Sorry for the silence

There's been a bit going on. That's an understatement really. I'm currently enjoying a couple of quieter weeks on the work front so that is good. I even managed to take myself off for a lovely pot of tea in a cafe this morning. All by myself. Sitting in the front window seat gazing out at the beautiful river flowing past. No one else in the cafe except the two women who run it. Bliss.

I did get a call from my Uni teaching colleague while I was there. But somehow, even talking about work seems like fun when you are in such a peaceful environment.

I should have resisted the call of the cake cabinet though. I haven't been eating much sweet stuff lately, so the coconut lemon meringue slice (I did have it without cream and ice cream) tasted a bit too sugary for my liking.  Had a tiny lunch to make up for it.

Teaching has been going okay this year. My tutorial group is much smaller and most of them seem reasonably switched on. Although teaching them from four until six p.m. can be a bit of a challenge when they've all been there since the eight a.m. lecture in the morning.

I'm thankful to God for providing me with some more work for the next couple of months. I didn't get the permanent position I applied for but there is a short term job I can do at the local hospital until the next student education contract comes up. This also solves a transport problem. We are still without a second car but for the next little while I can go to work with my husband and we actually don't need the second car as desperately as we did a few weeks ago. Of course, Murphy's law (or God's sovereign plan) says that this is probably when we will find another one. Chris is off to check one out tomorrow afternoon. I hope it's good. It's a blue one, my favourite colour, so I'd be happy to take it on that basis alone. But I suppose the mechanical condition is also important.

And somehow in the middle of all the craziness, being sick, being buried under a rather large workload and dealing with all the usual family dramas, I've managed to continue my morning walks. Not every day, but at least three times a week. I'm even doing a bit of jogging for part of the way sometimes. And I have lost five kilos in the process. And about five centimetres off my waist measurement. My original aim was to lose five kilos but I'm feeling so good, I'm going to try and lose a few more.

The C.B.R.P. went off track for a little while. Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were hard going. I just started Joshua last week. But I'm still trying to read along as much as I can before I forget what I've read before.

So that's me for the past few months. Just popping up for some air before it all starts again next week. Hopefully the blog will get a bit more attention now that I'm back into the groove of going to work.

R.I.P. Maz....

Our little purple Mazda 121 has died.

As it turned out, it wasn't just the clutch that had gone. They quoted us around $2000 worth of repairs that would have been essential to get us past this year's registration check. That's more than what the car is worth so it's time to bite the bullet and get a new one. At least we are going to have my income starting up again so we can afford it.

Having a very tall husband has some advantages. When it comes to purchasing cars, many can be eliminated from the shopping list straight away because he won't fit into them. People always thought it was funny that we had the Mazda. It looks pretty small from the outside, but it was a tall car with plenty of head room inside. That's where many of them fall down.

So after all other options were eliminated (too small, too dodgy, too expensive) we decided on a Honda Jazz. We're going to get a broker to do the running around for us due to the inconvenient timing of Maz dying just as I am starting my new job. I'd love a red one, but would be happy with blue. Don't want black, white, silver or yellow (definitely not yellow because our kids have discovered "spotto" which they shout very loudly whenever a yellow car is anywhere in the vicinity).

And it's kind of funky to be replacing Maz with Jazz.

Murphy's Law of semi functioning car air conditioning

It will only ever work on days when it isn't hot.

Our second car is old. The air conditioning works very intermittently. Maybe for about five minutes for every hour of driving time.

That five minutes never coincides with times when it is really really hot, and you actually want the air conditioning to be working.

It seems to take great delight in coming on when it's not needed. Like when I'm driving at night. Or in a cool southerly breeze.

Unfortunately, the engine in this car is still going strong (as the rest of the car disintegrates around it...) so it will be a while before we'll be able to justify replacing the car.

In the meantime I'll continue the routine of shivering for the five minutes that it's working in the cold weather, and dripping with perspiration when it refuses to come on in the heat.

No silver bus this week

It's off having a new door put on after my recent crash into the post. We have a second small car that Chris takes to work and he's been dropping the bigger kids off at school in the mornings as well. Yesterday I walked down to school to help with reading and to take the younger kids to a toddler music group that's just started up in the school hall.

So three days in, we've been surviving okay without the big car. It's off-road time has been well timed in some ways. I think some quieter time at home is good every so often. And I need it at the moment to concentrate on some of Rowan's eating issues.

