Read All About It.

Headline Stories at Sparkly Street, since the last post:

• MISTER FIXIT QUITS ANNOYING JOB TO RETURN TO HIS TRADE •



This is definitely a good news story.  The Warehouse Manager job that he left was driving Fixit crazy. It was stressful, badly paid, physically tiring and gave him no job satisfaction.  It was the job he got after he was retrenched from his Airline Mechanic job, and he took it so we could pay our rent. At first it seemed okay; they realised he was a good worker and they appreciated him, which was good for his self-esteem after retrenchment. But it gradually became quite toxic, and he was hating the job and his employers (family business, high staff turnover, no actual systems to run things properly, you get the idea...). He started looking for work back in the industry for which he had qualifications, and despite there not being a great deal on offer, he came very close to getting an airline job. At the last minute they said they had to give precedence to mechanics working for the company in casual positions. The logical step at that point was to apply for a casual job so that he could be back in the system again, and hope for the best when permanent jobs came up again. He's been a casual employee since June, working 4 night-shifts in a row with 4-day rests in between. It's not perfect (no sick leave, no holiday pay, no job security) but it's better. 

• FIXIT FAMILY ADJUSTS TO HAVING DAD WORK NIGHT-SHIFT •

 

The cat thinks the new arrangement is pretty good. On night-shift blocks there is nearly always a human in the big bed to cuddle up with. I'm enjoying seeing more of Fixit - we get to hang out and go for coffee dates during daylight hours. Also, he is contributing more to daily life.  The kids, particularly Climber, have had to step up on the evenings that Fixit and I are both working (I teach 2 nights a week) so that we can manage getting them to and from their sporting/work commitments, (Climber has a job, he's a gymnastics coach!  Also: he has started shaving OMG.) but they're older now so we felt confident that they could do this. I've been very proud of them. They catch public transport or ride their bikes, and then they get themselves off to bed. They're good boys. None of it is unmanageable, it just calls for forethought and organisation.  It's good that we now live so much closer to everything, certainly makes a difference. Fixit is coping remarkably well with staying awake all night. I don't think I'd cope nearly as well at all. Still. It would be good to win the lottery so he could give up work and spend his time pottering round the shed and likely being a neighbourhood handyman.



• STOMPER GIRL GOES TO CRAFT CAMP (AGAIN) •



Mid-winter craft camps are best.



A whole 4 days away from the daily grind. Comfort food, woodfires. No insects. This year I got to meet Tracy in person after years of blog friendship; we found each other to be just as we'd imagined. I suspect that means we have our online voices right. I was awarded the Princess Room, which is the one where you don't share with anyone and you get a queensize bed all to yourself. I made a rhubarb and apple pie for my turn at the cooking.

As for my crafting, I had two successes and one failure. Success #1 was an Orphan Annie frock (adapted from the Clothkits Tea-Dress) for a fancydress party (We put a baldcap and a suit on Fixit and he was Daddy Warbucks).



The failure was a bias cut top with under-bust darts, the Curlew tank from the Merchant & Mills workbook.  The under-bust darts turned into weird side air pockets around my rib cage.  We think it's meant to be worn by women with a more ample bust. But then I made a Ruby top out of a tablecloth and all was well.



I love going away with my Crafty Friends.  More photos here.



• STOMPER GIRL BUYS THE BEST PAIR OF TAP SHOES EVER •



All the way from New York. Miller & Ben SporTaps. So good in every way.

• STOMPER GIRL IS EMPLOYED AS A PROFESSIONAL WUTHERING HEIGHTS INSTRUCTRESS •



This may need it's own post, but in precis I can tell you it was slightly bonkers but enormous fun, several thousand people on a perfect Melbourne day clad in red dresses and re-creating the dance from Kate Bush's song Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home and I'm so co-o-o-old.



• CHERUB BREAKS HAND IN FINAL GAME OF SOCCER SEASON •

Cherub's team was playing the top team in the league, and when one of the opposition players couldn't stop Cherub making one of his excellent runs with the ball, they resorted to a foul push which sent my poor lad hurtling to the ground.  The Ref said as he helped Cherub up they seem to be targeting you. Cherub landed on his fist with all his body weight on top.  He was awarded a free kick, but soon afterwards asked to come off and didn't play for the rest of the game.



You can tell its a break because the edges of the index knuckle, on the lift side, are not smooth and rounded, but slightly jagged. There was a also a wavy line -not visible here- in the middle of the bone where it had bowed at the point of impact.



