lifeonplanetmum.com

Just found out that they are airing Tacky House on the Style Network in Australia, featuring one of my favourite interior designers, Thom Filicia.  I have not seen this here in any of the channels I subscribe to so I will have to check it out on hulu.com to see if I can watch it online.  The show is about someone dobbing in your spouse or member of your family in to get a room makeover.  Ooh, I would not mind being dobbed in, even if it is a moment of embarrassment in order to get a room makeover from Mr Filicia himself!

Here are some of his work which happens to be in my design inspiration folders.

How I would love to have a kitchen like that!

Love his masculine tones in this room.

I like how he has subtly used a light blue into this room through the white chairs.

Love the Asian elements of this room above.

This would be my dream bedroom.  Love everything about this room from the gray walls to the bed to the sunburst mirror… perfect!

For those of you living in Melbourne, I believe Tacky House starts on Monday at 7.35pm.

Our neighbourhood organised a July 4th parade which incorporated a fire truck coming down the road with us as we headed towards the pool.

It was such a wonderful feeling to see everyone outside, the children with their decorated bikes and scooters, prams with red, white and blue.

People were handing out all these things for the children to wear, James had these cool Americana glasses and Cameron had a tissue - lei around his neck.

The boys raced down the road while Matt and I walked leisurely, talking with our neighbours.  I love the community feel of this place and it is something I am so going to miss when we leave here next week! We will be going from many neighbours to almost none!

One of the neighbours waving the flag high.

That is us, all decked out in red white and blue. I had a blue skirt on but I hate wearing skirts so I went inside to change.  Our nice neighbour took the photo for us, otherwise, it would be the usual Matt-and-the-boys photo.

At the pool, parents had contributed food to sell and they had many games for everyone.  Here, coins were tossed into the pool and everyone had to go fish them.  They got to keep what they found.  Poor Cameron could not get deep enough so he only found a penny! James is in the picture above, in the extreme left, with his hands up in the air.

Daddy, I can’t get the coin!

This is what they found.

There was also a sack race, a limbo dance and toss a watermelon into the pool.  They greased the watermelon with vaseline and threw it into the pool and people had to get it out.

Not sure about fireworks tonight, it might be too late for the kids so maybe next year…

Happy Independence Day and hope you had a great one!

James’ big day today! He came 7th overall with his timing. 30.82 secs. It was pretty cold this morning, about 16 deg C.  Poor boy! But he was so happy because he was the “first.” (Nevermind that the others were 6 year old kindergartners!)

We signed the boys up for swimming last week and it is conducted everyday for half an hour. We can either choose a morning or evening session.  As the pool is just behind our house, it is a nice activity during these hot days.

After less than a week, the teacher said James was ready for the B Meets. I was like, “What is that?” and here they have a very neat community thing going (this is what I mean when I find Americans very community based, which builds strong relations with your neighbours)   It is an event almost like a competition with your neighbourhood kids, and it is very relaxed.  In the B Meets, or the B team, the kids have no pressure of winning, they are trying to swim to their fastest ability. (Their personal best times) The A meets is more competitive, and you must win the event to let your team win.  In order to enter the A Meets, you have to qualify first in the B Meets.

It is so well organised and planned. There is a website where parents can sign up for the meet and it is expected that once your kids are in it, you must volunteer to make the event successful.  Parents can opt to go for training because they need judges, so they need to know the technicalities of strokes.  Parents are called to bring pizza, bagels, muffins, etc.  There is a head timer, then about 9 other parents who time each swimming lane. There is a singer - someone must sing the national anthem at each meet and read the pledge of allegience.  A parent must do the ribbons (this is more for the A Meets, which is competitive, unlike the B Meets) as prizes.  There is an announcer, announcing each event and the child’s name.  It is only a neighbourhood thing but the amount of thought and preparation that goes into it is amazing. This is run twice a week, on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.  For Independence Day, there is a parade that starts at the top of our road, with a fire engine. We are all meant to wear the colours of the flag and I have already purchased some T shirts with the US flag on it.  We walk about 1 mile down and end at the pool where there will be a party.  Again, parents are called to contribute food and kids and adults are meant to sell the food we provide in order to raise funds for the swim team.  I am bringing a broccoli salad.

