Homemade clothes pin bag

Not only hand-made, but hand-stitched as well, because
I couldn't be bothered to drag out the sewing machine.

The end

Of the thesis I mean. :)

After many last minute corrections, and the editing of far too many uses of the word "however", my PhD thesis is finally written. Next it goes to the Graduate Research School, and then out to the examiners to be graded.

Fingers crossed that it will be a good result!

So, what have I learned from doing a PhD thesis?

• It takes a long time
• It could easily take much longer, but I ran out of time
• Coming up with new ideas, or new ways to use other people's ideas is surprisingly hard
• Research is fun, but academic writing is hard
• I'm glad that it's done!!!

Boo on homework!

Famous line from Brynley:

"So what's the deal with homework. I thought they were supposed to be teaching us this stuff at school?

Why do I have to do it at home too!"

Perfect Sunday Picnic

Lately we've been trying to spend more time together as a family. The semester is winding down, my PhD thesis is nearly ready to be sent off and it's spring in north Queensland.

It's the perfect time of year, very little rain, warm temps, and lots of sunshine.

Plus, now we live just 10 minutes from the beach!

So, the kids grabbed their togs (swim suits), I packed a picnic lunch, and off we went.

After a bit of a walk around, the kids headed for the Big Bucket, a water attraction that is always a big hit. Before the kids could get too sunburned we treated them for a frappe at a local cafe. Then we went off for our picnic lunch down by the beach.

While we were eating, two skydivers plummeted down and landed safely on the beach a short distance away.

Too nice. :)

Weekend invention

Yesterday it was Donnelly's turn to clean the bathroom. In the middle of scrubbing the toilet and bath, inspiration struck.

What to do with those empty toilet paper rolls?

Instant toothpaste holder!

A Belgium Duck

A friend of Chloe's went on a European trip, and brought back this duck made of Belgium chocolate for her. Sadly, the little ducky is with us no more, but he was very tasty!

Spring flowers

Super duper flying Izzy

You rang?

Forced to be green?

Today we needed to go buy some clothes for the kids, so a trip to the local shopping center was planned. Trouble is, the local mall has undergone a renovation. They added a bunch of new shops, but reduced the size of the parking lots. On a Saturday there is literally no where to park.

So, we decided to walk, 2 kilometers each direction (a little over mile each way). You should have heard the whinging (complaining). "Walking? It's going to be so hot! We're going to smell when we get back."

You'd think it was a forced march across the Gobi desert. So, yes, kids are exactly the same the world over. It was fun though, although us oldies are a little footsore. I guess we're out of practice of hoofing it, or riding shanks mare.

When these guys say "No Parking" they really mean it.

I'm an Aussie, and I'm OK

I had my citizenship exam a few days ago, and I must say I was a bit nervous. So, if I didn't pass would they throw me out of the country? Sentence me to 3 years of watching cricket and eating meat pies?

I shouldn't have worried, the test was fine. It made me wonder though about what the poor immigrants in America have to do.

Anyway, the clerk who gave the exam said I should have my citizenship ceremony before Christmas.

Ho, ho, ho or Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!

School holidays

Vacation is a bit different for school kids in Australia. Rather than having all their time in one lump for summer vacation, they have it distributed throughout the year in two week increments.

This week, the kids have their (checking calendar for season) SPRING vacation. Of course, I should admit that North Queensland doesn't really have a spring. It's either the Wet or the Dry, and now it's sort of the not hot, not cold, not wet season. Oh, yeah, that means Spring!

Dave's mother came up from Brisbane for the school holidays, and to celebrate Donnelly's birthday which is next week. So, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant.

However....

This is what they usually look like when a photo is taken!!!

Here is Grandma Mais with Donnelly

Chloe, Mais and Donnelly

Now, certain pictures you need to hold on to awhile. This one I think will be good for a bit of blackmail when they're older!

Chloe appears to be imitating the whale that swallowed the sea.

A bird in the hand

I don't know what it is about boys that makes them hunters at heart. No matter how peaceful they seem, there is some urge to commit mayhem on poor, unsuspecting wildlife.

The boys latest endeavour is a "bird trap". I remember making traps when I was a kid, and the trouble with capturing squirrels and other critters is that they don't want to come down out of the trees.

Solution: put the trap IN the trees. Brilliant!

Here Donnelly and Brynley display the latest in bird-catching gear.

When I asked Donn what he would do if (should have said when) he catches one, he said promptly:

"Eat it! Yeah!"

Not meatloaf again!

Chloe: So what did you eat while I was on my sleepover?
Me: I can't remember.
Boys: Meatloaf!
Chloe: Oh man! I'm so jealous!