We took him and his poor swollen hand to the Childrens' Hospital next day where they found a small break just below the knuckle, and he ended up with a splint and 6 weeks of showering with a plastic bag on his arm, no writing, no playing clarinet, and no gymnastics or swimming. He also had to miss playing with his school soccer team in the state finals. And then he came down with a virus/flu and was as miserable as I've ever seen him for 3 solid days, we assume because his immune system was concentrating on bone repair and couldn't fight the other nasties or because he'd been to a hospital and picked up something awful from there. Or both those things.



Good on you Fawkner, you dirty thugs.

At the End of Year presentations Cherub was awarded Best and Fairest for the season and I give you this picture to represent the highs and lows of sporting life: I call it Sling and Trophy



• FIXIT FAMILY FIND & RESTORE MISSING CAT •

This mini adventure felt like therapy for all of us, after the trauma of our own cat who went missing but never came home.

On a Sunday night Cherub heard cats meowing outside and we went to investigate, in case Basil was getting involved in a territory dispute.  A silver tabby saw us and ran off into the street, but at the time I did think his meows were strange, more hello can you help me than I hates your poncy cat.  The next day Fixit and I saw the Missing Cat sign, so I immediately rang and reported the sighting. We all felt really hopeful about re-uniting a lost cat with the worried owner, and were disappointed when the owners texted back saying they'd searched but hadn't found him. They also asked if we would catch him if we saw him again but as the days went by we thought we'd missed our chance.

Then on the Thursday night, Cherub ran down from the bedroom to say he'd heard the cat again. This time we grabbed some dried catfood and our cat-cage before we went out. Basil was looking mildly defensive (he was safely tucked between the wheelie bins, but he wasn't fluffed up and snarling) and the tabbycat looked at us warily. I could see he didn't want us to touch him but when we put some food on the ground he immediately came over to eat, and after many soft words and plenty of food and a bit of sneaking quietly round the back of him, I eventually got the cage lid on top of the kitty. Cherub sat on it to stop him getting out while Climber and I spent some time wrangling him into the cage with towels and trays and Cherub's one good hand.



The owner wasn't able to get to our house til late so the boys sat for a while keeping Juan company and we all hoped we had the right cat, and hadn't falsely kidnapped a non-lost feline.



At 11.30pm a very grateful young man arrived at our gate and confirmed that we'd captured the lost Juan. He was extremely apologetic about keeping me up so late and offered me money, but I explained that we didn't need rewarding because we'd lost a cat once and finding one for someone else had made us all very, very happy.  (He probably thought I was mad, but I'm just a good neighbour!) So he transferred Juan into his own cage and went on his way, texting me afterwards to thank us yet again.

We recently watched a documentary about cat behaviour and this experience did make we wonder about cat dynamics. Juan came to our house twice, so did he know that a house where another cat lives is a good option for a lost cat? And did Basil, who never behaved in a hostile way, recognise a fellow feline in distress?

PS. Last night the owners dropped round a very fancy looking bottle of wine as a thank you.



• WE FAREWELL THE FAITHFUL COROLLA •

My Dad has given us his old car which is in much better nick than my poor old beloved Corolla, and it's a stationwagon, which will be so handy for lugging stuff around, so I keep reminding myself that it's great news. But the truth is I'm a bit sad because I really loved my girly hatchback. I could park it anywhere, it was an automatic with aircon and four doors, which were my 3 prerequisites when I purchased a car in the lead-up to starting a family, the heater worked, the petrol economy was great, and the mechanic used to give it a fond slap after working on it and say Corollas, best cars in the world. What more do you really need? Sure, it didn't have cup-holders or button-click doors, and the driver window wouldn't wind up properly unless Fixit did it, and the stereo volume was stuck on full, and the rear windscreen wiper didn't work, but I was used to living with those things.  I must admit too, to a sneaking Luddite preference for car features that are mechanical rather than electrical or computer-chipped. They're easier to fix, especially if you have Mister Fixit in your life, and you'll never get trapped without air in a car that has an actual winding-stick for the window operation is what I'm saying.

But also, it was the car that I chose, a style that I'd admired when I'd seen others driving around, and one that I duly researched in the Trading Post before finding the model-I-wanted at the price-I-could-afford at a mansion in Toorak of all places. This was me on the day I bought him, sometime in 1998. He was extra awesome because the number-plate said FBI. That fact always made me happy.



