Rain And Hail Just Go Away

Rain and hail.....that is what we endured today as we tried to pack and move. So grateful it stopped at around 1.30 so we could just get on with it.
Steph

Capacity To Live In Camper

I booked a couple of days off work for today and tomorrow so we can pack and move stuff to storage and set up camp. So today that is exactly what we did, pack, move and set up. We put up our tent this afternoon, we will be using it for our lounge and dining rooms, and probably as a dressing room where we will store some of our clothes. The plumbers were in our new house today fitting the baths, basins, taps and fireplace. Not sure exactly what else needs doing but there isn't much more to do. I suppose it all depends on when they get there to do it. Oh well, I know for sure that we will be experiencing living in the camper without being on holidays for a couple of weeks at least. What I can be grateful for is that we have the capacity to do just that.
Steph

Setting up our lounge/dining room

Our bedroom and kitchen

Bedroom 2

Our Courtyard

Learning I Have Done

Being grateful for things each day is harder than you think, especially when you have to do it everyday, and when everyday is not exactly full of things that you are actually grateful for. Take today for instance, I am a teacher at a specialist school with special needs children in my class, all are individual and with different needs and sometimes, and lately most days, a particular student comes to school with a bucket full, and already overwhelmed by stuff that may have happened at home or on the way on the bus to school or whatever that I am not sure about. So when the student gets into school, they really don't want to be there and they don't exactly express this with words so they use other forms of communication that is not in a socially acceptable form. Today I tried everything and nothing worked.  I spend a great deal of the day being positive and using a positive tone of voice which is sometimes really hard to do and is truly draining. I endeavour to engage my students so they learn and improve their future academic and social outcomes. Some days are harder than other days, and most days are hard and frustrating to say the least. I am lucky that I have a great mentor next door whom I can ask for advice, and most of the time she gives it and other times I have to figure it out for myself or just try different things to see which one works.....frustrating, especially when the ones I choose don't work. I now also have a great young assistant who is firm but positive with the kids, and very efficient as I have mentioned in a previous post, so this really helps. Although I have some really hard and frustrating days with the kids, I am slowly learning that it's not because of me that a particular child doesn't want to do the work that I require of them, or that they want to go home, or hit out or throw things, or they haven't retained the information you taught them only last week or even last hour. It is because I do work in a special school where the kids who are there are there for a reason and the reason is why they do what they do and learn how they learn or in some circumstances not learn. So what am I grateful for today? I suppose I would have to be grateful for the fact that I am learning so much about these little people I teach, as well as learning so much about the curriculum that I teach to them, and lastly but not least the amount of learning I have done about myself as a teacher....that I am a good teacher who cares enough about her students to try harder each day to improve their future, no matter how hard or frustrating the task may be. In the long run it will be worth every effort, I can feel it.

Steph

Reassurance And Acknowledgement

Reassuring words and acknowledgement of work well done, that is what I am grateful for today because it made me feel good.
Steph

Lots More Things To Be Grateful For

Today I am grateful for:

• efficient and understanding assistants, as without them I would be very stressed at the end of the day, 
• sunshine, which made me feel warm today,
• extra gas bottle with some gas in it, as I need the gas for cooking dinner and the other one ran out,
• my husband Dave and his jack of all trades knowledge, who spent most of the day making bases for the hot water service and the water tank at our new house, as the builder doesn't provide these,
• cheese, because everything seems to taste better with it,
• chocolate mud cake in the freezer, because Zoe wanted a snack and it was quick and tasty, and she was quite happy about it,
• Insect spray, because the camper had ants, and oh how I hate ants,
• Windcheaters and tracksuits, because when I come home from work, they are the first things I reach for to be comfortable and warm
• The emotion excitement, because it makes me feel good when I see how much our new house has progressed and how close we are to living in it.

Lots more things to be grateful for today.

Steph

Getting Closer And Closer

The building supervisor told Dave on Friday that it may be around three weeks time before our new home will be complete. As of today, it will be one week before we move out of this house we are renting and four weeks before we go to New Zealand. So if he is correct we get to move in one week before we go on holiday and we will have been in our camper for two weeks. It would be nice if it were a little before that as then we may have a little more time to start painting and shifting the furniture and our belongings again, and then we wouldn't have to stay in the camper for very long. Timing of all the above is not working out very well, not as well as previously planned. Oh well, I have to be grateful that at least we are getting closer to finally move in.
Steph

Extra Hands Make Lighter Work

Today two of our friends came around to give us a hand with moving stuff to storage. I packed it and they shifted it. It would have taken a lot longer if Dave and I had done it on our own, so I am truly grateful for the extra hands from our friends and from Alex.
Steph

Dave's buggered from shifting stuff and the place is looking bare. 

