Sorting out KT's room

Yesterday KT was with her Grandma going into the powerhouse to see the Tashi theatre show, after sleeping there overnight.

Uni and I woke up early ... courtesy of the dog, and went for a morning walk around the extended block.

Then we got a call from the courier company to say that they would be arriving with KT's new wardrobe in about half an hour.

We had rearranged the loungeroom already to make room for the moving guys so I had a quick breakfast and was just finishing cleaning my teeth as they arrived.

I showed them where I wanted the wardrobe and they brought it in. We ended up having to move an old moon shaped night light of KT's and her clock and calendar. The moon light was firmly stuck to the wall with blutac and I ended up taking off half the wall surface when I pulled it off.

I wish I had just said to the guys to leave the wardrobe where it was ... we weren't 100% decided where the wardrobe was to go and I just panicked under pressure of the movers being there.

Once they left we looked at where the wardrobe was and immediately decided it had to go elsewhere ...

What followed was a full reshuffle of KT's room with every large bit of furniture except her bed, being moved at least once.

Whenever something got moved ... six years worth of accumulated dust and dirt and assorted other bits and pieces had to be vacuumed or relocated.

By the time we had done 3 of the corners of KT's room I decided I may as well move the bed and get in under there too.

Needless to say by the end of the day I was very sneezy.

I went through several vileda dusting cloths!!!!

The end result of our rearranging was really good, both of us were very happy with it. We even shifted a very small table and a chair into KT's room so she could sit there and play her piano or perhaps do some drawing.

We intend to buy her a desk of her own in the very near future so the little table will "hold its place" temporarily.

When KT returned she really liked her room, wardrobe etc, although she did send us out of it several times during the night .. I think she was re-establishing her ownership of it!!!

The rest of the house is all over the place at the moment as we rearrange everything and decide where it will all go.

I was completely exhausted after the day's activity and after having cooked a lemon chicken and rice dish for dinner was falling asleep on my feet.

I settled down to watch the final of the amazing race and then went straight to bed.

actually I will say more ....

I have the smell of dust and lice treatment in my nostrils!

I am getting better at combing them out, faster and gentler on KT's hair. I got heaps today ... lice and eggs.

We haven't had any sign of them in recent weeks, but yesterday KT was really scratching her head hard.

I didn't get a chance to do anything about it because we had a full day planned.

First we looked for a new wardrobe for KT with some hanging space and a mirror, then we went out to lunch and took her to see the pixar movie UP which David and Margaret both raved about.

In the afternoon we took the dog for a walk and in no time it was bed time.

This morning though I got up and wanted to make sure I wouldn't be sending KT to her Grandma's house with lice.

We watched Ice Age 2, and once I had combed through her hair, I realized that I would have to go out and buy and apply a lice treatment too.

I got plenty of eggs and lice out, but I wanted to make sure I killed any live ones that I might have missed.

Poor KT had her head in a cloud of tea tree and eucalyptus for nearly an hour and a half!

I gave it a good massage into her head too, and a good massage when rinsing it out.

Apart from the annoyance and "mad rush" associated with the lice removal there was the whole dust from the plains that decended upon us. It gave the whole day a weird feeling.

Apparently it is affecting lots of the country ... even with doors and windows shut during the worst of it I could smell dust everywhere!

Anyway it started to clear this afternoon, KT is safely at Grandma's house and Grandma has been warned of the earlier events of the day.

Tonight KT will stay there overnight, and go to a kids theatre production and some craft making activities in the city tomorrow.

Uni and I will have a romantic dinner out tonight.

lice have returned with a vengeance

Need I say more ........

Cameron is leaving

We have discovered that KT's swimming teacher will be taking his last class next week and then will head off to Vietnam to counsel kids there.

Apparently he was working on his psychology degree and is now fully qualified.

No wonder he was so terrific with the kids!!!

We are all pretty sad about it ... he and KT really clicked from the first minute in each other's company.

We are going to make him a card and give it to him next week.

The new teacher is not yet qualified and will have to have another instructor in the pool with her for the first few lessons (weeks, months ... who knows).


Will have to see how that goes ....

you can go now

This morning while we were getting ready for school KT told me that I could leave once we had put her assorted things in the required boxes ... e.g. snack in the snack box, drinks in the drinks basket etc.

For the last few weeks it has slowly dawned on me that I am not really needed to stay in the classroom anymore and that KT is fine.

Once KT stopped crying every time I left ... and was more settled (from the beginning of Term 3), I stopped worrying about being the last and only mum left in the room and it just became part of the routine.

Most mornings I read to her and whatever other kids happen to want to listen in. This last few weeks though she has tended to want to do more puzzles or sitting and drawing at the table with the other kids!

Now I see her chatting to the other kids, chatting to the teacher, wanting to carry all her own things in.

