little miss muffet

little Miss Muffet...
sat on a tuffet 
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

The thing is I promised to write about all things fabulous and glam...  well

the bugs in Australia ARE IN FACT EXTRAORDINARY and FAB in their own little buggy ways.  

Every day I'm on a spider hunt - one day I found one waiting for me in the car - a big one too -a Huntsman.  Huntsman are HUGE and look a little like a lighter color tarantula.  They are, however, not poisonous.  Therefore, you are actually glad when you see one because you know it isn't dangerous - unless you have a heart condition and get a big fright when you spot one.  So far I have had one in my car, 2 in the bathroom, 1 in the laundry, and have seen many more outside.  The other spiders are a little tricky because you are always trying to make sure the ones lurking in the corners aren't the baddies - red back, white tail, and funnel web oh my!!  I've killed both a red back and a white tail.... IN MY HOUSE!!!!!   I spend way too much time ridding the house of webs and spiders.

There are other bugs to contend with in Australia the most annoying are the kamikaze "christmas bugs".  They are a little metallic colored beetle that have no idea how to get around and are constantly dive bombing into anything in their way.... sometimes this includes me.... yuck!  They then land on their backs and stay that way wiggling around until they can flip over and then fling their little bodies back into the air only to CRASH into another object.  They must be miserable - not sure how they eat since they never seem to land anywhere with any accuracy.  

A word on flies.... I thought I knew what flies were - I was wrong!  Seattle, you have no bugs seriously!  The flies in Australia are not bothered at all with you swatting them away.  I think they rather think it a challenge to land on you and stay there no matter how much moving around you do to avoid this.  

It seems that almost every day I encounter a creepy crawly of a new kind.  I must say I'm proud of the way I've adapted to these little creatures - I would have thought they would have sent me screaming into the other room, but to my surprise, I just get rid of them as if I've been doing it all my life.  well..... that is unless a more appropriate bug killer is around - my husband!  He ALWAYS gets the honor if he is home.  This is what husbands are for after all...Sticks and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails to my Sugar and Spice and everything Nice!

and I promise to post a picture of one of the biggies the next time I capture one :)

cheers!

momma drama...

for the last 12 1/2 years my primary job has been to care for 2 little pieces of me

This week marks the start of another school year and my kids are growing up so fast.   The oldest is off at "high school" grade 7-12 here in Australia.  I'm so proud of the way both kids handled this crazy week.  They really both just took it in stride and dealt with the changes in a very brave way.  The oldest navigating a new "bigger" school, in every sense of the word, with confidence and the best laid back attitude and my youngest switching gears and dealing with my mistake with as much grace and bravery you could ask of an 8 year old.    You see... I had the dates wrong and he had to go from having another week off to having to start... school....today...in 15 minutes.  Of course there was a melt down and a bribe involved... but the fact that he dealt with it in a matter of minutes and moved on makes me so proud.

It took me a little longer to shake it off... all day really...after all it was my mistake and I'm the one ultimatly responsible for their happiness - right?  Actually I've been realizing that even though I would move mountains to make them happy and well adjusted - the thing is they are now old enough to start deciding who they are going to be in those big testing moments.  I have no idea what went through his mind when he realized we were starting school ... TODAY!  The most amazing part is that he didn't blame me at all - I never heard "this is your fault" and believe me I was beating myself up.
We are all growing up -
thank you justis and zakk for teaching me how to be your mom... I'm very proud of you