Tuesday, November 13, 2012

carrots on fire

Russell is really developing his musical skills.  At first we felt our house wasn't big enough for his trumpet but now that we have progressed together from many scales to nursery rhymes to real tunes, it is becoming easier on the ears. 

His latest melody is the theme from Chariots of Fire and I find myself humming it all day.  His practice time is usually a half hour session before school so it sets us up for the day.  I keep imagining people running in slow motion and have visuals of Mr Bean which are rather disturbing.

Students in government primary schools are invited on to a music programme after testing to determine musical ability.  They are entitled to hire an instrument for a year and receive free tuition.  Russell selected trumpet and absolutely loves it.  He wants to purchase his own trumpet and continue next year.  I have just discovered that a reasonable trumpet sells new for around $1000!

Well, today he is being tested on Chariots of Fire so there has been much discussion around the movie and the piece as well as many hours of practice. 

Yesterday Hugo came through before school and commented with a big sigh:  "Oh, no!  Not Carrots on Fire AGAIN!"

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Phuket


 It has taken some time to get my feet back on the ground after such a fantastic week away.  It was Five Star all the way and we had the best time ever.  I really enjoyed having time to myself to relax and soak up some sun.  The other 90 ladies were so much fun to be with and friendships were formed over cocktails, dinners and swims.  I had the opportunity to network with inspiring women who have been with INTIMO for many years and share with the best in the business.  The week included awesome activities like kayaking through the cliffs, riding an elephant, and shopping in Patong.  We laughed a lot and drank a lot of cocktails!  The resort was superb and I overdosed on spa treatments and meals.

What a treat.  An experience like this is priceless and I will definately make sure that I will qualify every year for this little piece of paradise.






Saturday, October 13, 2012

rewards

For the next week I will have some big decisions to make.  Should I have a massage or a body scrub?  Do I swim in the sea or one of the five pools?  Is it tea time or cocktail time?  Do I swim to the bar or call a waiter?
 
No taxi run, no "Maaaaa", no lunch boxes, no meals.  This week it's all about ME!  And I can't wait.
 
My bags are packed and I am off to lie at the pool in this picture in Phuket at the famous five star Marriott Hotel.  Just for fun, 95 inspiring women will join me there.
 
 
All this for loving what I do.  INTIMO, you are one helluva boss.
 
See you next week!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

outdoor progress

A gang of Irishmen arrived last week and rendered (plastered) our walls.  It looks amazing now that the unsightly raw brick has been covered.  Tomorrow the paver starts and our outdoor living areas are going to be transformed with new floors of exposed aggregate.  This means plants have to be dug up and transplanted, furniture needs to move, soil needs to be leveled and a general clean up is in order.  Rob is doing most of the manual labour with each of us doing little bits intermittently.  I am hiding here for a while to get away from the real hard work.


long weekend break

Thanks to the Queen, Monday 1st of October was a public holiday for us.  Each Australian state chooses a date to celebrate the Queen's birthday irrespective of when her birthday really is, and a public holiday is declared!  Strange, but true.  So in honour of the Queen's pretend birthday we could all take a long weekend at the start of the school holiday.  We headed down south to Dunsborough and rented a lovely little cottage near the beach.  This time we had our boat with us which made for an exciting early morning adventure for Rob and the boys as well as Rob's cousin, Duncan.  They headed off after dawn to try their hand at fishing and enjoy the male bonding that happens around burly and deep water.  Hugo and I went for a run/scooter into town for a coffee and shopping experience!  The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing on the beach, swimming and barbecuing.  We had Duncan and Jo over for dinner after sun downers at the beach, watching the boys throw their lines out over the rocks. 

