Nothing too much in particular...

My title is a bit odd but what else do I title a blog that I haven't thought through yet?

Ready for England
We have made it through to Saturday and I am pulling things together ready to leave for the UK on Thursday afternoon.  I am acutely aware that I tend to be a detailed planner at times, this time being no exception.  Teagan's case is all packed (without her help this time) and I have a detailed itinerary prepared and am, right now, sorting out some materials to support Teagan's second visit to Hampton Court and first visit to The Tower of London.  Maybe it is an "overdo" but when we visit museums or suchlike, the little Madam turns soaker sponge and does not forget.  With the cost of the trips, I intend to make use of the sponge!  This time, I think we will take up some simple mysteries and there is one covering the "Princes in the Tower", the Princes caught her imagination with a painting in the Louvre....so here we go again.

Idle chat
Ross and I were chatting over lunch.  It seems Ross is exceptionally tired - no surprise really considering his medication (for his yet to be explained allergy) he will look to change the type of antihistamine for the coming trip so that he can indulge in some brown juice.  We also find that life is rather routine.  That is not a bad thing but if it becomes insanely continuous - methinks we would go mad!  Thus, a break each school term is just fabulous.  We finished our chatting have come to some minor conclusions and proceeded to slip back into our Saturday routine.

iTunes
Finally, I have an iPod dock.  I have ditched the old CD/radio and placed in my new JBL surround speaker.  And low and behold, of course I do not have enough music.  All of my music that I digitized on leaving NZ was done in .wma format and is totally and absolutely incompatible with my MAC system.  Yes, but I do have a good and free system.  I am importing my music onto iTunes located on our netbook (PC) as this does a conversion making it compatible with iTunes.  Unfortunately, I then have to transfer back to the MAC as it holds my up-to-date iTunes library.  But, the system works and means that I can broaden our music selection away from the sole "Puff the Magic Dragon".

Kelmscott
My Kelmscott Jacket by Carol Sunday (Pattern link) is on the final final final stretch.  All knitting is complete, most seaming complete, now all I have left to do is stabilise the front bands and sew on my buttons.  You know how painful the last bit can be!  To alleviate the pain, I have cast-on and am part way up the main body (knitted on circulars using continental method) a gansey style coat for Teagan (Pattern link).  The yarn is Irish Donegal Tweed as is such a delight to work with.  This means I have one project coming off the needles, one on the needles so naturally I need one planning to go on the needles!  Yes, I have that.  Mum and I will do a "knit along" when I am back in NZ.  Using Elizabeth Zimmerman's EPS system, a continental knit method (for me), some real Shetland fingering yarn and my own design, I hope to make my first traditional Fair Isle cardigan.  Hopefully my needles will be able to click for the next couple of months without let-up.

School discipline hits the home
School (having small classes) use a fairly standard bribe/incentive system of cubes into a jar and when the jar is full a reward ensues.  For home we have installed a similar approach, this time using a large beer glass and small glass stones.  After two weeks it is proving to be highly successful and also, thankfully, slow to fill.  That does not deter Teagan as her prize will be worth the 2 or 3 months of waiting.  On Wednesday she melted down after school and committed a punishable crime so lost two stones.  Rather than weep forever, she asked if she could redeem herself, I agreed, and she proceeded to peel carrots for dinner and lunch (oh, do forget bench hygiene, we are just happy that she worked out how to peel those blessed carrots).  We also note that fingernail biting has reduced as when she gets her "white bits" back, she will get one stone per nail.  Long may the system last!

A Lack of Style....

We have three swimming complexes at our compound.  Each one has a name and the current favourite is termed "Leo's Pool".  It is the least exciting of the three but it is the warmest.  On Saturday it was 27.9 deg C, a tad frigid for these climes but workable if you keep moving.  The swimming pool provides endless fun if you love "kicking around" with a child and have nothing too much better to do with your time (ha ha ha).

Teagan has not yet been taught to swim.  That is a task that we have already booked for our six week stint in Dunedin during July.  She will have one week of intensive tuition one-on-one and I have been preparing photos as I attempt to describe her swimming level in an email to the poor instructor!

She is an exceptionally confident mover within the water.  Depth does not worry her and she has no fear of jumping from a diving board or being left in the middle of the deepest part of a pool.  However, she does not take unmanageable risks.  Teagan can do a "pretty good" Starfish to keep herself safe but getting into the correct position from water treading is like watching an elephant dance.  To propel herself to a certain point involves underwater movement bursting through the top of the water for a quick gasp of air and to expel a series of words that have been thought up in her oxygen deprived moments underwater - these words a supposed to make sense to the supervising parent.  This method, as breathtaking as it is to watch and slow to follow, does allow her to move the full length of the pool (possibly 20 or 25 m).  Normal swimming style is clearly not present but she has formed a kind of fish-like agility.  This is why an intensive one-on-one session is needed.  Can you somehow instill some kind of human swim within her?

