How I fell over because of muffins.

On a Saturday morning, I teach 5 tap-classes in a row to a bunch of children, without a break.  By class 4, I'm absolutely starving!  As a way of feeding myself something quick, cheap and not junky, I whip up a dozen muffins before the first class.  Owing to the fact that my tap hall is a shared facility, I keep the dry ingredients in my lock-up cupboard but have to remember to bring the egg, butter and milk from home. It is necessary to put a couple aside at Nell's Desk (Nell likes to have one too as she sits there being my admin person, marking the roll and taking money etc) because I leave out the rest for whoever wants one, and they never last long. Generally gone by the end of the first class.



Anyway, the Saturday before last, I left the egg and butter at home and didn't realise until I'd arrived at the Tap Hall.  So in a bit of a hurry, I drove quickly to the milkbar nearby and dashed in to buy eggs and butter. She had butter, but no eggs!  I rushed out her door, wondering wildly what to do, where to go next and if I even had time, skated on a wet leaf in my treacherous non-grip dance sneakers and fell down so fast that I didn't even feel myself falling, just an incredibly hard impact.  I had to lie there for a minute in shock, catching my breath.  The lady from the milkbar rushed out to help me up, and although I was sore and shaken I could feel I hadn't really damaged anything.  I mostly landed well, taking a good bit of the impact on what they called at drama school a landmass, meaning of course the fleshy part of the body in the rump and thigh area.  (You have to be prepared for a bit of falling over at Drama School, in case you were thinking of going.)  Unfortunately I also came down on my elbow and the trauma of that went right up my arm and across my neck and shoulders and stayed there for several days, until a combination of a chiropractic treatment, a cocktail of paracetemol and anti-inflammatories, and time, settled it down again.

This is the picture I shared on facebook.  Obviously when you fall as dramatically as this, you need to tell as many people as possible, and show them your bruised elbow so they can wince at you sympathetically.

I rang up Mister Fixit in nearly-tears and said I'd fallen and hurt myself, and could he please bring the egg and butter and the boys to the Tap Hall, where Climber could make the muffins for me, and Fixit could be deputy-Nell as she was away that week.  He of course came to my rescue, and the muffins were made and I taught all my classes and told them the funny story of how Miss Caroline Fell Over.  Unfortunately, Climber didn't realise the importance of Putting Aside some muffins at Nell's Desk so he just left them all out on the kitchen bench and of course, by Class 4, aka Starvation O'Clock, they were ALL GONE.   Disaster!  So for the second time that day, Mister Fixit had to come to my rescue and hunt & gather me a muffin from a nearby cafe.  He takes good care of me, that man.



A couple of comments made to me after my fall really rang true for me. One was by Astrid, who said that falling at this time of your life is such a shock; you fall over all the time when you're a kid and we foresee tumbles in our future when we're 80-odd, but this time of life should be the non-falling years. So true! Except when you're at Drama School obviously. The other comment was from an adult tap student who remarked how you always hurt yourself much worse if you're angry, and followed it up with an anecdote of a furious bed making incident which put her in the bed with a bad back for 4 days. And we all laughed and nodded ruefully in agreement.  I most definitely was in a snit at the milkbar for having no eggs and this made me rush out of the shop at an ill-advised speed, considering the wet ground and my unsuitable shoes. So I suppose the lesson from my muffin related fall is to try  to minimise your movement when you're in a temper? Or maybe just calm down if you don't have sensible shoes.

Being good, being important, crystals and soccer dads.

1. Both my kids have been "Caught Being Good" at school recently and rewarded with  a book, a certificate and some public acclaim.  Climber's award was for being a conscientious and hard worker in all learning situations (well done, o firstborn) and Cherub's was for sharing with a friend.  Actually his teacher was super impressed with him for his actions - there'd been a special goodie bag from the canteen for Anzac Day and a boy in his class whose parents don't speak much English messed up the order, and he didn't receive one.  Cherub immediately offered to share his pack with the disappointed child, and although full marks for kindness I am bound to add that Cherub, being the fusspot he is, really wasn't that excited by the snacky contents and felt no pang in giving them up.  Still, take the credit where you can, hey?