The kids love meatloaf, and surprisingly they are aware that a lot of U.S. shows have the teenagers complaining about meatloaf. They can't figure out why, because they like mine. The fact that one of the secret ingredients in the sauce is brown sugar probably has something to do with it.

No matter how much I cook of it, there are hardly ever any leftovers.

No, this isn't my meatloaf, but it looks like it.
Mine never sticks around long enough to get photographed.

Procrastination ahoy

Yes, you can tell that procrastination is in full force when I start taking pictures.

This is one of the lovely things my mother-in-law sent up to us. It's a brass holly leaf, so we can have Christmas year round.

It actually has cute little feet under it to keep it raised off the surface of a table or shelf.

And then that wasn't enough procrastination so I pulled out my cookbook and made a pineapple upside down cake. My excuse is that tomorrow is my birthday, so I deserve a little brown sugar.

Yum!

Homemade toffee

This is what happens when you turn children loose on the Internet. They start sharing recipes for candy-making on FaceBook.

What's next? World domination?



A few little details here...Brynley is dressed like the man in black because he's performing in a school concert tonight.

And the football? Well you never know when a game  might come along.

You did what?

There is such a thing as too much efficiency, I have to say.

Dear husband has been taking care of all the paperwork for the last year or so. He does a great job, and it's so nice to not have to worry about the details. I have a general understanding about the finances and such, but he takes care of all the day to day stuff.

So, when he told me that he was going to put together the forms for my citizenship application I thought, oh goodie, something else that I don't have to worry about. These days you can apply online, and we did so.

Yesterday I got an email from the immigration department telling me to report for a citizenship exam on September 22, less than a month away. Did I say that there is an exam? Yep.

Whoops, ok, download the 50 page pdf that is supposed to tell you all about how to pass the test. Here are some sample exam questions. How well would you do?

1. What do we remember on ANZAC Day?
   a. The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey
   b. The arrival of the first free settlers from Great Britain
   c. The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove
   
   
2. What are the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag?
   a. Black, red and yellow
   b. Green, white and black
   c. Blue, white and green
   
   
3. Which of these statements about Australia's system of government is correct:
   a. The Queen of Australia chooses people to form the Australian Parliament
   b. The government is elected by the people
   c. The Prime Minister chooses our Members of Parliament
   
   
4. What is the role of the Governor-General?
   a. The appointment of state premiers
   b. The signing of Bills passed by the Australian Parliament
   c. The appointment of the Head of State
   
   
5. What is the name given to the party or coalition of parties with the second largest number of members in the House of Representatives?
   a. The Government
   b. The Opposition
   c. The Senate

So, how did you do? The correct answers are 1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5b.

The Parliamentary system is really different to American politics. You can have any amount of political parties, and they can join together to form coalitions. If the Prime Minister isn't popular with his party, they can fire him, and put in someone else (this happened last year). Citizens vote for their favourite party, not their favourite politician.

I had to guess at the one about the Governor-General. The Governor-General is the Queen of England's representative in Australia and sort of keeps an eye on things.  In 1975 the sitting Governor-General actually sacked or fired Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Anyway, lots of stuff to know!

(by the way, Australians are completely dumbfounded by the electoral college)

So, remind me what weekends are like?

Lately I've been writing, writing, writing. I just realized in the last three weeks I've written three chapters, adding up to 88 pages! Yikes! No wonder I'm tired.

This weekend while I'm huddled up with the computer at my desk, the kids and Dave are downstairs cleaning out the basement. We have company coming, so we've moved up the annual spring cleaning by about three months. I must add that I am using the 'Royal We', as moi (to  quote Miss Piggy) is not lifting a finger. Other than to continue to type madly.

Periodically I hear crashes and muffled yells. And sometimes the odd remark, as things are carried out to the pickup for loading for the dump.

My favourite so far is Chloe's lament, "How did we get so much crap!"

To make up for having nothing interesting to write about, other than my thesis which would bore anyone to tears, I've decided to take you on a tour of my narrow little world...i.e. the desk of a PhD student.


Starting from the far left we have the most dedicated laser printer you will ever find. Having a house full of students (count 'em 6!), being able to print and not worrying about running out of ink is a real necessity.

In front of the printer is my usb cable to connect the digital camera to the computer to upload the picture you're looking at. It has a label on it that says Olympus which is not the brand of camera I have, it's a little one Dave uses. But, somehow I lost mine in the move to this house. However, it still works.

