Kez's Blog

Exercise

2012-01-27T19:15:00.002+11:00

After 41 years, I'm finally discovering that daily exercise really makes a difference to me - not just in my fitness amd weight level, but in my overall mood and motivation. Who knew?! :)

Since I got back from holidays (ie 12 days ago), I've exercised at least 20 minutes each day - most days over 30, a couple of days up to 45 mins. I'm mixing it up, some days on the Wii Fit, some days I go for a walk / run, tomorrow I'll have Defendo class (eeeek!). Today I was feeling really tired and slothful, so mid-afternoon I forced myself to do a couple of 10 min workouts I found on YouTube. And funnily enough, I got a modicum of energy back.

I'm finding doing my workout first thing in the morning works best for me - then its done and I don't have to worry about it anymore. It also boosts me for the day - making me eat better and have more energy and focus.

This is all very strange for me - I've never been a sports person, or an exercise person. Last year when I lost 7 kgs over 6 months was the longest I'd ever consistently exercised and that was generally 3 or 4 times a week. Daily is something else again!

One thing I've never been able to do is run - even as a kid I avoided it at all costs. (Especially the cross-country runs the nasty PE teacher used to make us do for sport!) As an adult - well, its quite easy to avoid running if you don't play sport! So it was quite a shock to the system when I started Defendo and our warm-ups often involve running. Not fair!!

Towards the end of last year, I started toying with running. I'd go out on my walks and would try to run from one driveway to the next a few times (we live in an estate with wide front yards!). I really had no idea what I was doing or any plan to measure if I was improving. I made a goal this year to improve my aerobic fitness - one way is by running. Last week at the library, my attention was snagged by a book called The Complete Idiots Guide to Running. Yep, that sounded like me.

One of the things I was excited to see (yeah, I couldn't believe it either!) was a schedule for building up from running 0 minutes to running 30 minutes in nice incremental babysteps. You can find it here if you're interested. You just had to be able to walk for 30 minutes to start - easy, peasy, I could do that.

So far, I'm up to Workout 3 of Week 1. Yesterday, as per workout 3, I walked for 10 minutes, then for the next 15 minutes, I alternately ran for 2 minutes and walked 1 minute, then finished off by walking for 5 minutes. Now, I'm sure those of you who can run are sniggering, but it was a big step for me. That meant I ran 10 minutes (non-consecutively, but still!) I plan to repeat that workout again next time I go out for a walk. (Because while I did it, I really struggled through the end).

I'm sure that it will take me far longer than the 4 weeks they've scheduled, but slow and steady will do me fine. I hope to be able to run for 30 minutes by the end of the year.

Any tips gratefully received :)

Oh and I've lost 2kg since I came back from holidays. I think that was the 2kg I found over Xmas!

Timbertown

2012-01-17T08:49:00.000+11:00

While on holidays, we visited Timbertown at nearby Wauchope. Timbertown is a recreated timber village from the 1890s, with steam-powered timber mill, horse and cart and bullock team.

We watched a very informative and entertaining demonstration with the bullock team.

And even got to pose with one of the stars of the 'show', Captain (the bullock, not the driver!).

Billy took part in a whip-cracking lesson

We checked out their 'facilities' (for the non-Aussies, a 'dunny' is a toilet - in this case a 3 hole drop toilet).

Saw how differently life would have been lived.

Watched the blacksmith at work.

Took a steam train ride where we were subjected to a 'stick-up' (and other really bad puns!)

And wondered whether some punishments should be brought back into use :)

Back from holidays

2012-01-16T19:38:00.000+11:00

Once again, we spent two weeks up the coast with family at Stuarts Pt for our Xmas holidays. For a change, the weather was wonderful - sunny most days with only one half-day of rain.

New Years Eve was celebrated at 9pm by the kids (and that was as far as I made as well!) with sparklers and glow-sticks.

Slip-n-slide mayhem...

Swimming

Fishing

And some down time with the computer..

Billy also went waterskiing with his aunt, uncle and cousins, but I don't have photos of that. This year he managed to stand up (and stay up) on the toboggan and had some massive stacks on the biscuit.

I did lots of writing (10,000 words - huge for me!), lots of reading, spent time gazing at the sky and relaxing, and took some walks on the beach - by myself. Bliss!
(That counteracts the usual cooking, laundry and grocery shopping that still had to be done!)

2011 homeschooling highlights in pictures

2011-12-30T08:06:00.000+11:00

A look back at some of the highlights of 2011. It's been a year of variety plus the usual weekly activities!

January

Bought a smart globe which has had lots of use learning about other countries (HSIE)
Lots of water sports - surfing, swimming, kayaking, water skiing, fishing (PDHPE)

February

February saw a trip to America which (as well as being a lot of fun!) saw learning opportunities about American history, & geography, science and movie making (HSIE, Science & Technology, Creative Arts)
Watched a documentary on Stephen Hawking (Science & Technology)

March

Swimming and life-saving techniques (PDHPE)
Martial arts (all year) (PDHPE)
Art classes - Art Around the World (Creative Arts, HSIE)
Creating circuits (Science & Technology)
Canoeing (PDHPE)
Fractions and decimals (Maths)
Experiments with base indicators (Science & Technology)
Watching Mythbusters (Science & Technology)
Visit to Fort Scratchley (HSIE)

April

Art exhibition of the Around the World art made in classes (Creative Arts, HSIE)
Tocal field day with activities such as water testing (Science & Technology)
Egyptian art (Creative Arts, HSIE)
Visit to the historical Tocal Homestead (HSIE)
Visit to Hyde Park Barracks learning about convict history (HSIE)
Archery (all year) (PDHPE)
Science experiments (Science & Technology)
More art classes (Creative Arts)
AFL under 10's team - training & games for the season (PDHPE)

May

Started using Khan Academy for maths (Maths)
Woodwork
Watched Bell Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at Sydney Opera House (Creative Arts, English)
Camp at the Hunter Valley Zoo learning about native animals (HSIE, Science & Technology)
Outdoor field archery (PDHPE)
Tea bag rocket experiment (Science & Technology)

June

Continued AFL season - even in the mud! (PDHPE)
Watched a local production of James and the Giant Peach (Creative Arts)
Grew plants in a terrarium (Science & Technology)
Learnt about the Australian coat of arms and state symbols (HSIE)

July

Watched Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections documentaries (Science & Technology)
Week long martial arts camp (PDHPE)
Visit to Cessnock Art Gallery for an Aborginal Art exhibition (Creative Arts, HSIE)
Learning C# programming (Science & Technology)

August

Learning more about codes & signals (braille, morse code, semaphore, phonetic alphabet) (Maths)
Manning a fund-raising stall for a charity fundraiser (Community, Maths)
Engineering studies - learning about pulleys, circuits, steam engines, pumps (Science & Technology)
Visit to Spotswood Pumping Station & Scienceworks (Science & Technology)

September

8-week photography course (Creative Arts)
AFL season came to an end with a presentation day (PDHPE)
Visit to the newly re-opened Newcastle Museum (Science & Technology, HSIE)
Visit to Maitland Art Gallery with a photography & Aboriginal Art exhibitions (Creative Arts, HSIE)
Visit to The Goat Soap Lady and picnic at the river (HSIE)
Learning first aid and hygiene (PDHPE)
Disability Awareness activities (community)
Memorised and perfomed a poem at his drama class's concert (Creative Arts, English)
Completed the Premier's Reading Challenge (English)

October

Watched a performance of Fantastic Mr Fox (Creative Arts)
Recorded weather observations for 2 weeks - rainfall, wind speed / direction, temperature (Science & Technology, Maths)
Continued with Khan Academy (Maths)
Rock-climbing, flying fox and other outdoor activities (PDHPE)
Visit to Camelot Lavendar and Exotic Animal farm (HSIE)
Swimming and water play (PDHPE)

November

Dinosaur egg & nest exhibition & science exhibition at the museum (HSIE, Science & Technology)
Map-reading and compass work (Maths)
Making and firing bottle air rockets (Science & Technology)
More pool time with friends (PDHPE)

December

Most improved student for the year at Martial Arts (PDHPE)
Java programming to create a Minecraft plugin (Science & Technology)
Watching Horrible Histories (HSIE)
Helping cook the family Xmas pudding (Maths, Science & technology)
End of year archery (PDHPE)
Maths CDs like Carmen Sandiego Math Detective (Maths)

Bring on 2012! I have no idea what it will bring, but I'm sure there will be plenty of learning opportunities!

What a Year!

2011-12-27T16:07:00.000+11:00

About this time of year, I start to look ahead and make plans for next year. An email this week reminded me to also look back and celebrate my successes - something I admit I don't do enough of.

So looking back, this year has been an amazing year for me personally.

On the writing front:

I entered into the Little Gems and STALI contests, and received some valuable feedback. I didn't place, but it was huge for me to put my work out there to be judged.

I did several writing courses - Understanding Men, What comes after the first 3 chapters, Creating Memorable Characters and The Plotting Wheel. I took part more regularly in our local RWA writer's group and have made some good friends in it.

I reached my goal of 25,000 words while participating in 50K in 30 days, went to my first RWA conference and came back so energised and recharged. I changed from trying to write category to writing women's fiction and found 2 wonderful & very valuable critique partners.

I also joined the RWA executive committee.

On the health front:

I bought a wii in March (and actually use it lol). I've lost 7 kg since March and am probably the fittest I've ever been in my life (not that that is saying a lot - I've never been very fit so I still have quite a way to go before you could call me fit!). (I'm conveniently ignoring the couple of kgs I'm sure I've put back on over Xmas!)

In April I started Defendo Close Quarters Combat martial arts,

and in Sept had my first grading up to Yellow belt. Defendo really pushes me out of my comfort zone - not just physically but mentally as well.

I'm also still doing Body Balance most weeks which improves my flexibility and core strength.

I also:

* had a trip to the US and met Suji!

* made time to meet up with friends and family,
* created a better work / life balance and was less stressed,
* and went to see various shows - Tim Minchin, Faustus, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar

Xmas 2011

2011-12-26T09:47:00.001+11:00

We like to spread Xmas out over a couple of days. We open presents from each other on Xmas Eve. Billy got to do the honours and hand them out :)

The flashing Santa hat is mandatory as the gift 'giver-outer'!

What? Santa's coming?! Where?!!

The highly-anticipated Minecraft shirt

I got some books (yay!), Pete got some books, chocolate and computer game, Billy got the Minecraft t-shirt, some computer games and the highlight - video editing software.

The next morning, Santa had indeed paid us all a visit, stuffing our pillowcases with surprises.

Even the cat got his stocking filled with treats and toys.

Note the cup of tea ready at hand - we were a bit bleary eyed!

A Nerf water pistol - cool!

Presents for all...

Angry birds for the PC! Now I can leave Mum's phone alone :)

Lots of goodies - some treats, some useful.

I got a new shirt, a book, a travel candle, and some toiletries. Pete got a soft-sided cooler, toiletries, undies and a torch.

Billy got a Nerf water pistol, computer game, swimmers, socks, toiletries, a USB stick and fun stuff like glow sticks, fishing bait, a headlamp, mini water-pistol.

