It has been a long month but I think we have finally turned a corner, last Friday they completed Bonnie's grafts. There may still be some patch work to do on parts that haven't taken, and she has a long road of recovery ahead.  During this time she has stayed free from infection which is a huge praise for the Dr's said burns of this size always get infection and she has remained relatively well for usually people end up very, very sick.  We have about another 3 weeks in hospital and in this time she has to learn to walk again. This has been huge, heart breaking and my darkest days but there are better days ahead and I am so grateful, thank you for your prayers.

I am of the delusion that you miss me terribly and I must return for.........................ummmm lets not make any promises for how long I will surely let you down. Now I have been considering posting just to let you know that I have not dropped dead yet, praise the Lord for I am sure no-one in my house could survive without me. This became very evident to me when I left the house for 2 hrs the other day, yes that's correct a measly 2 hrs and I returned to total chaos, you know when you think have I not taught my children anything or my HUSBAND. Oh come on surely you all believe I am a most submissive wife and I looked at my dearest Husband with adoration and started finding a path to the kitchen to dish up tea with the sweetest smile on my face. Good, I am so glad you all remember this is exactly how I am.

I am just going to keep this short and sweet so I don't rave on for the sake of raving on which believe it or not I have been known to do. So all is well, life has been cruising along in it's very human way and all that human stuff that gets in the way of me being a perfectly nice person.

 Nice to see you all and  you know the drill comment to feed my terrible ego.

I had my kitchen just spick and span this morning after I spent a considerable amount of time in there. I stood back and admired it all, felt a real sense of achievement. Unfortunately there are others around who were not prepared to starve for the day so I could admire my hard work for more then 15 min. Infact it was less then 15 min but being a gracious person I will stretch it out. So I have spent my day guarding my kitchen, watching it like a hawk, stalking anyone who looked like they were going to leave anything out. Much to my distress they all were not as passionate about my shining sink as I was. I find the kitchen is such a task to conquer everyday and in a cruel twist we have our main meal of a night when we are most tired and we have to clean our biggest mess. I am not complaining I am more whingeing about this fact. So as I hunted everyone down little William saw this as an opportunity to attack where it hurts, he threw flour across the floor and to add insult he stood on it and piddled So it was not a powder substance I had to clean up but more a sticky paste. I know he is a charming child

Oh and remember my post on the dishwasher with the stick  (The Dishwasher, the Crazy Woman and the Stick!) , well I must report it is still the same way. Are you shocked by this?  

You have a young family and people say you think this is hard wait until they're older. You are quite fearful of this statement and can't really imagine it can be harder then a screaming, tantrum throwing 2 yr old. Well let me just inform you I have a 17 yr old and a 2 yr old so I feel I am now at both ends of the parenting stick and I have to say I agree with them . There are similaties though, they both do not want to be told no, they both have to be told no for their own good, they both think their Mum is mean for saying no, they both would like to try and throw a tantrum to Mum saying no and Mum is very warn out by both of them  

Seriously though I am shocked that I am here with a 17 yr old, it came around too quick and I want to press stop and I want to go back a couple of yrs or fast forward. This is it though and I don't want to question God on having our children grow up it seems to have kept the population of the world going. It has been a challenging time for me, and a time of saddness, he is reaching the last stretch of schooling, he is applying for jobs. After being with this child everyday mostly for the last 17 yrs  there are going to be changes and I'm going to miss him so much. It is a difficult adjustment but it is one that has to be made. So if you could please pray for me as I am facing a few parenting challenges at the moment, thank you.

I am enjoying Sponge Bob Square Pants and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I know it is almost embarrassing to admit it. I sink lower though, the other day I had no children in the house and I purposely changed the channel to Mickey Mouse as back ground noise as I was cleaning up, you realise how tragic this is. I had free reign of the remote, I could have been Queen of the TV ever so briefly but instead I found security in Mickey's Clubhouse. I am wondering though is it because I treasure these yrs of having young ones in the house and I just never want to let them go, or I have very little  adult conversation and this is what my brain relates to now. 

So I was discussing with my daughter yesterday how long Minnie has been Mickey's lady friend, and I worked it out to be a very long time and how I thought it was ever so romantic. My daughter informs me that she feels Mickey is old enough to have a girlfriend so I did not have to politely say lady friend but this has thrown another dilema for me and I question his crediblity surely he has married her. At this my daughter started to question my sanity and was sure I was in need of help for even having this conversation with her. So help me, is Mickey a gentleman and  married the delighful Minnie or has he kept her on a string all these years, shattering her so she is a mere shell of her former self and do you think I need help?

