Shambolic Living

Year 12 Begins

Janine — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 20:44:49 +0000

Hippie Child has started Year 12. I think I’m going to take up serious drinking. In fact, I don’t know why Liquorland doesn’t have a discount card for HSC parents, it would be a marketing goldmine. I’ve given her the pep talk. We started off strong, she even did some study on day one. Now...

Then The Dance Was Over

Janine — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 07:38:17 +0000

We spent some twenty-six years with our lives entwined. We were friends, a couple, formally husband and wife, then (god help us) parents. Twenty to Forty-Six it’s a big chunk of time spent in each others company. We were always a mismatched pair, big picture girl, detail orientated bloke. I liked things to happen, you...

Living With Teens – The Rules

Janine — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 12:35:36 +0000

Once the teenager obtains her licence you will be required to submit booking requests to drive your OWN CAR. Having a licence for six days makes her an expert and enables her to give YOU DRIVING ADVICE. Dragging teenagers out of the bedrooms they have inhabited for days on end into the sunlight of an...

Favourite Spaces

Janine — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:40:55 +0000

Now the weather is getting warmer we can once again get out on our back deck. It has a view of the only remaining piece of undeveloped land in our area and we’ve got our fingers crossed it doesn’t get developed for a few more years. It’s our version of living on acreage, except...

Holiday Notes

Janine — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 05:07:29 +0000

Oops I forgot I had a blog! Not really just took a day off which stretched into … well a month. Blogging can be very all-consuming and you forget what life was like before you had the self-imposed daily deadline of writing for a blog. Taking a break was an interesting experiment. I realised that...

Over Parenting and Other Acts of Insanity

Janine — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 05:50:20 +0000

Well I’m officially insane. I know you’ve suspected for a while now. Like when I quit a perfectly good job to go to, well nothing. Or when the blog posts became infrequent, incoherent ramblings. You used to quietly think to yourself she may be losing her mind. However, I’m not as smart as you so...

Weekly Photo Challenge – My Neighbourhood

Janine — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:52:41 +0000

This week the WordPress photo challenge was a phoneography one. We had to take our phones and explore our neighbourhood. Tough one for me. This means I have to take the photos and not my talented brother with his high-quality camera. When I first moved to Port Macquarie I searched for a house that I...

Five Moment Memoir

Janine — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:17:14 +0000

How’s this for an idea? If you struggle with finding the time to journal (or write a lengthy word count blog) how about having a crack at a five-moment memoir. Freelance writer Sarah Beauchamp wrote about her concept of journalling in Oprah Magazine. Basically she forced herself to write down five things that happened each day, both...

Love and Other Injuries

Janine — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:20:03 +0000

Whenever someone refers to me as “Mrs W” it always means trouble. Having never adopted my married name when people start the conversation with “Are You Mrs W” it means either a telemarketer trying to sell me something or my husband has another crisis. The last time I was addressed in such a way it...

So That Was Christmas

Janine — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:07:35 +0000

Are we all done with Christmas now? Hopefully you folks at the wrong end of the world have finished your Christmas day festivities as well, so we will all have survived the family get together and gluttonous overload. We celebrated at our house again this year. It’s a strategic thing. If we are having...