We all got candy canes and chippies to munch on!

My family came to our house for lunch this year. It was very relaxed but still festive.

And the tree grew yet more presents - its the magic-pudding of Xmas trees.

Lots of unwrapping later, time to peruse presents and have a snooze - before eating a bit more :)

I hope you all had a lovely Xmas - we certainly did here. And now its Boxing Day - a time to relax, play with your presents and eat leftovers. And watch the Boxing Day test match (cricket) if you're that way inclined.

Merry Xmas to all..

2011-12-24T13:04:00.000+11:00

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog this year, and especially to those who have taken the time to comment. It makes my day!

Merry Xmas, travel safely and enjoy the time with friends and family. I hope Santa is good to you all!

Carols night

2011-12-19T22:31:00.000+11:00

Billy's education was lacking. He claimed he had never been to a Carols by Candlelight. I think I have taken him once when he was little, but he obviously can't remember it.

So in order to rectify such a grevious oversight, we met my mum, sister and nieces at a local church run Carols night. The weather hadn't been kind all day, but in an optimistic spirit, it went ahead outside as planned.

Waiting to start - the empty spaces soon filled up quickly.

While waiting, we were 'entertained' by a local magician (whose jokes were corny when I first saw him more than 20 years ago - and he's still using the same material lol). He's a local icon and does a lot of fundraising for charities.

Before the magician could even finish, the heavens opened up, and everyone ran for shelter in the hall / church. While the organisers and helpers were busy transferring all of the equipment inside and trying to get Plan B underway, we had a surprise visitor with lollies for the kids.

Finally the carols got underway - by this time though, their planned programme had been tossed away and they just did about half a dozen of the more popular kid's ones - Jingle Bells, Rudolph etc.

And the weather finally cleared enough for their grand finale - a quite spectacular fireworks display.

It was a fun night. I felt sorry for the organisers that their plans were destroyed but people still seemed to have a good time (if slightly damp lol). I'm not sure if that qualifies as a proper 'carols by candlelight' for Billy - we'll have to try again next year!

Busy day

2011-12-19T13:59:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was a busy day. We had the family Xmas lunch with Pete's side of the family - lunch for 17 at our place!

Time for fossball

Lots of time for opening lots of presents!

A bit of backyard cricket.

After the Xmas lunch, we had out street Xmas party at a neighbours house (literally straight after - as I was waving family off, I was already heating the oven ready to take a plate of food to it!). There's about 12 houses in our section of street that get together every year to celebrate Xmas.

Some of the kids went for a swim - it was a mild night, but not warm enough for the pool in my opinion!

Our street party has been going for about 16 years.

Greyhound Gymkhana

2011-12-15T11:54:00.001+11:00

On Sunday we went along to a greyhound gymkhana by invitation of my father-in-law. Now to me, a gymkhana is for ponies and little girls showing what they can do on them, but apparently you can have a greyhound gymkhana as well. Basically it involved lots of greyhound races but no betting (ie it wasn't an official greyhound meeting).

So we got to watch the dogs in the 'exercise' yard (every second photo I took seemed to have a dog relieving themselves - obviously they get nervous before a race!)

This was our favourite - I'm not a greyhound lover, but it was a beautiful looking dog.

Heading around to the boxes - it was a long walk for the trainers, the dogs seemed to handle it fine :)

And they're off and racing...

(somewhere)

Unfortunately our favourite was just a pretty boy not a runner and came in last...

Catching them at the end of the race.

Since it was a fun event, there were also raffles & chocolate wheels, some fun running races for the kids and even a visit from the big man in the red suit handing out lollies and ice-blocks.

It was certainly an interesting day. Billy really enjoyed it and wants to know when the next one is on! (But then, that may have been the free lollies and ice-blocks!)

Dragons presentation night

2011-12-12T20:56:00.000+11:00

Tonight was the final training night for the year for Dragons and a small presentation to each of the kids of a medallion (and candy cane!).

They also gave out four special awards - Best Female Trainer of 2011, Best Male Trainer, Best Overall Trainer and Most Improved. I'm very proud of Billy for winning the Most Improved Dragon in 2011.

He's really put in an extra effort this year, and its starting to show in his improved technique. Well done Billy :)

Term 4 Wrap-up

2011-12-10T21:09:00.000+11:00

We've pretty much called it quits for the year, so time for the term's wrap-up.

Maths:

Billy's been using both Khan Academy and Mathletics again this term, with a brief dip into 'Learning Ladder Yr 5' and 'Carmen Sandiego, Math Detective' (both PC maths games). Topics covered have included: Adding negative numbers, reading tables, associative & commutative property of addition and multiplication, fractions and equivalent fractions, twenty-four hour time, converting h/m/s to m/s and vice versa.

He's also been watching Cyberchase for exposure to new mathematical concepts and general 'living maths' practice like mental arithmetic and calculations, handling money, measuring etc.

He learnt more about compass points, set a trail using a compass and followed other group's trails. He did work on map-reading - working out the scale, identifying things on the map like train lines, rivers etc.

English:

Comparing Harry Potter - the books and movies with discussions about the differences.

Learning Ladder Yr 5 CD - exercises on parts of speech (adverbs, adjectives, phrases, prepositions).

Reading Deltora Quest.

Science & Technology:

Learning Java coding to successfully create a plugin for Minecraft.

Watching educational TV shows such as Backyard Science, Scope, Take on Technology, and Designers.

Planting seeds and looking after them.

Weather observations - made a windsock and rain gauge and observed the weather for 2 weeks.

Went to the dinosaur egg & nest exhibition, "Hatching the Past", and the general science museum exhibits.

HSIE:

Watching the kid's current affairs show Behind the News, as well as "For the Juniors".

Visit to the Camelot Lavendar Farm, feeding and learning about the goats, alpacas and llamas.

Watching Horrible Histories.

Creative Arts:

Watched a live production of Fantastic Mr Fox.

Filmed a video with friends, edited and uploaded to YouTube.

PDHPE:

Archery, Martial Arts.

Trips to the pool.

Not that the learning will stop, but I get to stop recording until next year officially begins :)

End of activities...

2011-12-10T19:55:00.001+11:00

Its the end of activities for the year.

Thursday was a combined Joeys / Cubs / Scouts party. It was supposed to be a pool party but the weather didn't cooperate so it was held at the hall instead. They still enjoyed it anyway.

Billy and another cub were presented with their Silver Boomerang badge.

It was the final archery for the year, with a very close game of archery bowling.

It was also the last drama for the year. Billy was a bit sad about that - it means the last lesson with the teacher he's had for the last 3 years. He'll be going up to the older class next year.

Billy also had a play date with some friends - it was supposed to be a birthday party but again the weather didn't co-operate so it was cancelled.

Monday night is the final dragons training for the year and the presentation.

Chuk the Assassin

2011-12-06T18:35:00.001+11:00

Billy & some friends made this video at the park today (he's Chuk btw). He wanted me to share it with you all.

How to make a Xmas pudding

2011-12-04T18:46:00.001+11:00

We went and helped my father-in-law make the annual Xmas puddings today. He makes 2 each year - one to eat at our family Xmas lunch, and the other to divide between the families. This was our 1st time at helping him.

He has two gigantic bowls that are the traditional pudding mixing bowls.

Cream butter and brown sugar, add eggs, brandy, breadcrumbs & mixed fruit. Try really hard to stir it but hand over to Mum because its getting pretty stiff.

Add flour, bicarb soda and mixed spice.

Line a bowl with the boiled pudding cloth, and cling wrap. Spoon in the mixture.


Tie tightly.

Boil in the copper for 6 - 7 hrs, turning every hour. Then hang for a few more hours to drain.

While waiting, clean up the cooking utensils :)

Simple fun

2011-11-29T07:22:00.001+11:00

Take one air pump, a plastic bottle 1/3 filled with water, piece of tubing and a cork. Apply pressure with the pump..

And watch the bottle fly!

Finish off with some 'quiet time' - making Xmas ornaments using styrofoam balls, aluminium foil and ribbon..

Less stressful Xmas

2011-11-28T07:54:00.001+11:00

I commented to a friend yesterday that I felt so much more organised for Xmas this year, even though we're hosting it this year - most of my present buying has been done, menu organised. I'm not feeling stressed (as yet). I said it was the most organised I'd been in years.

And then I started thinking why. This time last year, we were organising passports, tickets & itinerary for going to the US in Feb. Billy had his performances of Wind in the Willows, rehearsals & a cast party. We went away for a week to Coffs Harbour in Dec (combining a work trip for Pete and a holiday). We had a homeschool excursion, swimming lessons and art classes.

No wonder this year feels relaxed by comparison!

And yes, I am aware I've probably just jinxed things :)

Trails, maps and compass work

2011-11-19T15:29:00.001+11:00

Our cubs have been busy lately:

brushing up on compass points, setting and following trails using the compass

Map reading- understanding scale, finding locations and reading legends on a map (did you know maps and compass work are part of the NSW maths curriculum? Handy for us, hey!)

And setting and following trails using bush signs.

A day in my life - 13th Nov

2011-11-13T07:04:00.001+11:00

It's been a pretty laid-back, relaxing day today. Just what I needed.

I was woken at 6:30 by Billy chatting via Skype to a gaming friend from England. Yawn.. I find it almost impossible to go back to sleep once I'm awake, so I got up, fed the cat, and made myself a cup of tea in the hope it would wake my brain up too :)

I drank it while checking emails, Facebook, forums, blogs and doing a few online surveys (I do these for a bit of extra money - I can usually get a couple of hundred dollars over 12 months. Its not a great hourly rate but I'm on the computer anyway and sometimes they're fun).

I'm feeling pretty sore today - after 4 weeks without any exercise, I refound my motivation this week. Eased into it with 15 minutes on the Wii on Monday, did the BodyBalance class on Friday (first time in 4 weeks) and then Defendo on Saturday (first time in 5 weeks). Arms and abs are reminding me that they exist today :)

Breakfast time - I made myself a poached egg on toast. Its my favourite comfort food!

Did my monthly maintenance of the RWA email accounts - part of my duties as webmistress is to go through them each month and clear out any that are getting full. The hosting doesn't seem to have any nice reporting to make this easier, so I have to go through each of the 70+ addresses individually to check! It's a bit time-consuming but better than having the addresses bounce if the mailbox is full.

Flicked through the local free paper (nothing startling), and junk mail (looking for Xmas ideas - didn't find any). Unpacked the dishwasher, and then washed the remaining dishes by hand.

Still waiting for hubby to get out of bed so I could have a shower, so I curled up on the lounge to read a book. Read for a while, then got up to cut up some fruit for Billy & I for morning tea. Went back to my book. Its an interesting read - the story line is quite enjoyable, although some of the writing style isn't to my taste.

Eventually had a shower, then got us all some lunch. We all watched an episode of "Chuck" while we ate (Chuck vs the Sandworm). Billy then invited a neighbourhood friend over to play while Pete & I watched a series of the Australian black comedy TV show "Laid".

I was sorely in need of something to wake me up, so I succumbed to a mini can of coke.

