Bonjour… It’s Me and Mister C…

Hi there, we hope your first week of the school hols has been peaceful and productive, while all our delightful children have been having a bit of fun too (in between lockdown). Flossy is learning French at school in her year (seven) this year; so, I thought it would be fun to say ‘hello’ in some different languages on the blog over the coming months- starting with unique and interesting French! Formal language for ‘hello’ is ‘Bonjour’ and the informal way is ‘Salut’ (oops! Flossy noted I had spelt it the wrong way last week- sorry all!) …

Mister C wanted to thank everyone, who has visited our blog site this past week; we have had a huge number of visitors and are thrilled you have taken the time to visit and read our blogs. Mister C wanted to send a BIG shout out to the country, who came out on top of the ladder this month- Canada! I have to write, Mister C loves Canada (and other places too), he often talks about becoming a ‘You-Tuber’ and that he wants to live there when he’s twenty-five years old (is a funny story). Whenever Mister C tells Husband his story of living in Canada, Husband then says, “If you get a million followers, you have to buy us a mansion!” We say (many) thanks to all of our visiting countries, including USA, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and of course Aussie-land (Australia). It really means the world to us; we love your comments and please keep on visiting our site- remember without you, we wouldn’t have a working blog to share…

I mentioned last blog, I was booked in to have my second Covid jab, in ACT at the Covid Clinic last Wednesday (in the middle of the school hols). Well, I survived the jab, and the appointment went smoothly, where staff were friendly and professional- thanks for having me a second time. Having written that, I did have a stronger reaction the second time around; my arm hurt immediately after the injection (and I felt the fluid going in too!). I ended up not being able to work the following day (sorry all!), as unfortunately, I couldn’t even lift my arm up with severe pain for several days (sorry- didn’t want to put you off). I did have a foggy head and a mild headache, also with hot and cold chills (sounds nice, doesn’t it?); but the side effects did dissipate quickly, and I was soon able to go back on my merry way again (Husband is sighing in relief).

Well, our next reno work at our house has now just started! It is an exciting time, but also very chaotic and busy (not to mention extremely noisy). We are having a good-sized room built under our existing patio; a new bedroom for our eldest daughter, Widy. As most of you know, I claimed Mister C’s small old room upstairs, as a studio and office for both Husband and I (mainly me); we moved Mister C into his ‘Carter Cave’ downstairs, since the beginning of the year. It was always going to be a temporary arrangement; a boy needs his own room just as much as girls do; we have grown a bit tired of being woken up early every morning (not to mention Mister C’s vivid talking dreams!). So, I googled many builders in our area and found a terrific semi-retired builder with a polite apprentice (who Widy thinks is pretty cute by the way). It has all worked out very well (and quite quickly); the bank finally coming to the party after successfully refinancing about two weeks ago.

Mister C was most excited to see walls coming down and new walls going up; he loves noise and tools (don’t most men?). The whole structure and work have gone up very quickly; we are now just waiting for our electrician friend to come back and sort out lights and power points (next week hopefully- thanks T.G). Widy is super excited to see her new space going up and has spent the last few days (in between work at ‘Kmart’) planning her room and where her furniture is going to fit. Flossy is excited to move back to her old room to the left of the bathroom, it has a bigger built-in wardrobe (and new sliding doors). Mister C is looking forward to having some more space, and a nice big window he can watch the trees and animals in his favourite forest to the side of our property (a win-win situation, don’t you think?). I spoke with Husband about what we could do with some of the left over funds (if there is going to be any) and I’m thrilled to be able to select a new front door for the house too (super excited). I’ve always thought front doors are really important in any house renovation; it’s the first thing you touch and open as you go into your house, it should represent who we are as a family and the unique area we live in (I may be able to persuade Husband to let me have two stain glass windows to the left of the new door as well?) …

During the week, it was one of our wonderful Sensei’s birthday, who helps run our karate dojo with her Husband, who is now a fifth Dan in karate (IOGKF) (hiya S.& D.J L). I had asked our Sensei if I could put him in our third book, as a part of the rhyming story; he agreed and I was able to illustrate a good likeness of him to use in the book. I gave both Sensei’s a signed author’s copy of our book at our session last eve; I felt very proud that I could share our story book, but that I was able to have a strong role model represented in the book as well. Mister C loves attending his sessions and looks up to all the Sensei’s in the Dojo group. Widy, Mister C and I had missed about two weeks of training (due to grading and Covid issues); I noticed I had been feeling out of sorts (so did Husband) and worked out I was craving karate! I had a good workout last eve and now I feel empowered to get through the remainder of my week (thanks for a great session- the mask wasn’t too bad to wear).

No stories from 2019 this week (so sad?); with the busy days at present with the girls and Mister C home, my head is still a little fuzzy and needs a rest. Mister C just called out, “Mummy, you need to ice those delicious cupcakes, so I can munch one down in my empty tummy now!”…

Instead, here is a ‘Flossy Funny’ from our sweet Flossy girl…

Driving home in the car one afternoon with Flossy and Misters C; Flossy was sitting in the front and we were chatting about our new baby chooks. I had spent over two hours integrating our new girls with our older ones and it was going well. One of our older ones, ‘Ana’ (also known as ‘Grumpy Ana’) had been a bit snappy at the three baby ones, pecking at their little heads a few times; I had to wave ‘Ana’ away for a few minutes until she settled down (extra feed always works). Flossy sat up smiling and said, “It’s like ‘Grumpy Ana’ is an older chook lady at ‘Bingo’; she hates newcomers!” I burst out laughing (and couldn’t stop for a few minutes), with the thought of all the chook girls running around with bingo cards in their beaks, choosing a good spot to sit and play ‘bingo’ …😉

A Word from Mister C…

We had another bad storm mid last Summer; Mister C ran upstairs early the following morning to get something to eat, then called out in surprise, “Mummy, our big grey tree has fallen right out of the ground, come quick!” Rolling over in bed and then sitting up, I sleepily replied, “What, really, my son?” I raced upstairs (half asleep) and looked outside at our huge favourite grey gum tree, that was half broken lying on the ground; it had barely missed the side of the house and patio. I sighed and put my hands to my face, “Oh, no, our poor tree; I can’t believe it just missed the house!” Mister C also sighed and said, “Oh, that’s our favourite hammock tree, Mummy! Half the tree is lying on the ground; how are we going to swing on our hammock? It will have to be lying down now?” …🙃

Stay tuned…

For lots more silly and funny stories from 2019… Soon heading out of Winter and into my favourite season- Spring. We looked forward to warmer weather and some vegie patch gardening. Widy soon turns the big fifteen (where has the time flown?), and is doing really well at her new high school. Our third book is available, if you would like a signed author’s copy, let me know… Stay safe and warm; night from Mister C… 😊