On Tuesday we took a family cruise out at sea before making our way back to Perth.  It was four days of bliss, just what Rob needed to get through this last stretch to Christmas break.

holidays



School holidays for us often mean a trip down south.  And a trip down south means seeing the rellies and getting my hands on a beautiful bunch of Proteas.  The boys are in the middle of school holidays and we are making the most of every day.  So far we have been down to Dunsborough, our favourite holiday place for 3 nights, been out to Rottnest Island on our boat for a day trip, been ice skating (fabulous fun for mum!) and got our hands dirty moving plants in preparation for the next phase of our outdoor project.  Details to follow...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

literacy

It all happened so quickly this time.  Hugo can read!  The penny has just dropped.  He can work out the phonetic words, make a stab at the more difficult ones and basically decode a book!  He is reading level 5 books with gusto.  The world has opened up to him as he deciphers the cereal boxes and newspaper headlines.  He is so thrilled with himself and happily reads four readers a day.  He is able to write and call out about 70 sight words and his confidence in the process is growing daily. 

It is fair to say that the curriculum for foundation learning in Western Australia has changed dramatically in the past two years.  Hugo is expected to know what Adam only learned in Year 1.  He is adding and subtracting up to 20 and is soaking it all up in his internal sponge.

The literacy gap between the two boys is closing fast and I am under pressure to keep Adam motivated and focused.  He is exceptional at Maths and Science experiments but really struggles with reading and comprehension.  In the first term of this year we discovered a reading programme called Toe by Toe.  It comprises of daily exercises of 20 minute sessions to increase confidence and blends.  It is a book which we purchased online.  It gave us a structure to work with and a focus for our 20 minutes every day.  His confidence grew and he has now begun to read books at a reasonable level wtih ease.  The key has been to find books that are of interest to him with characters he can relate to.  A real hit has been the Tashi Books.  Adam loves the make-believe stories and really relates well to the boy, Jack and his imaginary friend.  These books are beautifully written and a hit amongst boys and girls of his age.  We borrowed a big Tashi Book which is a novel, incorporating all the books as chapters.  Russell devoured it and loved every minute!

Russell's reading has come a long way too.  He really enjoys adventure stories and boy scout type expeditions.  He has just finished reading the Bear Gryll's book (children's edition) and couldn't wait to get into bed for his Chapter every night.  He is urging me to read it too so that we can talk about it.  So far it is lying untouched next to my bed!

So we are all reading now.   Some of us more than others.  How fabulous!  The boys are growing up fast and taking on new challenges daily.  Just being around them is an adventure for me!

beautiful

It was wrong of me not to document the arrival of an additional member to our family.  During last term, Hugo's Pre-Primary class were learning about taking care of pets and which pets are good to have.  We had to send in drawings of our dog "Griet" and write up what we do to take care of her.  Hugo was in charge of her meals and cleaning up behind her for a few weeks.  He had to report back to his class about her and gave a detailed description of her medication and arthritic tendencies!  Someone had kindly donated a beautiful white budgie to the class for observation.  Different children were able to take it home each weekend.  At the end of the term, Hugo's teacher asked the class if anyone would like to adopt the bird named Beautiful.  Of course, Hugo's hand shot up and he claimed the prized offering.

I came to school to fetch him for our July holidays and found him clutching a cage and trolley, food baskets and water trays.  The bird was ours, whether I liked it or not!



As it turns out, Beautiful is a lovely pet.  He (yes another male at the Wilsons) talks alot and can't stand to be out of view of the action.  The boys are pretty good about cleaning his cage and Russell is trying very hard to tame him out on to his hand.

So now we are 7.  Just beautiful.

poolside

pillars going up


a pool at last


We are so excited about being in the final major project of our house renovation.  The plan is to board the plane to South Africa, knowing that when we return our house will be complete!

At the rate that our builder is putting these pillars up it is probably optimistic but we live in hope.  The pool itself, looks fantastic.  It is 7.5 metres by 4 metres so there is plenty of room for the boys and their friends to dive and splash.  They have already jumped in twice in spite of the freezing temperature.  As the days start getting longer and warmer, the prospect of having our own pool is awesome. 

