Yep thats my kid.

Does anyone else have those moments when all you can do is say "yeah he's mine" ?
Whether it be the kid testing the echo levels in the shopping centre, the six year old mooning the teachers on excursion (not the proudest parent moment) or the one who the night before his first preschool photos which also happen to be his first professional photos does this.

No it did not come off.  No soaking, hand sanitiser, baby wipe, baby oil or soap could get it off.  Anything i could think of i tried. I didn't think to use the Eucalyptus oil that probably would have done it, nail polish remover did but i didn't want to bathe him in that.

So Preschool photos have him wearing a lovely shirt and smile and black marker up and down his arms and legs.  The photographer offered to photoshop him but i said its ok i don't mind its just him.

 

What's important to others.

So my 98 yr old Grandmother had a small heart attack on Saturday night. Shes never had anything like this before shes had some falls and broken wrists and things in the last five years which lead to moving her to a home about two years ago.  At 98 we're lucky she's here and has all her mind. Her ears and eyes don't work well now and her writing is no longer legible but believe me she knows whats what in our family.
I live interstate to my Mum and all her family and last saw my Gran in March and for the first time i said my goodbyes thinking i might not see her again (hadn't done that before) but i am at peace knowing i have done that (i didn't get to do that for other loved ones and it always hurts to think of it). I think i have made her proud i'm not sure but we don't really know each other well. Its been hard this week being the only member of that side of my family who's not there.  Its harder when i think i have two parents i'm going to need to look after and we're all in different states and i don't know how i'm going to be in three places at once. 

My Gran is of that lived through wars and depressions era. I smile sometimes when i think of the saving of margarine containers, saving and reusing of baking paper and washing out plastic bags and hanging them on the line to dry so they could be re used.  My Grandparents were successful they worked hard and long and did very well. In return my Gran has been very lucky to have money and not have needs unrequited through the last few decades.

Even this week she worked hard to pull through and appears to have done so with no damage to her mind, a little exhausted as you would be but no damage has shown in tests.  She has asked to go home and for everyone to stop wasting their time and hers "i'm 98 and going to die next week anyhow".
Chances are she right.

Last night she spoke to my exhausted mum who's been at her bedside since Sunday, making lots of decisions and having lots of conversations of no resuscitation's and no treatments etc  for her own mother.
Gran said to her "Dear in my room in the bedside table there is a key. The key opens a drawer over in the cabinet. In a sock in the back of the drawer dear is thirty dollars. You make sure you take that OK?"
Mum just nodded and thanked her.

I just have to smile at that.

Does he now ..... hmmm (thing hubby used to do)

So we all know how annoyingly frugal i am trying to be and really it is becoming such a personal challenge in everything i do.  It all adds up i keep telling myself and MRB when sniggers over me trying to save twenty cents on everything.

The other morning we'd decided to take the children to Canberra for the day we were meeting friends at ten am so it was an early start.  Its three hours from our place in Sydney to the science museum in Canberra.  I'd been up early, made and packed snacks and lunch for everyone but agreed to allow the purchasing of drinks because it was a special day.  I'd made the kids take water bottles anyhow hoping they'd forget buying one.

So 7.15am we pull into the service station around the corner to fill up for our drive.  MRB suggests i go in and order coffees and he'll fill up.  I order the large cap for him and a small skim flat for me (in turmoil with myself over the desperation for caffine and the cost compared to the machine i just left at home). When hes finished filling up MRB pulls the car into the first parking bay outside the shop to wait for me.

The girl brings the coffees to the counter puts them down and i say "Number 1 LPG as well thanks".  "Oh" she says and she turns and waves out the window to MRB who is waving back with a sheepish smile on his face 
"We know your husband very well" she says back to me
"Really" i say thinking well we do get fuel here probably three times a week.
"Yes he buys coffee here everyday" she smiles
"Does he now?" i smile back
"Yes hes our very good customer"

I exchange politeness as i quickly tally up all the bloody money spent on coffees a week here as well as the flashes of empty twisties packets, killer python bags and coke bottles that i have seen in the car or rubbish bins. 

"Very good customer honey?"  i say getting back in the car
"Well sometimes i buy coffee here on the way to work" he smiles and says as a five year old does when sprung doing something he shouldnt have been doing.
"Is that right?"  i say thinking of how we have just funded their new coffee machine and renovations.


Service station girl wasnt as friendly today when i went in to pay for my fuel.
I expect their coffee sales have dropped and killer pythons are in mass stocks this week.