Among the random pile of stuff to the right of the printer is my glasses case. My reading glasses I mean. Yep, I have to have two pairs of glasses not just one. It's very funny when the kids come up to ask me a question. Drag off the reading glasses and pop on the regular glasses, and try to be unobtrusive while doing so. Did I mention that none of the kids need glasses? It's very strange.

In the middle of the pencil "bucket" (I'm sure there is an appropriate stationery term for it, but it escapes me at the moment) is a flower Bryn made me for mother's day, my very first. There's also a pair of scissors there that I have to guard with my life because they develop feet if you don't watch them closely.

Next to the pencil thingy is a glass, that if I were a good person would be filled with water. Alas its usually holding diet Coke or lemonade (Seven-up). The glass is sitting on a coaster turned upside down.

This is a very Australian kind of advertisement. As everyone knows, bull is not true, therefore the reason for the ad. In very small print at the bottom it says "there's bull, and John Bull".  Its the slogan for a line of work boots.

And finally there is the computer. I spend more time with it lately than I do humans. Sigh.

To the right of the monitor is a faithful notepad that bears the brunt of my scribbles and ideas. The latest thing its had today is the horrible realization that I had that even without a discussion and conclusions chapter, I've written over 200 pages.

Hopefully some of it will be worth reading!

Passed the exit seminar

Before they let students submit their thesis at my uni they require the students give a half-hour talk about their research. It's attended by as many big-wigs as they can get, and the student is evaluated on how well they have done the research and on a piece of writing the student submitted (usually a chapter of the thesis).

I had my exit seminar on Wednesday and was very nervous about it. The main issue that was bothering me was that I had about 40 minutes of powerpoint slides to get through in 30 minutes.

What really happened was much worse! I arrived about 20 minutes before the seminar and tried to get set up. The technician that was hooking everything up found that my laptop wouldn't connect to the projector. So we tried two other computers which failed as well. Finally the tech went back to his desk and got his laptop which seemed to work. So, one problem solved.

The talk was being video-conferenced to Cairns. We could see the room, but there was no-one in it. For quite a long time. As it turned out, my other supervisor was locked out. She called security to come and let her in, but there was an emergency nearby that required an ambulance so no one came to unlock the door until the seminar was nearly over.

Meanwhile I started my talk but the laptop I was using wouldn't show the same thing on the screen as the projector was showing. So there I sat at one end of the room trying to squint near-sightedly at the screen at the other end of the room. And try to act cool and collected. And try to sound smart enough to be getting a PhD.

At the end I got a lot of good comments from my friends and colleagues, and some advice from the bigwigs about how to finish the writing up of the thesis. Whew!

Now, back to the writing!

A happy bunch of coconuts

Coconut palms are in short supply in our town. Although they grow throughout our area, due to safety concerns, very few people have them in their yards anymore.

The way that coconut palms work, like most trees, is that the fruit grows large, and then falls off the tree. Dave told me that one of his grade school teachers in New Guinea was killed by a dropping coconut. So, it's nothing to sneeze at.

When we first moved into this house, a group of Islander people came by and asked to harvest the coconuts. They brought long-handled hooks with them that they used to drag the coconuts down.

So, for the last 6 months we've been watching the coconuts grow, and wondering if the people would come back to take the latest batch.

Yesterday, a gentleman came by and said "Can I have coconut?"

Yep, sure. He was by himself, so we wondered how he'd go about it. He went to the back of his car, and took out a bunch of rope, and a couple of specially curved pieces of wood. The wood pieces he nailed to the tree. Then he used the wood as a platform to scale tree, looping the rope around the tree, just like a timber faller, going to top a tree.

 When he got within a reasonable distance of the coconuts, he twisted them off, just like picking plums.

We thought he might take them all, but no, just the ones that were ripe.

If you look at the picture you can see a bit in the middle with no coconuts.

So, here's another skill I have not gained yet, how to tell when coconuts are "ripe". Hope that's not on the citizenship exam that I still have to take soon.

And the winner is!

A favourite way of raising funds in Australia is the meat tray. It's so common that you don't even need to explain where the funds are going, just the comment "want tickets in the meat tray?"

Generally most people will dig in their pockets for a dollar or two, whether they care if they will win or not.





I've really been impressed over the years at the willingness of Australians to support fundraising. Of course the idea of gambling is the prime attracter.

Today, Dave put down a few dollars, and we came away with a meat tray. The last time I won one of these was 6 years ago! Guess my luck isn't as good as it used to be. However, this one was all Dave.

Hooray for us!

The countdown begins

The subject line for this post comes from a quote by my PhD supervisor when I told him that my exit seminar is scheduled for the 10th of August. Yikes! That's only a week and a half away!

