I was in the bedroom the other day, having slept in a little (there are advantages to the kids getting older!) when following a brief spate of Emily screaming, Caroline walked in with what can only be described as a blonde tress clutched in her hand.
It was of course immediately recognisable as Emily’s hair.
“Did she do that herself?” I asked, thinking that she’d decided to cut it herself (which follows from a comment in the car the other day that went along the lines of, “I want a hair cut like Daddy’s!”)
Caroline said no and I immediately wondered which brother was the culprit.
Turns out that the culprit was the mix-master!, Caroline was making a pavlova with Emily intently watching, when she decided to lean in for a closer look. Her hair got caught in the beaters and her head was quickly wrenched down toward the bowl. The end result was that the clump of hair was torn from her head even though Caroline had reacted immediately to turn it off. Fortunately it didn’t manage to actually scalp her.
Our poor little girl was most upset … because she’d bumped her knee and there was some blood evident.
I don’t think she even knows that she’s got a little bald spot on her head. It seems to be there just to provide us with a timely reminder of how hazardous the kitchen can be when there are adventurous little pink things about.
Jan 29, 2007
Jan 25, 2007
Gee, thanks
Emily said to me as I was leaving for work the other day:
"You're riding your bike today aren't you Daddy. Then you can get not fatter."
"You're riding your bike today aren't you Daddy. Then you can get not fatter."
Jan 20, 2007
The dome ...
It got to that point in time the other day where I simply couldn't stand my hair anymore. I was holding off waiting because there's a girl that Caroline knows that does a nice cheap hair cut, but she'd gone away from Christmas and as yet, doesn't appear to have come back.
Having taken on the new job in the city, I've been riding my bike, which of course adds the requirement that I must wear a helmet everyday. It was just a little bit too much.
So I went and had a nice short hair cut. The only thing is, I don't remember seeing quite this much head the last time that it was cut that short. The dome is coming ... !!
Having taken on the new job in the city, I've been riding my bike, which of course adds the requirement that I must wear a helmet everyday. It was just a little bit too much.
So I went and had a nice short hair cut. The only thing is, I don't remember seeing quite this much head the last time that it was cut that short. The dome is coming ... !!
Jan 15, 2007
A little bit of Em
We were at a friend's place the other night and someone was having a conversation with Emily because they had chickens there.
"Chickens lay eggs!" Emily declared proudly, showing off her knowledge.
"What about cows?"
"Noooooooo, cows don't lay eggs!" She replied with a look that said how can someone your age be such an imbecile? "They lay milk! And then it goes to a factory and becomes real milk!"
"Do sheep lay eggs?"
"Noooooooo! They lay wool!"
"Chickens lay eggs!" Emily declared proudly, showing off her knowledge.
"What about cows?"
"Noooooooo, cows don't lay eggs!" She replied with a look that said how can someone your age be such an imbecile? "They lay milk! And then it goes to a factory and becomes real milk!"
"Do sheep lay eggs?"
"Noooooooo! They lay wool!"
Jan 11, 2007
Waiting is the Hardest Part
Around rolls the New Year and the waiting for news continues. The worst part of it is that I don’t even have a definite date by which things will be resolved. I have been under the impression that the company that we’ve tendered to work for is going to make an announcement on the 15th of January, but a conversation that I had with someone the other day left me in some doubt as to the likelihood of that.
Its not unusual for these decisions and announcements to be put back a couple of times, but usually my whole future isn’t riding on the announcement.
And of course at this point, I am in a fill-in role that has also been advertised which leaves that nagging question in the back of one’s mind … what happens if they fill this position and then we don’t win the work? What am I going to be doing then? And where? But that hurts to much to think about, so I shunt it to the back of my mind (from whence it can leap out and bug the crap out of me at 4am in the morning).
In the last week I’ve dreamed about conversations with our Managing Director (accompanied by the board) and our CEO international, though notably nothing that gives up what is going to happen or otherwise useful. After that, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the dream about someone taking me to a hippie’s house to buy a guitar and finding out that this hippie had the most awesomely designed garden ever! I like dreams, but work can bugger off out of them please.
I am endeavouring to be fully committed to this temporary role as it could prove an important link in a return to Adelaide in a few years time, but damn its hard when there’s mountains of information to get your head around that you may well be forgetting in a months time. I’m focussing on the immediate for now, trying to deliver some specifics so that I can make a difference in the time that I am here.
And so the waiting goes on. As does the endless question, “So, when do you leave for Canada?” or “Are you going?” or “Do you know ANYTHING?!” The volume of questions has increased dramatically, because everyone from my old contract knows I’ve gone, everyone on the new contract knows its temporary and of course, prior to Christmas, with the need to change jobs, we told our family and a lot of our friends. Everyone wants to know.
Of course, we still haven’t told the kids because we don’t want to do that until something definite is in the pipeline. I can’t wait for one of them to come home from school and say, “X asked me why we’re going to Canada. Are we going to Canada?”
And so the waiting goes on. Its cruel I tell you.
Its not unusual for these decisions and announcements to be put back a couple of times, but usually my whole future isn’t riding on the announcement.