I made chicken schnitzel for tea (from scratch),

which we ate while watching Disc 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Billy had read The Hobbit a few years ago with Pete, but this is the first time we've attempted The Lord of the Rings with him.

And since most of my photos today seem to be of food, I bring you something just as yummy - a gratuitous Viggo Mortensen photo... :) *sigh*

Ran Billy's bath, got him to bed then Pete & I watched an episode of Torchwood. So why not throw in a gratuitous photo of "Captain Jack Harkness" as well :)

My bum is about to wear a groove in the lounge and my eyes are square from so much TV watching, so that will have to do me for tonight!

Hope everyone else had a good day :)

Correct me if I'm wrong..

2011-11-11T21:43:00.001+11:00

but there appear to be only 6 weeks left until Xmas. I'm honestly not sure how that happened - every year the days seem to accelerate in about October and the time just flies..

Looking at my calendar, most weekends are filled up until the end of the year already. The weeks are starting to fill up with end-of-year parties and activities, plus those extras like getting the caravan serviced before we go away on holidays.

I looked at my list of work yesterday - I have 4 customers that have said they want websites but haven't committed to them yet, one website that's underway plus general maintenance bits and pieces that pop up all the time. Given that I can only work at most 10 hrs / week, I think I've reached the point where I have to start telling any new queries that I won't be available until January. Knowing the way things tend to work, at least 3 of those potential customers are likely to suddenly decide they do want me to go ahead - and they want it done by Xmas. Xmas seems to be this magical deadline that spurs everyone into action around this time every year!

We have two Xmas dinners at our house this year - Pete's family on the Sunday before Xmas, and mine on Xmas Day. So two menus to be planned, food to be ordered, bought and cooked, a house to be cleaned, yard to be tidied etc.

I'm actually well underway with Xmas shopping. I've bought or ordered maybe a third of gifts, and know what I want for some of the others. I'm really at a loss what to get Billy this year - I have a couple of ideas, but nothing really spectacular. But then presents to wrap, cards to write... I don't actually send that many cards anymore - one thing I've pared back.

So what about you? Do you celebrate Xmas? How are you going with preparations?

"Hatching the Past" dinosaur egg & nest exhibition

2011-11-06T19:11:00.001+11:00

This morning Billy and I went to the Newcastle Museum to see the new exhibition "Hatching the Past". It's a collection of dinosaur eggs, reconstructed nests and real dinosaur bones - most of which you could actually touch.

You could even see gnaw marks on this bone :)

Afterwards we met up with my parents, sister and nieces to celebrate my mum's birthday with prawns for lunch, sitting on the foreshore, watching the myriad of boats coming in and out of the harbour. It was a tough day :)

What a busy week!

2011-10-30T15:13:00.000+11:00

It feels like a month has past since the last blog post I wrote - but when I looked, its only a bit over a week! Admittedly it was a very busy week...

First up we dealt with a gastro / flu bug that slowly worked its way through the whole family. I was the first to succumb and took a couple of days to recover, fortunately it then waited a day or two until it hit Billy... Then Pete came down with it on Friday.

In the midst of that, I'd offered to help my FIL with the accounts of an organisation he's involved in, after their treasurer left them in the lurch and tax paperwork was due last week. That took up way more time than I'd anticipated but its done now.

What else? Oh, we got family photos taken for my Mum's b'day. The last time we had a family photo taken, I was 18! My eldest niece is now older than that :) So my nieces, sister, parents, Billy & I had a photo shoot done by a friend of mine - the very talented Melissa at EWI photography! I've had a sneak peek of some of the photos, and can't wait to see the rest. (Pete was sick, so we have to get some more taken with just Billy, me and him - it was too hard to co-ordinate another time when all the families would be available!)

Pete and I went down to Sydney on Friday for a work exhibition show - seminars on the Internet and access via mobile devices etc. We stayed overnight in a lovely room with Harbour "glimpses".

On Saturday, we went to watch Bell Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It wasn't the worst I've seen, but it certainly wasn't the best. The acting was strong, but some of the stage direction left me a little bemused. And at two hours without a lot of action, I had to fight the urge for a nanna nap a couple of times :) It was quite a relaxing weekend on the whole.

There was also a trip to the chiropractor, and the usual cubs, drama and archery. And it was my birthday last week as well. This was my present from the boys - a Sony e-reader, complete with funky case and its own light!

So definitely a week of ups and downs.. I'm hoping for a less "full-on" week next week!

Splash park

2011-10-20T19:32:00.000+11:00

We went to our local pool today with some friends. The kids spent most of the time in the new Splash park. One of the things they loved best was the big bucket - every 10 minutes or so it would fill up with water, tilt and spill over - to their great delight!

Click to see the animation..

Spill bucket

Waterslide

Time for an ice-block!

Exploring our local area: Camelot Lavender Farm

2011-10-20T09:56:00.000+11:00

We went on a homeschool excursion on Monday to the Camelot Lavender Farm. Which is actually a bit of a misnomer as its not a lavender farm anymore. Apparently its being renamed to Camelot Heritage Gardens and Exotic animals or something.

So, no sweeping fields of lavender anymore. But they did have some rare and endangered breeds of animals that we could see.

Anglo-nubian goats

Feeding the goats

The one on the left is an alpaca, the one on the right (the big one) is his baby - alpaca / llama cross!

Al the alpaca

Llamas

More llamas - they've been shorn hence the scraggy look!

Not exotic - a rescue donkey - althought they did have several hinnies in another paddock (offspring of a male horse and female donkey)

There were also endangered breeds of sheep (whose names escape me) and I think they also have some endangered breeds of pigs.

And another rare breed:

The 'I don't want my photo taken' Billy :) Notice the lavender in the background!

We also found out that you can only eat the English lavender - the rest have camphor in them. Most of us had to buy a lavender chocolate just to test it out :)

After the lavender place, we headed back down to the river where we went a few weeks ago. Unfortunately this time the weather was overcast and a bit cool - didn't stop some of the kids going for a swim though!

My camera battery had died by then, so just use your imagination!

Region Scouting Day

2011-10-15T19:12:00.001+11:00

Today Billy went along to a Region Scouting event called GAS (Gather All Sections) - a day for Joeys, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers from around our region. Some packs will be camping overnight, but our pack just went along for the day. It was held at Glenrock Scout camp - an area of the Glenrock Conservation Area that the Scouts own. Its in a beautiful setting - it opens onto the beach, with a tidal lagoon running beside it and surrounded by bush.

And what a full-on day it was.

Candle-making

Inflatable slides

Giant Jenga

Giant checkers

Giant shoes - How am I supposed to walk in these?

Flying fox

Rock-climbing wall

Tired but happy boy!

There was also a mud course (what a shame we hadn't taken a spare set of clothes!), a rope bridge, bungee trampolining (luckily he didn't want to wait for this one - the wait was over an hour!), catapults and a few other activities that I can't remember.

Well done and thank you to all the leaders and volunteers that work their bums off to provide such fun for the kids!

A Day in my life - Oct 13

2011-10-13T22:51:00.002+11:00

Its been years since I did a 'Day in the the life' post and I suddenly felt like it was time for another one.

Today was a fairly typical day.

I was up at 7, fed the cat & changed his litter, then sat down at the computer to read blogs, catch up on email etc. I have a backlog of email to get through as I've been busy getting a client's website to her design. I made myself some toast & a cup of tea and ate it at the computer.

Billy emerged about 8:30. He's usually up before me, so a sleep-in was very unusual for him. He's been having trouble falling asleep lately though and still getting up early, so I think he was catching up on missed sleep. He headed for his computer and not long after was chatting to a friend on Skype while they both played on Minecraft.

Pete wandered out and headed for his computer to start work for the day.

I showered, tidied a bit around the house, made Billy some breakfast (bacon & cheese bun that we made yesterday), packed the dishwasher, washed up the remaining frypans etc and swept the kitchen floor.

I also made some jelly for dessert and some more 'magic cordial' mix as we were running low. While doing that, I also helped Billy with how he could add extra authors for a new blog he's setting up.

About 10:30 Billy switched the TV on for the school shows while I cut up some fruit & crackers for morning tea. We caught the end of "Being Chinese", then watched "Behind the News" together. Its a kid's current affairs show - discusses world events in easy to understand ways. I learn heaps from it :)

I sat with Billy while he did some Khan Academy - today he chose to work on the number line lesson (using negative numbers) and reading tables. Both were pretty easy for him - as long as he paid attention to what the question was actually asking!

Checked my email again while Billy went back to Minecraft. He's busy designing a new 'skin' for his character - something that involves a lot of patience and a steady hand with a Paint type program. You have to work at a pixel level to create the look you want. He's checked out a library of skins that other people have uploaded to give him some ideas.

I gathered the books & CDs together to take back to the library later today.

The weather was starting to look rather bleak, so I made toasted sandwiches for lunch - leftover roast pork, tomato & cheese for Pete and I, and plain cheese for Billy. We watched an episode of 'Legend of the Seeker' while we ate - interrupted by a phone call from one of Pete's clients. 'Legend of the Seeker' is a fantasy series (with lots of sword fighting and nice chests!) based on a series of books by Terry Goodkind.

Billy worked on his blog, skyped friends, watched YouTube videos, played Minecraft and worked on a new website he's creating, while I put the finishing touches (I hope!) on a client's website. Then I caught up on reading a couple of lectures I'd missed on the writing course I'm doing, sent in one assignment and thought about the other one while I did some ironing.

After a search through the house to find Billy's gi, we headed out to dragons with a stop at the library on the way. Somehow we ended up borrowing more books than we returned!

Dragons went well. I help out teaching the little ones and white belts, so I'm not sure what Billy was doing during class. I had a couple of little preschoolers that were a challenge to keep focused but we made it through!

We came home, I cooked dinner (sausages, mash & veges) and we watched Ramsey's Best Restaurant and started watching the new Grand Designs. I did some stuff on my laptop while I was watching - made a few more changes for the client, read some blogs, typed up this post.

Billy went off to bed about 8:45pm - Pete read some of a sci-fi book to him that they're reading together, then I read a chapter of the next Deltora Quest book to him and tucked him in. Bedtime always takes a long time!

I made myself a cup of chai tea and sat down to watch the end of Grand Designs (we'd taped it when we put Billy to bed), and send some emails. I helped Pete with an issue with one of his websites before calling it a night.

Its 11pm, I'm just about to pack up, turn the dishwasher on and head to bed. Quite late to bed for me tonight.

And now I'll leave you with a random cute cat photo to finish :)

School holidays

2011-10-10T09:37:00.003+11:00

We learn year round, so we don't really take holidays as such. The school holidays though provide a nice break from the routine of external classes.

Billy has done some weather observations. He made a rain gauge and a windsock, and is taking daily weather readings of temperature, cloud cover, wind speed & direction, and rainfall.

We went to see a local production of Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr Fox" that one of his friends was in.

He had a couple of playdates with friends, as well as playing with the neighbourhood kids more. Being school holidays, "schooled" kids had more time on their computers, so he spent a lot of time playing Minecraft and Portal 2 with them over the internet.