It's exciting though, because it's one more sign that this long, long job of writing a PhD thesis is almost done. The seminar is a basically a half-hour long speech that I give in front of members of my school and other people important to my research. Then everyone gets to grill me about my methods, results and conclusions. It's supposed to show that I've done a good job, and that my thesis has a reasonable expectation of passing.

Fingers crossed, but I feel pretty secure that everything has gone ok. I just need to explain 4 years of work, in a half hour. Hmmm, hope I'm good at summing up!

I just realized that if when I finish off my thesis at the end of August, that my birthday will be in a few days after that. What a good way to celebrate a birthday!

OK, no more procrastination on my part, back to it.

Oh, I meant to mention how supportive Dave and the kids are being down this home-stretch. I actually got kicked out of the kitchen the other morning. Dave said "Why are you doing the dishes, get back to work on the thesis!"

Where does the time go

In looking back at my last posting I realize its been almost a month since I put anything up. Bad me, I've been really, really busy finishing up the writing on my PhD.

My time to complete the thesis runs out at the end of August, so I've been writing frantically. My supervisors have been great and have been giving me lots of time at odd little moments.

For Chloe's work experience, the business that she worked at were very impressed with her drive, and said that they'd happily offer her an apprenticeship when she graduated from high school. She is planning to go to uni, but it was a great compliment anyway. They said that she was the best teen worker they'd ever had!

The kids had a busy holiday during the two weeks off they had at the end of the term. They went  to visit family up north for a week, and then flew south to NSW for another week. During the southern trip they were treated to DreamWorld (like DisneyLand) not once, but twice.

And Dave and I were treated to an empty house!

Now they are back and stuck into the new term, so we're all noisy and happy again.

So, all is well here and I'll try and post more as I get closer to my PhD deadline. I'm off to hit the soft drink and caffeine. Wish me happy writing!

Woodman spare that tree

Shortly after we moved into this house in January, a man from the electric company came by and said that one of our trees needed to be taken down, because in the case of a big storm it might fall and take down some power lines.

During cyclone Yasi, January 2011

Well it seemed no later than he made that pronouncement, and painted a big "R" on the side of the tree on the palm on the right (R meaning remove, we imagined), in came a BIG cyclone, the biggest our town had seen in a century.

If it had hit us, as was projected, it would have been a category 5 (very, very bad), but it passed north of us, and was only (ONLY) a cat 3-4 when it got to our place. Our palm swayed and groaned and dropped palm fronds, but restrained itself from falling on the powerlines.

Other trees around town were not so lucky.

Finally, the tree man came today to take down the unlucky palm.

Bryn says "what can we do with all this stuff, we could make a fort!"

Working clothes?

Seems like all we do lately is go shopping for clothes. We've had two shopping trips on two subsequent weekends, and neither Dave or I are tremendously interested in the Mall.

The first trip was to buy Chloe some working boots for the job experience project she was going to work on in the next week...so steel toe boots were a requirement.

So, Chloe had her week of doing cabinetry at a small cabinet shop (much too strenuous, may keep woodworking as a hobby!)

The next shopping trip was to buy all the kids warm clothes for a trip down to New South Wales. Since it's winter time and pretty cold there we were looking for long-sleeved warm things. With not too much luck though, NQ is not the place for warm coats and sweaters.

Donnelly had the quote of the day though:
"Don't go over there, all they have is upper-class women working clothes."

Makes you wonder what low-class clothes would be since we were in Target at the time. :)

Dave also picked up a $15 box of chocolates that he was going to drop off at the cabinet shop to thank the owners for looking after Chloe for a week. Problem: he left them out overnight and Izzy broke into the box, gnawed a hole in it, and ate several candy bars.

Can't give them to the business now.

Oh, dear, guess I'll have to eat them all myself.

Sigh, the trials of being a step-mother.

The Chinese have nothing to worry about

I've been trying my hand at a bit of sewing lately now that we have room for me to leave my sewing machine out.

All of the needed accessories at hand: thread, machine, pins, scissors,
 and ... Diet Coke

My latest project is a set of table napkins. My mother-in-law sent me a bunch of gorgeous lace-edged ones, but of course they're too nice to use (at least with our bunch). So I decided to make some inexpensive ones that I wouldn't worry about getting dirty.

The kids gave their highest compliment "They look just like bought ones!" Since it took me all afternoon to make a set of 8, I don't think I will hire myself out to a sweatshop anytime soon.

In the running for probably the longest time I've EVER taken to do a project is the embroidery sampler in the picture below. I started it over a year ago at the other house, and promised myself that I would finish it eventually.

