Porky, but not Pregnant.

There are moments in life when only a three year old can ease the tensions in a situation.

On Saturday we attempted to buy the tapware for the bathroom renovation. Mr H had allocated a budget for the taps and was hoping to stay within a few dollars of this tight budget.

We started arguing discussing the tap issue and the salesman raised his eyebrows and silently crept away.

I couldn't understand why Mr H wouldn't be buying a mixer tap. He was stuck with wanting two old style taps for the shower.

As we argued talked between clenched teeth, Immy and Popps were rolling eyes about how bored they were and then Immy walked over, patted me on the tummy and said "Wow, Mummy is having a baby, look Mummy, you are having a BABY!"

Mr H simply buckled over from trying not to laugh out loud. I do believe I saw tears in his eyes from laughing so much.

Conversation over. Mr H could no longer look me in the eye without hysterical laughter.

We soon left Bunnings minus any taps or toilets and headed to the next bathroom wares distributors on the list. Mr H silently choking on his own laughter still. Two hours later and we had everything we needed.

The taps were only $795 over Mr H's budget, so, um, guess who's laughing now...yes that would be me (otherwise known as porky but not pregnant, belly).

If you need me anytime soon I will be either consoling myself with a packet of tim tams or attempting to run around the block to lose this belly.


(There is no image to display on this post, it would need to be either taps or tummys, so, nothing to look at here, move along.)
                 

Wordless Wednesday

Guess where we went?

The Modern Classroom: Ipads and schools

The modern classroom

A few months ago I wrote about schools using iPads in the classroom and what I did to secure an iPad for Popps to use in her prep classroom.

I asked the teacher to let me know how it was going and to provide some feedback on how it was that the ipads were used in the school environment.

The teacher sent me an email with some comments;

... the ipad has been a very useful and exciting addition to the classroom, it has provided a new reflective, planning and organisation tool for me as the class teacher and also introduced some exciting and engaging activities for students.

Students ‘at risk’ and ‘above the expected level’, have had an interactive platform to participate in Literacy and Numeracy programs that meet their specific learning needs.

I recently downloaded a particularly useful assessment and portfolio record keeping app. This app assists with tracking and future development of programs for all students and particularly those with ‘specific needs’.

Our school has now purchased 16 iPads for exclusive use in the prep classes. My classroom has 18 children and 5 iPads available most sessions, a very good ratio.

IPads have become a part of the weekly agenda in our levelled team meetings. We share, discuss and evaluate apps.

The ICT team is also currently investigating the viability of a 1:1 iPad program in the senior area of the school. A tool that can link iPads with classroom interactive whiteboards is also being investigated which will extend the impact of this form of technology.

 

EA Mobile filled the ipad with a number of games which the school now has in their account. 

I know for sure that SPY Mouse is a big hit as Popps is keen to practice when she gets home (and it is also free so go grab it). 

The teachers indicated the following EA Mobile games were used for specific skills and to learn how to work your way around the features of an iPad.

Strategy/hand eye coordination

-Bejeweled
-Flight Control
-Flight Control Rocket
-Coconut Dodge
-SPY Mouse
Strategy
-Max and Magic Maker
Hand eye coordination
-Draw Jump
General Knowledge
-Trivial Pursuit Master Edn.English
-Boggle
-Pictureka!
-Scrabble
Maths
-Tetris
-Yahtzee Adventures
Fun
-EA sports FIFA 10
-Madden 12 by EA sports
-NBA Jam  by EA Sports
-Tiger Woods PGA tour 12



The more we start learning how to really use the features of an iPad, the more I see how wonderful a tool they are for children and adults of all ages and abilities. As I discussed with some other people recently, our young children will not work at 'work stations' with a massive big computer box in front of them in twenty years. They will be mobile, they will use apps, they will work with technology that is not even thought about yet. The jobs they have may not have been invented either.



Exciting times I say. Very exciting.





Disclaimer: I was not paid to write either of my posts regarding EA Mobile. I discussed an arrangement with EA Mobile and they agreed to fund my child's primary school with an ipad to allow the teachers to trial the technology in the classroom. The school gets to keep the iPad and I get to tell you what the school thought of using ipads and if the games were of use to the class.

Ideas for September School Holidays.

Victorian September School Holidays are pretty much here.

Don't stress, there is lots to do and here is a picture list for you, some of the images will take you to links about the places.

Go for a bush walk and look down carefully, there are lots of wild flowers in the Australian bush.

Royal Melbourne Show starts on 22 September.
Country Shows will start soon after.

Find a national park, a camp site, a beach setting and have a snag in bread.

If Footy is something your kids like, get involved in finals footy.

What else are you getting up to for the school holidays?

A firey plumber

Step 1 in removing 1981 from the house.

I was going to tell you all about the visit from the Pete the Plumber*, how he decided that because the pipes in our house go down and through the floor and our house is built low to the ground it was a really shit job for him to get under there and change the pipes around. Pete suggested he take a quick look at what we could do to minimise the cost of the renovations, knowing that we are of the home brand label budget variety of renovators and not wanting to have to play with moving walls.