We had a b'day party for his cousins where he got to meet his newest baby cousin, eat cake, play soccer and rough-house with his boy cousins and uncle.

We also had another party where he discovered the "joy" of karaoke.

Dragons continued through the holidays - he earnt his 100 badge for 100 hours of training.

We've been watching Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone on DVD, listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on audio book, watching Legend of the Seeker, and reading Deltora Quest (just about to finish reading City of the Rats). It's all pretty magical at the moment :)

So now holidays are over, and its back to routine. Inspired by the warmer weather and by some reading I've been doing, I'm planning to get out and do different things more this term rather than getting stuck in the day-to-day rut.

Still writing

2011-10-03T11:04:00.002+11:00

I haven't posted about writing since the conference but I am still slowly working away at it.

I set up my netbook in the spare room, and for a few weeks got into a lovely habit of writing every morning, averaging around 500 words / day. Then something happened. I can't remember what, but I had a really busy week so the routine was broken. I tried to start again, then we had a few weeks of really cold weather - and it was really cold in the spare room - so I stopped again.

So at the moment, I'm not writing every day, but instead grab a couple of hours each week to lock myself away and do some writing or editing.

I'm now up to 9,600 words on my women's fiction (working title "Sisters").

At our last face-to-face writer's group meeting, we brainstormed some possible plot paths for Sisters, and some fantastic ideas came out of it. Now I have all these ideas swirling around in my head, and I'm not sure which way to go. I've signed up to an online Plotting course for October - hopefully that will help me work out what to do!

I also now have 2 critique partners - one is a friend of mine in our face-to-face writer's group, and the other found me through the critique partner matching scheme run by RWA. So far so good - even though we all write in different sub-genres, they've both had some valuable input into my wip, and hopefully I've managed to add some useful comments to theirs.

I'm giving Sisters one final edit and then entering it in the RWA STALI (Single Title and Loving It) competition this week. Hopefully I'll get some valuable feedback - and even more hopefully it will do well in the scoring :)

Term 3 Wrap-up

2011-09-26T07:21:00.000+10:00

Term 3 has drawn to a close. Its never a favourite term of mine; I always feel like we hibernate and don't achieve much. So its a surprise to tally things up and look at what learning has been going on.

Maths:

Billy's been doing a mixture of Khan Academy, Skwirk & Mathletics (year 4 level). Topics covered have included: 3 digit addition and subtraction, symmetry, probability, word problems, angles and co-ordinates.

He's also been using Timez Attack to practice his times tables, watching Cyberchase for exposure to new mathematical concepts and general 'living maths' practice like mental arithmetic and calculations, handling money (including manning a stall at the Ugandan Fundraiser), measuring etc.

He also learnt more about codes and encoded & decoded messages.

English:

Reading both for pleasure and towards the Premier's Reading Challenge.

He completed the Premier's Reading Challenge (Yr 3-4 level) reading 20 books from the 3-4, 5-6 and 7-9 book lists.

He's been writing stories as the plots for his computer games.

He memorised a poem ("Extra, extra" by Colin McNaughton) for his drama performance.

Science & Technology:

Watching Mythbusters, Backyard Science, Blast Lab, Our Animals and Series 1 of Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections (Airbus A380, Taipei 101, Super Rig).

Creating video tutorials of how to use Minecraft and RPG Game Maker, trailers and vlogs.

Creating games using RPG Game Maker, and setting up Minecraft servers and talking other kids through doing the same, and creating custom maps and worlds in Minecraft.

Hands-on interactive science at Supernova (Newcastle Museum) and Scienceworks (Melbourne).

Seeing how engines worked at the Spotswood Pumping station and the Maitland Steamsheds.

Learning about pulleys, electrical circuits and levers.

Watching the development of tadpoles in our pond.

Learning some basic animation techniques using Adobe Flash and made a banner ad for his website.

HSIE:

Watching the kid's current affairs show Behind the News, as well as "For the Juniors".

Exploring local history at the Newcastle Museum

Learning about Ancient Greek gods.

Visit to the Goat Soap Lady.

Listened to the book "My Place" by Sally Morgan about the discovery of her Aborginal heritage.

Creative Arts:

Weekly drama class - his class performed a series of poems in a public concert.

This is Billy being a paper boy in his performance of "Extra Extra" by Colin McNaughton.

He attended an 8 week photography course at a local photography studio.

We had a trip to the Maitland Art Gallery.

PDHPE:

Archery - our end of term activity this term was archery bowling.

AFL training & games. The season has now ended.

Martial Arts- he graded up to Orange Belt black tip at his recent grading.

Visited the Sports Museum in Melbourne.

Now that AFL has finished, he's been encouraged to participate in daily exercise or movement - eg kicking the ball around outside, playing Wii Fit. We've also had discussions about nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

Learning basic first aid and discussions about the importance of hygiene in disease prevention.

Community:

Took part in a fundraiser day for Ugandan orphans.

Took part in Disability Awareness activities - discussing disabilities, playing vision impaired soccer, typing shoelaces with no thumbs, opening a box of smarties with one hand etc.

Was involved in packing shoeboxes to send to underprivileged countries as part of Operation Christmas Child.

Doorknocked to raise money for the Heart Foundation.

Exploring our local area: Clarencetown

2011-09-23T18:58:00.000+10:00

About 30 mins away from us is the little town of Clarencetown. Its not really somewhere we've been to much, but we headed off there today when one of the homeschool mums organised an excursion.

After meeting in a carpark, we headed off to visit The Goat Soap Lady.

She showed us her soaps and explained how she made them - I treated myself by buying some soaps and lotion.

We also got to feel the angora wool.

Christine (the Goat Soap Lady) was generous enough to make the kids some vanilla slice (using goats milk) and gave us all a taste of fresh, cold goats milk.

And we got to pat and feed the goats.

After that, we headed back down to a park on the Williams River for an enjoyable few hours...

Time to eat and chat..

Time to climb trees and make forts..

Time to swim and paddle..

We were planning on heading out for a bush walk after the picnic, but it was a warm day, and everyone was far too content doing what they were doing. There's always next time!

Maitland Art Gallery

2011-09-20T19:25:00.001+10:00

We haven't been to our local art gallery for a while, so we were overdue for a visit. We popped in for a quick look around this morning on our way to archery.

Among the exhibitions to catch our eye were:

A photography exhibition by Sean Roche

Aboriginal Art

A walk-in camera obscura where you could 'spy' on the people in the cafe!

This is a permanent exhibition and Billy's favourite - its a giant wooden 'pin sculpture' that you can manipulate to make any picture you want.

Exploring our local area: Newcastle Museum

2011-09-15T21:01:00.000+10:00

In August 2007, our local museum in Newcastle closed its doors in preparation of moving to a new site. It was sorely missed by us - being free, and having a great hands-on science section was a godsend! Four long years later, it finally reopened last month.

We called in there today to have a look around. When we weren't innundated with school groups, it was quite good! The main attraction was the Supanova hands-on Science section, but there were also sections showing things related to Newcastle's past.

Lifting a car with ropes at various points along the lever

Plasma ball

Robot arm - making him pick up a ball, move etc. Billy even made him dance :)

Speed check to see how fast you can throw a ball

A display about the old BHP steelworks which used to be Newcastle's main employer, now closed down.

A really cool spinning globe hanging from the ceiling

A now defunct Newcastle tram

Topped off by lunch at the cafe :)

AFL Presentation Day

2011-09-12T07:58:00.001+10:00

Another year of AFL is over for Billy and his club. The club did quite well this year - they've only been going for 5 years and the Under-12s made it to the Grand Final.

Yesterday was the club's Presentation Day - a final chance to get together, play footy, have fun and eat :) Thanks to all the coaches and volunteers who did such a great job all season.

Billy with his Under-10s team-mates.

Getting his trophy from his coach

They have a great idea with the plaques - rather than a plastic trophy to clutter up the shelves every year, they have one trophy that the kids keep throughout their time at the club. Every year they engrave it with their team and year - this is Billy's 4th year at the club (3 years of Auskick and 1 year of Under-10s).

Defendo Grading

2011-09-10T22:00:00.000+10:00

Today I had my much anticipated defendo grading - time to finally try to get off that horrible white belt :)

The grading lasted a bit over an hour and was quite full on. We were moving for pretty much that whole hour - we were instructed to be jogging on the spot while we were waiting. We had to demonstrate our rolls (not my strong point lol), falls, kicks, punches, checks & blocks, a couple of routines / patterns / kata, and basic escape techniques (ie from grabs like bear hugs, head locks etc). We had light contact sparring, ground fighting, and heaps of push ups and sit ups.

And we did it! I graded up to yellow belt! Sensei even said I went better than he expected - I'm not sure if that meant he had really low expectations though :)

I'm sore and bruised, but very proud of myself!

In the one in the white shoes towards the front.

This is me getting my face gouged :)

Getting presented with my yellow belt!

Photography Course

2011-09-09T19:14:00.001+10:00

Today was the final week of an eight-week photography course Billy has been doing. A local photography studio has been running the course for the homeschoolers - one class for primary school students and one for high school age. They've been nice small classes of about 8 kids.

As well as learning to use their cameras properly and take better photos, they've also been taught some photoshop editing techniques. Most weeks were in the studio, but they also took a field trip to a local park area and a trip to a photography exhibition.

Here are some of the photos that have appeared on my camera while he's been doing the course!

Engineering studies

2011-09-05T09:00:00.002+10:00

Billy's been on a few excursions to engineering type places this term.

He visited the Spotswood Pumping Station while we were in Melbourne. The Spotswood Pumping Station was built in the late nineteenth century as a key component of Melbourne's first centralised sewerage system. Today it is one of Australia's most important industrial heritage sites. The buildings and their contents were classified by the National Trust of Australia in 1981 and are listed on both the Victorian and National Heritage Registers.

The pumping station is part of Scienceworks - a hands-on, interactive, Science museum. Exhibits included optical illusions, the science behind familiar things in the house, viewing the Westgate Bridge and the science of sport.

His cub group also visited the Maitland Steam and Antique Machinery Association's workshop. They were shown how one of the steam engines worked and got to explore some of the other machinery.

They've also learnt about pulleys, levers and electrical circuits with the same dad who organised the steam shed trip.

Party time

2011-09-04T17:58:00.000+10:00

Billy had his party yesterday. We had wonderful weather, heaps of food, and great fun.

There was cake (it's a Minecraft building block for the uninitiated..) I hope my niece got a photo of him blowing out his candle, because I was busy organising it!

There were presents.. At my suggestion, most people bought him gift cards to his favourite computer game shop so he is eagerly anticipating a visit there in the near future!

There were simple games like tips, hide-and-seek, a treasure hunt and a water fight. (Sorry to all the parents who took home soggy kids lol).

And there was the chocolate game*. Many of the kids had gone home by this stage - which just meant more chocolate for those that were left :) This was the point that my 18 yo niece suddenly decided she wasn't too old for party games!

