What a beautiful day - we have gone from winter to summer overnight - the winter coats can go back in the cupboard and out come the summer hats - weird...  I'm sure we'll go back to winter again though.

Anyway a good nights sleep makes  world of difference - i think i'm just over tired, overworked etc....  Need a break and a holiday.  Oh well.

I'm glad DH is home as R has been very challenging.  Pushing all my boundaries over and over again.  But he is being very funny with Dad.  Wouldn't give him hugs at first - has warmed up to that now - but is asking me if Dad is home tonight every night.  First thing in the morning he climbs into bed with me - "is daddy here?"  I think he is really finding Dad's travelling too much - then when Dad was away at the weekend (for fun not work) that was the thing that topped it off.  Me too, I guess and I am glad he is looking at a new job now - good for all of us!

Had one of those weeks....  Dh away, kids being challenging, not enough sleep - you know... 

Culminated in me taking the kids to a function on  my own on Saturday, which ended in tears all round.  It was going so well - at first - they had a magician who was great, B slept through the whole show.  Dinner was great.  Then it just became too much - trying to watch 2 kids at a function where they could (and did) escape out multiple doors.  R disappeared 3 times!  Once I found him coming out of the toilets on his own!  Find one and go and chase the other - only to be told by an elderly man that I was not watching my daughter well enough and she could hurt herself climbing up and down chairs/stage!  Anyway I called it quits and went home in tears.  Having chided myself for being too protective (other kids were outside playing in the dark) to then get told off for being negligent - grrrr....  Too much!

Then - to top things off, on Saturday  night Mum & Dad were broken into.  Fortunately they were not hurt and not much was taken - credit cards, cheque books, some photos and papers, but all their important papers - birth certificates, marriage certificate, qualifications etc...  which are hard to replace.  Miraculously (thank God!)  their passports, travellers cheques, US$ etc... were all in a drawer that was the only one not opened - amazing!  They are very upset and Dad was saying he wished he had got up earlier (he scared them off) and saved those papers - I said I'm glad he didn't as he might have been hurt.  Ironic though that all the time we worry about them being overseas and in the few months they have been here - Dad broke his leg and they have been broken into.  Those papers have been all over the world safely and were stolen here in an Australian country town.  Freaky!

Anyway, things are OK now - I'm feeling better though tired and I'm so sure we all need a holiday, but I am very thankful that everything else is OK - mum & dad especially!

Wish my camera was working so you could see my dog, she looks so smug!

The people next door sold their house a couple of weeks after we bought and the new neighbours have moved in - an older retired couple with a dog!  It is an 18mth old Border Collie, so has lots of energy as you can imagine.  Our dog, who is almost nine, but still thinks she is a puppy, has been racing it up and down the fence, having a ball.  When she is inside (like now, cause it is raining) she sits at the window watching for the dog.  Funny!

I am trying to clean up the house a bit (Monday morning job), but I am starting to despair - now matter how much I do it is always a mess!!  Yesterday I thought I'd save myself some time today and vaccuum and wash the floors.  Why bother??  Today it needs doing again!  You can't blame the kids - that's what kids do!  Dh doesn't help, or the dog neither for that matter....  but i think the unpacked boxes (and boxes that are unpacked but not put away as there is nowhere for them to go) are getting to me so I am becoming anal about everything else.  It never used to worry me but now I just don't want to live in mess any more!  Help!!

Well, Dh handed in his notice - bit freaky!  Very scary but almost feels like a relief at the same time.  Now we wait and see what the next step is....  he has a month to work and find a replacement and then about 6 weeks leave, but it would be nice to have something else lined up before that runs out!  Time for a little prayer & trust I think......

DH just rang me - after months of being miserable and us both agreeing his job is killing him, he has really got the poos today and tells me he wants to resign today!   AAAGGGHHHH!  I agree and a few months ago would have backed him up, but now we have a mortgage to pay and bills piling up and I have been stressing about money for a few days.  They have taken $100 out of his pay today with no warning to cover a parking fine in the company car - knowing that we are on one income and have a mortgage and family to feed~!  So he has had enough of them!  But what do we do now?

In a short update - we are all feeling better, despite a really nasty asthma attack last night that scared me.  Dh still sick but at least I am getting him to see that there is more going on.  He had an appointment with a specialist yesterday for some issues and we are awaiting results.

Had a great day.  Went into town and spent the day with mum and dad.  Basically for the  last eight years they have been o/seas, coming back here to retire in Nov last year.  They have been living half an hour from us for the last three months - much to my son's delight!  He has really enjoyed getting to know them and lately has been really upset when we have to leave them.  The worry is that in a fortnight they are going back o/s for three months - I have tried to explain it to him and he is not taking it well.  It will be very hard as he loves them and will miss them (as do we all) and he really knows them now, unlike other times they have left.  So, I am not really looking forward to them going (I never have, but this will be the toughest goodbye yet I think) - at least it is only for a short time!

After they come back they will be coming and going for a while, but at least in teh same country - then (hopefully) mid next year they really retire (!) and settle around teh corner from us - that will be great and I think will be good for all of us!

Just thought I'd write that we are all OK - the kids & i have an ear infection/chest infection and are on antibiotics.  Gave me a good scare given this killer flu that is going around, but fortunately that hasn't reached us yet.  Everything else plodding along - nothing exciting...  continuing unpacking, cleaning, gardening and trying to get back in routine.  DH not much better - refuses to admit he's depressed, heard no more about any jobs and still not doing his paperwork, but at least he is getting out there and working, and seems a bit happier.  Nothing else new, I'm afraid.

My camera's been broken for a while, so no photo Friday... Instead I have a little story for you. A bit sentimental perhaps, but it made me shed a tear. A fine example of living generously and giving to those who need without being pious:

RED MARBLES
I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprizing a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes, but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas.

I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.
"Hello Barry, how are you today?"
"H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. They  sure look good."
"They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?"
"Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time."
"Good. Anything I can help you with?"
"No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas."
"Would you like take some home?" asked Mr. Miller.
"No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with."
"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?"
"All I got's my prize marble here."
"Is that right? Let me see it" said Miller.
"Here 'tis. She's a dandy."
"I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?" the store owner asked.
"Not zackley but almost."
"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble", Mr. Miller told the boy.
"Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller."
Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.
With a smile said, "There are two other boys like him in our  community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever.  When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store."

I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the story of thisman, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one.

Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives
of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men.
One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark
suits and white shirts...all very professional looking.
They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket.
Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket.

Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket.
Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles.

With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.
"Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you  about.
They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim 'traded' them.
Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size....they came to pay their debt."

"We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world," she confided, "but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man inIdaho "

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

The Moral : We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.

Well, it's my birthday tomorrow, so we have had a busy weekend.  Yesterday we had lunch with my family (or part thereof), at mum & dad's.  Today, I had a very good friend and her hubby over for lunch (well, we went out for lunch) and then DH's family (or part thereof) over for dinner.  Very busy but nice, and I didn't cook a meal (except for Saturday brekkie) all weekend.  Now, I am very tired and ready for bed, so won't hang around, except to say "goodnight all, sleep well..."