And of course at this point, I am in a fill-in role that has also been advertised which leaves that nagging question in the back of one’s mind … what happens if they fill this position and then we don’t win the work? What am I going to be doing then? And where? But that hurts to much to think about, so I shunt it to the back of my mind (from whence it can leap out and bug the crap out of me at 4am in the morning).
In the last week I’ve dreamed about conversations with our Managing Director (accompanied by the board) and our CEO international, though notably nothing that gives up what is going to happen or otherwise useful. After that, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the dream about someone taking me to a hippie’s house to buy a guitar and finding out that this hippie had the most awesomely designed garden ever! I like dreams, but work can bugger off out of them please.
I am endeavouring to be fully committed to this temporary role as it could prove an important link in a return to Adelaide in a few years time, but damn its hard when there’s mountains of information to get your head around that you may well be forgetting in a months time. I’m focussing on the immediate for now, trying to deliver some specifics so that I can make a difference in the time that I am here.
And so the waiting goes on. As does the endless question, “So, when do you leave for Canada?” or “Are you going?” or “Do you know ANYTHING?!” The volume of questions has increased dramatically, because everyone from my old contract knows I’ve gone, everyone on the new contract knows its temporary and of course, prior to Christmas, with the need to change jobs, we told our family and a lot of our friends. Everyone wants to know.
Of course, we still haven’t told the kids because we don’t want to do that until something definite is in the pipeline. I can’t wait for one of them to come home from school and say, “X asked me why we’re going to Canada. Are we going to Canada?”
And so the waiting goes on. Its cruel I tell you.
Jan 7, 2007
Taking the Engineer to the Beach
We’ve just come back from a week’s holiday down the coast and I have to say that we had a ball. Whenever we pack to go away on holidays, I am always guilty of accusing Caroline of packing the entire house into our trailer.
This time as we were about to go, I decided to throw in a garden shovel. After all, I figured if we were going to the beach and I was going to have to build sand castles, I was going to be prepared.
It turned out that I was one of two dad’s (out of four) that had the same idea and it did indeed prove to be useful. Somewhere along the way, the kids got the idea that we should dig ‘baths’ in the sand and given that we had a couple of shovels, this was a hell of a lot easier to achieve than it would have been by hand.
It was whilst I was digging one of these ‘little baths’ that I took particular note of the consistency of the sand. The day prior I’d built a substantial sand castle simply by piling sand endlessly on the top. At the end of the day I thought that had I piled it higher, I could have sheared off the sides with the shovel and produced a more castle-like structure as opposed to the mountainous one that I had before me.
So as I dug a bath for the kids I noted the way that I was able to slice the sand and thought, “These slabs are almost like bricks.” And it was at that point that the engineer in me took over.
Finishing the bath, I started to cut sand bricks from the beach and build my sand castle. It was an experiment to see just how substantial it could be. In the end, after several hours of toil, I had a castle that was about as square as Emily was tall and half her height, with a wide and deep moat to protect it.
And it was indeed substantial. Strong enough that yours truly was able to stand upon it without inflicting any damage upon it!
Of course, having built this masterpiece, I wanted the chance for my little girl to get to be Princess Emily on the castle and had to stand guard as she’d been asleep for most of the construction period (it was safer that way … less unhelp at hand).
I managed to preserve it long enough for that to happen, but the kids did in the end (there was another 10 or so in addition to our own) start the demolition well ahead of the power of the sea. It was of course satisfying to see them run up and stand on it before moving on … with the castle still standing.
I guess you never quite stop being an engineer.
This time as we were about to go, I decided to throw in a garden shovel. After all, I figured if we were going to the beach and I was going to have to build sand castles, I was going to be prepared.
It turned out that I was one of two dad’s (out of four) that had the same idea and it did indeed prove to be useful. Somewhere along the way, the kids got the idea that we should dig ‘baths’ in the sand and given that we had a couple of shovels, this was a hell of a lot easier to achieve than it would have been by hand.
It was whilst I was digging one of these ‘little baths’ that I took particular note of the consistency of the sand. The day prior I’d built a substantial sand castle simply by piling sand endlessly on the top. At the end of the day I thought that had I piled it higher, I could have sheared off the sides with the shovel and produced a more castle-like structure as opposed to the mountainous one that I had before me.
So as I dug a bath for the kids I noted the way that I was able to slice the sand and thought, “These slabs are almost like bricks.” And it was at that point that the engineer in me took over.
Finishing the bath, I started to cut sand bricks from the beach and build my sand castle. It was an experiment to see just how substantial it could be. In the end, after several hours of toil, I had a castle that was about as square as Emily was tall and half her height, with a wide and deep moat to protect it.
And it was indeed substantial. Strong enough that yours truly was able to stand upon it without inflicting any damage upon it!
Of course, having built this masterpiece, I wanted the chance for my little girl to get to be Princess Emily on the castle and had to stand guard as she’d been asleep for most of the construction period (it was safer that way … less unhelp at hand).
I managed to preserve it long enough for that to happen, but the kids did in the end (there was another 10 or so in addition to our own) start the demolition well ahead of the power of the sea. It was of course satisfying to see them run up and stand on it before moving on … with the castle still standing.
I guess you never quite stop being an engineer.
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