I am very proud of her and find it funny that I am still lingering and peeking to make sure she is OK.

Even when we know we can let go ... it is still difficult! Maybe its because I can't believe it has finally happened....

Today the prep kids are having a teddy bears picnic. KT has taken Kola bear. Yesterday they made honey sandwiches at school and went on a tiny teddy biscuit and lolly hunt!

lots going on

There has been plenty going on this week.

I am well behind on everything I usually do and am scrabbling to catch up before the school holidays.

I suspect that this time around I will not catch up in time.

On Monday, KT went for her dental visit. She came back with a clean bill of health ... they thought her teeth were pretty clean.

She has been spending a bit more time cleaning them lately and is trying to do it right. I think that the visit from the tooth fairy may have provided added incentive!

They also told her that her new tooth would probably appear sometime during the school holidays!

Uni and I went for a drive to Bribie Island on Monday during the day while KT was at school. We went to part of the beach you can 4WD along.

I was a bit worried at first when the track leading from the car park to the beach was so bumpy and bouncy, but once we got onto the beach itself everything was pretty smooth.

In some parts where the compact sand formed small regular ripple like dunes, it felt a bit like flying in a plane rather than driving.

Yesterday we spent the day preparing to have B&Izzy over for dinner.

I had to purchase a couple of ingredients from the shops for the dinner and buy a new tablecloth to fit our larger dining table.

I managed to do the shopping, get the tablecloth washed, tidy the "visible" parts of the house, vacuum the lounge room and unearth the coffee table and dining table (these are usually buried under a pile of toys, papers, artworks etc).

I was pretty impressed with my efforts. Am very thankful I didn't have to cook as well! Very lucky to have such a talented husband!!!

We had a great night.... and I think we may have found another fan of geomag! I definitely enjoyed the family game of uno stacko on the dinner table. There definitely is a lot to be said for the simple pleasures.

...

I will have to tackle the other "invisible" parts of the house this week and try to get my washing and ironing under control again.

Tomorrow I will do some shopping for clothes ... Uni bought me some stuff for summer but I will need to return it due to size.

I will also need to buy a gift for KTs school friend who will be having her birthday at the beach this Saturday.


I am back using the old post thingy ... can't live without my spellchecker function.

just discovered that people have been commenting on my blog ... you know who you are

Unfortunately I did not notice at the time because you have to look beside the comments section and see if there are more than 0 comments.

I have gone back now and read all the comments!!!

Thank you.

I have been commenting on your blogs too ... you know who you are ... just in case you have missed seeing the comments too.

Today my prescription goggles arrived ... I will have to give them a test run in the water ... they seem fine on land.  They cost $88 which is expensive for a goggle, but will be cheaper than buying normal goggles as well as disposable contacts to go with them (as long as the prescription goggles themselves last longer than 12 weeks!)

I also got a bonus swimming cap ... the prescription goggle company were doing a special promotion this week and by chance it was the week that I placed my order!!!

My optometrist also gave me a set of 5 complementary sample contact lenses, because I had told him that I don't wear them very much anymore but I was down to my last 2 or 3 and thought I probably should get some more, but was umming and ahhhing about it (a box of 30 contacts for each eye would cost me $100 so you can understand my reluctance).

Well that does it .... I definitely think he is terrific

aka getting back on track

I got back to some painting today.

It felt good to be back into a comfortable activity.

I am up to the tricky parts of the fence again and this time I had to climb onto the water tanks and sit on them to reach the top parts of the fence.

I am working in full sun on these parts ... can't seem to wake up at 6am to do them, so I am only spending about 30-45 minutes out there otherwise I get burnt and it gets too hot.

KT went to visit the school dentist yesterday with her class.  They will be doing checkups on all the kids next week but they all went to have a look and meet the dentists and try out the chair beforehand!

Short post today ... lots to get done and presents to wrap ... hee hee hee

Eye test

Today I went for my two yearly eye check.

I am really happy and relieved to report that my prescription does not need to change!!

Last time my eyes were tested I complained to Geoff that my previous glasses (organized by Geoff robertson ... the other geoff) had not only broken and not lasted the full 2 years, but that I felt uncomfortable in them wanting to constantly either push everything far away from me or "throw the glasses off" (to quote my very spot on Mum).  He tested my eyes and then gave me a somewhat weaker prescription than I needed.  This really did the trick and it seems my eyes have stabilized now.

I placed an order for some prescription goggles with my optometrist and I should have them any day now.

Swimming last night was terrific although I got cold early and needed to go to the toilet, so I hopped out a bit early (only 5 minutes ... I was the first one in the pool at the start of the session).

My freestyle is really improving ... in fact Jennie said "that was good" and made no further comment about it.  She did ask me how I was going with butterfly and was keen to get me doing that.  I wonder if butterfly is her favourite stroke or something ....