Anyway, this morning, I decided we'd get out into the fresh air and sunshine, and walk up to the local neighbourhood shopping centre to buy a couple of treats for lunch. It's usually a brisk five to ten minute stroll from home when I'm by myself. Today I discovered it takes at least twice as long with a walking toddler and a baby in a sling.

We don't go to this shopping centre all that often. If we do, it's mostly on weekends where we might pick up a newspaper or a loaf of bread or something. I don't go there much during the week. The only reason we went today was because it didn't involve walking home up a steep hill the way walking to the local Coles supermarket would have.

So after all the effort of walking what felt like a very long way with two small children, you can imagine my joy when we walked into the little IGA express supermarket and saw a student of mine stacking the shelves there.  I'd just failed her on her major assignment. And, even better, she'd sent me an email first thing this morning to query the mark she'd been given. She's not going to get it changed. It wasn't good enough.

Awkward.

How did I manage this situation, I hear you all asking? Well, not exactly with poise and confidence. I lowered my head, picked up my bananas and hot dog sausages, paid as quickly as I possibly could and escaped to the relative safety of the bakery next door. A jam doughnut there assisted my recovery.

I'm hopeful she may not have recognised me in my mother disguise (broad brimmed floppy hat, baby attached to front in sling, cute toddler who often draws attention away from me). I'd like to think my presentation in University tutorials would be vastly different to today's look.

But by the way she suddenly started paying extremely close attention to the cans she was putting on the shelves, I'm thinking she probably did know it was me. And she probably felt equally awkward.

The exam for the subject is tomorrow. I hope she had big plans to go home and study for the rest of the day and night so she can blitz the exam. Because otherwise she's not going to pass. And it's a subject they have to pass or they have to repeat it next year.

About that panel beater we never wanted to see again...

Back we go tomorrow with the silver bullet bus.

I just smashed up the front passenger door on a low post (one of those ones with a cable string attached to it) when I was turning into the carpark at the University library tonight. I turned hard left too soon as I was coming in and didn't even see it until I heard that sickening sound of metal crunching. Well, I didn't even see it then. To start with, I didn't have a clue what I'd done. I was sitting there feeling pretty freaked out and I actually had to get out of the car to see what had happened.

I couldn't move it off the post by myself either. Fortunately the kind shuttle bus driver and another nice bloke helped me with that so the post didn't do any more damage as I was extricating myself from the mess.

Sadly, it's not just the front passenger door either. A tiny two inch ding in the side sliding door as well will mean it's not going to be a cheap fix by the time they replace everything. I asked Chris if he thought we might get a "frequent crasher" discount. I don't think he found it funny.

Fingers crossed they can get it fixed up in the school holidays when we're not doing very much. Thankful to God that we have another car so we can still get around (albeit with limited numbers) while it's off the road...again.

Darn those posts. I'm starting to wonder whether I need to limit driving the van to very familiar places and routes so I don't crash into anything else.

Something I like about the silver bus

It's taken a while for me to find something I like about our new car. But this morning I found it.

The mute button on the steering wheel. So convenient for the occasional bad word that appears in a song....

The silver bus is now back on the road

And I am now parking it a long way away from other cars and concrete pillars whenever I take it out. If that means I have to walk some distance, then so be it.

When Chris picked it up from the panelbeater's, the guy told him to make sure we contacted him first for smash repairs in the future and he would help us to sort out any insurance claims.

Chris said he was thinking that he never wants to see this guy again for the rest of our lives. Here's hoping we don't have to.

Someone else scraped our car....

...when Chris took it to the supermarket yesterday morning. On two of the the front panels this time. Not the same one that I scraped on the post last Thursday. Unfortunately the person who did it didn't bother to leave us their details. Chris thinks it was an elderly person who might not even have noticed they'd done it.

At least we think that's what happened. I'm wondering whether it might be more damage that I did last Thursday and just hadn't noticed. Chris says not. Hope he's right.

Either way, the bill at the panel beaters just got larger. But at least we were going there anyway. And I just received a pay rise and some backpay in my latest maternity leave so that can all go towards the cost. We hope the smash repairer can just add the new paint job to the other list of what needs to be done.

Time to start parking our extra large car well away from anyone else's, I think.

Difference between paying for council parking and paying for repairs to car door

$627.

Ouch. Not worth claiming on insurance, but a big chunk out of the weekly budget.

And two and a half days without the people mover, unable to leave the house, with four children to entertain. At least there's no school or other activities to run them around to, so that is a good thing. Will need to make sure we are well stocked with library books and DVDs. And that the swimming pool is healthy.

