Ten Accidental Facts

I kind of breezed right past my one hundredth post. It's somewhere back there last week, and it's probably about chickens. Never mind. I know it's usual in the blogosphere to share one hundred things about yourself at this momentous juncture, but I'm just not ready for that level of commitment... so you can have ten things, instead.

1) my fish are called Bread and Milk because Mr Accident and I went to the supermarket with the sole intent of getting bread and milk. It was all we needed, and we were clean out. We came home with two fish, a glass fish tank, a plastic model army tank, and no bread or milk at all. So we called the fish Bread and Milk.

2) my favourite joke is "there were two fish in a tank, one turned to the other and said "I'll man the guns and you drive". And that is why we bought the little army tank for our big fish tank.

3) I make carpet coloured play dough. My cousin gave me this idea. She is as wise as she is beautiful, and she is stunning. All our carpets are brown. That is not so stunning. My kids get pink and green play dough at playgroup and they think it's Christmas.

4) I am more in love now with Mr Accident than I was the day I married him. We've been together eight years this July. It just keeps getting better.

5) Mr Accident can remember the day we met. I cannot. This is a source of some embarrassment to me.

6) I made up for it by asking him out, because he was funny, and because he had the nicest, smiliest, bluest eyes I had ever seen. That is, until I saw the amazing eyes he gave our daughters.

7) I drive a Jeep. It's maroon. I have a coat, heels and wallet to match. No matter how recently I tidied and vacuumed it out, there is always a strata of discarded hats, toys and coats littering the floor in the back seat, interspersed with old corn crackers. I swear they crawl in there themselves overnight.

8) I don't feel right in the morning until I've made the bed. WITH the throw pillows, thank you.

9) I very rarely run late. I get nervous if I am late and worried if others are late. I am trying to relax about this, but being five minutes early for everything was ingrained into me for ten years, and it's not something I can easily shake.

10) I love high heeled shoes, but I wear my black converse low tops the vast majority of the time. This is soley because Bug is a runner. I'm hoping that once she starts to pay attention to frenzied arm waving and shouting, I will have to run less and I can dress up more. I will probably change my mind about this when I remember how uncomfortable my high heeled shoes actually are.

So that's me in a nutshell ("Help, help! I in a nutshell! - name that movie).

Right now Peanut is pulling Bug down the corridor on her tummy, by her arms. It's all fun now, but I'm off to intervene before someone loses a limb. See you all tomorrow!

I'm unschooling my three year old. It's called "life".

I was a bit worried. I was suffering from mummy-guilt. You know, the kind that creeps up on you when all your Facebook friends with similarly-aged kids are posting about how their three year old is learning subtraction or taking Montessori inspired nature walks then painting about it to classical music in the nude, but all you've done that day is dig weeds in the garden, crack out the play dough and walk the dog.

So I went online and printed off some random preschool homeschooling materials, determined to catch Peanut up. (if you're looking for the good stuff, check out 2 Teaching Mommies, they have printable themed units on dinosaurs! Yay!)

But after I had cut out all the number peg cards, and the 1-20 puzzle, and made the size sorting game, and asked Peanut to play... I realised that she was already great at this stuff. She'd picked it up through osmosis. Because when we walk the dog, we say the street numbers, and when we dig weeds, we study the worms, and when we play play dough, she learns that if she makes three little balls, and her sister steals one, she only has two left...

So we're off to the park today. Worksheets are for suckers.

Kids say the darndest things

Peanut made a pretty big call today.

She's been into Rapunzel lately, and as much as I find the whole Disney franschise painful for their shocking portrayal of female role models, I let her watch this one. It seemed to have a strong female lead. She has a couple of neuroses, sure, but she has her own impetus and is capable of rescuing herself. However, this feminine empowerment might have taken a step in the wrong direction in Peanut's young head...

Her take on the story? "No, Mummy, Rapunzel didn't live happily ever after, she went to live with a MAN."

Oh.

He's home

Mr Accident is home from his course a full five weeks early. Not injured, as I feared, and so far from failing that it's laughable, but he's home nonetheless.

He went for two reasons - he wanted the job, and he wanted to know he could do the job. It was about proving himself.

But, while he was away doing just that, and doing exceptionally well at it, too, he realized the job sucked. Really, truly sucked. And he didn't want it anymore.

It turns out that all the cooking, and caring, and cleaning, and laundry washing and support that I offered in the preparation has backfired. He just wants to be home with his family, safe and comfortable, where he belongs.

So now he's had his questions answered. He is good enough. He can do it. And his family is well worth the sacrifice of his dream career.

And I couldn't be happier.

Like (my) mother, like (my) daughter

This never ending rain is causing tension in the Accidental household.

I like to relive my misspent youth by blasting my teenage angst CDs and dancing madly around the living room. Peanut does not approve.

I just threw on some Blink182 and went to make afternoon tea. I heard a heart wrenching wail from the playroom, and a "Mummy, I Do Not Like That Loud Music!"

And when I walked in?

Earmuffs.

She was wearing her baby industrial strength earmuffs.

I swear, it's like I never left home... Mum, are you coaching her??

Meeting Rhonda

The book signing went really well yesterday! I expected a lot more people there, I guess I expected the whole world to love reading Rhonda as much as I do, but it was very quiet. I had a chance to sit and chat with Rhonda and Hanno about their travels, and important details about who is looking after their chickens while they are away. Rhonda was as delightful in person as she is in print, but perhaps a bit tired from her hectic schedule. She was very nice to chat to though.

However, it was Hanno that stole the show for the Accidental family. He absolutely charmed the girls. He even admired and had a quick play with Bug's "kitty" hand puppet. Peanut woke up this morning and asked to see him again!

The book itself is huge. I didn't expect it to be so thick (so many household and lifestyle manuals are not exactly meaty). And there is so much content!! It will take a fair while to get through it all, which is lovely, because from what I've seen so far it is easy to read, and the layout is very pleasant. it's going to be a keeper, I can tell already. I actually wouldn't be surprised if I end up buying a twentieth edition copy for the girls when they move out of home.

Well, I'd best be off, Bug has been up since 3am this morning (I think she's getting sick too) and she's about two inches from the end of her tether. We're just about to stroll down through the rain to pick Peanut up from the kinder around the corner, have homemade pea and ham soup with fresh rolls for lunch, then tuck everyone up in bed for an afternoon nap. Myself included, today!

Welcome to Autumn

I woke this morning to dark skies and pounding rain. The children and I had slept in an extra two hours. (Well, except for Peanut, she woke quietly at six and played in her room with her dollhouse.) It was so dark that we needed to put the lights on to see our late breakfast, and for Peanut to do her reading practice.

There is a huge puddle that surrounds our house, we are living on the Accidental Island today. My poor potted mint is under two inches of water, and the chicken pen is a swimming pool, far more suited to ducks.

So there is only one thing to do, really. We've bunkered down. It's the perfect day for craft, stories, and playdough. The girls will probably watch an episode of play school, I'll get stuck into the ironing, and then we'll have homemade rolls for lunch.

After nap time, however, we're heading into town to meet Rhonda Hetzel. She's written a book based on her wonderful Down To Earth blog, so we're going to get our copy signed. (If you are not familiar with her blog and you are interested in simple living it's worth a look. It's so damn good that it is included in archives of the National Library of Australia.) I've been reading her for about four years now, so I'm very excited to actually meet her! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.