Uni is getting his car serviced and his tax done today ... money in and money immediately out!!!

He is spending more and more time on the computer as his holidays progress, so naturally I am spending less and less time ...

LOL!!!!

This week has been a bit topsy turvy for me ... I have not done any painting, the housework is lagging and I have a busy weekend and Monday ahead of me.

I think in the next few days it will sink in that there is only one week until school holidays and I will go into a wild frenzy of activity ... or perhaps I will just get KT to help me paint the fence.

The battle has been won

Well after a third comb out of KT's hair I think I might have just about obliterated the lice.

I also combed through uni's hair last night and he did mine.  No sign of hostile life!!!

I will probably do one more on tuesday (that will be one combing for every two days for almost a week) and I think that will do it.

There are no fresh bites on KT's head and behind her ears are back to normal skin colour.

Take that you horrible beasts!!!

Today I went swimming and arrived at the pool to find the carpark was packed with cars.  I had noticed an orange witches hat with a sign taped to it out on the road in front of the pool so I drove past to read what it said to see if it would give me any clues as to why the carpark was so busy.

The sign said "keep clear school buses and vehicles excepted"   ......

Oh Oh .... SCHOOL BUSES?????

Hmmmm that explained it.

I almost turned around and went home then and there but decided I would just find out what was going on.

As I drove back into the carpark I saw two guys leave the pool and I thought .... hmmm I wonder if they are kicking people out to make way for the school kids.

I went in and saw that the kids were young primary school kids and they looked to only be in the small pool.  I chatted to the lady behind the counter and she said that a couple of lanes in the big pool were reserved for the school kids but the rest were available to the public.

I peered through the curtain to see how busy the main pool was and it looked fairly clear so I decided to risk it.

As it turns out there was only one man in there (and he usually just bobs about in the little pool ... but obviously was not able to do that today).  There had been a lady too but she hopped out as I arrived ... and before long the man left too and I had the big pool all to myself!!

There was a LOT of background noise from the kids, but I was undisturbed (especially with earplugs in) and I was a little worried that at any time some of them could spill over into the big pool ... but that may not happen for a few weeks ... particularly not with the younger kids.

As I swam there was a changeover of classes.... and a whole new batch of brightly suited kids with goggles appeared!

In a few weeks KT will be starting her swimming with school too, but that will happen at a different pool.  It did give me a preview though of what she might face ... although it looked as if there were only 2 or 3 coaches in the water with a very large number of kids, whereas the pool where KT will be going will have 1 teacher to 6-8 kids for the younger grades, and 1 teacher for every 8-10 kids for the older grades.

Very tired now ... has been a very physical day ....

Oh forgot to mention that in the pool today I practised the drills that Cameron got KT's swim class to do on Saturday.  I found them quite helpful and challenging.

They were :-

• .... using a kickboard, do ten kicks then come up for a breath at the front.
• ... do 4 arms and breathe after the fourth arm ... well neither KT or I could make it to four arms, we had to breathe on the third arm, and that meant that we are both learning to breath on both sides instead of just the right side.
• I also tried doing 10 kicks, holding the kickboard and breathing to the side while doing that sides' arm stroke too.

combing out hair lice

Ok well this post is about reminding myself what to do and how to do it as I have an unbelieveable habit of forgetting things too quickly or only vaguely remembering.

I looked for a video on combing out hair lice on the internet to help me out and this gave me a few tips that were lacking in other written guides.

The first thing to do is to smother your dry hair in a thick conditioner.  This apparently surrounds and "stuns" but does not kill the head lice and renders them immobile for long enough for you to catch them in your comb.

You have to first comb through the hair with a normal comb to get out as many tangles as possible and make the job easier and less painful for the person being groomed.

Then you use a lice comb which is a metal comb with thick metal teeth that are very close together.  You are supposed to section off the hair and comb through each bit at a time.

The very important thing to remember is to go from as close as possible to the scalp and all the way down the hair shaft.  This removes lice and eggs.  The lice like to stay close to the scalp where they feed and they lay their eggs about an inch down the hair shaft.  So when you start from the scalp and work your way down you have the greatest chance of success.

When you have done one comb stroke you need to wipe the comb off on a tissue or paper towel.  Most of the time what you wipe off will be a whole stack of conditioner but every so often there will also be some very small specks which are brownish.  They look to me like those cyclist helmets that you see at the olympics that kind of have a long thin tail at the back.  I'm not sure if these are small lice or eggs, but ... The really big lice are bigger ....I mistook one for a flea, and the larger they are the more you can see of their "legs" or pincers.

Remember to comb starting from all parts of the scalp, including the start of the hairline at the nape of the neck and from directly behind the ears.

The other tip is to clip up the bits of hair that you have already done so that you systematically work through all the hair and don't miss any.  I don't think it matters if you do some parts more than once, but missing some is more of a problem.

