view is the same as the last corner and staircase i just turned and climbed. 'tis like something out of David Bowie's Labyrinth -
you remind me of the babe. what babe? the babe with power. what power? the power of voodoo. who do? you do? do what? remind me of the babe...
and round and round in ever-increasing nightmarish circles.

so this afternoon i popped into town to negotiate the university campus. egads. i'm so thankful for lovely smiling peeps who greeted me at all the info desks and gently decoded fine print for this blondie. and i start classes on monday - in the correct lecture theatre.

so today was Bulldog's last day at skool. he sent me an email on wednesday to ask if i'd make a Big Fat Chocolate Cake for his speshal morning tea shout for all the teechahs. but i couldna make a Big Fat Chocolate Cake big enough for fifty peeps. thank God for my cupcake angel who spent three hours yesterday, helping me to bake and ice eleventy billion divine cupKATEs -

lime and chocolate, and passionfruit and cream cheese.

everyone absolutely adored them - i am quite the celebrity!!!

of course ya can't have just one Leaving Party - there's another plan hatching for the after-school-drinkies. Bulldog's partner-in-crime was gonna dash out at lunchtime to get his hair cut and dyed blonde and his ear pierced (like BD's summer manoeuvre) and get them matching tshirts. uh - serious *cringe* factor. i do hope someone takes a photo...

bikini babes

today at the beach you leaned over and grabbed my hand as we lay in the sand and we were leetle girls again, sharing souls and sunshine and poetry and petit paris snapshots and all our guts and garters and i found myself unbelieveably thankful for all the history and family memories and sisterness that we share.

more fabriKATEd handmade goodness and other stuff

other stuff first - we had a blast rockin' out to Dave et al last night. DannyBoy and Bulldog scored a job crewing for the concert - sweet. free tickets then!!! and Bulldog souvenired Sam some guitar picks during the after show stage pack down - guitar picks held by Dave, the Oppers and Anika. totally awesome - Sam is in muso heaven today.

roight then - photographic evidence - and captions... ya want captions? ohk - just the photos then.




(alright - if ya are desperate for captions, get thee on facebook lol. i can't be in two places at once. anyway, facebook is the new blog. closely followed by twitter. yep.)

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handmade goodness - rather a catch up. Woozie's newest thing to do with jeans is stuff 'em with beans. self-embroidered jeansy beansy goodness right there. (oh i still need to take photos - will do that in daylight lol)

i am still stuck in a timewarp making jeans into bags - here's the latest cutie for our luffly girlfriend Laura - pinky goodness right there.
and some baby handmade goodness - my auntie made me a stack of these when i was preggie with DannyBoy - washable baby wipes - made from deliciously soft baby muslin - they are definitely in The Organic Mummy Category. these little cuties are for my lovely friend Jaimee - who's ready to pop any day...

is it a bird? is is a plane?

nope, it's a Flying Sambo - complete with Gandalf cape.
but i'm thinking it could be a bird or a plane at that altitude.
(photo credits - Granny)

i just got my first uni instalment today. my eyes have already glazed over.

what to do? what to do?
too easy. choose the Second Hardest Thing in my head- and procrastinate negotiating moodle (yeah - wtf?) for the virginth time.

yep, i spent all afternoon with mum helping me to arrange these completely gorgeous fabrics
and cut out the templates for them (plus eleventy billion others) for Katie'sCrazyFebruaryQuilt.
it's her birthday today - and still she willingly does maths for me.
that's love X

nutting off

just a wee head-empty. i nearly hit the wall this morning at the gym, metaphorically. i have been there too many days in a row, pushing too many weights. and lots of negative things are now going around in my head re: not enough swimming/running training for the triathlon - countdown - a little over two weeks. i tried all the head tricks this morning but ended up not completing all the sets. and my body hurts.

so here is a beautiful thing to fill up my head with.
it was part of my first evah global swap, original artwork by lizard who lives in america - it talks of adopting her daughter into her family tree. for me it symbolises A New Life, and so i have hung it over the dining table, in the heart of our home -
one day this year i hope to make a huge canvas to hang there. my muse is simmering, just like the morrocan pumpkin soup and chocolate birthday cake in my kitchen cos - countdown - a few minutes - Danny and Mum and Dad are arriving for a six day weekend! and then we'll wave Danny off to uni for another slashing year. it's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since i started my apron-strings obsession. i think that this year i'll graduate to apron-skirts.

refabriKATEd

my wardrobe is full of jeans and singlet tops and a few tshirts and two hoodies. which is probably why mick's teacher looked aghast/aghastly/whatever at me yesterday when i 'fessed i am heading for forty - she thought i was thirty. *grin*

maybe my wardrobe needs to grow up? not my katie-is-a-mummy wardrobe, or my katie-is-a-student wardrobe: my katie-is-a-teacher wardrobe. cos i'll be needing one of those soon enough, and there is currently a sum total of one seventies hippie dress and one sunflower skirt, both of which fit me in odd places and not in even places, if ya know what i mean.