New Assistant

OMG...another day of mish mash, upsy turvy, and unsettled, unhappy, disgruntled and defiant little people. BLAH! But there is a positive..........my new assistant, she is happy, positive and efficient.
Steph

Change Is As Good As A Holiday

They say change is as good as a holiday and if that is so, then we are about to endeavour on a holiday of a lifetime. In less thank two weeks we will be moving out of this house and into the camper. Yes, camping out until our house is finished. Oh well, when I think about it, it makes me smile and get a little excited, just a little. Today we also had a change, a change of staff, my previous assistant has moved to another room and I have now a different assistant. She is quite nice and easy to get a long with. She has a calm nature and a soft, low voice which will hopefully help settle the kids. I was a little worried at first with the change but I think this will work out eventually, to be a good thing.
Steph

Lots Of Things To Be Grateful For

Diana who gives me a hug every now and then and tells me she loves me and loves working with me, calm and compliant students which makes everyone else calm and everything work, tins of tuna in my drawer for when I forget my lunch, the postal worker who realised how irate and psycho I would get if he hadn't passed my passport application because of my Maltese birth certificate which by the way had absolutely nothing wrong, the tiler who is tiling our house who worked Sunday and today to finish the tiling, and lastly but not least, Dave for sorting the misunderstanding with Zoe's teacher in regards to Zoe's role in the play at her drama club because if I had called her it wouldn't have sounded as polite and not ended as well. Lots of things to be grateful for today.

Steph

Home

Home is what I am grateful for, as I would rather be at home with my family than anywhere else.
Steph

Surprised Faces

Headache tablets, because I had a headache, veggie burgers and onion rings because we were hungry so we stopped at Hungry Jacks, petrol stations because we were low on fuel, ice creams because Zoe fancied one, and surprised faces because that is what I did, surprise mum with a visit so I could take her to the hospital for her tests today. These are what I am grateful for.
Steph

Healthy Heart

The day went well today at work as the kids were fantastic which was great up until around 2.15 when I thought I was having some type of heart attack. A trip to the hospital and a few tests told me otherwise. Turns out I may have had my worst anxiety attack yet. Not a nice feeling and a little scary. So today I have to be grateful that I have a healthy heart.
Steph

Could This Day Have Gotten Any Worse

Today, would have been the worst day I have had at work in quite a while. I can't go into details about why, but it was mad, mad, mad, quite stressful, made me feel very tense, I had no recess break, half my lunch break and missed out on most of my planning time. But, I remained positive, which I am grateful.
Steph

More Things To Be Grateful For

I am grateful when there is no frost on my car windscreen in the mornings, as if there was I would have to run back to the house and get a bucket of water to tip over my windscreen to defrost it, which then in turn would make me a little bit later than I already am. I am grateful when one of the other staff members at work turn the heating on in my classroom, because it is nice and warm when I get in. I am grateful for the water fountain  at work which gives me nice, cool, clear and fresh water, because I love drinking water, and other than wine, that is all I drink. I am grateful for Julie at work because she noticed me looking a little sad and asked me if everything was alright. I am grateful for the PD about Mathletics that I went to this afternoon because it will enable me to help my students to learn better. I am grateful for the sandwich press, which I purchased for a mere $15 from Kmart, as it toasted my Pane De Casa bread with cheese, feta and spinach perfectly. I am grateful for leftovers from yesterday because it meant that we could eat them tonight. And lastly, I am grateful for my electric blanket because I know that when I retire into my bed for the night, it is going to be nice and warm.

Steph

So Many Things To Be Grateful For

Oh what to be grateful for?????? A nicely cooked home made pizza, last night at friends? A warm bed to curl up into when it's cold at night? Food in the pantry to eat when we are hungry? Plastic boxes to pack our clothes into? The telephone, so we can keep in touch with family and friends? Refreshing water out of the tap? Warm and loving hugs from Zoe? Internet, to keep us amused and updated? Or the gas heater in the lounge room that is keeping me warm at the moment?

So many things to be grateful that I am unable to pinpoint just one for today!