And this was me yesterday, taking a last pic to remember him by. Eighteen years together. Sniff. I also re-read this post when I was looking for pictures and it made me smile. My Corolla was cool. It was probably the coolest car I'll ever own.




 Thank you for joining us for today's bulletin. Here is the Weather Report.

• WEATHER •

It's spring!  There is some sunshine coming into our house again.



* BONUS FEEL-GOOD STORY FEATURING CUTENESS •

It's a meerkat from the Childrens Hospital. Nnaww.

Twenty Years.

Last night the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate the fact that Fixit and I have been together for twenty years. (I think this means we must have started going out when we were children, because twenty whole years can't possibly be right! Not when I'm still this young.)  The actual anniversary (of the party where he was brought along to be 'set-up with someone' and that someone totally got to give him their phone number by the end of the night) is on Friday, which is also my birthday, but I am nicking off early Friday morning to Craft Camp for the long weekend.  (Best birthday treat I could have, Craft Camp. Fabulous company, food, drink and crafting, plus a bath and a massage planned.  I am only sad that we won't be joined by a treasured member of our clan this weekend, owing to family circumstances.)

Anyway. We had a lovely time out at a local groovy Vietnamese restaurant last night. The food was delicious and the kids were excellent company. Impressively, Cherub was able to spot yet another poisoning attempt on his life before it came to pass, and politely-but-firmly declined the waitress' offer of chocolate or strawberry topping on his plain vanilla ice-cream.  These would-be assassins must be so frustrated with Cherub's vigilance.

And twenty years, hey? Twenty really good years: lots of laughter, lots of kindness, lots of pleasure in each others' company.  Annoyances and spats, yes, because living with other people brings that in its wake. (And men can be so annoying.)  But always there for each other through illness and adversity and challenge and change.  We never got married and set it out in public that we would do this, but we have.  And best of all we can share the love with our two gorgeous boys, who light up our lives every day.  So Happy Anniversary Mister Fixit.  Here's to the next twenty xxx.

How I ended up with a onesie for Mother's Day

Fixit has been enjoying the new job. As I predicted, on his first solo delivery (he delivers rehabilitation equipment like wheelchairs, walker frames and chairs that help you stand back up again) he was asked to help with more than just the delivery and set-up of the equipment, and was soon being thanked profusely and treated to cups of tea and biscuits. Typical Fixit.




The kitty obviously got into a bit of a fight over the weekend - nothing too unusual there and it's generally just a few scratches - but on Sunday he curled up on our bed and stayed there all day and when he did get up he had a pronounced limp on his front left paw.  When I took him to the vet I commented that he was letting her have a much better look at the sore paw than he'd permitted me, and she said cats try to pretend there isn't anything in the least bit wrong with them when they go to the vet. I am a well cat. There is no reason for me to be here at all. You are totally wasting your time. I am 100% a Healthy Cat. She also said he must be a brave cat, because all the scratches were on the face, paws and chest, which meant he stood and fought. Cowardly cats have scratches to their bottoms as they attempt to Run Away! All of which I found very funny. Basil ended up with an antibiotic injection and a painkiller and has been improving ever since.

Climber took part in a Flute Guild Competition and his ensemble achieved 3rd place.  They were much the smallest group, which apparently makes it easier to hear any mistakes.



Although we don't make a big deal about Mother's and Father's Day here, I was slightly miffed that my family - in the midst of soccer games and family lunch with the Fixit Clan - pretty much forgot to mark my Mother's Day, until I said at 6pm, in a slightly pathetic voice: Aren't I getting anything for Mother's Day this year?, knowing full well that I'd previously given Cherub $10 to spend at the school Mother's Day stall. And given that was the only thing that had been organised for me (by me, I organised it!) I took myself and my pique off to the shops the next day for some retail therapy. Part of the therapy involved the purchase of a fluffy pink onesie for myself. Sooooo comfortable, I can't even tell you. It is something to do with the absence of a waistband I suspect. I would gladly wear mine all day.

 
(Please note. All the [dangly, pink. round] pompom jokes have been done.)

I also bought one for Cherub who has been desperate for one ever since they became a fad. He was over the moon. The only one I could find in boy size/range was light-weight so he is wearing it as his  pyjamas. He looks incredibly cute in it, and delights me by jumping around in ninja poses whilst wearing it.

 

Someone else who loves a onesie is Basil.



With or without me in it.

Week of wins.