* The chocolate game - each person rolls a die going around the circle. Once someone rolls a six, they rush in to the middle, put on the hat & scarf, and using the knife and fork, cut a piece off a block of chocolate. We used plastic cutlery just to make it harder! They can eat that piece once they cut it off. They continue cutting until the next person rolls a six at which time they surrender their spot in the middle. Its hilarious when consecutive people roll sixes and they don't even get time to get dressed, let alone get some chocolate. Hint - have extra chocolate for the little ones that miss out!!

It was exhausting but he had a great day so that's why we do it!

Happy birthday 9 year old!

2011-08-27T06:34:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday 9 year old!

You're smart & clever, and crack us up with your jokes and puns. You may not be the most athletic kid on the block, but you make up for it in grit and determination. Our life would not be the same without you.

Here's a snapshot of your life at the moment.

Current obsession: Minecraft, esp playing it online with your little posse of online friends, making videos of it, custom maps etc.

Other interests: Photography, Dragons martial arts (currently orange belt), AFL (Under 10s), Cubs, Drama, writing stories and archery

Favourite food: Chicken schnitzel, followed closely by pizza

Current ambition: To become a games designer, move to Switzerland and work on Minecraft.

Currently reading: Deltora Quest series

Happy birthday Billy!

Codes and Signals

2011-08-22T20:55:00.000+10:00

Billy's cub group have been working on their Codes & Signals badge (among other things) this term.

They learnt about semaphore (as you can see!), braille, morse code and the phonetic alphabet. They had to send and decode a message using semaphore, morse code and another code.

RWA Conference 2011 - craft

2011-08-18T21:49:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure if these notes will make any sense to anyone other than me, but its helped me to revisit them.

Bob Mayer - Write it Forward (formerly Warrior Writer Workshop)

Bob's workshop wasn't craft oriented as such, rather about getting to know ourselves as an author and setting goals for our career.

His "Warrior Writer" steps (very briefly):

What do you want to achieve with your writing? Why? Where will sustained change occur?

Understand your own character. What is change and how do you accomplish it? How do you build the courage to change?

Communicate your change to the world. Take command of your change. Complete the Circle of Success and change.

A few points I jotted down that stood out to me.

* Ask yourself - "I'll do anything to achieve my writing goal, except don't ask me to do...?"
* Focus on what makes you angry or inspired in your workshop - its probably something you need to work on or address
* Record the one thing that motivates you most as a writer
* Can you communicate the "Shiver"?
* Idea is not story. The idea can't change in what you're writing, but the story can.
* Every scene needs conflict - character vs character. No scene - no conflict. External & internal conflict.
* How your organise your daily life is how you will organise your book.
* SOP - Defined tasks, written. Stops you reinventing the wheel.
* Use daily, weekly, monthly checklists to keep you on track.
* A body language course is useful
* Conflict is rooted in different POV
* Change = Moment of Enlightenment -> Make a decision -> Implement -> Sustained Action
* The stages of change (same as grief) - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
* The bottom line on 'feeling like a fraud' is to internalize more of your accomplishments. List them. You are real.
* Expand your comfort zone by venturing into your courage zone. (I love this!)

Susan Wiggs - Plotting from the Inside Out

Susan's workshop was about creating a plot without really plotting.

* Character-driven plot - intertwined character / plot
* Take a walk. Minimise distractions. Walking rhythm sparks creativity.
* Where is your "white space"? Your space where you can be alone to think.
* Makes a to-do list before yoga / walking and before bed to help empty her mind.
* Think of an emotion. Feel it. Focus on the emotions you are feeling, then combine that with an image.
* Be patient. Stories come in their own time.
* Create a music playlist for your book. Have variety. Different characters will have different songs.
* Make a collage with magazine pictures. Don't analyse what you are selecting - just feel. Don't rush it - this is part of building your structure.
* Create a sociogram - write characters name in the middle of your page with spokes out to all the people in their life.
* Create a chart with all of your character names in the book to make sure you don't have character names beginning with the same letter.
* Create a vision of "her world" in words and/or pictures. Time of year, era, environment. The more vivid you make the world, the more engaged readers will be.
* Process can take 2-4 weeks. Be careful it doesn't cross into procrastination though!!!
* Use movie credits, newspapers, articles etc to find names
* Take the character to a point of decision in her life.
* Do freewriting. 1st person, present tense. Let your character talk to you. What's on her mind? What problems does she have? External & internal. Keep it to less than 500 words.
* Read self-help books to find an arc of growth for the character.
* Give a reward at the end - the epilogue - the warm fuzzy at the end.
* Can be effective to mirror the opening in the ending.
* When writing a series, create charts / spreadsheets etc to keep track of details about characters - year of birth, births, deaths, marriage, physical characteristics etc
* Susan writes longhand, uses Dragon voice recognition to transcribe. She keeps her manuscript in the freezer when she leaves the house in case it burns down :)
* Use "Hero with a thousand faces" to describe the hero's journey 12 steps - create events for each step. Gives you a plot outline.

Julia Hunter - Body Language

* www.julia-hunter.com
* 99% of how we communicate is body language
* How to read body language
- Read in clusters - some gestures are normal for people, not indicative of anything
- Does the body language agree with what's being said?
- Read gestures in context
* Self-touching - nerves
* Body slumping - defeated
* "Steepling" with hands - I'm the boss
* Arms crossed - women - closed off, protecting herself; men - in control, arrogant
* People don't like being pointed at when lecturing
* Palms down - taking authority
* Palms open - believable, trust me
* Mirroring - builds rapport, makes you feel accepted. We don't subconsciously mirror people we don't like or don't know.
* Move into people's space to force them to open their body language
* pauleckman.com - micro facial expressions

Raymond Floro - Staging a Fight Scene

* Think unconventionally for improvised weapons - pens, sock filled with coins, magazine with coins along edge rolled up
* Killing is power / control
* Rape is not sexual but power
* 21ft rule (Tueller's Rule) - the average person with a knife can get to and cut a person before they have time to pull and fire a gun
* Weapons are a great equaliser for size difference
* Pressure points don't work if the person is drugged or heavily intoxicated
* If a major artery is severed (femoral, carotid), lose 1/L of blood/minute. Loss of 1L - unconscious, 3 L death
* Go for knees / shins to put people down, not chest or head
* Knockout points - anything on bottom half of face (ie nose down) eg jaw, chin etc

Joan Kilby - Writing the Emotional Rollercoaster

* Go deep
eg Level 1 - external conflict. Heroine loves old buildings and wants the heritage of the old church maintained. Hero wants to develop it.
Level 2 - Personal investment for character with family connection to church.
Level 3 - Deep internal conflict. Church is a symbol of the heroine's marriage and love for her dead husband - all women in her family married there. Its a symbol of their marriage - she can't move on in life.

* Flipside of happiness is fear and vulnerability. What makes your character happy / what does he want? Flip it around - what is he afraid of?
* Watch Dr Brene Brown on ted.com - lecture on vulnerability
* Show hero's vulnerability but also show his determination to overcome (otherwise he looks like a wimp). He must be proactive.
* Give your characters a life - use personal objects significant to them to evoke emotion (eg a stuffed toy that the hero gave the heroine as teenagers that she's kept all these years)
* Emotional plotting
- What are your characters thinking & feeling going into a scene
- How will this change by the end of the scene?
- What issues arise that will affect their emotions?
- Start positive, end negative and vice versa
- Move the story forward emotionally

* Motivation - Reaction Units
   - Motivation - "I'm pregnant and you're the father."
   - Reaction
       - Feeling - Rafe reeled.
       - Action - He stumbled into the credenza, toppling a pot plant and spilling the dirt.
       - Speech - "You're... what?"
* Beginning a story with a highly-charged emotional scene rarely works because until we get to know the characters, we don't care what happens to them.
* Strong characters push each other's buttons, forcing them to grow.
* Deep down though, they must be soul mates - what need do they fulfil in each other?
* Start slow and build the emotion.
* Don't shy away from strong emotion.
* Margie Lawson - backloading

Lisa Heidke - Sense & Sanity: Living with the First Draft

* I AM A WRITER!
* Plan your day.
* Watch movies & TV shows that are similar to your genre to recharge / freshen your imagination
* Don't strive for perfection - even if you can only write for fiften minutes, or 500 words, its better than nothing
* Focus on your ultimate goal - the sense of achievement when you've finished your first draft. A lot of people talk about writing a book. Few do. You can be one who actually does.
* Have a writing space to call your own
* Have a set writing time each day / week.
* BALANCE everything in your life - including your writing. What would my "ideal" day look like? How would I feel?
* Lightbulb moment - I need ME time as well as writing time. They shouldn't be the same - I need the me time to recharge / read without guilt
* Set small goals so you don't get overwhelmed
* Hold yourself accountable.
* Stephen King's "On writing" is very motivational when in a slump

RWA Conference 2011 - glitz, glamour and goodies

2011-08-18T09:11:00.000+10:00

On Friday night, we got all frocked up for the Roaring Twenties themed cocktail party. Lots of flapper dresses and gansters, a Charlie Chaplin, and I even saw Minnie & Mickey Mouse, and Popeye and Olive Oyl! It was a fun night - I pity the staff having to clean up the feathers that were left lying around though :)

Saturday night was the Awards dinner night - again everyone glammed up and headed to the ballroom for dinner and speeches. It was a bit like the Academy Awards :)

It wasn't all glitz and glamour though - during Sunday we also raised money in collaboration with the Melbourne Fire Brigade for the Otis Foundation - retreats in country Victoria for women suffering from breast cancer. We held silent auctions and a raffle, and altogether raised over $10,000. Harlequin then donated another $5,000 for a wonderful total! I don't think anyone was unmoved who heard the speech by a breast cancer sufferer currently using the services of the Otis Foundation.

Oh, and the goodies! We were warned to leave room in the suitcase for goodies to take home - I didn't realise how much it would be! I ended up with about a dozen free books (plus a couple that I bought), plus the free chocolates, bookmarks etc etc. Fun!

RWA Conference 2011 - epiphanies and decisions

2011-08-16T21:45:00.000+10:00

I'm back from 3 wonderful days of workshops, panels and socialising at the Romance Writers of Australia 20th Conference in Melbourne. (Plus an extra day of meetings since I'm now on the executive committee.)

What can I say??!! It was everything I expected and more. It was exhausting and exhilerating at the same time. It was also very noisy when 350 women were together - especially when alcohol was involved :)

It will take me some time to even start to process all of the craft information I learnt, but the immediate benefit for me was the motivation. It's really sunk in that I need to get serious about this - if I want to get published (and I do - I'm now coveting a blue First Sale ribbon!), I need to start treating it like a job, not a hobby. I need to write regularly, not wait until I'm in the mood.

I AM A WRITER (I've practiced saying that thanks to Lisa Heidke's workshop). If I'm not treating it seriously, why should anyone else? I need to protect my writing time.

Bob Mayer's full day 'Write it Forward' workshop on the Friday was full of gems. In fact, it was my first epiphany of the weekend. He showed a clip of the Johnny Cash movie Walk the Line where Cash is being auditioned and the agent questions his committment to the song he's singing. The thing that struck me was the section where the agent essentially said - if you were hit by a bus and you only had time to sing one song, would this be the one you would choose?