So the action plan is:  render (plaster) the pillars, pave and cement the areas around the pool, install a roof over the outdoor entertainment area, put in the panels between the pillars, paint everything, landscape the garden and then SWIM!

Woohoo!!  I can't wait for this to all be over so the real fun can begin.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Maree

Rob has finally succumbed to the relentless urge to own a recreational boat!  It makes a lot of sense living here so close to so much water.  She is rather beautiful too. 



So here I sit, waiting for Rob to return from BCF which is the biggest shop supplying the Boating, Camping and Fishing industry!  It used to be Bunnings (the massive hardware store) that swallowed him up for most of the weekend, now it's BCF.  If he makes it back in time, we will launch our little treasure and become real Perthlings at last.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

handsome

Russell 10


Adam 8

 

Hugo 5

Always handomse after a haircut!

spring "kit" clean


Sometimes you just have to tip it all out and give it a good old fashioned spring clean.  Oh, the stories that I remembered as I folded each bra.  The beautiful ladies whom I remembered as I packed them all away.  The bra brings us together, but it is so much more that keeps us together.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

tough life

Adam (size 4), Hugo (size 12)


This is how our boys' shoes look after just a few short months of hard wearing.  They get a beating from the scooter rides and skateboarding.  These little shoes have to run around school all day and play in the streets until dark.  They develop silent mouths and ragged tongues.  Their laces hang frazzled and knotted on the sides.  These little shoes end up soleless and tired.
 
It's been a while since anyone actually out grew their shoes around here.  They work hard to keep our boys moving!

Friday, September 7, 2012

spare parts

Just days before Granny Maggie came crashing into our lives, Rob had noticed that the motor that drives the water pump that sprays the windscreen of his BMW was broken.  Being an engineer, he stuck his hands under the bonnet and pulled out the offending part which is about 10cm long with a diameter of around 3cm.  He googled the part and compared prices at BMW and EBay.  After discovering that this little widget would set him back several hundred dollars and take weeks to be shipped from the east or Europe, he decided to put the search on hold.

On the fatal night of the Granny crash, it was my great pleasure to watch the captains of industry out in the street at midnight sweeping up parts and glass before the Mercedes was towed away.

The following morning, Rob went over the road to assess the damage of the misparked Ute and low and behold, the motor for the windscreen sprayer of the Merc had become dislodged on impact, flown out of the fast moving crumbling bonnet and landed in the back of the open Ute!  I am not kidding!

Like a delighted child, Rob grabbed the motor and raced back across the street to his little Beemer.  He popped the motor in place where a gaping hole had been left and Voila:  it worked!!

Not only do we have Mercedez badges adorning our walls and fenders that are now shields, we also have swords that were windscreen wipers AND now a motor that works in a BMW!

So the Mercedes Benz was not a write-off after all.

crashing grans

While I have been a bit quiet, one of my big prayers has been answered.  We have adopted an Australian Granny.  I have been interviewing for one for a while now - that is asking just about anyone over 65 if our boys can come for a sleep over.  It's something we really miss here.  It can be tough not having family nearby especially when we have been used to grannies and grandpas who were so much part of our lives.

A few Fridays ago I was unpacking my work kit from my car at the unusual hour of 11pm.  As I was walking up the path with my last load, I was frozen by the loudest, closest bang I had ever heard!  A new Mercedes Benz Coupe had come hurtling down our street and the driver had misjudged a bakkie (Ute/pick up truck) parked against the verge and had clipped it!  Suffice to say the Ute was pushed up its driveway and the Mercedes was ripped to shreds.  The bonnet buckled over the roof and came to a screeching halt right in front of our driveway.  Out of the crumbled heap climbed the dearest elderly lady called Madge.  She was all shaken and confused so I took her inside for a cup of tea while Rob and the men of the street got into action sorting out the details.  In the early hours of a Saturday morning, Madge and I bonded over cups of tea and tears as she got over the wreck she had caused on a 1km trip home from a dinner party.  I helped her through the breathalyser test (which she thankfully passed!) and the paperwork, and gathered her belongings from her boot. 