Back to the B Meet, James met with Rockshire on Wed.  Rockshire is just up the road and it was nice that many of the boys in the opposition team were from his class.

James completed the 25m freestyle in 32.52 secs.  He said he was nervous.  Can you hear Cameron’s voice, cheering James on?  Also, see the amount of parents involved? I did not even film the other side of the pool, where parents were selling ice cream, packets of chips and pizza.  This was on a Wednesday evening at 6.00pm.  There are usually more than 50 parents each time. Totally amazing.

What was surprising was yesterday, his coach came up and said that he qualified for the A Meet this Saturday! Yikes. I hope he doesn’t freak out.  He is such a perfectionist and when he feels that he has lost or let the team down, he gets very upset. This time, they are meeting students from another school.

We hit the pool at 7.30am at the pool tomorrow!!!

Today outside Matt’s office, there was a pipe bomb in a suitcase.  Someone discovered it, reported it, and soon, the Secret Service was swarming all over the place.

Matt was trapped inside his building as they locked it down and wouldn’t let anyone out.  Why would they do that? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to evacuate the building?  It turned out that it was a fake bomb.

Read the report and see pictures here.

It was an exciting day for him!

Behind our house is the community pool.  Part of the HOA (remember I talked about that before?) that the homeowners here pay for goes towards the pool and it is one huge social opportunity to meet everyone in the neighbourhood!

There was a notice posted out in May about forming a swim team for this area, where all the children would take lessons everyday and meet once a week for a “Swim Meet.”  The kids from our area would compete with kids from another area.

As we thought we were going back to Malaysia, I did not bother about signing them up for any sort of camps or classes.  However, as we unexpectedly found a house and the settlement of the house in the early part of July, we find that we have about 3 to 4 weeks here and not much to do.

The children have gone down to the pool everyday and I asked someone if it was too late for the boys to join in the swimming lessons.  It was not too late, and the boys started swimming lessons a few days ago.

I was really scared the first time Cameron went into the pool.  He is very fearless and he wants to copy whatever James does.  When we left Singapore, Cameron was just learning how to float in the child’s pool, using his kickboard.

During the assessment, the coach lined up some children to assess them and made them all dive into the deepest end of the pool.  There is a diving board at that end - which meant it was about 12-15feet deep. I was not worried about James but Cameron has NEVER been in the deep end before.

I informed the teacher but she said to let him try.  When Cameron jumped in,  she stood close by.  He totally shocked and surprised me.  He swam, although there were moments when he was struggling because he got tired and did not know any strokes yet.  The teacher thought he was fine and I was worrying for nothing.  The lessons are 30 mins long and she only allows one student at a time in the lane and she walks with them all the way until they reach the other end. So everyday, twice a day, they are at the pool doing these half hour lessons. He has been doing great but I would not say he is a confident swimmer like James yet.

I am hoping these lessons will help build his strength and confidence in the water by the end of the swim season.  They LOVE their lessons and are having so much fun!

Mrs H is at it again! After informing her of our boundaries, she insisted on taking us to a restaurant yesterday. I was very distrustful of her intentions but she had been insisting for many months now.   Today she shows up at my door at 4:00 PM unannounced and said that someone was coming in an hour’s time! I was very upset and asked her, “Is this your idea of reasonable notice?”  Was the lunch yesterday to buy our acquiescence?  She seemed even surprised that I was asking for notice.

She had received the call at 1:00 PM but was having lunch with a girlfriend that she did not have “time to call me.” I said no to the tenant visit but she told me that it was a very likely candidate to rent the place and was begging me. I gave in to her because I was not going to be home anyway but what happened next shows me that she does not understand how much she is pushing my limits.  She wanted to stay on at my place to work on her novel (she is a writer) till they arrived at 5:00 PM. She was going to make herself at home for an hour with me, while I was trying to get my boys ready for karate lessons! I said NO,NO, NO, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE.  I was sure that I was shouting in but instead, it came out very politely and tactful.

