Organised.

The tall son (pictured here with his haul from the Swimming Carnival yesterday: a [close!] 3rd for backstroke, a [close] 4th for breaststroke and a well-done or 5th for butterfly) has gone off to Grade 5/6 Camp until Friday. I hope he has a great time.  He was feeling reasonably confident about this - in previous years he enjoyed the camp activities but disliked the general off-the-leash craziness from the other kids, particularly at bedtime. Climber is a child who needs his sleep.  But this year he is in a cabin with boys he says he can stand up to if they give him a hard time. The confidence of being a Grade 6, it's a good thing.



So just me and the small son tonight. Rattling round the house together. He has popped out of bed once already to tell me that he can't get to sleep, because he has no brother to talk to.  Aw.



Mister Fixit, meanwhile, is off at work, under his new regime of doing one week day-shift and one week evenings.  I have to tell you that, actually and unexpectedly, this is far more onerous for me than it is for him.  He gets to potter round in the daytime every second week, plus organise the odd  business-hours type stuff that he never usually gets time for, like motorbike-boot repairs.  He enjoys leisurely coffees after school drop-off.  He can take big walks so that his fitness improves.  I rather think he likes it. Meanwhile I now have to do the cooking and the washing up on those weeks, do all the babysitter organising so that the kids are cared for while I work my job 3 nights a week, plus tie myself in knots trying to fulfil their after-school sports commitments, some of which happen while I'm at work.  And this on top of organising everything else that happens in this family like grocery and washing and tidying and school admin and bills and everything, not to mention keeping on top of my tap school business! Oh sorry, did I just rant at you?  Maybe I am a touch sore because Fixit accused me on Saturday morning of NOT BEING ORGANISED; because despite directing operations so that the kids were dressed and fed, the lunches were made, the sports gear & my tap stuff assembled, while all he did was go to the chiropractor and eat breakfast, I didn't quite allow enough time to buy coffee en route and asked him if he'd get me one in the hour he had to spare before cricket. Geez, soooooo unorganised. And just quietly, it's not as much help having him there on school mornings as he might think.  I already have that routine down pat, so him bellowing secondary chivvies at the kids is just annoying really.  My primary chivvies are quite sufficient and effective, no need for an echo. Still, it's a period of adjustment.  Once I get it all together and stop having to organise everything all the time, I might relax.  We did go and see a movie together, and that was fun.



Meanwhile, you'll be pleased to know that the expensive cat repairs have totally paid off. Basil and Fixit, working as a team, caught a mouse we found sunning itself on the loungeroom windowsill.  Basil was mostly in charge of small space retrieval, Fixit was in charge of hefting wall units around and whacking the mouse unconscious with a heavy ornamental glass plate.  My sister was in charge of action photography and no-one was in charge of dusting behind the wall unit.