Some mornings it’s tricky deciding what to blog about. Should it be Husband texting to say he’s having “a beer” on the way home from work, but not shuffling in until 11.30pm? At least, that’s when he says he got home. After briefly wondering – at 10pm – if he was dead in a ditch, I decided it was his own stupid fault and fell asleep. Should it be going to the school band information night and discovering it costs $2000 a year for your child to participate? WTF? Actually, to rewind slightly, should it be the fact that anti-social Sprog 1 wants to play trumpet in the school band? A girl who sneers at the suggestion of netball, dropped out of choir, and sits in her room reading when we invite kids over for barbecues. Should I rant about the ungodly mess our house is in again? (Definitely not, no matter how incensed and teeth-grindy I am about it. Way too broken record.) Or perhaps Sprog 2’s idea of scintillating playdate conversation: “Wanna see my plantar’s warts?” Nah, I know, I’ll tell you about a Christmas party I’m planning. I’ve become completely obsessed, I’m even working on a special rhyme for the invitation …
“Twas the Wednesday before Christmas and it occurred to Alana House
that the Sprogs would be stir-crazy, so she should do something grouse …”
It’s going to be C-word focussed (all the non-rude, non-scary ones): crackers, candy canes, carols, champagne (cordial for the under-aged drinkers). I’m going to use it as a motivation – for Husband – to clean our never-used play equipment. I’m inviting the school mum gang (plus any white-collar-recession-retrenched dads) and their kids for the afternoon. Working partners welcome later for sausage sizzle and pick-up duty. Life would be much simpler if I didn’t come up with these ideas, but it wouldn’t be as much fun (I also wouldn’t have an excuse to hunt for a new outdoor setting – my other new obsession – I mean you can’t invite 20 people around and seat them at a crappy, old four-seater table, can you?)
TONIGHT’S DINNER: Fed the Sprogs takeaway meat pies while driving to school band information night – mmm, healthy! – so tonight is baked salmon night.
housegoeshome 
It’s hard to say no when kids finally pick something that they want to do. But $2000!!!? I’m trying to encourage #1 (8yo boy) to get involved in something, anything! Everything I suggest, #2 (6yo boy) pipes up and says yes to, even when it wasn’t directed at him. So far this year #2 has volunteered for church kids’ Christmas choir, chess club, auskick and Tball (not doing it as we missed the registration day – my fault). No #1 has reluctantly gone along to Auskick, but did last the 6 weeks – better than last year’s soccer season. #1 also has the same anti social tendencies of hiding in his room alone when he invites friends over to play – quite possibly because social butterfly #2 takes over.
I bought Bliss a trumpet with the stimulus money in 2009. She has been having a weekly lesson from one of her favourite teachers and loves it. She plays trombone in the school band but in the ACT that cost less than $200 a year.