It put me in such a foul mood because we were ten minutes away from leaving for karate lessons.  Because I had to put the place in a little bit more order, we were late.  I went to tidy up and saw Cameron’s toys lying around the floor.  The poor boy did not know what hit him.  At the end of the aftermath of my temper, Cameron’s toy lay broken on the floor because I hurled them to the ground.  Yes, it is not a pretty picture of me as a kind and gentle mother. I was in a rage because I let this woman walk over me, again and again.  I succumb each time because SHE IS 70 YEARS OLD.  I have this thing about going against the elderly and I have a very soft spot for them.  Old people do crazy things sometimes, heck, I am 40 and I don’t I know it.  I know inside that this is going to explode at some stage and I have to put my foot down about her coming over, every single, effing day, announced and unannounced. Most of the time, her being here is unnecessary!  She wants to micromanage the renovations that are going on in our bathroom.  She has to be here while the man places each tile on the wall. She has to comment on the quality of his work.  She doubts his professionalism. Just why is the paint like that, is it meant to be like that or is it shoddy workmanship? He is also going crazy with her breathing down his neck.

She is driving me nuts. Over and out.

As it rains quite often here, I have been thinking about getting a pair of gumboots or rain boots as they call it here.  When we first got here, I saw many women wearing them with their day to day clothes, going to the supermarket, going to work, everywhere, just like the Ugg boots.  Kids wear them to school as well, and change into their regular shoes once they get there.

The boots here are unlike the ones that we wear in Australia, unless things have changed drastically since then, as we have not been back to live for over 13 years.  They are usually very bright, calling to attention and people do not seem to be trying to match them with what they are wearing. I suppose it is only temporary until they get indoors but they are so very pretty and I have been wanting a pair since one of my leather pairs became ruined from all the rain.  However, they are usually in the price range of over US$60 and I find it hard to justify getting them - after all, they are only made of rubber or plastic!

This time around, I noticed that they are on sale!

Burberry rain boots - $225 and Hunter Women’s Original Rain Boots $125.

Lime White Novel Dot Rain by Target $24 and Nature Breeze CB Rain Blue $22. I love the pointed toe front and the heels of this one.

Jimmy Choo also has them! $425.00

These are the ones I have settled on:

Nature Breeze Geisha Rain Boots for $22.00! I love the little geisha girls on them!

I am not getting paid to talk about these boots - though I wish I were!

Cameron taking a flying leap.

James on the diving board.

Today is Father’s Day in America, Canada and UK, but for NZ and Australia, it is in September.  I saw an idea on the Better Homes and Garden website for a personalised apron for Matt so unknown to him, we ordered a white apron from ebay.

We got some felt and the boys started designing their own pictures on a piece of paper, pining the paper to the felt and cutting them out. They did not get pricked by a pin even once! Good job, boys!

Since I had packed up all the craft glue, I used a hot glue gun, which was a mistake because it did not adhere well to fabric. I had to sew them all on and the hot glue had hardened, making it difficult for the needle to pass through.  Sewing it when Matt was around was a challenge, I had to sew in the toilet several times and maybe he was wondering why I was there so long!

This morning, he is not awake yet and we are preparing him a breakfast in bed. Making him this dish.

Matt, you are a wonderful father to our boys, I love how you spend so much time with them, how you are always looking at parenting courses or books or ways to improve yourself with them.  You are a selfless Dad, you put yourself before the boys - your “Me Time” is basically always spent with the boys and I, sometimes doing things that I don’t really like doing, like physical activities - swimming, basketball, etc. You encourage them to go farther than I could ever do so because I am always so terrified of them hurting themselves by falling. They gain so much confidence with you and their eyes are always happy and dancing when they play with you.

I would also like to remember my own father who lives in Malaysia. My Dad is the cornerstone of our family, he is so wise and taught us many values from young. The one that stands out the most is,   family comes first, no matter what.  I have always valued his advice and when we had to leave for the USA, we turned to him for direction.  He has the most practical of minds and I think it comes with experience from being a General Manager of a tyre company for so many years.  He has always provided for us all as a family. My fondest memories of my Dad is when we, as young children, would travel in the car to Malacca to see my cousins. He would take us to the Klebang Besar Beach, sometimes every weekend and in those days, without highways, it was a 60 mile drive there.

The boys have really benefitted from staying so close to them while we lived in Singapore, they got to develop a strong bond with him and my mother. Skype really helps to bridge the distance between us now and I am blessed that the boys can continue their bond with them.

I want to start some of the traditions for the boys, just like my father started for us. Weekend getaways that the boys can enjoy, but building lifelong memories and relationships with each other.

Happy Father’s Day!