Ugandan Fundraiser

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..

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

AFL in the mud

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!

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..

Our favourite end of term archery activity :)

Proof..

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'

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!

7 days to go!

Updated 27th June - 3 days to go!

Homeschooling Blog Hiatus

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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