I got lots of stuff today and one very major large louse. 

The tissues with lice on them can be thrown in the bin.

I will do more combing on Sunday and am hoping that there will be less of everything coming out ... indicating that we are winning the war.

I will also comb Uni's hair and get him to do mine.  I suspect that because I have been regularly using shampoo and conditioner with tea tree oil in it I have been less susceptible than everyone else ... but it would not hurt to get combed and confirm this.

Fun times ahead!

PS the lice killing stuff I have been using is nitwits lice foam and its main ingredients are tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil.  I think it has been effective but because I did not comb out the eggs the first time after using the treatment I undermined its effectiveness.

50m freestyle

Today I had the pool to myself for the first 25 of my 30 minutes swimming!

I also swam for the first time ever a full 50m of freestyle (with flippers on), without stopping, having problems with my breathing, or swallowing any water.

When I stopped I didn't feel like I was out of air, but of course it did take me a while to catch my breath and my heart was racing like you would not believe!  I know the breathing statement sounds like a contradiction but it is like if you are running to catch a bus, you are breathing while you run and you are in no danger of running out of air, but when you stop your heart is racing and you need to catch your breath.

I painted another fence panel today ... unfortunately I got quite sunburnt doing it.   I am up to the inclined part of the fence now and I have to climb a chair, or the water tanks, or the fence to reach the very top parts I have to paint.

I have settled into a rhythym of painting from the top of one paling, right down including crossbeams as I come to them, then moving to the next paling and starting at the bottom of it and working up all the way to the top, then from the top down on the next paling and then the bottom up on the next paling etc.

This means I don't "lose my place" and don't end up painting the same paling twice.  It also means I am constantly changing my position so I don't get stuck crouched down or stretching up for long periods at a time.

This afternoon I will comb the lice eggs out of KT's hair and probably again in 2 days etc etc.

We did our 3rd lice treatment last night after KT had lots of bloody spots all over her scalp.  As I speak Uni is washing the treatment out of his hair too.

Why oh why have they gotten rid of the spellchecker function???

Or has it moved somewhere that I have not discovered yet?

success with "New"

hooray this is perfect!

Off to swimming now

very tired

I came here to write tonight but I am very tired .....

Uni is on holiday and I have had a big day.  He woke up bright and early this morning and took the dog for a beach walk!

I painted the fence ... I'm flying through it now ... the end is in sight ... aiming to be done before the heat of summer ... I think I might be repeating myself ... but no time to go back and read what I have written before ....

I also watered the garden.  It has not rained in any serious amounts for nearly 2 months.  I stopped using KT's bath water on the garden, opting to wait for rain, but now there is not much bright colourful life in my garden (although everything is bravely hanging on), so I am back to carting buckets of water through the house and down the stairs and into the garden until it does finally rain properly again!

I am building up some muscles!

A few nights ago Uni said that my belly felt tight and that my arms feel muscly.  Am surprised at how much pleasure I got out of those statements!  I have been swimming for 7 weeks now ... I guess that is enough time for some muscles to develop. It is definitely much more of a workout than bellydancing although if I had taken bellydance practice as seriously as swimming practice perhaps it would have been too.

I did some ironing while we watched a movie together at lunchtime, then made KT's sandwiches for school for the rest of the week, and made tonight's dinner.

I went to swimming class tonight and there were a full 8 students ... roughly one lane each.

There was another newby to the swimming class ... Leslie who apparently has been learning with Jennie in the 18 metre pool and made her debut into the big pool tonight.  She was swimming with a kick board and is very much a beginner also, so I will keep an eye on her progress with interest.

I spent a lot of time on butterfly tonight ... concentrating more on the arms and even tried to incorporate a breath.  It is funny how skills or ability come in a flash, then disappear, then come back in a flash again.  The movements for butterfly are becoming familiar, and I have now seen Jennie demonstrate them enough that I have a "movie" of how they should go running in my head.

I can also see the similarities between the strokes and how certain principles apply to all even though they are different.

Today I also stumbled on the fact that at night when the lights are on I can look down and see the shadow of my arm movements on the bottom of the pool.  This means I can "watch" what my arms are doing (in freestyle) as well as "feeling" what they are doing, while my head remains looking right down (correct head position).

My shadow's movement looks smooth and graceful!!!!  I have noticed my bellydancing shadow looks the same way!!!! This creates a positive feedback loop because I watch what I am doing, I do it better because I can see I am doing a good job and concentrate more on doing it right.

I wonder what I will do in the day time ......

I haven't had the swirly eye thing happen for over a week so I think my body has adjusted to whatever it needed to adjust too.

I am very sleepy though and I think I need an early night.

Goodnight to all

... And my final note is that I have enjoyed reading more frequent blog entries this past week!