Fixit started work on Wednesday. He leaves the house at 6.30am but is home at a reasonable hour. He seems to be enjoying himself, but is tired at the end of the day.  When he was first retrenched I found it annoying having him around in the morning. He kept getting in my way while I was trying to get the boys off to school! But then I got used to it. So it was weird this last few days not having him around.  I would say it actually ran more smoothly, but we all missed him too.

Both boys had music concerts this week.  Climber, in typical fashion, neglected to tell us that his flute ensemble were providing pre-show foyer music so we pretty much missed that. But the two bands he performed in during the show proper (Junior Band and Junior Stage Band) were excellent, and he looked very handsome in his concert shirt and trousers too.



Cherub was highly excited to be doing a music concert as well.  His band has only had 6 weeks preparation, and most of them only started learning their instruments at the start of last term so they only played three very short pieces, but they clearly enjoyed themselves and played with gusto.



I'm feeling proud of all the boys this week!

Oh and PS I bought new tap shoes, because my purple ones have never quite recovered from having the cracked tap-plate. There were no purple ones left in my size so I've gone with some all-black lace-ups.  Busting to try them out tomorrow morning!

Singing in the Rain

It is Walk to School Day today. Here are some school-kids (Cherub and his best friend) Walking To School. Well, part of the way, it's a bit far for us to do the whole slog on foot. We were going to ride our bikes but then the rain came down. So we compromised: some car, some walking. It's all good.
 

It is exactly 39 weeks today since Fixit was made redundant. For quite a long while we lived off his redundancy payment and my earnings. Then the big payment ran out and he (finally, reluctantly) went to Centrelink. He was immediately eligible at that point for unemployment benefits and our family also qualified for a health care card, hooray for health care cards and the concessions they bring! So that was a load off my mind, but still there was the nagging problem of what he should do. We still haven't worked that out exactly, but ... today Fixit got a job! As a driver/mechanic for a medical aids delivery company. He starts next week.
 

He's feeling so happy right now. So am I.

In the (re) trenches

It's been three months since Mister Fixit was made redundant. During that time Qantas laid off 300 aircraft maintenance staff and closed its Heavy Maintenance operation in Melbourne, so it seems that the chances of finding re-employment in the aircraft maintenance industry are now very slim. Fixit has applications in with 2 other airlines but neither of us are holding out much hope.  Sigh. And here was us thinking aircraft mechanicking was such a good career choice. We didn't predict that planes would be flown overseas for major servicing in the cheaper Asian labour market.

Fixit has reluctantly gone back to TAFE because we really couldn't think what else to do.  He is doing a 12-week course which covers the entire schooling requirement of a Heavy Vehicle Mechanic apprenticeship. Think trains, trams, diesel engines. If he wants to pursue it, he would have to find an employer willing to sign him up for the on-the-job part of the apprenticeship; in the hope that they might prefer an employee who doesn't have to absent themselves at school for 4 weeks a year. Neither of us feel very excited about him having to do another apprenticeship (this would be his third) but there doesn't seem to be many other options. It is a strange thing to have to reinvent yourself at his age. And as for being at TAFE again, huh. TAFE has always made him grumpy: having to share an underfunded and at times barely competent learning environment with a bunch of unmotivated 18-year-olds does that to him. He's over it, he's completely over it, but at least now has the savvy to navigate his way through it, so he is currently 23 days ahead of where he's meant to be. He keeps Doing The Things and Getting them Signed Off. I'm over him going to TAFE too, because it makes him grumpy and we have to put up with that at home. One of his grumpiness triggers is the cheeky Cherub, because let's face it, the kid is noisy in a fairly constant and nonsensical way. He will often just sit or jump around in our company emitting noise for noise's sake, riffing on silly sounds for the joy of it. That's his thing, he is our chirpy little lunatic. I find it cute and endearing but Fixit does not always. (I'm far more likely to find Climber annoying than Cherub, go figure.)  At least Fixit recovers well when I remind him gently that Cherub is actually just cute, not annoying. We've made it a family joke and our robust second-born takes it in his crazy stride.



Fixit is using the break from employment to work on his health issues with some exercise (riding the pushbike to TAFE), and some pool time (while Climber does his life-saving swim class), which is all good. If only he could deal with his sugar addiction as well.  I don't hold out any hope that he'll manage to give up biting his fingernails to the quick in these trying times, but this will not stop me admonishing him when I catch him in the act. Well he'd miss it if I stopped nagging. Here's a picture of Fixit in the pool with our boys and some friends, they love it when Fixit throws them around.



