Each of these, my three babies, I will carry with me......

Another line from Sinead O'Connor. But Sunday morning in the Blogmuggle household is quiet, except for the Fleetwood Mac CD that I have just started listening to. Beloved is playing a rare round of golf. Not that he was all that interested in it, mind you, but he "told Rhod that I would play in this charity day...." such a martyr....... He took his nurofen with him to ease his dodgy knee.....

My three babies..... one day I will learn how to put them where I want them.....


SBoy & GG GG & VBoy

There have been big "grown-up"changes afoot here....

For a change, I'll start with Vboy: His room underwent a major overhaul a few weekends ago. He used to have 2 bunks with desks/drawers/bookcases under them in his room, which was always handy as he is rarely solo on the weekends. Now the bunks are gone, and he has his very own "Big Boy" double bed, which he loves. He was just too big for the single bunk...... He is eager to finish dressing the bed with the schmick new "stripey boy bedding" that his sister bought for him instead of the blue, red and purple hearts bedding that is on there at the moment (all that I had on hand)...... Mind you, the girls think that he is pretty cool.... in touch with his sensitive side...*snort*... Sunshine enters the room with him.

GG: Last week, (under the firm encouragement of her parents) GG made the decision to come back home to live, for a while anyway. Life hasn't been to kind to my darling girl this year, and she seems to have had a dark, ever present cloud that would rain down on her at ever-increasing intervals. Work has been sporadic, money scarce and her domestic situation as been tenable at best. Whilst her Pop loves her, living with him without the presence of Nan has not gone well. GG has found it difficult just to be there without Nan, and consequently has spent a lot of time on friend's floors & couches...... no space of her own, no money to add to the household coffers of equally poor, but generous friends. She has stauchly resisted my attempts to come back home, viewing it as "failure". Broady Maccas has only been provding 1 or 2 short shifts each week: now, with the school holidays here, she has been offered none.
Monday saw us at Centrelink: hopeless waste of time. She qualifies for nothing. She fits into none of their categories. We were given a job search number and headed to Mission Australia. Luckily, my friend Michelle was on the front desk, and was very encouraging and helpful in the light of GG's negative attitude. Tuesday was a wee bit black. Wednesday we went to the Caltex Service Station that GG's aunty manages. The result: A trial shift for GG at 6am Saturday. Aunt & Uncle had actually been discussing between themselves whether GG would like to work there the night before..... we have never discussed it with them, as she had been so resolute in her need to stay in the "bright lights"... Coincidence?????
A visit to the hairdressers and a snappy new "do" sealed the deal... GG decided to come home...... She worked at Maccas on Friday, then arrived late Friday night. She found the shift at Caltex on Saturday fun, do-able and is keen to work again. It is good to see the enthusiasm back in my gorgeous girl. She went to a friend's house last night in Mussie, and stayed the night.
She will be home today as she wants to re-enrol at Uni. I have stipulated 1-2 subjects at most... slowly, slowly I say. She needs to remain rooted here for a while, with some Ma n' Pa love, support, food, and the ability to earn her own money. Money's not the answer, but it seems that way doesn't it? She had dreams not so long ago, and had gotten to the point where she wouldn't look to far into the future, or even discuss them. "hush Mum. Don't say anymore.." she would say. She had lost sight of it all, and had no hobbies at all. With the arrival of her tax return, she bought herself an acoustic guitar on Thursday. The other day, she uttered the immortal words: "If I can save enough, maybe I can piss off over seas for a while next year..." Yes my darlin', you can.....

SBoy: Graduation and his last day at school on Friday. Until his HSC exams in October. He has worked at KFC everynight this week, and will most of next week as well. His "awesome, cute" girlfriend caught the train upfrom Newie to be with him except that he was at work, then had to train it back to Newie at 10am the next morning. They're working hard at grabbing every spare minute, this pair. Scary when you consider that he's only 17 & she's 16. The fact that he has bought her home is an indicator of the depth of his feelings for her. He is cautious in the game of love.... He call's her "the missus..." ...... " Wouldn't it be funny if we did get married Mum?" he said to me...... "Hilarious, Son...." eeeewwww......
It's an "instant" society these days: no long-winded courtships, with pussy-footing around, dating and coutship rituals. We have never met nor spoken to "Cute-girl's" parents, yet without consultation with us, she was allowed to travel up here and stay with people that they know zip about. We have an open door policy at our home, so her being here wasn't an issue, but we have always checked out where our kids go to, and ensured that they were a) welcome, & b) under supervision by people who were not drug-addled/alcoholic/axe-wielding/raving lunatics... any more than normal, anyway...
His Graduation was ... Interesting..... SBoy has been an active member of his school community, & proud of his school. A member of the SRC from yr 7, representative in school soccer & other sports, at science & engineering challenges, SRC conferences, MUNA, walked the streets on Legacy Day, BBQ'ed, fund-raised. He took on the lead male role in the Yr 10 musical (he believes that he can't sing, but did it because he was asked). He was elected Yr 11 & 12 prefect by his peers, regardless of the fact the the Principal told him "not to bother running as he would not support him if he did....".
You can see that there may have been a problem here, yes? I have had the occasssional exchange with this "man"..... Even shaving off his glorious long hair, which had always been a issue for the Principal (who doesn't deserve the capital P by the way,) for "Shave for a Cure" didn't seem to make a difference....
SBoy received no acknowledgment for his services to the school. His friends who were Captains & prefects all received awards, deservedly so. As did 32 other students. He was the only one of the executive that sat on the stage throughout the entire proceedings that received nothing. There are only 57 students in his year. I am not a trophy-hound mother. My son deserved recognition. My gut tells me that this was personal........
Every student walked onto the stage to accept their final school report. Each 1st place getter in each subject was announced when they were to receive their report & shake hands with the principal. SBoy tied for 1st place in Retail Operations with another student. Her name was called out whern it was her turn.
His wasn't. Everything became shallow, hollow for him after that. He went through the motions after that. Talked with friends at the morning tea afterwards, signed shirts. But he wasn't really there. He wanted to go home & get ready to go to Dubbo with the Freestyle Trials crew, who had arrived on Thursday night, & were waiting for him at home. And that's what he did. He had his head & heart in place by the time he left for Dubbo. And Jana & Jack F like SBoy & will look after him. It was a good idea for him to go & blow off some some steam. He's having fun.

I think that he grew up a bit more on Friday. Another of life's sucky, hard lessons. He asked me on Friday morning if "it was wrong that he felt like he had already moved on in his head?" when he was slow to get to the school breakfast. Having cute girl around made it harder to leave. But he took her with him.

Hmmmm. "Each of these, my three babies, I will carry with me."

Always.