When an attempt to save a small amount of money backfires in spectacular fashion

Today I spent a lot of time in the car, the new people mover. I drove my two nieces back home to Brisbane and then back again.

On my way home, I stopped in at my workplace to say hello and show them Rowan.

Outside my work building there is council metered parking. This costs about $1.50 for an hour's worth of paid parking.

But I knew the guy who collects the parking money in our work building would have finished for the day when I got there. So of course I drove in because parking in the building is then free.

Completely freaked out as I was driving in when I noticed the height clearance sign that said 193cm. Rang Chris on mobile and he told me the height of our new van is 192.5cm, but not to worry because there is usually another 5 or 10cm of clearance beyond what the signs say. It didn't stop me ducking my head every time I drove under a low hanging concrete slab. As if that would have stopped the car from hitting something if it was going to.

But it didn't hit anything up above. Relief. Manage to park car successfully, thinking as I am climbing out of the car that I am rather close to the concrete pillar on the driver's side. Go into work, feed Rowan, say hello to people, come back out.

I think you can tell what happens next. But if you haven't guessed, I did a great job scraping off the paint and putting a big dent in the sliding door of the driver's side on the concrete post as I was attempting to reverse out of the parking space. I probably should have just let the side mirror hit it (it did hit the post as well, but sustained a lot less damage) because at least it had a bit of give in it.

It could have been worse, I guess. But the ding in the door has also taken off some paint so we are going to have to head off to the smash repairer for a quote. Just what we need before Christmas.

And a lot more expensive than paying three dollars to park for a couple of hours outside the building. Lesson learned.

On a lighter note

This ad is brilliant. My brother in law drives an older model dual cab HiLux. He loves it too.

Driving the new people mover

Yesterday our new people mover was delivered. This morning was its first big test. Reversing out of our driveway and doing the school run. So far I haven't hit anything.

Thoughts so far.

1. Rosie took a little while to adjust. She had a tantrum when we put her into the new car seat. She was pointing at our old family car (the Honda CRV) and yelling "dat car, dat car" (translation "we should be in that car") as we drove out of the driveway. Fortunately that didn't last long.

2. It feels enormous. Probably because it is enormous. It's big even compared to most other people movers. I keep telling myself this will be an advantage as our children increase in size. And that I will get used to it.

3. The seating in it is very high. I feel like I am sitting above the rest of the driving world as I am driving it in suburbia. But I guess when I take it out on the highway and drive it next to semi-trailers I will realise that it is all relative.

4. I think this is the hardest bit. It feels like we have "crossed over" into the large family world. I was talking about this with a friend a few weeks ago. A better description might be whingeing, actually, about having to buy such a big car. Her theory on why I didn't want to do it was that having a people mover represents "having a large family" and that I didn't want to belong in that camp.

I think she is right. I was happy with our tent pitched in the medium sized SUV average sized family camp. Now we are in a different crowd. And I'm still not sure I want to be there. But there's no going back now.

So after months of indecision

...we have finally decided what car we will be upgrading to.

It hasn't been an easy decision. First I had to get over my issues with driving a people mover. Then we discovered that no people mover has every feature we want.

I'm still not entirely convinced that we've made the right choice. But what we've decided on should be big enough to last us for a while, allowing for the fact that we are probably going to end up with some very tall children. Eventually, interior space had to be the main consideration.

So the winner is

the Hyundai iMax. We are going to get a car broker to find it for us to save us the grief of dealing with used car salesmen. Had a not-so-fun experience a couple of weekends ago in the used car yard which is making us not want to go back there.

I like blue and black ones the best. Not so keen on the white, because I think they look too much like courier vans. But I am guessing we may not have much say on the final colour.

Now to face up to the whole challenge of driving something that is going to be very conspicuous.

Tall man begins people mover hunt...

Who would have thought it would be so difficult for a 6 foot 8 inch man to fit into a people mover?

Many options were crossed off the list during today's tour of the car yards. Internet research has already eliminated lots more.

I hope there will be something left that he can sit in without hitting his head on air-conditioning vents, electronic sliding door apparatus, sun-roof openings, etc etc. The list goes on.

The car itself can't be too tall either. The opening of our garage is only 192cm high when the door is fully up.

The kids' criteria for a good car were far simpler. Rosie liked anything with seats that she could sit in and wave at people from. For the boys, lots of drink holders, air conditioning vents next to their seats that they could adjust themselves, and a television in the roof got big ticks from them.

We are not at all keen on DVD in the roof of the car. For many reasons, including that it's just one more thing for the tall man to hit his head on.