Holiday House Envy

It's been a long year. A big year. I spent the year working long hours, doing lots of travel and neglecting my blogs. Arran spent the year riding his bike a lot and completed the Tour Divide. He wrote about it here in a 3 part series. We are pooped. We needed a break. A little getaway before the onslaught of 2014.

A month or so ago when I was traveling somewhere Arran found this holiday house and sent me the link. No brainer people. We arrived 2 days ago. We had to do two drive bys to find the house and pulled into the driveway to be greeted by one of the owners Kim. We liked her instantly and even more when she informed us there was fresh milk, beer and champagne in the fridge and olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tea and coffee in the pantry. I knew at that point it was going to be a generous holiday house. You can read about generous holiday houses here and here.

The house is a little piece of Bali in Kiama. Not that I've been to Bali. It is thoughtfully and beautifully curated with paintings, books, objects and statues that are unobtrusive. It's a modern house with new and modern kitchen and bathrooms blended with large timber Balinese doors, tables and bedheads. Large bi-fold doors lead to a timber deck with BBQ's, table and a small pool. The garden is lush and tropical with thought given to the vista from each window; a beautiful tree, a seat and a pot plant, a Balinese statue.

It's a short walk to the beach, maybe 400 metres. It's not a short work with Charlie who screamed and cried the whole way yesterday morning. I don't know why. It's also about 1.5km to the main street of Kiama. That's a long way when Aiden is in the back seat of the car continually asking when are we going back to the holiday house so he can go in the pool. Sigh.

Any-hoo...we are here, on holidays close to the beach. Nice.

We're going on a bear hunt......and found vomit

The day was going well. Arran left for his bike ride at stupid o'clock; some time around 5am and didn't wake me up. I woke at a completely respectable 7.10am with both boys still in their room happy. Sweet.

We had a calm breakfast together after discovering there is no bread in the house and having to head over the road to the best bakery around to procure some. Life's tough in Glebe people.

I packed a little lunch box with peanut butter sandwiches, muesli bars and tiny teddies, filled up two water bottles, assembled the nappy changing kit, slathered the boys in sunscreen and set off to catch the bus to Circular Quay. We were off to see we're going on a bear hunt at the Opera House. I wish I could say that I'm one of those mummies that regularly takes their kids to such events. The few I've been to have been really good. I just don't get around to it and most of the events are on during the week (or so I thought), which doesn't work that well if you work.

I have friends who had double booked their cultural events so the boys and I scored the tickets. The show was true to the story, humorous and with second row tickets in the middle, the boys could easily see and enjoyed themselves very much. Well until the bear arrived and then Charlie wasn't so pleased, but I guess you get that.

After the show we headed into the Pitt St Mall where I had promised hot chips. Charlie fell asleep in his pram on the way so it was just Aiden and I for lunch. We managed to negotiate the seemingly thousands of people crammed into the Westfield food court (what was I thinking 2 weeks before Christmas) and was able to order food and find somewhere to sit relatively unscathed.

It was during this time that I had the thought about what a good mummy I am. Heading to the city with two small boys for some theatre and shopping. Warm comforting feeling.....

Charlie woke up at the end of lunch and we set off to Sass & Bide to purchase a T-shirt I have been thinking about all week and then on the way out find some summer sandals on special. Again, sweet. The real purpose of heading to the city was to buy Christmas presents but sensing the small boys were at the end of their patience we set off for the bus. I know. I only got presents for me.

At home close to 3pm we were all pooped! Aiden wanted to have a rest in his room watching Chugginton on the iPad, Charlie didn't put up any protests when I put him to bed and I had nearly an hour's nap on the lounge. Gotta love that.

We all surfaced at about 5.30pm and that's when the day fell apart .Aiden started complaining about having a vomit in his tummy and wanting to come to work with me on Monday. On average Aiden has a vomit in his tummy about 15% of the time he complains. Working with these averages I made the boys put on their sandals so we could head over the road to get something from the local IGA supermarket for their dinner. Halfway there (50m from the house) Aiden started crying that he was feeling sick. I made him push on, feeling annoyed that he was putting on a tantrum and thinking to myself that these boys needed to be in bed early.

Halfway down the isle with the frozen meals and milk, Aiden starts crying and screaming and then does a big vomit on the floor, on his feet and my mine ensconced in Lanvin ballet flats (for the uneducated Lanvin ballet flats are very fabulous and very expensive). The first vomit was followed up by two additional vomits and lots of crying and screaming. I nearly had a vomit in sympathy. My Louis Vuitton purse and the frozen pizza I was buying was also covered in vomit. The nearby supermarket worker contined to stock the shelves.

I was provided with paper towels and plastic bags to clean up the mess while Aiden continued to cry and talk. This kid talks non-stop. After a whole roll of paper-towels and quite a number of retching on my part we were able to pay for our items and skulk home to hose off the lower parts of our bodies.