Steph

The Power Of Music

"For Better Or Worse" "......these were not our vows.....part of Dave's went something like ........My first, my last, my everything, from a Barry White song, I can't remember what mine were off the top of my head but I know they were from a song.  I know that they were very romantic and meant a great deal to us. It's funny how you can relate to song lyrics, some make you all mushy and gooey inside, some make you happy, others sad and some even angry and frustrated. While music on its own makes me motivated, want to dance, run, be loved, make love, or relaxes me.
Music is weird but amazing and powerful.
Steph

Romance Does Exist Somewhere

Slow cooker lamb roast and veggies for the carnivore's dinner tonight. I am scaring myself at how organized I am at getting it on in the morning. And by this I mean the food prep and not of the romantic type. Unfortunately my husband doesn't have much romance in his vocab or in his brain. Today I am going to be grateful for romance even though I haven't had much or any lately. I am grateful that it actually still exists, well, I know it does anyway!
Steph

Slow Cooker

Today I am grateful for my slow cooker. This morning before going to work I cut up some veggies, opened cans of beans, chickpeas and tomatoes, placed them all in the slow cooker, then added barley, stock and water, put the lid on, turned it on low and when I got home dinner was cooked. It was delicious too and everyone ate it, even Dave. The photos below show the soup of the day, and the pasta I cooked the other day, which had mushrooms, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, fresh sage, parsley and oregano, butter and olive oil. It was delicious. The kitchen photo is of my new kitchen, not quite finished and a little modern to how I would really like my kitchen (French Provincial), but money is not coming out of our ears at the moment and we couldn't afford the extra $20,000 for the one I really wanted, so I will have to suffice with this nice, new modern style kitchen that comes with the package at G J Gardner, until I can afford to change it to my true preference. 

Steph

Barley and Veggie Soup

Pasta with mushrooms, herbs and pine nuts

My new kitchen- almost finished

Stronger And More Positive

I don't know if I am just tired (as I don't think I am sad) or just plain old stressed because I am finding it really hard to be grateful for truly good and worthy things. I didn't want to go to work this morning, it was cold and I was still tired from interrupted sleep, but I got up and went and the day went ok except for some annoying things which I can't mention in this blog. After work, I went to do the grocery shopping which was not the highlight of my day, so I didn't get home till late and by the time I prepared dinner and ate it, it's late....and I am tired already. I think I am a little stressed about the next four weeks, where we have to move everything out of this house and into storage, so we can move into the camper and caravan (as this house we are renting is sold and settlement is in four weeks). I am sort of looking forward to moving out because it means that we are closer to going into our new house, but I am not looking forward to moving all the stuff every weekend for the next four weeks and moving into a cold camper with minimal space. I am a little worried about my mum, who has been having tests done for fluid on her lungs and around her heart. She is having more tests tomorrow and Wednesday and I can't be there for her. And lastly, I am worried that I won't get my certificate of citizenship in time to get a passport to go to New Zealand in seven weeks time. I suppose I have to try and look at the brighter side of things as my life could turn around negatively and go rapidly down hill like it did last year, if I let it, but I won't let it, and so I suppose that is what I should be grateful for. That I am a lot stronger and much more positive then I was last year.
Steph

Unexpected Good Times

I have been truly slack for not blogging in the last couple of days so I thought I should blog now before I get too busy.  This morning I am grateful for good unexpected times with friends. Last night we went over to our friends place for dinner, we had seen them earlier in the day and they invited us around, the meal was put together beautifully as usual, it was casual but nice. I probably drank a little too much wine, the food was delicious and the conversation interesting. Sometimes the time just flies by when you're enjoying yourself.
Steph

Our Daily Bread

Yummy crusty fresh bread. That's what I am grateful for today cause it's yummy!
Steph

Rain

So I'm laying in bed thinking about everything and anything that comes to my head and figure it's probably time to get up and get ready for work, but it's 6am and its raining and it's cold, so I sit up and decide to blog. I can hear the rain, lots of it by the sounds. Without the rain what would we have? Or should I say what would'nt we have?  I don't particularly like the rain especially if I've just washed my hair and spent some time drying it. And I don't like it when it's cold and I get wet and you get that damp feeling all over. I don't like it when the ground turns to mud or when you walk inside and leave wet footprints. I don't like wet dog smells. And I don't like it when it rains way too much and causes floods. I do however like listening to the rain especially on a tin roof. I like the glisten on the leaves and trees when the sun comes out after the rain. I like the wet look of the ferns in a rainforest. I like that I don't have to water the garden because the rain has done it for me. I like that the rain fills up the tanks and reservoirs for the water we drink. So today even though I am going to get wet at some stage,  I am going to be grateful for the rain.
Steph