catching up with ben & laura
May 13, 2008 at 1:10 pm · Filed under General
Sunday morning arrived as usual in the wee hours, so Ben took the first shift with Eliana out in the living room… not long after I heard my dear daughter tapping at our bedroom door (although banging persistently is probably the more suited description!). I heard Ben open the door for her, and in she crawled babbling excitedly. Eli turned the corner and squeeled as she saw me, and I saw her in a t-shirt that read ‘my mum rocks’. She had a card up her shirt which she was trying to get out, as it was interfering with her movement, which I gladly helped her with so I could receive both card and cuddles before we all enjoyed a pancake breakfast and stroll on the beach:
May 7, 2008 at 10:57 am · Filed under Carpe Diem
nb. check out cafedave.net for another viewpoint and discussion.
is anyone else out there annoyed by the proposal of Julia Perry to enforce the Australian Public to provide 6 months paid leave for all mothers through an additional tax that equates to an average of $5 per week per person!!?? - web link
I hope the scheme will die a quick death, but it shocks me that such a proposal could get such tremendous backing from people. How ridiculous that couples who have already had children should have to be ‘levied’ to pay for those unprepared to make wise financial decisions regarding having a family. Or those couples without children, or single people… the list goes on and on. The only people who I could see even beginning to see this as a great idea would be those in their 20-30’s assuming that as with everything else (including the big fat baby bonus and generous family allowance) they should be spoon fed into having more babies.
How offensive such ideas must appear to the older generations who raised families of 7-12 children on a sole meager income during the depression and wars, receiving 50cents per week for family assistance. How far have our values fallen? We place such a focus on the need to have a four bedroom house with 2 bathrooms, 2 cars, kids in private schools with multiple extra-curricular activities, not to mention heinously expensive birthday parties celebrating the host who can boast the most, regardless of how long their credit bill is. What is with my generation and our inability to be able to choose the less expensive option? To choose to stay at home with our children as babies and bring them up rather than the expensive and under staffed day care centres.
I guess the trouble here is mortgages… how sad to see the price of homes compared with wages. Sure, 30 years ago, home loans were 17%, but the houses were only $20,000 or so - and that was in Sydney. I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve spoken to in the past month whose mortgage payments have risen by over $50 a week in the past 4-5 months. All but one mother in my mother’s group is back at work - if not for a mortgage, then because they want to be able to have a mortgage one day. It seems our perception of the level of quality of life has jumped light years ahead of what our parents and grandparents expected. And it was easier to a degree, because back then, everyone was in the same money-less boat. Now, the same is true, but at the other end of the $$$ scale, and hence the problems. I would like to say that the full-time mum in our group is me, but it’s not - as much as I dream of casting aside my work, it is a necessary evil whilst Ben completes his TAFE courses. But where does it stop? - What happens when school becomes an issue, and sport, and travel/holidays? It is so difficult to choose the much less exciting option of no. No to dinner dates in restaurants with friends, no to a cheeky down at your local, no to providing a banquet every time you have friends over, instead placing a plain jane cost effective meal infront of them.
Rather than work more hours, or expecting government payments to solve financial issues, many of the previous generations did without. Where is the harmony and balance that our generation can take on as goals? Are Ben and I really willing to give up our beachside home and move west, should interest rates go much higher? Are we willing to sacrifice the abundant blessings God has given us here in house, church and friends? It’s easy to say yes now, but the ramifications are quite confronting. It is my constant prayer that we might action our thoughts of placing family over income first, but will the reality of me going back to full time work win over one day?
April 29, 2008 at 8:57 pm · Filed under Renovations, Family, Eliana
It seems hard to believe that I’m actually sitting at the computer (still the old girl) without a crushingly large amount of work to complete. Better yet, Monday’s an appalling night for TV, so I’m stuck here, finally giving me some time to update you on our doings.