In the meantime, it appears that there may be a market for Fixit's general fixiting skillz, and he has been earning some pocket money helping our local cafe owner with his renovations.  So far we are doing well enough living on the redundancy payout and my earnings, but it is a little bit hard to plan ahead in this situation.  I had been putting money aside so we could enjoy another January holiday but now it feels like it would be unwise to blow it on such a luxury.  We'll see. I get a bit stir-crazy in this house over summer so getting out of it might be an investment in emotional well-being and family stability rather than a luxury.



This is Fixit and Climber enjoying themselves at a lovely brunch last weekend. Our chirpy lunatic has been playing in a tennis competition this year, which has been a lot of fun and done wonders for his tennis skills, and it was his end-of-season break-up.



Here he is with his team.

The End of Heavy Maintenance

Mister Fixit was made redundant last Friday. It wasn't unexpected, but, in true form for our family, when it was announced that 40 jobs were being cut Fixit thought he'd go and I thought they'd keep him. I mean, why wouldn't you keep Mister Fixit? He's fantastic; Fantastic Mister Fixit. But he was right and I was wrong.

It is slightly hard to say to people oh by the way Fixit's been made redundant so I emailed our family, and I guess people around us will find out when they see Fixit hanging round the neighbourhood drinking coffee. I don't want to catastrophise it, because it may turn out to be a good thing. That workplace has been a poisoned chalice from the start, owing primarily to the management. So it is possible that he'll find another job before too long and we won't have to chip into the redundancy payout, in which case we'll be better off.  We don't know yet if it's a bad thing, so there's no point getting worked up about it. Having said that, I noticed that we both slumped a little this weekend, that we were both grumpier and touchier than normal, but I daresay that will wear off soon. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again, as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sang.

Step In, Step Out

Mister Fixit's employers have forced him into a month of night-shifts, using a loophole in their Enterprise Agreement which allows temporary shift changes.  It's to do with how shaky his industry is in Australia at present - most airlines are opting to outsource the regular 'heavy' maintenance of their aircraft (the 3-5 day complete overhauls) to Asia, where the labour costs are significantly lower.  Only the really unavoidable services, the overnight ones, are being done in Melbourne.  Hence the mandatory night-shift: surprisingly, very few people put their hands up to do voluntary night-shift. Particularly when it doesn't come with any extra income.  He is working 4 nights from 8pm through to 6.30am, then he has 4 whole days off to see his family and change his bodyclock back round.  And then we're back to greeting each other as he creeps in from a long night just as I'm getting up.

The reality so far has not been as bad as I anticipated. I was pretty worried about Mister Fixit's tiredness levels but so far he seems to be coping pretty well. His great gift is that he can sleep at will.  Famously, he once dozed off riding a motorcycle home along the freeway, but jerked awake before he came to any harm.  But it isn't particularly family friendly, and even less so because we've had school holidays and visitors (harder to keep quiet during the day).  Also, the childminding for the nights I work has been haphazard, because our regular sitter is away and it hasn't been worthwhile getting someone else in owing to Fixit not leaving til 7.30pm and me being home at 8.45 or 9.45pm - it doesn't feel like a long enough shift to offer someone.  My visitors (my sister and my mother) kindly helped out whilst they were here. Fixit started late on one occasion. I don't really know how we'll swing it if it becomes a long term prospect.  But I suppose where there's a will there's a way, my newly adopted proverb of choice at this stage of my life.  We'll find a way, we always do.

Meanwhile, holiday snaps.

My sister and kids came to Melbourne (as did my Mum but I didn't get a photo of her)



We saw two movies, Monsters University and Despicable Me 2.  Minions! Purple minions!!
 

We hung out with friends



We kept the house in order, mostly.

 

We went to the Zoo.  We had a great day at the Zoo! The seal show is absolutely fantastic and I can't believe we've never seen it before in all our years of visiting.  Gordo the seal is so clever. And Cherub and I discovered the trick to attracting butterflies to land on you in the butterfly house: white hats.  Climber was ever-so-slightly jealous.

Big Brown Bear


Daddy Lions


Meerkat watching


Phone photography


At the Carousel


Watching seals from under their pool


Seal in training out the back


Gordo the Seal making waves


Butterflies definitely prefer white hats


 Best ever hat for attracting butterflies to land