enter last night's 90-minute-skirt moment. yep, that's an hour and a half from go to woah. i started with my favourite vintage sheet.
i cut out a semi-circle and a dropped waistband sash thing and two ties. kind of like an apron then. actually i cut a pattern off this skirt that nik had bought recently.
i'll say that again - *i* cut a pattern off something!!!
and i didn't faff it up. i even managed to ninja the circular hem. all by my onesies. ohk, with a late-night-text to my sewing fairy.

but wait, there's more!!!!!
(oh how i LOVE *two for the price of one* deals)
not only is this a skirt, it's about eleventy billion dresses too!
talk about yer instant wardrobe.

sunshine all weekend

surely there cannot be a three word phrase any more beautiful than "sunshine all weekend"? oh, well, "i love you" and "you've won lotto" are pretty cool too, although the third has never been heard by me. i found my muse with louise's necklace late on friday night. it was one of those moments when i threaded up everything perfectly first time.
usually there is alot of rethreading to get things perfickly perfect, but not with this necklace. fifty brilliant turquoise (louise's fave colour) fire-polished glass beads are interspersed with "twos" glass seed beads which symbolise her two children and/or louise and hubby.
wouldn't you know it, the first thing that louise did when we arrived at her party was to put her new necklace on!!! ya can't see it, but the clasp has two deliKATE hearts on it, cos the birthday party was on valentine's day.
yep, i took the kids camping and left Bulldog home to write another essay. how romantic is that? oops.

Week Two - Pile Up Who?

ha! it rhymes.

KNOCK KNOCK
who's there?
PILE UP.
pile up who?

hahahahahahahaha - it cracks me up every time.

i've been having a TGIF moment all day.
so it must be time for a celebration of The Good Things In Our Life.
hi, i'm Katie. i'm a school mum.
t-o-d-a-y.....
i awoke at six and decided to fold the Three Day Washing Pile Up.
cleaned up last night's dinner too.
2 loads of washing done and out.
kiddos rooms sorted.
lounge and living area squaaaaared away.
folded clothes put away.
vacuuming done.
(everyone else is far too exhausted to do housework - BD is teaching 34 hours a week plus running around like a Blue Arsed Fly all his other responsibilities)
kids dressed and lunchboxes filled and happily on their way with a few sweet words about How To Handle The Spelling Test.
i am still so quizzical about The Constant Evaluation Inside The Classroom.
b-r-e-a-t-h-e.

300m swim with Triathlon Buddies - swam all the way.
mostly breast stroke, little freestyle, but feet did not touch the sand.
or the sharks/stingrays/jellyfish.
because there aren't any.
i had My Margot's Magic Wetsuit On for protection, just in case.
home for tin of tuna, wash and comb the dreadlocks outta my hair.
back in the car with espresso and pear.
to the pool to teach some of Mick's classmates to swim.

off for a run.
forty minutes WITHOUT STOPPING, her morning elegance in my head.
(ninja comments, anyone? ha. it's my longest run to date. must be over 5 km. bit slow but made it all the way without dying in the midday sun. what's that about Mad Dogs and Englishmen..?)
banana and stretching. loads of water.
back at pools to teach some of Sam's classmates. they are all so gorgeous and fabulous.
home again home again jiggety jig.
five minute breather and back for school pick up.
newspaper deliveries to do and then....
have bribed some of the girls/home ed kiddos to meet us at the beach for hot chippies.

am rather wasted. i need a nana nap.
this week's thanks-es:
BD - got another A for uni essay.
Danny - in The Big Smoke digging up Uncle's lawn.
Woozie - got 33 outta 34 for latest french test.
Charlie - thinks he's made it into school choir.
Sambo - has sorted the homework situation.
Mick - aced the spelling/times tables test without melting down.
Katie - still remembers her name.

every day has pretty much looked like that and i am still wondering how Working Mummies do the juggle? any tips???

cos i still haven't got around to
*making a baby present for two weeks ago
*threading a necklace for a birthday tomorrow
*making an Art Work for our dining room
*photo arrangement for the lounge wall
*sewing a quilt before uni starts in march
(i have cut out a skirt tho!!! squeeeee!)

oh - but i have just been presented with this love letter -

which is really for tomorrow
but i just couldn't wait.

jeez and crackers. how many words was that blog post? maybe i'll have no prob's writing an essay at uni at all then? i wonder what the lucidity requirement is?

Danny and i just shared a beautiful morning wiz coffee and croissants (movie line snippet) and a movie, which was aptly named Chaos Theory. Santa had popped the movie in Danny's stocking for Christmas and this was my first viewing. i loved it - the whole moment - and this quote too:

You know, Frank, if you're gonna go nuts,
you should really have a god or a dog talking to you.
Index cards are not that sexy!

cos, yeah, there've been a few nutsville/making lists moments in my head lately. and i cannot find my muse with The Artsy February That Was Gonna Be.

there was a photo arrangement in the movie which captured my imagination though. on the wall of the lounge was a series of facial portraits, like the ones ya take in a photo booth, all different expressions. they were mounted in rows of fives, and i am thinking of repliKATEing them on the blue wall in our lounge - i'll definitely include this one:
cos it speaks to me of summer and Danny putting his arms around my neck yesterday and looking down at me and saying, "Mum, do you know how much I love you?"
yep.