Bob drew the analogy - are you committed to this book? Is this your passion? If you only could write one book, would this be it? You can read more on Bob's take of it here. Lightbulb moment for me. No, its not. I'm trying to write a category romance, and I'm more interested in the relationship between the heroine and her estranged mother. I much prefer women's fiction for its exploration of family and relationships, as well as a romance.

So that was easy... But then I couldn't decide whether I should finish the category just for the sake of finishing something, or write what I want to write. So after lots of soul-searching and sleepless nights (although that was largely the result of the amount of caffeine I was drinking!), I've decided to go back to the women's fiction I started writing 12 months ago. In actual fact, I think I might even be able to use the character from the sweet in the women's fiction, so best of both worlds :)

The other thing that sticks in my mind was the number of presenters saying it wasn't so much talent that was the important thing - it was perserverance and grit. Bob Mayer spoke about how grit was the difference between failure and success in many areas of life, I think it was Melanie Milburne (who won the Romantic Book of the Year, Short Sweet category) said that she wasn't so much talented as persistant, and Jane Porter in her closing address spoke about how she wrote, submitted and was rejected for seventeen years before she sold her first book.

I'll probably have far more to say on the conference as I start to catch up on sleep and wrap my head around everything that was said.

If you went to the conference, was there a 'main thing' you took out of it?

3 more sleeps..

2011-08-08T08:02:00.000+10:00

3 more sleeps until we travel to Melbourne for the Romance Writers of Australia 20th Anniversary conference. 4 more sleeps until the conference kicks off.

To say I'm excited would be an understatement :)

Ugandan Fundraiser

2011-08-04T09:06:00.000+10:00

Last week one of our teenage homeschoolers in the area organised a fundraising day to support Ugandan orphans.

It was a lovely day - the weather decided to co-operate so it could go ahead.

There were stalls selling food (our banana muffins and Anzac biscuits sold out early!), books, clothes, toys and offering fingernail painting:

Activities like running races, egg-and-spoon and 3-legged races:

And a raffle with lots of prizes:

All up over $400 was raised, as well as clothes and goods donated to send over. Well done Taylah, you should be very proud of yourself!

My muse is a contrary beastie..

2011-08-03T17:49:00.000+10:00

I had written virtually no new words at all during July. I procrastinated by rearranging, writing a blurb / synopsis, but would freeze when it came to doing anything on the story itself.

So yesterday morning I gave in and decided I'd put this story aside and go onto something else. Well, what do you know? That was obviously all the beastie was waiting for - since then I've written over 2000 words - long hand - on my current work. The one I was about to abandon.

*sigh* Looks like I have to use reverse psychology on her...

Out of my comfort zone

2011-08-01T07:25:00.000+10:00

Doing the form of martial arts that I'm doing is pushing me so far out of my comfort zone, its not even in the same universe :)

When I did karate before (way before), we focused mainly on 'kata' (patterns) and kicking, punching etc. We didn't do a lot of contact stuff and when we did, it was mostly light contact sparring. I should've realised that something called Defendo Close Quarters Combat would be different lol. Especially with the motto "KISS - Keep it simple and savage"!

I've never been in a fight. I don't have brothers. My sister and I were far more effective with words than fists :) So its quite confronting to be placed in situations where you have to fight and be savage - where hair pulling, eye gouging and nose hooks are perfectly valid techniques (no eye gouging in training though!)

At training on Saturday, we were doing a technique where one person had to lay down, and three - get that, three - people lay across them - one across the head, one across the stomach, one across the legs. The person underneath had to then fight their way free. Unlike a real fight though, the people laying on top weren't trying to fight back in this instance.

I was training with three lovely young men, but my sensei reckoned they were being too soft on me. So he put me in the middle of the room, put three high level belts on me (including one big, solid guy) and made everyone stop to watch.

My first reaction was panic. I felt like I couldn't move - was being crushed, couldn't breathe. They were too big for me to push - I had to use elbows, grabs etc to get them off me. It was quite scary until the adrenaline kicked in and as Sensei put it - I unleased my inner mongrel :) Boy was I exhausted afterwards though - it was probably only 30 seconds - it felt like 10 minutes.

Apart from the physical, its also mentally out of my comfort zone. I'm a perfectionist. I hate doing anything in public that I haven't practiced umpteen times by myself until I know I can do it. I hate looking inadequate and think people will laugh at me. Unfortunately this leads me to sitting on the sidelines a lot, watching. People will invite me to do something - even as simple as playing a game of pool - and I turn it down, meanwhile thinking "Oooh that looks like fun. But I can't do it, people would laugh at me. Maybe if they ask me again, I might try it. Or maybe not. Oh damn, they're stopping." *sigh*

Sensei Bill also made me demonstrate another leg sweep technique in the middle that we'd just learnt. I sucked at it. I get left & right confused when I'm under pressure. I pretty much stuffed it completely up.

But guess what - no-one laughed at me. They were all wonderfully supportive and encouraging. So its quite good for me (I think!) to be forced into demonstrating something in the middle and not knowing what I'm doing, getting it wrong.

This could be the start of a more confident me... (maybe)

Chicken guns, mongol bows, rockets and bicycle pumps

2011-07-24T19:57:00.000+10:00

We just watched the first episode of Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections. This one was about the Airbus A380 - the world's largest aircraft - and the engineering challenges associated with its design and building. He showed how inspiration for the wings came from the steppe eagle, the use of composites in the aluminium are inspired by mongol bows - the strength of the aluminium is tested using chicken guns (where they fire chickens at it at high speed). The idea of the landing gear is based on the idea of a bicycle pump, and they use the idea behind rockets to inflate the emergency chutes.

I'm sure its far more complex than that, but he has a good way of 'dumbing it down' so that its understandable. Once again, a very enjoyable and educational show.

Eeeek!

2011-07-22T21:54:00.000+10:00

In 3 weeks time, I'll be at the RWA's writer's conference in Melbourne. I can't wait!

I'm signed up to some incredible sounding workshops.

Friday - Warrior Writer's workshop

Using the Who Dares Wins approach, Warrior Writer will help writers develop a plan to enrich their writing and overcome hurdles. This includes finding personal blind spots that are hurting the writing. Integral to the plan is developing a career path which includes author goals in terms of books, theme, unifying concept, all the way down to organizing day-to-day writing. Of particular focus in creativity are finding true fears, developing the courage to conquer them, and uncovering each person’s unique creative tactics & strategies.

The Who Dares Wins approach:

1. WHAT specifically do you want to achieve with your writing

2. WHY do you want to achieve these particular goals

3. WHERE will sustained change occur

4. Understand CHARACTER

5. What is CHANGE, and how do you accomplish it

6. How do you build the COURAGE to change

7. COMMUNICATE your change to the world

8. Take COMMAND of your change

9. COMPLETE the Circle of Success and change

Saturday:

Session 1: - Plotting From The Inside Out, Susan Wiggs

Let's explore using character, conflict and motivation to create a compelling story plot. We'll look at setup and then track the action on a page-turning journey to a satisfying conclusion. When it comes to story development there is no right way or wrong way, so we can explore creative methods, from basic outlining, to list-making to story-board drawing to collaging. Come prepared to brainstorm!

Session 2: - Body Language

People naturally communicate through body language; it can agree with what’s being said or show signs of deception. Learn techniques to add an additional dimension to your writing and also discover how to use body language to enhance public speaking appearances.

Session 3: - Staging A Fight Scene, Raymond Floro

Back by popular demand, the most talked about session from RWA's 2010 conference. A martial arts expert and counter-terrorism trainer, who has worked with military and law enforcement agencies worldwide, leads an educational and entertaining exploration of attack and defence strategies, weapons of the usual and unusual variety, and all manner of violent engagement. (Almost) no writers will be harmed in the making of this session.

Sunday:

Session 1: - Writing The Emotional Roller-coaster, Joan Kilby

Worried that your writing lacks emotional punch? Want to boost the intensity to the next level? Learn how to build emotion into your story at every stage. Elements covered include: developing an emotionally charged premise, tapping into your characters’ core vulnerabilities, mining scenes for maximum emotion, and exploring the language of emotion. Through lecture, discussion and exercises, Joan Kilby will teach you how to deliver the intensely emotional experience sought by readers and editors.

Session 2: - Sense And Sanity: Living With The First Draft, Lisa Heidke

This workshop looks at the nuts and bolts of the writer's life. How do you make yourself write when you don't want to? What motivational techniques can you employ to make the most of your writing day? How do writers balance their 'regular' life with their writing life? Participants will put together a schedule to structure their writing life, individual to their situation.

Session 3: - Panel: Cutting It Short (short story writing)

A panel of editors and bestselling authors discuss the writing, publishing and marketing of shorter works of fiction. From website extras to novellas for themed anthologies, learn about the challenges, opportunities and rewards of writing complete, satisfying stories in a shorter word count. Panelists: Kelley Armstrong, Angela James, Stephanie Laurens, Erika Tsang, Denise Rossetti.

It was so hard to choose - there were so many wonderful sounding workshops on offer! Even going through them now, I keep thinking, oh I wish I could've done that one too!

I expect to be thoroughly exhausted by the end of the conference - not forgetting the Cocktail party on the Friday night and the Awards dinner on Saturday night.

But I really want to have my first draft of this book finished by the time I leave for conference - hence the eeeek :) That doesn't leave me long. I've been a bit paralyzed by it the last few weeks - too many loose ends that I introduced through June and I wasn't sure where to go next. I sat down today and wrote out a synopsis and have gone through tonight and moved aside the sub-plots and scenes that weren't working. Which hasn't left much of the story :( I've sketched out the scenes that are remaining - now to write them...

Term 2 Review

2011-07-20T10:20:00.001+10:00

As we're easing our way into Term 3, I wanted to do a quick review of what we covered last term.

Maths:

Billy's been doing a mixture of Khan Academy, Skwirk & Mathletics (year 4 level). Topics covered have included: 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, angles, direction, prisms & pyramids, place values to thousands and chance. He earnt his first 'gold computer' certificate on Mathletics.

He's also been using Timez Attack to practice his times tables, watching Cyberchase for exposure to new mathematical concepts and general 'living maths' practice like mental arithmetic and calculations, handling money, measuring etc.

English:

Reading both for pleasure and towards the Premier's Reading Challenge.

Writing lots of stories and plays.

Completed a grade 5 spelling test with 20/24 correct.

Science & Technology:

Water testing workshop

Experiments about surface tension, plant life-cycles, changing of plastic properties when adding heat, how yeast performs and air density

Discussions on the water cycle, solar energy, health and nutritional labels

Watching Mythbusters and Backyard Science

Creating video tutorials of how to use Minecraft and RPG Game Maker

Creating games using RPG Game Maker, and custom maps and worlds in Minecraft

Programming lessons using C#

Learning about native animals, habitats and conservation at cub camp

HSIE:

Visit to the historical Tocal Homestead

Australian history documentary - Tony Robinson explores Australia.

Watching the kid's current affairs show Behind the News.

Learning about the Australian coat of arms and the state symbols.