Most excitingly since I last blogged, the ugliest tree I have ever seen no longer exists, bar some fairly hacked roots and saw-dust. We’ve also had the Grandparents Morton, and Uncle Dan/Aunty Emma come visit, 2 more teeth arrive, 2.5wks of sickness for Eliana, 3wks of poor sleep for all 3 of us, a cold for me and numerous other bits and pieces like a haircut, a tremendously awful amount of rain (comparable with Nth Ireland) and therefore lots of boardgames played.
It seems hard to believe that Eliana is now 11 months old. Eliana mostly spends her time pushing her trolley around the house, or walking with mum or dad (now one handed) chasing Murphy at home or on the beach. She has also taken a keen interest in Murphy’s bed on the back deck, and will make a break everytime to roll around in it generally singing a cheery song… ewww.
Last week, Ben had the brilliant idea of pulling out the ‘donut’ Em had made for Eliana when she was born to help her sit up. It was relegated to the garage, but after connecting her love of rolling around on pillows, it was reinstated inside, and has since then provided hours of self-initiated playtime… a very handy thing at 5am in the morning…
As you can see in the photos below, Eliana being the first grandchild and niece on the Morton side means she receives OODLES of love and attention (also reflected in the number of photos… and I culled big time!). Much of what you see below was taken by Emma, and sometimes Dan.
April 10, 2008 at 12:23 pm · Filed under Carpe Diem
It’s Thursday morning, and I’m sitting at my computer. My old computer… the one I thought I had finally kissed goodbye… The one that randomly crashed whenever I attempted to run photoshop autocad plus anything else together. The one with the graphics card that I had to reinstall most weeks so I could function outside of “safe mode”.
My new flash and fabulous computer purchased just over a month ago has been packaged up and sent back to the manufacturer. … it seems that anything IT related and owned by yours truly must force me to my knees to beg and plead with it to function as it ought. Some of you will not have heard of the blue screen of death, but others will… if you are ever unfortunate enough to be faced with it, I send pre-condolences. This nasty little error gives you no warning, no option to save, but simply appears out of nowhere and demands you curl up in a ball and cry ‘why me’ in defeat.
I was not defeated… until yesterday morning, when in a mood of acceptance, and a desire to punch out some work whilst the rain kept Ben home I began the process of installing my extremely expensive legit version of Autocad on my old computer. Install fine… restart…. and the sky fell with great inconsiderance for me.
9 hours later, all that I had achieved was to resurrect the machine from mostly dead to only slightly dead with help from my usual IT angels, and thus functioning enough to be able to reinstall a few programs.
I can only hazard a guess at what went wrong… but I believe fault lies entirely with my extremely expensive CAD program whose owners have spent a foul amount of cash trying to stitch it up from devious hackers and instead ruined life for all those choosing to do the right thing.
To all you Software manufacturers in the world, I make this request: forget about the hackers - they will ALWAYS work out a way to spoil your profits. There will always be people not interested in paying and wanting dodgy copies. Instead, why not focus your money on making your software user friendly, and continue to encourage people to purchase software legitimately and actually look after your people (ie me).
For example, were I to obtain an illegal copy of any CAD program, I would be able to install this on multiple computers without trouble. Obviously Software companies aren’t excited about this, because of large office situations, which is why they’ve spent so much money trying to lock it up for the average jo. A legitimate copy, as I found out, does not allow this, even though I was the only person using this program, but on my backup computer due to my new work horse MIA. So what happens in a few years, when I want to upgrade computers again? Well, the Software company demands that I purchase new software rather than be allowed to continue to run the older version on the new computer.
So all the people in the world doing the right thing are being royally twisted out of as much cash as possible to make up for the numbers of people who are getting illegal copies because they aren’t interested in the continuing heinous amount of funds demanded by said software companies. This, I find offensive.