I was asked this today by two of my children, why you ask, am I looking slightly larger in my stomach area  NO! The reason this question was put to me was because I was eating a raw carrot and I only eat them like this when I am pregnant. Actually let me emphasise this, I eat raw carrots constantly!  I love them because they are crunchy and for some reason I love this while pregnant. I also love raw beans, smell crayons, diesel, tyres on a truck when it has just pulled up, add rain to that and the dust and I could quite honestly roll in it. I believe I could join the cows in the paddock, my mouth craves to gnaw and chew at fresh things and grass looks good. 

So what are some of your cravings while pregnant?

William being hungry.

William being cheeky.

William being awfully sweet and sleeping.

Now that just about sums up his days, as you can see he is doing it tough.

Hello God,

It's me again and I know you are in control and I can jump in and take over when I shouldn't but there is a little thing I want to talk about. As you know I'm hot, real hot and I'm talking weather just incase readers think I am being conceited. As I'm melting away in town running around  I'm thinking of the fact that over the other side of the world people are freezing right now and how truly odd that seems. So then my thoughts touched on balance, and how it all seems so unbalanced to be so hot and so cold. Can we not be medium, what would be the consequences of being comfortable all the time, would we appreciate it or complain.So is it cheeky of me to even suggest a more balanced weather approach.

Which reminds me of a story a gentleman recalled when he was sitting in church as a little boy. The Priest looked down upon them as they were all sweltering in the heat and yelled at them, "If you're hot now just wait until you get to HELL!"

So on that thought maybe I have nothing to complain about

   Sitting in Casualty from midnight till 3 with a sleeping child who seems to have miraculously recovered on the trip in can be a pathetic experience. I arrived and saw there were only a couple of people waiting and felt relief I had made the right decision, an hr later I was still feeling confident even though no one had moved out of the waiting room. As I moved into the second hr my neck was in full swing as it kept darting around assessing the situation, why was there so little movement happening, why did I have this sleeping child in my arms who was screaming in agony with his ear. Now add to the mix 4 male youths walking in who I'm sure just wanted somewhere to hang out for the night, if you wonder about the shape of the world it takes 5 min of listening to these young men talk to know it is a mess. Now I am really questioning my decision, I am feeling quite overwhelmed and thinking about just going home but the fear of this child waking and screaming again keeps me frozen there apart from my neck which by now is in full swing. Moving into the 3rd hr bitterness is starting to move in, I am starting to look despairingly at everyone trying to will them to move quicker or to turn into a Dr., even the cleaner  was starting to look good enough to assess this child's ear. Depression is now setting in and I am having visions of my husband laughing at me in the morning for he always says they will be fine, as he sleeps soundly through it all . Finally our name is called and I carry this still sleeping child in who by the way is 2 and a half and weighs 19 kg so my arms feel like they are dragging on the ground and I am having concerns about my skirt slipping down as the elastic isn't that great, why am I never dressed well for such unexpected trips. Anyway I am in the room I have been desiring for these past hrs for 5 min, I want to stay longer it doesn't seem enough, can't I sit and chat for awhile. I keep asking questions to make it all seem worth it, the dr. opens the door giving me the hint to just move on, let it go woman he is thinking. I leave feeling quite smug, I'm the mother I know and I want my husband to hear I am not a fretting lunatic our son has a bruised eardrum from water being squirted at him which he doesn't think is perforated but it even sounds more dramatic when added to my story. I delight in waking my husband to tell him I was right, his eyes open, he acts like he's listening, I’m waiting for the well done mother speech and he rolls back over and mumbles about something that has nothing to do with EARS!!!!!

By the way William is fine and I am tired.

One has to wonder about this strange life where unexpectantly something that you hold dear to just stops and no matter how much you miss it the time just doesn't feel right to start  again. Well my dear blogging friends that is exactly where I have been here but not here. So how are you all, I have missed you. I say ALL so confidently as if you will flock back to my little blog as you can see I am still conceited.Today when I awoke blogging again was not on my mind but here I am ready to give it a try. I have been keeping an eye on any updates on your blogs as I am nosey and would hate to miss anything.

We did not get away on our adventurous trip for our accommodation fell through at the last minute, for there were too many of us and we hit a brick wall at every turn so here we are still. All is going well as it heats up over here in Australia and we are on our Christmas Holidays which usually last 5 to 6 weeks.

So you are probably in shock that I have reappeared and you are staring blankly at the screen  with dribble running out of your mouth. Well wipe the dribble away it is not an attractive look and just let yourself feel the joy of an old friend returning  

So just leave a comment telling me how delighted you were to see I had posted again and hopefully it will encourage me to keep going, oh my that sounds manipulating. Is it right for me to manipulate you all after I dropped out of your lives so abruptly perhaps I should apologize instead and ask your forgiveness for my neglect and how everyday I walk around in shame and misery. So now I shall leave and we'll see where this Round 2 of blogging takes me.