Granny Maggie and the boys have become firm friends.  She lives just around the corner opposite our favourite park.  I text her when the boys are going for a play and she watches from her kitchen window or wanders down for a chat.  She is actually a great-granny of 75 and twice widowed.  We visit one another for tea and have a budding friendship that melts the years between us.  She is a wonderful Aussie lady with a beautiful story and warm heart.  She made a silly mistake that night but her collision with a Ute made her collide with us.  God works in mysterious ways!

It is comforting for us both to know that we have each other just around the corner.  I am excited at the prospect of a local granny for our boys and I am enjoying getting to know this lovely lady.  She entered our lives with a great big bang and we are enjoying her so much.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

stalking

Time to be perfectly honest.  One of the reasons that I haven't written for a while is the weird feeling that I am getting about being stalked.  This blog is intended for those who know and love us to follow our path and to remain part of our life journey.  It is our hope that one day we will be reunited and our stories will somehow collide again. 

From time to time, I have realised that there are people reading here who have never met me or my family but who found us in the ether and enjoy my writing.  On the surface that seems OK.  I am not sure why someone would be remotely interested in my ramblings if they didn't have a vested interest in my life.  When strangers start leaving arbitrary comments here on almost every post, it feels a bit weird.

Why would someone wait for my next post and hang on my every word if he doesn't know me?  Why would someone think I am at all interested in his comments if I have never met him?  That's the problem with our private lives in the public domain.  The Internet has far reaching arms and unlimited depth.  We are exposing ourselves like never before.  Take a look at these statistics on Facebook for a shock.

 
 
I am learning to love my Facebook.  It is a great way to connect with people on a personal level who I have met at lingerie parties.  It makes me a real person to them and helps with the intimacy of the products I sell and the experience of bra shopping.  I am able to network quickly and easily and spread my news and views quite far.  What I don't like is that it sucks you right in.  I keep checking to see what you have had for breakfast and with whom.  But that is a whole other post.
 
 
My point is this:  read freely off the net and take what you want from it.  Tread carefully when it comes to stepping over personal boundaries.  Your voice may be read as graffiti.


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

coming back slowly

It's been so long since I wrote that I almost felt a bit scared to be back here.  Where do I start?  The last few weeks have slipped through my fingers in a blur of constant activity.  Between our constant home decor projects, the boys' activities and our jobs, we seldom have time to fold the laundry, let alone come up for air.  When we do, it's a long deep gasp of air and we mooch in each other's company.

This week Rob has gone to New York and Boston on an investors' roadshow.  He has left in a blaze of angst and stress over the plummeting price of iron ore and is fighting the remains of flu.  There are continual fires to put out here and investors begging to see him there.  Our lives seem to be a whirlwind of cocktail parties and corporate functions as Atlas Iron's profile rises in Perth circles.  The stress of the role is taking its toll on Rob and we are going to have to take a few days leave soon in order to make it to the end of the year.

So here I sit, in silence, with only you for company.  It's been too long apart.

This past month I have witnessed two of my friends getting really ill.  One has leukemia and is fighting a brave battle with infection and chemotherapy and drugs.  The other has Crohen's disease and has just had a meter of her intestine removed that was badly damaged by the bugs.  Their illnesses have drained me of energy to write when I have had time and have stopped me in my tracks to pray quietly for their recovery.  I have also been reflecting on how blessed we are.

My business has become busier than ever since the unmasking on conference six weeks ago.  My team is growing and thriving.  I am enjoying this new role of mentor and coach while still doing between 15 and 20 parties a month of my own.  With Phuket Rewards trip now safely achieved, I am goaling for Venice in April!  It's a stretch but one I am trying to reach.

So we are still here, still working and playing.  Rugby season is over and there is a short break before cricket starts.  Spring is threatening to come.  I am still running with the group of 20 before sunrise 3 times a week and just did my third City to Surf 12km run. 