I really like embroidery, and hope to do more of it soon. It's very relaxing and I can just let my mind wander while I "paint with thread", which is how I explained it to the kids. 

Cross-stitch just seems a little bit too much like math,
so I think I'll stick with embroidery

The Birthday Boy

The Sugar High cometh!

Brynley's 11th birthday was this weekend. He got to have part of his present early because his actual birthday fell in the middle of the week. I think Dave may have regretted this particular purchase...

Bryn tried for weeks to convince us that he was really 11 turning 12, but sadly he's now only 11. I'm not sure what benefit being 12 has, but I suspect it has something to do with a later bed-time.

Chloe has nominated herself as the family birthday cake baker, and so she got to work early in the day to make her special chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. You can't go wrong with chocolate!

The modern baker - note the apron
pocket doubles as an MP3 carrier

The Never Fail Birthday Cake

After Chloe finished the cake I saw a well-scraped bowl left on the counter. I asked the chef if she let the boys lick the bowl. She said "Nope, it's my cake, and my bowl, because thats how things roll in the land of Chloe".

Connor looks perplexed
"um, those are really big candles"

Tall candles are surprisingly hard to blow out

And now, bring on the presents!

All..... mine!

The best gifts don't need batteries!

Even More curtains

Donn and Bryn have been patiently asking if I'd make them some curtains for a few weeks now. I finally had time to get around to it, and rather than fighting the lines at the fabric shop, I decided to try a recycling project.

The coloured top part of the curtains are made out of an old doona cover that's been languishing in the back of the linen closet for years. It didn't have enough fabric to cut out two sets of curtains, so I used some fabric that I had left over from making the curtains for Dave's home office.

The boys are rapt (slang for very happy) with the new curtains, and I've reduced my fabric stash a little. A win-win all around.

Yard cleanup

Dave has the chainsaw, Connor has the hatchet, and Bryn
is feeling thwarted because he wasn't allowed either.

Since moving to our new house in January, Dave has been bit by bit clearing out the overgrowth in the yard. The problem with that is that once you cut it, you have to do something with it. 

Here Dave and the boys are chopping up the yard debris to load on the pickup. Afterwards they had to unload it at the dump. Not their favorite chore!

Is it fabric?

OK, maybe I shouldn't admit this here, but our feisty dog has a thing for ... fabric.

He loves blankets, throws, bottoms of skirts, fuzzy jumpers (sweaters) and most of all ... pant legs.

Izzy says "grrr...grrr...grr."
The leg belongs to Connor, by the way.

Redecorating

Donnelly and Bryn have been rearranging their room. Each time they clean their room it's hindered by the fact that they've just got too...much...stuff.

So, minus a few boxes of stuff later, they now have room that's easy to keep tidy with space for everything.

Here are the boys in their new room "showing their muscles".

Thankfully, Donn's tattoo is the rub-on kind!

Chloe's Salon

For the last few years, Chloe has enjoyed cutting people's hair. With a big family, she has had plenty of willing victims to practice on.

She even did mine.

Since Donnelly has started cadets, regular haircuts are required. So Chloe has stepped up to the plate with her clippers in hand. Big brother Connor is at uni now, but he still enjoys frequenting the in-house salon.

While some salons may be particular about their clientele, Chloe doesn't limit herself to the humans, she is Izzy's favorite pet groomer.

English really IS my first language

This happens to me all the time.

Convo with husband

Me: So, what're you watching?

Dave: Three moves

Me: "Three moves"?

Dave: Three MOVIES.

Me: Hmm. "Three Movies". What's that about?

Dave: [patiently] No. I'm watching three...different...movies.

Whoops, guess I'm a bit slow these days. I seem to be having middle-aged brain, or a friend say's its PhD brain, nothing left over for anything else.

I was making the kids' lunch sandwiches the other night (trying to be organized) and made:

Peanut butter and ... butter sandwiches. Bleh. 

Yeah, that's what I forgot. Jelly. I mean jam.

Busy weekend

This weekend is one of those with everyone going opposite directions. Donnelly is gone all weekend on a Cadets "bivouac". The trip is a weekend of camping in the field and learning how to do fieldcraft stuff. They even get to run around wearing camo paint in the middle of the night, searching for each other with torches (flashlights). We sent along enough food for 3 people, and won't be surprised if he eats every bit. I don't know where they put it all.

We just dropped Chloe off for her second time to do the "Relay for Life" which is a night-long walk-athon for cancer. The participants form teams, each with a particular costume. This year Chloe is Alice in Wonderland and has a costume to match. Chloe and her friends will take turns walking with a baton around a track.