heat wave - self portrait

i love this girl to the beach and back
(eleventy billion times) X

identifiKATEd

over this beautifully long, hot, three day weekend, while the kids've been splashing in the pool, Bulldog and i've been cleaning out our room. last year's homeskool books have made their way into a box and i've chucked out half of my clothes. the old, yukky, non-student ones. and *bonus* i found two dresses that'll be great for The Classroom. short and sweet, and hippie looking.

a-n-y-w-a-y i came across this -

which is nineteen year old Katie at the beginning of my third year at Teacher's College - that would be twenty years ago! pre kids! (well, actually i did have a wee bun in the oven when the camera clicked)
i used to have to perm my hair to get it to look like that, you know. and it looks like i put on mascara and lippy especially for the photo moment. i had contact lenses back then, too. but these days i am way too impatient to weather the discomfort of a piece of plastic scratching my eyeball with every blink, hence the glasses for this week's new student ID card

the hair is getting wilder
and the grin is getting cheesier.

school report

i am so thankful that this first school week's a four day week. i think i'm more exhausted than the kiddos! everything is new and there's a thing called We All Get Outta Bed When The Alarm Goes Off At Seven and another thing called Being On Time (which i've never been good at) and yet another thing called I Can't Find My School Uniform Shorts And Who Ate All The Muesli Bars? and this crazy other thing called Four People Come Home With Homework And All Need Help At The Same Time That Mummy's Trying To Conjure Up Last Minute Dinner...

i can hear the chanting, "Welcome To My World..."
and my hat is off, waaaay off to all the school mums who've been doing this for all those years i've been generally faffing about, having pyjama days and reading stories to little people while still lying in bed. i miss it already! roll on the weekend.

it's actually been a marvellous week. everyone has already found their feet and Charlie has grown up about three years. the two littlest lads are in Social Butterfly Heaven and are negotiating handwriting fine oh fine. i am still getting my head around The Morning Rush - yep - we have The Big List - just like all the other mummies have dreamed up from the beginning of time.
The Evening Rush is really not my favourite. I am all about The Dinner Hour, which is being rather interrupted by Homework Zeal and Virtuosity...

Danny is so gorgeous about it all. He's so intuitive. Maybe he could feel our slightly angsty vibes as I was flying between the kitchen and everyone's daily news, little apostrophe and capital letters chats with Sam during his epic composition while simultaneously listening to Mick read from his first evah Junior Journal (that takes me back), finding baby photos for Charlie, and helping Woozie with un petit français meltdown cos someone has eaten the french dictionary. All of a sudden a booming voice appeared from the direction of the futon - behind his laptop Danny was plugging into songs.....

Are you all feeling chillaxed?
Well you shouldn't be!
It's time for The Rock Hour!
That's Non-Stop Rock on Radio Dan.
All music. No ads.
Get ready to chillax to
About A Girl by Nirrrrrvannnnnaaaaa.....

ha! how fabulous is that? the evening continued with its Much More Chilled Homework Virtuosity as Danny continued our amusement with the intro to Play That Funky Music, White Boy.....

Is it a bird? No!
Is it a plane? No!
It's a blast from the past.
Olllld skool music
ONLY on Radio Dan.

yeah, freaking awesome Radio Dan. i'm rushing off now to meet My Triathlon Buddy for a training swim in the sea - my first - hopefully i can get over my fear of The Wharf - think i've watched too many Titanic movies. it's ohk, the washing is out, I've iced the Big Fat Chocolate Cake (in lieu of buying more muesli bars lol), the dinner's in the crockpot, and i've been to the gym. there's an upside to these early mornings, ya know.
oh... post script: here we are - The Little Mermaids aka Angie and Katie.....

take your protein pills and put your helmet on...

there was a real Commencing Countdown, Engines On... moment here this morning. mick was absolutely breathless and running in circles by quarter to eight - with three quarters of an hour to go before ETA at school.
bed made and bedroom tidy - check.
bag packed - check.
lunch made (by self!) - check.
school uniform and shoes on - check.
(katie's temperature checked - check.)
so we put the oven timer on. and pretty much got the minute by minute countdown. at six minutes to go, we could bear it no longer, so whizzed outside with the camera.
and then mummy AND DADDY! took the little lads up the road to their new classrooms. fabulous. it was so lovely having The Dawg there to hold our hands - well, my hand.
at eight thirty, we left the lads ecstatically exploring their new environment and whizzed off to the pool. Bulldog is my personal trainer - i'm going to attempt my second triathlon - i need to learn to swim more than 50 metres without gasping for air. this morning i managed to thrash about 24 lengths - freestyle, gasp, breaststroke, gasp, freestyle, gasp, gasp, freestyle, gasp, backstroke kick only, choke on water, gasp, freestyle.... but 24 lengths is twice the triathlon distance of 300 metres (yep, it's only a Pretend Triathlon - and it's in four weeks. and it's in the sea. so i will have to keep my mouth shutter. or really choke.)

... and they're off...

like a streak of
greased weasel's water...

(it's a family saying)