As you can probably tell I am a wild adventurous woman who can barely be tamed in her restless days of being a homeschooling Mum............NOT!!!  I am infact a stick in the mud and while my husband can come up with some wild ideas I am usually an anchor dragging him down  I confess though this was all my idea, well kind of, dh was going to outback Queensland to work but at the last minute and I mean the last minute for we waved the plane off with him standing beside us he could not leave us, what a good man. So in a mad moment I suggested we go with him. Now this is what we are doing, we are heading 2,385 km's away for my husband to drive a Roadtrain similiar to this one. So it is a working holiday for my husband, it is 4 days on 3 off so plenty of time to explore and we will be doing school.  We are staying in a unit at a caravan park in a town full of history for it was one of the first places in Australia where gold was discovered. We will be just over an hr from the coast and will be going to some wonderful places while up there, like here-

We are taking a laptop with us so I shall be sharing our journey if I survive the heat. We do things back to front for we are heading to the hottest part of Australia at the hottest time of year, most days are 40 degrees and over. We plan to be leaving on the 17th of October and staying for 3 months but could be even more wild and head somewhere else before heading home or the more likely scenario is we'll run home like scared little kittens . We have someone house sitting for us and it does not really matter how long we are gone for.

This is the area we are heading, we will be staying at Charters Towers and I think we will go up as far as Cairns. I look forward to sharing our trip with you.

I thought I would post a couple of photos of William since it has been a while and when he was little and cute he was splashed across my blog alot .  Now he is............................................2 ! Seriously he is still cute, just look below with his blowing in the wind as we're driving along, who needs a dog

It seems people don't think people with 4 or more children need to go on a holiday. It seems they are shocked and horrified that we would even consider leaving the house and for our trouble will charge us an incredible amount of money per week but we are going a step further and want it for 3 months.

It was slightly frustrating and disheartning as I crossed off each place to come to a realisation no one wants us  Not only that I had a vision, I knew where I wanted to be, it was perfect I was happy, the children were happy and of course my husband was working to pay for all this  You get the picture I tried to justify spending all that money to keep my vision but no, without much of a tantrum I adjusted.  I threw enough tantrums today I didn't need one for this.

So instead I praise the Lord that we have found a place an hour and a half out from where we wanted for a third of a price everyone else was asking , we have plenty of room for the children and now we'll even be able to feed them which is always a bonus  

I know you have all been wondering where I have been and you have all been weeping every day. Woe to the people who haven't got my daily postings, I feel I should apologize for my absence and give you all this great dramamtic explaniation for my disappearance.

Here is explanation one-

I was abducted by strange aliens who saw my brilliance in blogging and wanted to tap into my brain so they could take over this world. I never gave up anything for as you all know I have m own plans for taking over the world.

Explanation two-

I have been so busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. You get the picture, but it is not true it's just that I believe busy and the word hero is over used in our society.

Explanation three-

My children finally decided I am insane and organised for me to be locked away as they roam free and wild throughout their days, burning their school books and eating junk food. Oh alright, this is not true either they don't need me locked away to behave in this manner.

Explanation four-

Well I don't really have one, how about I have been sitting here weeping with writers block, unable to visit your blogs, unable to leave any messages. I think someone is taking on my identity because I haven't even been lurking  I can't blame anyone for trying to take over being Queen Blogger but I am not down and out yet, there is life in the old girl still.

I am just letting you all know I am here and doing well and the photo below is a place we are planning to be for a few months soon.

I shall blog again soon

We are having early spring weather and I must say I am enjoying it. Tonight we had pork spare ribs and salad, it is a nice change from those winter vegies.

 O.k not quite wordless but I took this photo when I went out and collected wood with my family the other day. Yes, that is right I left the house and actually picked up wood, I didn't just sit in the car throwing orders.

I have had to eat so much of this sickly, sweet slice today because it was just too much for my children and now I feel suitably sick. This is the one reason I hate to cook cakes and such, I eat them. It just isn't right that my children have been so controlled and I have continually stuffed myself until I feel sick and am now trying to adjust my diet for the next 2 days to try and cover this sugar overload. Where are the days of breastfeeding and weight falling off me, where I could eat a slice, breast feed a baby and know all was well with the sugar world.

To add onto my previous entry because I could never write my normal school day in fear you might fall asleep.

I will now show you part of my school day with my eldest son Jake, he is 16.

Now this is Jake's locker and everytime I walk past it I feel a cold chill down my spine. I feel fearful everytime I open this and he comes rushing to my side explaining he has a wonderful system happening and there is no need for me to interfere with it . The question is do I believe it, let's just say I really want to.

So there you have the spine chilling part of my day, believe me there are many parts.