2.  Cherub grew a crystal from one of those science kits, and a mighty impressive process it was.

This is the early stages where it started creeping down the wall as though it were a family eating triffid crystal...



 ... this is how the solution looked at the end of the 10 (?) days ...



... and this is the finished crystal, which is so pretty.



I'm keeping it as an ornament.

3. Climber's soccer team had a 'friendly' game against the parents a while ago.  Actually the Dads and one Mum put up a fairly impressive showing but ultimately went down due to lack of stamina and team fitness.  I ended up taking one of the Dads (Mavis' ex, slightly awkward) to hospital because of a shoulder injury, but as Mister Fixit put it You know it was a good match when only one of the parents ended up at hospital.



Mister Fixit is the dad in the red shirt with hair, and Climber is the sprinting blond in the centre front.

4. Cherub was class VIP last week at school. His teacher made it much more low-key than Climber's, so all Cherub was expected to do was complete the double page spread in the VIP book. - he included this photo to show that he can now do a forward flip on the trampoline - bravo! 



As an optional extra, the VIPs could bring along someone to Friday afternoon VIP presentation, and Cherub said he'd like me to come in and give everyone a tap lesson.   It was a smash success, with the kids absolutely loving it, and nearby children and staff coming from everywhere to watch and cheer and even join in behind us.

Ever the comedian, Cherub opened his VIP book entry with This is Gerald, Gerald the Chicken, no actually it's me, Cherub.  It got a good laugh when he read it out for the class. The caption that went with this photo in the VIP book was this is my weird brother Climber, and our cat Basil.



Luckily his brother thought it was amusing too.

Spending the Inheritance.

Dear Blog,

I am very sorry I've been so slack. There have been a few reasons why I've not updated - having two boys playing in different soccer teams this year seems to have taken up large chunks of my life, both in a physical sense, ie having to drive them All The Time to training and games, and in a mental sense, ie I'm going mental trying to sort our various team administration and human relationship type things.  (Don't ask.) Then there's my tap-school, being quite the going concern these days, busy, busy.  But let's face it, the real reason is that a bequest from my late stepfather came through, some of which I immediately spent on a new ipad for me (business necessity).  And just when I'd got that all up and running to my satisfaction, loading apps and music and whatnot, someone introduced me to the game Drawsome and now I just don't have time for anything else.  Must draw pictures for my friends to guess and then guess their efforts. Must.

However, here is a very brief round-up of what has been happening in between bouts of ipad art.

After Easter, we had a couple of other fun days out for what was left of the school holidays, including visiting the Melbourne Museum, where the boys constructed stuff for the Melbourne Gallery.



The boys and I had our first ever ride on Puffing Billy, Melbourne's famous steam train that runs out in the Dandenong Mountains.  Such a lovely day.  It was the last day of the school holidays, the sun was shining and we were with our special and best friends, the Mothers Group gang. If you've never been for a ride behind a steam train, you should.  Apart from the pain of getting soot in your eye, it is a grand way to travel. Puffing Billy has open carriages, so the kids sit on the window ledges and dangle their limbs outside and have the best time.  On the way back I leaned my whole upper body out the door-window for  20 minutes as we rattled along, and it made me feel happy in the same way that sitting outside on the Sydney Harbour Ferry did.





Cherub is now playing soccer in a proper team instead of just diddling around on a Saturday morning with the soccer skills program.  He's had 4 games now, 1 victory and 3 defeats, and is having a good time.  He initially insisted that he was a defender (like his brother, who is a very good defender), but the coach switched him to midfield in the most recent match and he was much better there, and set up 2 goals, much to my delight.



I went away for a gorgeously rushed 24 hour sewjourn (aka craft camp) organised by my friend Jenny, and made a dress in between all the other fun parts - the bath, the food, the drink, the  chocolate, the quiz/crossword, the laughs and the chats.  Nell and Astrid and Suse were there too.  It was lovely.  I'll show you the dress when I finish the buttonholes.

And finally, the bequest from my stepfather has also provided a new trampoline for the boys, because the old one was declared unsafe last November when the springs started flinging off in a highly random and dangerous manner when the kids were bouncing.



I am  trying to spend this money on happy stuff, as opposed to groceries and the inevitable car repairs, and man, it's fun.



Lots of fun.