New Year Happiness..

Had some quietish days at home doing some much needed catching up on stuff while on holidays.

Mr20 went home too soon – just as I got holidays – so I never got to spend any time with him. He just plays computer games all the time anyway and it is very hard to hold his attention. He offers to do stuff but when you say, like, ok great, like now? He has a fit and says he has no idea how to do anything and asks really stupid questions like, where do you keep the milk and the spoons… After one truly ridiculous temper tantrum he threw before Christmas, he did finally apologise and settle down, (after I said that I threw the temper tantrum and apologised to him for MY bad behaviour – after he said that all his behaviour was caused by me because I am his mother – and no, he didn’t ‘twig’ – poor Autistic one – he is going to have some real problems if he ever goes into the real world.). well then, he was nice company and actually helpful when asked, so I was then sad to see him go.. he may yet come back for a bit.. so that will be nice.. if he can be good..

After he left, it was forecast to be over 40C so I cleaned everything out of the garage that had been used as a spare bedroom/ playroom, so I could park the car back in there. Did ALL the domestic jobs, well, I do still have one shower cubicle left to clean, oh and to mop (does one ever get housework actually finished?) Mr8 had a swim with his friend one morning, and we went out to tea with friends one evening.

Then, we went to my mum’s and went to a New Years Show at my uncle’s farm in a little stone outbuilding that was built in around the 1850s by my great grandparents, and has been renovated into a hilarious ‘Bar’ complete with Beer advertising signs and neon lights alongside historic photos and farming implements. I had a lovely time reconnecting with my cousins and also the Misters getting to know their cousins, while my mum talked to her cousins… actually now I think about it there were from babies to 90 year old all cousins there.. plus some friends and some new people I met. It was lovely and none of us could believe that we all managed to actually stay up until midnight!

My Mr13 brought some glowsticks (bushfire safe) and the boys played ‘storm the lantern’ and ‘hide and seek the glowsticks’.

The next day I finally also caught up with another cousin (I only seem to see at Christmas and funerals) and her family – and particularly her son, who is my Godson – which was great – he was very pleased to see my Mr13 – even though he is 17 and they chatted away for ages as I did with his mum (my cous)..

Today I walked, Mr8 rode (slowly) to his new local school to enrol in vacation swimming lessons that start on Wednesday. Then, when we were home, the man lurked into the back door and then went to go and gave us all a heart attack… when we asked what he was doing, he said he assumed we were not home as the car wasn’t there… I had to explain to him that the car was in the garage and that, we are, indeed, home, (cannot he hear or see us?!). He then comes in, uninvited, plonks himself down on the couch, uninvited, then gets up and asks after his kids… I point them out to him (no he apparently cant see them!), he says ‘hello kids’ (forgot their names?) and plonks himself down again…

I tried to engage him in the current activities and asked him to join in the planned ones (to go home to the farm to water my plants and get our outdoor furniture – now buried in head-height weeds). Oh. no. he says I suddenly have to do something else, urgently… oh and then he tries to start bullying me again to ‘sign over’ the property ownership to him – complete with red face, clenched fists, and comments like  – ‘well, if you seem to think you half-own the farm’ (I actually really do, I point out) then I should sign over this to him because he wants to own it by himself. (yes, he actually expects me to do this… !!)

Then he goes.. so we go up the farm.. he arrives well after we do – with some meat he bought for himself (no veg. I notice), he has lent his good trailer to someone and the other one has the stock crate on it – and he doesn’t want to take it off in case he might need it – I say, stock crate fine, bring it over, help us, he repeats he has other stuff to do, does help, but throws everything around and shouts in a rage (nearly collects Mr8 with an adjustable wrench – did collect my head accidently with a pole but not major) Poor Mr13, does his usual trick and disappears into hiding, Mr8 – talks worriedly about the proceedings – but

the man did go get some spanners and dismantle the swing seat so we could get it into the trailer (over the stock crate) and then we did the hammock thing (couldn’t have done it without Mr13, who came out after his father left), got the outdoor tables and chairs in too and got them to our rental place in the town, took the ute and trailer back, brought our car back home.

Gorgeous evening, so re-assembled furniture, again with the help of the Misters, and, well

I am SO pleased I finally got this stuff, it looks lovely, like we actually live here, and I LOVE our swing seat, I had missed it!

Keen now to finish off our tiny outside area with the pot plants from the farm.. they are mostly still alive..(sadly, all our flowering shrubs and causarinas have been completely eaten by the sheep that the man deliberately put into the fenced off plantation we made.)

So now I have saved my outdoor furniture (scrubbed off all the bird droppings too) I am keen to save my pot plants. My two kitchen dressors  are still at the farm… trying to work out how to get them..

Cant help thinking how lucky we are to be living in a town that is not prone to flooding or bushfires and I am touching some wood as I say this. Not like the poor people in Queensland who are dealing with ruined properties from the floods…