So now I sit in a conundrum. My legitimate CD sits staring at me, as useful as a dirty nappy. The new attempted install ruined my very old version so that I can’t even use it.
time will tell…
March 29, 2008 at 12:45 pm · Filed under Family, Holidays, Eliana
family, work and life in general have lately over-ridden any desire to keep you all updated of our doings. Eliana’s increased activity, mixed with my taking on several jobs, which fill every crevice of “spare” time I might have (usually after 8pm) have left me rather tired. Combine the latter with Ben’s work, plus TAFE 2 nights and a day per week, bible studies, music practice, scripture teaching and renovating…
BUSY
The past few months have been full - from celebrating Ben’s 30th birthday, to visits by Ahma & Grandma, family, a trip to Sydney and spending time with friends locally, a trip to Tamworth and Niangala, some tough renovating (digging trenches for our new stormwater, retaining walls etc) and the usual day to day activities.
Eliana: Now over 10 months old, and full of chatter fun and giggles. Eliana has developed a very “special” crawling technique, half resembling a crab… it is very amusing to watch, and each day that passes she seems to refine it that little bit more. Eli has been walking around furniture for the past 2 months, and can now spend 5-10 seconds standing without help… until she starts to flap her arms in excitement…!
The weather has also allowed daily (if not twice daily) plays on the beach. Eliana and Murphy would be two very happy Morton’s were I to let them spend all day down there. Eliana had a wonderful week with each Grandmother here at home - delighting in their continual attention, whilst I spent time reacquainting myself with the computer. I’ve uploaded a few movies (they are on our fb sites too) which are quite amusing, and worth a look.
eliana singing in the bath
Chopsticks
That Special crawl
The start of March was another exciting week for us, as we flew to Sydney for Ethan’s 1st birthday, the first of the three 07 Andrews babies.
I had a wonderful time spent with the boys and their beautiful families, very precious. Eliana and I also took a trip into town to visit a few old friends, and see off a boat load of old work colleages at the opera house. We walked from Crown St Surry Hills through Hyde Park and down my favourite street in Sydney - Macquarie.
Easter weekend saw us heading to Tamworth. On arrival at Dad and Mum’s place, Ben and I both vowed to avoid travel with 10month olds mid-afternoons at all costs in future… I would also like to make a general request that someone please provide the funds to build a giant tunnel between bend01 after Wauchope and bend 2460 prior to Walcha… My stomach has never and it seems will never agree to the aggressive winds of the Range. Ben and Dad spent the weekend in a frenzy of building activity. I stepped in from time to time (I do love the power of a good drop-saw in my hands, and demolition is always a bit of fun… at least my way is… Dad’s way of gently removing each screw and nail is far too careful for Ben or I!) Despite ill health, and Murphy and Taitai’s bizarre fight (resulting in a broken glass panel in the kitchen sliding door and much pooch blood) we had a wonderful time, enjoying hospitality that Mum is famous for. High Tea Sunday afternoon and a bbq on Good Friday with the lively Hassan clan followed by a game of Settlers were all highlights. We left Tamworth with two very happy residents from the excellent work of my talented Carpenter husband, with the help of some very powerful tools, much credit going to the awesomeness of the nail gun. We detoured through Niangala on our way home, to check my farm homestead. The slab was down, and some brickwork up. I was filled with much anticipation, relief (that it was looking good) and frustration (that I live 3.5hrs from the site). Eliana had fun playing with everything at hand (tape measures, bricks, nails, etc etc) Murphy chased the cats, and Ben chatted to the brickies, whilst I got updated with things on site. The view is sensational, and I’m looking forward to future visits, once the brickwork and roof framing is complete. Due to the climate, there are no grand openings to the view, but instead all the rooms are punctuated with framed views to differing vantages.
Ben enjoyed his 30th Birthday, celebrated first with his parents here, which was a blessing because on his actual birthday, his time was spent being a house husband, cooking cleaning and looking after Eliana! I also arranged a very last minute surprise party for him, which included an afternoon at the local go-kart course before a bbq with neighbours, churchies and other friends.
Tafe has been as exciting to Ben as turning 30. But he pushes on, and we survive the long days without him grudgingly. By the time 5pm ticks past, Eliana begins to expect her Daddy’s arrival, and becomes quite frustrated if he doesn’t appear.
The coming weeks are bringing all sorts of visitors to our home - Grandparents, Uncle Dan and Aunty Emma, Rach E and anybody else who would like to visit!
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