Creative Arts:

Weekly drama class - they worked towards an end of term performance.

Visit to an art gallery, making arts and crafts

Watching live performances of 'James and the Giant Peach' and 'Much Ado about Nothing'.

PDHPE:

Archery (he has now progressed to shooting back at 15 metres), AFL (weekly training and games) and Martial Arts (twice weekly plus the camp)

Cutting down on salt

2011-07-18T08:19:00.000+10:00

I had a general doctor's checkup and probe around my girly bits on Thursday - always so much fun lol!

She's sending me for some general blood tests as I'm forty and have vitiligo (white patches on the skin - what Michael Jackson supposedly had). It's has some possible links to autoimmune diseases so she wants to check things like my thyroid function, B12 levels etc. I'm not too worried about it - apart from the fact I have to fast first! I blame my mum for that one as she has it as well as her sister and niece. I've had it since I was in my early 20's so it's nothing new..

I can blame my dad for the next one - I have borderline high blood pressure. It's been at the top end of normal (around 140/90 or higher) the last few times I've been to see her, so this time she's sent me home with a blood pressure machine to check it twice a day myself.

So I've been reading up on high blood pressure, as I do. I don't drink, don't smoke, now exercise regularly and am losing weight so the only thing it leaves is cutting down salt. We don't eat a lot of take-away or pre-packaged meals, but more convenience food has been creeping into my freezer lately. I went on a pantry search though, reading the nutritional labels and have been stunned at the amount of salt in basic food ingredients. The tin tomatoes I've been using, for example, were packed full of salt! And who knew milk had salt in it?!

I'm going grocery shopping today - it'll take longer than usual as I'll be scrutinising labels of everything that goes in my trolley trying to find the lowest salt version...

Wish me luck! And if you've btdt and have any tips for me - leave a comment..

Spartans Martial Arts camp

2011-07-16T16:42:00.000+10:00

Billy has spent much of this week doing martial arts. He attended the Spartans Martial Arts camp - 2 hours training Mon - Fri this week. Each day they concentrated on something different - ninjitsu, MMA (Mixed martial arts), board breaking, boxing skills & judo. Oh, and not forgetting the fitness work - they totalled over 1000 push-ups and 1000 sit-ups in the 5 days.

He was the youngest there and became like a little brother to the older ones - they were great at encouraging him and partnering with him. He ended up being awarded the Encouragement Award for the camp so he was quite chuffed!

He wasn't able to get through his wooden board (there's always next year!), but he got through the practice board (a plastic rebreakable board) to boost his confidence.

It's been great for Billy's confidence. And as one of the adult students, I got to go along and help out so it was quite educational and fun for me too.

Now I'm due for a rest though :)

Made it to the next goal weight!

2011-07-09T07:00:00.000+10:00

Talk about slow (and maybe-not-so-steady) - it's taken me 7 weeks to lose the 2 kgs down to my next goal weight. I've now broken the 55kg barrier - it's been 2 years since I saw this weight (a reminder that I'm only 5 ft!). I have to admit to seeing it only briefly then - that was my goal weight and since I'd been doing it mainly by diet and hadn't gotten into an exercise routine, it all fell by the wayside not long after that.

So in those 7 weeks, I had a few weeks where I put a little bit on, and a few weeks where I took a little bit off. I've really focused on the exercise this week and have dropped 1.5kg! I seem to do that - plateau for a few weeks and then drop it all in one go when I focus.

So since the beginning of March, I've lost 6.2 kg. I've also lost at least 9cm from my waist since I started measuring in mid-April.

I'll drop the exercise back down a notch for a few weeks, keep up the sensible eating, and try to maintain that weight or maybe lose a little bit.

Next goal is 53kg - another 2 kg to lose.

500 Club

2011-07-07T09:29:00.000+10:00

Following on from the success of our 50Kin30days during June, one of the RWA members has started the 500 Club. No, we're not sitting down playing cards :)

We're committing to writing (at least) 500 words / day, 6 days / week. We can jump in and out any week, but its just a way to keep everyone's newly formed writing habits going strong.

So far this week I've written approx 500 words on Tue (bit under) & Wed (bit over). Mon I had all the excuses under the sun as to why I didn't do it.

I've also talked myself out of radically changing the story because its boring and crap and the worst story ever written... It may be so, but I'm going to stick with it until the end, put it aside for a few months and then see just how bad it is :)

We have solar panels!

2011-07-05T14:47:00.000+10:00

After a bit of a wait due to heavy demand, we finally have 12 bright, shiny solar panels installed. Now, we just have a wait for another few weeks until Energy Australia switch the meter on (or whatever they have to do). Very excited!

Our solar hot water gets installed next week, so we should be set. Bring on sunny days :)

Faustus

2011-07-03T16:39:00.000+10:00

Pete & I spent Saturday night down in Sydney - thanks to a Wotif package deal we got to stay at the gorgeous Sir Stamford hotel (complete with breakfast and $20 credit for dinner at the restaurant).

Saturday afternoon we headed off for the matinee of Faustus at the Sydney Opera House. It was very well done, but I'm still undecided as to whether I actually liked it or not.

We had a yummy & relaxed dinner at the hotel restaurant and a sleep-in this morning before heading back. Nice :)

Art gallery

2011-07-03T16:19:00.000+10:00

Over the weekend, Billy attended an Aboriginal Art exhibition at a local gallery with his cousins.

AFL in the mud

2011-06-30T08:46:00.000+10:00

Why is it when the ground is muddy, boys will find any reason to roll in it, slide in it and generally get themselves dirty?!

The field where they were playing the actual game was muddy enough, but they decided to run around in the really muddy bits while warming up - they were filthy before the game even began!

Exhausted & muddy, after the game.

I did it!!! 25,000 words in 30 days!

2011-06-29T23:05:00.000+10:00

Wow, I have done something I didn't think I could do. I've amazed myself!!!

I've learnt so much doing it.

I've learnt that I need to plot more before I start. I have some major inconsistencies to go back and fix up where a character is acting in a completely different way to how they started.

I've learnt that I can write 500+ words in a 30 minute sprint - if I know what I want to write about.

I've learnt that I can in fact write after Billy is in bed, in front of the television, in the car, while people are talking around me, all of the places and times I said I couldn't - as long as I know what I want to write about next.

I've learnt that if I don't know what I want to write about, I can have perfect peace and quiet and still get no words on the page!

I've learnt that I really can write without succumbing to the perfectionist editing tendencies. They'll come later!

I didn't write every day - but I only had 5 days when I didn't write anything. My best day was 2003 words. My 'worst' was 300.

I'm definitely looking forward to taking a few nights off now and catching up on some reading!

After that, I have some more writing to do! And no excuses for not getting it done :)

Shooting ducks and chickens..

2011-06-28T22:15:00.000+10:00

Our favourite end of term archery activity :)

Proof..

2011-06-25T19:15:00.000+10:00

I very rarely post photos of myself, so this is special :)

Now to get rid of that white belt!

'Kung Fu Panda 2' and 'James and the Giant Peach'

2011-06-25T16:14:00.000+10:00

Billy's Dragon's group organised a trip to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2 today. I haven't seen the first one, but this one was pretty cute. Funny in places. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

I just bought myself aSony Bloggie tiny little digital video camera that slips in my pocket so expect more photos and videos popping up :)

Last night we also went to see a local kids Theatre group do James and the Giant Peach. It was well done, but not up to the same high standard as the one they did last year (in my opinion).

Almost there!

2011-06-23T22:27:00.002+10:00

7 days to go!

Updated 27th June - 3 days to go!

Homeschooling Blog Hiatus

2011-06-20T07:32:00.000+10:00

If anyone noticed, I haven't posted a weekly updates for a couple of weeks. Mainly because not much exciting is happening here, and I feel like I'm posting the same thing every time. I'm going to continue the break and just post if something interesting or out of the ordinary happens.

He's watching the same couple of school shows that he has most of the term, has done a bit of formal maths (Khan Academy - acute, right & obtuse angles), lots of informal maths, written some stories and plays.

Minecraft remains the current obsession. Its now progressed from playing with it, to creating videos about it, to making his own worlds with the editing tool. We've had some interesting discussions come from it.

His drama group is busily working on some top secret play that we'll see at the end of term.

The wet weather over the last couple of weeks has meant the cancellation of AFL training and games, but he's still doing Dragons, archery and I'm encouraging him to spend some time on the Wii.

Oh, and he's been busy doing a major cleanout of cupboards in his room (with my help) - setting aside all of the toys he's outgrown.

So that's it really. Not even enough to make one exciting post :) Just life as normal.

Broke the 10,000 word mark

2011-06-15T22:27:00.002+10:00

The title says it all really. I've made it over 10,000 words - 10,379 to be exact.

Happy dance!

Further than I've gone before...

2011-06-12T08:59:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I passed 7000 words in my wip (work-in-progress) - in fact I passed 8000 words. Still a long way short of the 55,000 needed for the category romance line I'm targeting. But it was a personal milestone for me.

I've started writing a few books since I made the decision twelve months ago to get out there and write, and stop waiting for 'someday'. I started with a kid's book - that didn't get very far at all, but I still like the idea I have for it. I started a women's fiction - I got to just under 7000 words in that one before life stepped in and I couldn't keep up the momentum. I've also written and edited a 3,000 word short story that I entered into a competition, and a few shorter pieces of flash fiction (< 1000 words).

So to get past 7000 words is exciting for me! If (I should say WHEN!) I achieve the 25,000 words I've set as my goal for 50Kin30days, you'll hear me celebrating over in the US :)

I write very bare bones - just dialogue and a bit of action - and have to go back in and add description and details later. It's something I'm working on. So once I take those 25K words and flesh them out, I should be somewhere near the 55K. At that point, I can proudly claim to have written a book!!

Still a long way to go, but baby steps, right?!

Time for a change

2011-06-10T08:21:00.000+10:00

I had a sudden thought yesterday that it was supposed to be my last day of teaching. Unfortunately though, the course was cancelled due to lack of enrolments.

About 10 years ago I went through a mid-life crisis of wondering what I wanted to do with my life. I started thinking back to my childhood dreams of what I wanted to do 'when I grew up'. It was always teaching. Luckily for me, I ended up in IT instead - I don't think I could've handled being a primary school teacher like I wanted. However 10+ years ago, I did take the plunge into adult education teaching.

It was the perfect blend for me. I liked teaching adults. I was teaching at adult community colleges and on the whole, the people that were there, wanted to be there. It wasn't like TAFE or Uni where they 'had' to be there. These people had their own busy lives and had made the time to come along to a course to learn a new skill.

I was teaching computer courses - anything from web design to basic Windows & Outlook for seniors. I was still working full-time when I began, and would teach at nights or on weekends.

When Billy was a baby and in preschool, I was teaching several days a week. It started to wear me down. I had to travel an hour each way to that college, so I was dropping him at preschool / daycare about 7:30 in the morning, rushing down in peak hour traffic to the college, teaching all day, driving home and picking him up about 6pm. I hated it. (And its my greatest regret in life.) I started to hate the teaching - teaching the same courses day in / day out. And I hate to admit it, but I was turning into a really slack teacher. Just there for the money. The college was also in a bit of upheaval with staff leaving. I ended up quitting that place.