Once the water was turned off it was just a swift bang of a hammer and the entire vanity was out, a few saws and cuts here and there and the pipes were gone too. The old copper pipes in the wall were stuffed and needed a bit of cosmetic surgery to get them prepared for the new look - not plastic surgery though, wrong type of pipe.  Pete got out his fire gun thingo tool that welds those pipe widgets into place.

I was being all housewifey and grating carrots in the kitchen and could hear Pete jumping around and swearing and huffing and puffing. I yelled out "You ok back there?" Didn't hear him of course as the fire alarm then went off.

Mr H ran down to help out.

Remember the water is turned off?

The fire thingo on copper pipe gizmo set off a little spark which hit the insulation bats in the wall and away went the flame. Pete put it out with his hands and jumper. PHEW. Imagine how fast the whole house would have gone up in flames with the insulation within the walls on fire. Pete had to cool his hands off in the back of the busted toilet where there was some fresh water sitting awaiting the next flush. Noice.

Anyway, I haven't got time to tell you all about that as this morning was another morning of busy bathroom stuff. The cabinet maker kept asking what kind of finish I wanted on the cupboards, the bench tops, handles, handle shape... which means I have work to do.








*Pete the Plumber is not his real name and he is a plumber so I can't show you his face.

Sharing too much information on blogs. Or Not.

When you blog the whole idea is that you are writing an online diary. You are sharing publicly the thoughts in your head, the activities in your life and ups and downs of how you are. This is what makes reading blogs really fun. Reading of lives so different or at times so similar to your own makes for great reading.

But sometimes the stories are not yours to be told. Sometimes it affects you greatly but it still isn't your tale to tell.

I find this happens a lot for this blog.

I might be flat out, there could be a whole stack of things that are happening, but they might be something Mr H is dealing with and he requested from the start that I didn't share these issues. It might be something  discussed with a friend who doesn't expect to read about the conversation a few days later on this blog.

There are times when you might be upset by the actions of other people, annoyed at something happening in the school yard. Lots of times I do write about these things but then other times it just doesn't work and just isn't right. The stories are not mine to tell.

There is also the other side of social media which makes it a fast and efficient way of sharing news. Then again, others hate hearing that a friend is getting married, having a baby or has a new job by a facebook update and not in person.

I am sure this must be an issue for other bloggers or even people who write.

If you are a blogger how do you go with sharing news that isn't really for sharing?

Bathroom Renovations: Fun or fight filled?

Renovating a bathroom is one of those things that seems like such a great idea at the time. Flash new  tiles, showers without cracks in them, grout that is not black and taps where the water stops running  when you turn them off.

Then you go shopping as a couple to choose a tap, or a basin, or a tile and all of a sudden that great idea is not feeling so joyful.

One of you prefers the budget option, one of you prefers the functional, better looking nicer option.

Together you have excitedly booked the first of the tradesman who will need the bathroom for 8 days, he is arriving in a week. It seems neither of you considered that it takes two weeks for the vanity you want to be ordered and the custom made version will take 6 weeks. Do you go for a bathroom minus a vanity for six weeks or choose the inferior version, or worse still race to ikea and see how you go with a flat pack?

As for taps, who pays $2000 plus for a shower head and $1500 for the matching taps? Who are these people and have they not heard of Bunnings? Or at least tell me, how do you convert your husband into becoming one of these people.

I'm looking forward to seeing and using the new bathroom, but I'm not sure what I am going to end up with in a couple of weeks time, I do know that I am going to be a lazy slob and not clean the tiles for the week considering they are about to have a date with a crowbar.

In need of grown up lunch boxes.

It seems my Dad has gone and got himself some rare crazy disease, one of those ones that makes the doctors sit up and get interested. So the parentals have left their rural retreat and while Dad gets poked and prodded all day each day in the hospital, Mum is staying with us and visiting the hospital each day.

Hospital cafeteria food is not fabulous, it's also expensive and sometimes not convenient if you are waiting around for stuff to happen and doctors to call and visitors to arrive so I thought it best to make Mum a packed lunch each day when I make the school lunch.

Of course all the lunch boxes I have are rather pink, covered in butterflies or love hearts.

I had to send Mum into the hospital yesterday carrying this, it's rather large, too big to fit in her handbag, but comes with it's own handle so Mum could carry it nicely. It wasn't really a match for the rest of her outfit, but she didn't complain.

I may have overfilled it as lots of it came back. Apparently Mum doesn't require eight pieces of fruit, two rounds of sandwiches, two types of biscuits and a jar of muesli just for lunch...but you never know.

Today I also figured out the new train ticketing system and put Mum on the train. We all waited by our mobiles in case she lost her way on public transport and navigating the city, but all was fine. The Eagle landed with her packed lunch.

The girls seem to think having a Granny staying is rather fabulous, and really when she keeps dishing out things they have never tried, what is not to love?

So tell me, there must be fancy trendy lunch boxes for grown ups that don't come from tupperware, what's your lunch box of choice, cos I might need to update my collection!