Aiden would only eat yoghurt for dinner and refused a freddo frog which wasn't a great sign. He looked and smelt much better after a warm bubble bath and cleaning his teeth. Was just about to put some fresh pyjamas on him when he vomited again. Mostly in the toilet but he managed to hit his and Charlie's clean PJ's. 

Any thoughts of being a good mummy had completely vanished as I cleaned vomit off the bathroom floor with small boy pyjamas and the bath mat. My only thought was getting the boys to bed and retiring to the lounge.

I hope Arran is enjoying his bike ride.

We didn't get the memo!

I love living in Glebe. I must, hey? I write a blog about it! So because I love Glebe it doesn’t enter my mind to leave the suburb, say if I had children, for example. Some would say that children need space to run around and do stuff. The great Australian dream would have us living on the quarter acre block in a 3 bedroom low set brick house in “the suburbs”.

Arran and I have decided that we very much like living in Glebe in a Terrace house with a very small yard. We have a larger yard than most in Glebe but it’s still small by Australian standards. It’s a very convenient place to live. Within 200 metres of our house we have:

• an Indian Restaurant
• 3 Thai noodle restaurants
• A cocktail bar
• A pub which claims to have Sydney’s coldest beer and fantastic pub food
• Two small supermarkets
• A fish and chip shop
• 5 cafes
• A French inspired restaurant
• A bank
• A drycleaner
• 2 Japanese restaurants, which we never go to because I don’t “get” Japanese food
• A German bakery
• A Vietnamese/French bakery
• A nail and waxing shop – best mani-pedi’s going!

This is in addition to heaps more restaurants, shops and facilities within a 1km walk. It’s very convenient for two people who are not particularly organised. Over the years we have been living in Glebe the City of Sydney council have spent many rate payers dollars upgrading the street scapes and parks which means that there are many many beautiful places to be.

So this is all pretty nice isn’t it? Except we didn’t get the memo, that we were supposed to move to the suburbs once we had kids! Apparently that’s what the city planners expect us to do. Young professional couples move into the inner city suburbs to live and to work and to get married.  All good. Then when you decide to have kids you are supposed to need more space and you then move further out of the city.

But guess what? Arran and I don’t want to do this. Apparently there are lots of other parents living in the inner city who also don’t want to do this. Hmmm….so?

Well next year Aiden starts school as do many other kids in the area. This topic has been consuming mother’s group conversation for the past 6-9 months and frankly, I’m over it. I’m over talking about the same topic over and over and I’m over not having a range of education options. You see the small inner city schools are not able to cope with the fact that we didn’t choose to move out to the suburbs and send our kids to schools that are probably better equipped to enroll larger numbers of kids.

So here we are in Glebe. When Aiden was about 4 months old I paid $250 to put him on the waiting list for an Independent school in the area. Because we turned down a place for Aiden for pre-school we have to wait until October to see if he is going to get into Kindergarten. Welcome to Sydney people. Apparently I should have put him on the list when I conceived!

We are in the catchment area for a public school that doesn’t have a good reputation and doesn’t compare well academically with the other schools in the area. Every parent wants their child to go to a good school and I also want a school that is going to be able to AND happy to provide extra support for Aiden’s vision impairment. I don’t get the impression that this is the school for Aiden.

 The school that is within a 5 minute walk of our house and we are NOT in the catchment area for took 6 “out of area” enrolments last year. The admin person at this school happily informed me that there was no chance of getting Aiden in at this school as there is 44 kids already on the waiting list.

I attended a Kindergarten information evening at another school in a nearby suburb, which comes highly recommended and has a good reputation. I was solely there to find out the chances of getting Aiden in as an “out of area” enrollment, as were half the parents there. This topic was not covered as part of the “information” and I found myself with 10 other desperate parents grilling one of the teachers and Administration Managers. One parent was so desperate she was enquiring as to when she would be considered “in area” if she bought a house in the catchment. But when would she be considered in area? Would it be when she signed the contract to buy the house? Or would it be when the sale settled? What date would matter to get her child into Kindergarten in 2014? That’s commitment.

I have found another little school in a nearby suburb which is lovely and the principal was willing to meet with Arran and I. It would be a great school for Aiden and I have filled out the “out of area” enrollment application. Crossed fingers.

I know it will work out and the best option will come up for Aiden, but gee wouldn’t it have been handy if we had got the memo?

Does Arran need his head read?

So when your best friend/partner/husband says to you that he wants to travel to the opposite side of the world to ride his bike from Canada to Mexico for oh, about 5 weeks or so...well you can't but think IDIOT! FOOL! WHY?? Seriously. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? We had the winner of last years event here for dinner a couple of months ago and by the time he got to the end of the event his body had started to eat itself. Yep. Spent 5 days in hospital to try and turn around the effects of his body eating itself. Yep.