Some time after that, I was contacted by another adult community college in the area and asked to teach there. It was back to a more manageable level - nights and weekends a couple of times each term. I worked there for a couple of years - firstly in their Newcastle venue and then just at the local Maitland one. They utilised high school rooms after hours so there was no week-day teaching. As it went on, I didn't want to travel to Newcastle anymore to teach at night and I was becoming possessive of my weekends. Pete was working long hours and away a lot, so I was trying to keep weekends free for us to do stuff or just hang as a family. Then it became an issue trying to get the night courses so they wouldn't clash with Pete's squash nights or when I could get babysitting, and due to falling numbers, more courses were being cancelled than were being run. I resigned from there.

Fast forward a year or so, and I was called by yet another local community college - this time an hour's drive away in a different direction. They'd been given my name by college #2. I'm a sucker and although I wanted to say no, I didn't. So for the last couple of years, I've been teaching one or two days / term at this other college. They had wonderful staff and a fully equipped computer room, so I really enjoyed the time, but I could feel myself starting to dread it again.

I was ok once I got there and started teaching, but I was in danger of becoming slack again. I'd be wishing the course would be cancelled each time rather than hoping it would go ahead. This time I knew the danger signs and didn't want lower my standards.

So driving there last term, I made a split second decision - I've had enough. I'm going to put my notice in. I gave them a term's notice (which was the course I was supposed to teach yesterday). They still want me to come back but I'm holding firm.

So that's it - for now anyway. 10 years of teaching has come to an end. I may go back to it some day - who knows? But for now my life is busy enough without that added burden.

And it feels great.

Writing Sprints

2011-06-09T08:14:00.001+10:00

I'm just under 25% of the way through my word goal of 25,000 words. I'm actually amazing myself! The thing that is helping me most? Writing Sprints.

Most nights, sometimes through the day depending on schedules, a group of us will meet in the RWA chat room and at a specified time, the organiser will crack the whip and we all write madly for 20 mins (or whatever time has been agreed on).

Then we come back into the chat room, compare word totals, moan about how what we're writing is complete drivel, share highs and lows in our writing, or just chat about what we're having for dinner :) Usually after about 10-15 mins, someone pulls us back into line and we go off for another sprint.

I'm finding I can write 400-500 words in a 20-30 min sprint. Two of those in a day and I'm right on track with my word count! And its so much fun - knowing you have only a specified time really focuses the mind. I may never be able to write any other way :)

Normally I'm a perfectionist when I'm writing - I write something, decide its not good enough, edit it or delete it, write something else and repeat. Which is probably why I've never made it beyond 7000 words before.. Having that word goal means I can't afford the time to edit - I'm just writing and will edit next month. As Nora Roberts says, you can't edit a blank page!

Billy's week 5th June, 2011

2011-06-05T14:00:00.000+10:00

Learning:

Learning about the Australian coat of arms and the state symbols at Cubs. (HSIE)

Earnt a gold certificate on Mathletics - Finished the Time & Place section (place value, reading time tables, grids & charts) (Maths)

Watching:

Backyard Science, Cyberchase, Behind the News, For the Juniors (Human Body) (HSIE, Maths, Science)

Observing the growth of the plants in the terrarium he made at cub camp (Science)

Being active:

Dragons martial arts, AFL training & game, archery

Having Fun:

Exploring Minecraft, Lego, playing on the Wii

Drama (Creative Arts)

Celebrating a cousin's b'day with family

Creating:

Creating Minecraft videos (Science & Tech)

Reading:

Specky Magee and the Battle of the Young Guns (English)

Obsessions

2011-06-02T20:44:00.000+10:00

My wonderfully talented fellow blogger Christina recently did a cartoon categorising her son's interests into 'eras'.

It really struck a chord with me - Billy too goes through stages where he is completely obsessed with a topic, and then just as suddenly, he switches to a new one.

Some of the stages I remember are:

* The Doodlebops era - this was a Canadian kid's show with brightly coloured 'people' - lots of singing and dancing. This was possibly as far back as preschool days for him. Every day he'd watch the Doodlebops over and over again, want to dress up like them, make instruments like them.

* The magic era - he was obsessed with magic some time after that. Watching magic shows, learning magic tricks, putting on magic shows to anyone who would stand still (or not!)

* The Ben 10 era - a kid's cartoon about a young boy who fights aliens by turning into various creatures with the help of his watch-like Omnitrix. This was only a year or so ago. He had (probably still has somewhere) the Ominitrix, the Ben 10 games, the Ben 10 pyjamas....

* The Simpsons era - this was last year from my very shaky memory. He had to watch every single episode of the 20(?) seasons of the Simpsons. Several times. Now he denies ever liking them :)

* The Club Penguin era - Suji can attest to this one. A kid's online gaming community where you 'waddle round and meet new friends'...

* The Minecraft era - this is the latest. An online game where you wander round and build things out of materials that you mine from the ground.

I actually realised you can track a lot of his eras by what cake he had for that birthday party!

We've had smaller obsessions along the way where he will watch every season of a show constantly - Prank Patrol and Scorpion Island spring immediately to mind. They come and go...

Then of course are the book stages - the Dr Seuss phase, the Roald Dahl phase, the Goosebumps phase. Currently its a Specky Magee phase.

And when he's in one of those phases, every single word that comes out of his mouth seems to start with "In Ben 10 / The Simpsons / Minecraft / Club Penguin / insert current obsession here ..."

Mind you, I don't want to look too closely at myself and my own interests or I might just find a similar trend (hmmm, the frugal stage, the gardening phase, the knitting phase, the writing phase...) Yep, better not to go there!

Word count - 50K in 30 days

2011-06-02T07:23:00.019+10:00

I wanted to put this cute little guy in in case anyone is interested in where I'm up to with my word count! Last updated 21st June.

Yeah I'm still here...

2011-05-30T08:54:00.000+10:00

Last week I called a 'go slow'. Billy & I were both exhausted from camp, his cold had freshened up considerably, it was rainy, cold & overcast most of the week. So we took it easy for the week.

Well, Billy did anyway - spending a lot of the week playing his latest obsession, Minecraft.

I had a problem at a client's site that involved several trips out there to fix. We had various people wander around the yard to give us quotes on some landscaping we want done (finally getting a driveway after 11 years in the house!, as well as concreting an area out the back) and quotes on solar panels & solar hot water.

Archery this week was outdoors due to our regular indoor venue being unavailable. It was a gorgeous day and really fun to shoot outdoors for a change. It was a great incentive to hit the target - otherwise you had to go searching the ground for your arrows!

My eating & exercising were less than stellar this week. I'm blaming hormones and the cold weather :) On Saturday I did make it back to defendo for the first time in 3 weeks - and boy are my muscles feeling it today!!

From the 'what was I thinking' files, I signed up to take part in RWA's 50K in 30 days challenge.... Its like NaNoWriMo - except in June, and you get to choose your own word count. So I'm aiming for 25,000 words in June. Eeeeekk! I was going to go for the whole impossible 50K, then realised I'd signed up for another online course already in June, and I have various other work committments which will cut down on the time I have available. So don't expect to hear from me much during June - I'll be saving my words for my book! I'm madly plotting out a category romance (Harlequin Mills & Book type).

Oh, and we also had a bit of a Pirates of the Carribean movie-fest (mmmm, Johnny Depp!!). Billy & I watched PotC 2 and 3 on DVD, then we all headed off to watch PotC 4 at the cinema. Too much Captain Jack Sparrow is never enough!

Today we're off to help my niece celebrate her 14th birthday!

Billy's week 22nd May, 2011

2011-05-23T19:56:00.000+10:00

Experimenting:

Made a shrinkie with a chip packet (ie observed how plastic changes when heat is added!)

Watching:

Backyard Science, Cyberchase, Behind the News, For the Juniors (Human Body)

Being active:

Dragons martial arts, AFL training, archery

Having Fun:

Exploring Minecraft, Club Penguin, Lego, playing on the Wii

Making paper airplanes, learning knots and first aid at cubs

Drama

Cub camp - at the zoo with an animals, birds & conservation theme. Activities included making a terrarium, leaf prints in plaster and observation of native birds & animals. He also used my camera to take lots of photos.

On-line learning:

Had a play with this site - completed a grade 5 spelling test with 20/24 correct, and played around with building a roller-coaster.

Completed the Addition 2.0 (2 digit addition with grouping) questions on Khan Academy.

Creating:

Started writing a play and created a trailer for it..

Reading:

Selby Snaps by Duncan Ball

District Cub Camp

2011-05-23T19:42:00.001+10:00

Over the weekend, Billy went on a District Cub Camp in the unique location of Hunter Valley Zoo. (I went along as well as a parent helper). There were about 108 kids and (at a rough count) 30 or so leaders and helpers so it was a bit of tent city.

The theme of the camp was animals, birds & conservation, so activities included making a terrarium with corn seeds, drawing animals, feeding them, learning about bird calls and observing animals & birds (including a night walk through the zoo with the staff). Plus a fun obstacle course.

It was certainly unique camping among the animals - I could've lived without camping next to the American alligators though :)

Celebrate with Mii!

2011-05-21T07:03:00.000+10:00

Today my Wii Fit finally told me I was in the Ideal weight range (just!). I met my first goal - to get out of the 'Overweight' category (calculated by BMI). I've lost 4.4 kg since I started on 6th March and at least 5cm off my waist (I only started measuring that in April so it would be more).

My next goal is to lost 2kg more and keep toning up. That'll take me to the weight I was almost 2 years ago. I'll see how I feel after that if I need to lose more - possibly a further 2 kgs which should be be right in the middle of the ideal weight.

I'm so excited - I think I'll treat myself to a chai latte at my writer's meeting today. Then off to cub camp - where who knows what we'll be eating :)

Billy's week 15th May, 2011

2011-05-15T21:05:00.000+10:00

Experimenting:

We made bread to watch how yeast performed - love Science that you get to eat :)

We had some success with making a tea bag rocket (this has been an ongoing project - to see it work properly check out http://youtu.be/VdzPix9CKck)

Watching:

Backyard Science, Cyberchase, Behind the News, For the Juniors (Human Body)

We headed down to Sydney Opera House to see Bell Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. It was Billy's first exposure to Bell Shakespeare - he enjoyed it despite it not finishing til after 10pm - it went for 2hrs 40 minutes.

While in Sydney, we also headed off to watch a game of AFL at the SCG.

Discussing:

The water cycle - evaporation, condensation and how it occurs naturally
Nutritional labels and how to read them

Being active:

Dragons martial arts, AFL training, archery

Having Fun:

Exploring Minecraft, Club Penguin, Webkinz, Lego, playing on the Wii
Drama

On-line learning:

Learning about Chance using Skwirk

Making:

He made a rather impressive stool at Cubs - he hasn't had much opportunity to do wood-work so I was quite impressed with how he did!

Reading:

Specky Magee and the Season of Champions by Felice Arena and Gary Lyon