My fingers are warming up, as is my little office.  So blogging is back.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

unmasking potential

INTIMO July Conference 2012

The annual INTIMO conference on the Gold Coast, near Brisbane was absolutely sensational.  I loved networking with 260 inspiring women from all over Australia and New Zealand.  The professional development was outstanding with keynote speakers who stretched and grew our thinking.  Amongst those who blew me away was Michael McQueen who is a leader in bridging the gap between the generations.  He gave fantastic insight into recruiting and retaining Gen Y in our businesses.  An Intimo favourite is Mark McKeon who is a life and business coach.  He is big on work life balance and reaching your potential within your boundaries.  I just love his zest for life and positive attitude.  He gives practical ways to take your business to the next level, wherever you are in your journey.

Kaylin, Amanda and Wendy

The masquerade ball, flash mob and gala black tie awards night were all done with a slick professionalism and attention to detail that was just brilliant.  I loved being back in a corporate event immersing myself in my business, without distraction, for a few days.

The time away was made even more special by having two days with Cindy and Ian in Brisbane ahead of the conference.  I loved shopping with a 16 year old girl for a change and Cindy and I had a really good catch up.  After twenty years of friendship, it is just wonderful to reconnect every few months.

Rob and the boys coped very well without me.  Life went on quite smoothly.  We all missed each other but it is safe to say that I can now take these trips, confidently knowing they are all big enough to take charge of themselves.

Now back to reality.  School goes back this week.  I have ideas to implement, a team to motivate and so much to do.  INTIMO has been a fantastic adventure so far.


another year

We have lived in Australia for over two years now.  The first two are supposed to be the hardest.  Well we feel very settled and very happy.  The longing for special people, places and smells will never go away but the rich experience of being here is just brilliant.  This has been the best decision for our family.

This has been a very big twelve months.  Rob has established himself in a new career, I have started building a business.  The boys have each grown and developed and really started making good friends this year.  Having all three at full time school has been a shift for us as we move into the next phase.  We are now living in a beautiful home that is almost complete!

I went back to "seconds please" that I wrote a year ago.  It was interesting to reflect on the lessons we had learned in our first year.  This is what I have learned this year:

depth of friendship is not measured by how long you have known someone
relationships evolve and change
women are amazing, incredible and resilient
there's a part of me that isn't alive when I am not working outside of our home
our skills, education and experience can be reapplied in a new situation
to render and paint a wall
I can drop my standards on housework a little
life and health are fragile
I still have so much to learn from our three boys
Rob has an incredible capacity to cope with stress and challenge
with faith, anything is possible

We're half way to citizenship.  Bring it on!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

forty something

OK, so we are now really in our forties, whatever.  I celebrated birthday number 41 this month.  Some days are better than others.  I'm not quite in therapy.

The truth is, most of our friends crossed the great decade divide ahead of me so I had enough warning.  It's just that the hype around 40 is so fabulous.  The party is usually a big one (certainly was in my case).  The milestone is significant.  And then you turn 40 something.  I feel so middle aged.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful.  I am undoubtedly blessed.  In this day and age we do need to celebrate every happy, healthy birthday.  Rob and I have reached this point without a bad medical diagnosis or a major crisis.  We haven't suffered bankruptcy or divorce.  We have arrived at this place still enjoying each other's company.  Our children are not dysfunctional (yet) and so far appear to be normal.  We aren't searching for spiritual truth but rather are grounded by our faith.  Our friendships, albeit wide spread across the globe, are strong.  Rob has a stimulating and rewarding career and I am building a fantastic business.  Life is pretty good, wrinkles and all.

I was spoiled on my birthday and beyond.  I have never been fitter and am comfortable with who I am.  We have a beautiful home and toys for all ages. 

It's just that, well, the life of Gen Y looks like so much fun.

We're both forty something.