Attached are some photos from yesterday, diving, starfishing and attempting to teach her father how to do the starfish!

So who is a bad mother?

Bad Mother:

Hands up!  Yes, my hand is up, I am the bad mother.  Finally, halfway through Teagan's antibiotic treatment I check out the manufacturers instructions properly.  The doctor we saw earlier in the week prescribed a broad spectrum antibiotic, azithromycin, (aka. ZOCIN) for a mild case of tonsillitis as Teagan presented with a moderate fever.  7.5 ml was prescribed (300 mg) per day and accordingly, I dosed.

Yesterday, Teagan's teacher, Mrs S, telephoned to say that she wasn't herself but she had been checked and  didn't have fever or anything, she also did not want to go home.  As it was close to the day's end, I popped in to give her some brufen and to cut the story short...she vomited all over me big time!  The question is, was it the dose rate of the antibiotic?  I will never know but what I do know is:

7.5 ml (or 300 mg) is prescribed for children 5-11 years weighing 26-35 kg
5 ml (200 mg) is prescribed for children 2 - 5 years weighing 15-25 kg

Teagan weighs approximately 14.5 kg so my guess is she was overdosed by me.  She felt unwell for an hour or so, vomited, was weepy for 20 minutes or so and then......Miss Energy bucket returned to us.

Hmmm.....message to me.....check the manufacturers instructions when I am not sure of the part of the world I am in..... BAH HUMBUG....and kid will survive as the overdose and contraindications are nothing to be too concerned about....thank goodness I got vomited on and not the teacher or classroom - hey it what mothers are for!

School Sports Day:

As another bit of praise for Sherborne and the Parents Association; Ross and I had a fabulous morning attending the infants sports day.  We were pleasantly surprised with our midget's performance (not a sporty child) as she appeared well co-ordinated and could run with the front of the pack.  The school and children were amazing.  Mr R ran a good sport tough PE teacher programme with happy children and the supporting teachers were gems.

It's Thursday - aka Fridayitis

Yes, it is Thursday here in Qatar; the last day of the working and school week for us and my one morning at home without constructive occupation.  So here, at the computer, I sit listening to the despondent, the motivated, the inspirational and the complaining population of NZ radio listeners.  It is around 10 days since the earthquake and we think about the challenges now and ahead for those in Canterbury and those further afield supporting them...keep it up.

As for us, we continue "a normal life".  This week has not been super busy, really just full of baking contributions for school sports day, preparing for 21 little Rainbows and their bubble blowing session, practicing guitar, and managing the portfolio - no small feat this week thanks to the oil price fluctuations and the plunge of the NZD, coupled with the close out the NZ tax year, some trouser hemming, and finalizing our NZ home leave, I am looking forward to our weekend.

Home leave planning is not as smaller task as I had originally thought.  Ross enlightened me (I initially thought) with a paper by Peter Jacso: Searching for measurable benefits, Vol 33 No. 1, 2009.  It covers how you can easily get ripped off booking holidays, flights in particular if you book by on-line airfare providers, Expedia being case in point.  After trawling his lengthy paper and becoming frustrated at the author's lack of ability to simplify data in easier to read tables as supports rather than screen shots.  I concluded that I already knew it all.  Okay, so I have booked three of us return to NZ, economy class, including short internal NZ breaks and rental cars for less than USD5,400 but it has come at a small cost.  Our return trip is not the shortest available (24 hours including a 4 hour layover in Melbourne) as it gives us a stop in Sri Lanka, then onto Singapore for an 18 hour layover and then a 9 hour middle of the night layover in Brisbane before landing directly in Dunedin.  Happily, I have scored a good price at the cost of 36 hours and a chance to visit friends.  Long live the use of Airfare hub sites for routing and then booking generally directly with the airline!

School is progressing along well.  Everyday, Teagan is keen to go and loves her classmates.  Sherborne is great at creating such a nurturing environment and the kids seem so happy and exceptionally well behaved!  Reading is Teagan's current forte, thankfully, she has moved off "creative reality".  At home after she has read through her school books we have started on "bigger girl" stories.  I am loving our current read (I read outloud as Teagan's passion for the printed word does not make her a genius reader!).  Debi Gloiri's, The Witch Baby and Me, is such a fabulous read.  She is a Scottish author and makes such witchy world that a child will present the book to you before you have even consider waking up in the morning to get the next chapter (bah humbug)!

As a special treat this week we had our windows cleaned inside and out.  After parting with a good pay and a heap of praise, I can now see the sun shining again!  Oh, how sweet to see without dust covered lenses.