So Arran left yesterday to make his way to Bamf in Canada to start the Tour Divide and I'm left wondering how the next 5-6 weeks are going to be? I have spent pretty much all the time leading up to him leaving wondering if I will:

• Lock myself out of the house?
• Get really sick and have to look after the boys by myself?
• Get stuck at work and not make it in time to pick the boys up from daycare?
• Forget to drop off the daycare photo envelope in time, though that could happen if Arran is here or not. It's happened before.
• Have to travel overseas because the company I work for might acquire a business...I can see two small boys dusting off their passport.
• Want to watch Game of Thrones but can't work out the complicated tech set up Arran has going on with our Arran's big TV....

So really, nothing I can't handle. I'll be OK. Probably a little lonely but fine. I have the bed to myself. That's a positive.

Arran on the other hand has set off to do something kinda amazing. It wasn't until his mate Adam MacBeth wrote this post that it really hit me. Arran hasn't really been enjoying work over the past couple of weeks and its probably fair to say that he has been getting some pressure to not go on leave as the project he is working on seems to be at a critical stage, or something. But you know, when he looks back and remembers his life, he will remember the trip to North America to attempt something that not many attempt. I don't think he will look back in the same way on a software implementation project. Truth.

Arran, Aiden and Charlie (in the chariot), 2012 Sydney to Woolongong

So, while I think riding a bike for that length of time and having to carry all your own shit while not being eaten by a bear is not really my glass of chardy, I reckon Arran is really going to miss me and the boys and will really have a great time. This is a once in a lifetime (seriously Arran, you ain't doin it again), what dreams are made of kinda experience and I hope you chill out and lap it up.

Lisa xx

Day 4: Running Late

I remembered last night at oh about 11.30pm that I had forgotten to do the days blog post. I had already had a little nap on the lounge at our holiday house for the Easter weekend, after a glass of red wine. I barely had the energy to move from the lounge to the bed so the chances of writing a blog post were non-existent.

Thursday was another long day with working and then the drive to Culburra Beach, which wasn't too bad considering we left Sydney at 5pm, rather than the planned 4pm. The main traffic snarl was on the approach to Kiama, where the piece of road changes from two lanes to one. Overall a good trip. Small boys were good and the trip was happy. We managed to pack the whole house into the car, including bikes and only realised we had forgotten bath towels on arrival. We have beach towels. We will live.

Unfortunately the Rabbits didn't fare that well during the trip but I prefer broken Chocolate over Charlie screaming the whole way.

So the plans for the day?

Some reading of these:

Some cooking of this:

Chicken and Pistachio Terrine, in this month's Vogue Living

And some admiring of the holiday house style:

What are you doing today?

Day 3: Long Day. Short Post

So not being a morning person and having not gone to bed until oh about 1am and then getting up a 6am to ice cupcakes well, it's been a long one.

It's been a rush kind of day trying to remember to do everything and get everything done. This included icing cupcakes, decorating cupcakes, getting small boys dressed, getting me dressed, presents opened, phone calls answered, small boys into the car and off to day-care, arriving at work at a decent time, working all day, buying dishwasher tablets and then racing home to pick up small boys, a negotiation with Arran to pick up my dry cleaning, cook dinner for a little party, (thank goodness I had a common sense attack and didn't make pizza bases from scratch) baths for 5 little bodies and then cleaning up and my 2 little bodies off to bed.

Then Arran and I started packing to go away for Easter. Nuts!

The birthday boy with supermarket bought ice-cream cake. Best ever!

Day 2 of 5: It's probably unwise to bake and blog past 10.30pm

10.35 Arrive home from wine bar. It's important to check out quality of new wine bars. Because.
10.41 Get out packet cakes. It's Aiden's birthday tomorrow and there seems to be a tradition of mums bringing in birthday cakes to daycare.
10.45 Turn on oven and wonder if it's working.
10.48 Wish my second drawer didn't look like this. Again.

 
10.49 Can't find beater attachments. Swear at cleaning angels
10.51 Beating cake mix and using my fluro pink spatula. Feel strangely satisfied using a spatula

10.56 First batch in oven
11.02 Prepare ingrediants for next batch
11.05 Get final birthday presents from car to wrap.
11.14 Commence mixing for second batch

11.16 Pull out first batch. lookin good!

11.18 Lick beaters of second batch
11.22 Second batch in oven. Lick bowl. Why is raw cake batter so tasty?
11.26 Chop up pizza ingrediants for Aiden's little party tomorrow night
11.34 Wash up dishes
11.35 Pack remainder of items in dishwasher. Discover we have run out of dishwasher powder. Pfffft!!
11.36 Discover eggs still in cup and NOT in cakes. Think about crying.

11.42 Cakes look ok despite lack of eggs. Hmmm... will a 4 year old notice if I slather in icing? Wonder if there are any kids at daycare who are allergic to eggs? I have the cakes for them!

11.51 Time for bed.