In this blog:  Mia started school, Ian had yet more transport woes and we celebrated Australia Day  by throwing thongs and…dancing to the Spice Girls of course!🤷🏼‍♀️

Monday:

I was woken up by scratching in the roof at 4 a.m. This has been happening for a little while and whenever I try to alert Ian to it, it stops.😐  This makes me look like a crazy woman, but I KNOW it is happening because it is now waking me on a nightly basis!😤  I couldn’t get back to sleep and had to be up early anyway as it was Mia’s first day at school!

She was ridiculously excited (I felt sick!🤢) and wanted plaits.  My hair skills need major honing so by the time I had got her looking “first day ready”, I only had time to chuck shorts and a top on myself, throw my hair into my 10 second mum bun and a quick slick of under-eye concealer to semi-disguise the eye-bags.  Oh well, I didn’t need to look good, it was all about Mia today…

First fail:  I got us into trouble with the lollipop lady for not waiting for her whistle and standing in front of the designated line!  After being shouted at, and literally jumping back into my allocated zone, the lollipop lady realised that I might not have known the rules and apologised!  Rookie mistake!  A few Mums gave me commiserating looks as I must have gone red.😳

Second fail:  We got to the classroom to be informed that we had been chosen to be filmed by the local 7 news crew on an item about the first day of school.😱  I really wished I could fade into the background but when I had thrown on my top that morning, I had chosen a fluorescent pink one!  I tried to crouch behind Mia as much as possible, but there is only so much Mummy that a 5 year old girl can camouflage!  At least I didn’t get interviewed!😅

Third fail:  We were doing pretty well at settling in and it was almost time for the parents to leave, when the teacher decided to read a book called “The Invisible Thread” to us all.  The kids had to get their ball of imaginary thread and throw it to the parents to show that we are always connected.  Well, of course I lost the plot (we’ll blame the hormonal imbalance!) and my eyes started uncontrollably leaking!😭  I tried to edge out of the classroom slowly, but Mia turned around  and when she saw my tear-filled eyes, she started to cry, so I blew her a kiss and quickly left before I turned into a soggy heap and completely sabotaged her first day at school!🙈

I went from school to Cheree’s to get waxed.  I may appear on the evening news looking dishevelled but at least at school pick-up I would have good eyebrows!🤣

I had taken the day off work for predicted blubbing and feeling sorry for myself and because I didn’t know how long First Day of School duties would take!  I got home and took advantage of the “spare” time to call the Real Estate and moan at them about the scratching and the fact that I had now alerted their attention to this twice before and they had done nothing!😒  I must have sounded desperate because they called the Landlord straight away and he called Ian and we have decided to set a Fruit trap to try to see what it is!

I did a few jobs around the house and before I knew it, it was time to collect Ian to go and fetch Mia together.  I’m not sure why a day at school seems so long when you are teaching, but today went past in the blink of an eye?!  Anyway, she was happy!🎉  We went for ice cream to celebrate the milestone, which seemed to be a popular idea as Cold Rock was packed, we had to wait ages and the lady got my order wrong!🙄

Tuesday: 

Nothing has eaten the fruit!  Does this mean I am mad?!🤷🏼‍♀️ I didn’t even get woken up by scratching so the fruit has clearly scared it off!  Maybe it is a carnivore with a fruit allergy?!  Ian gave me “the look” that tried to insinuate I was crazy…😐

I had to wake Mia up at 7:45 a.m. so the first day obviously wiped her out!  She was a little clingy this morning but we got through it without tears…on both sides!🎉  And we didn’t get yelled at by the Lollipop Lady so I think that counts as progress!

When I picked her up, she was disappointed that she couldn’t bring a library book home, that she hadn’t done any writing apart from her name and that she didn’t have any homework yet!  Times will surely change!  When I asked what she did do she said “Sweat sweat sweat!” which was understandable as it was 34 degrees and there is no air con in her classroom!  This was not a factor on my list when looking around schools, but maybe it should have been!

We dashed straight to gymnastics and it was like a sauna in that building! I was so sweaty and sticking to the chair! Yuk!🤢  Mia couldn’t find her water bottle and had an absolute meltdown! OVERTIRED! So I had to get up and expose my sweaty rear to all the Mums while showing her that her bottle had simply fallen over!🙈 Drama queen much?!  I had told her that I was going to cancel after-school activities the first term while she settled into school, but she had begged and assured me that she would be fine…another example where I probably should have trusted my instincts!

Then it was my turn to exercise and went to sweat buckets at Pilates! So generally a sweaty day!😅

Wednesday:

Mia didn’t want me to leave again this morning!  I’m not sure why she’s getting progressively worse?  Maybe because reality has set in and she’s realised that she has to go every day?!

The phone and the internet were both down at work so I had to keep half-jobbing everything which was pretty frustrating!  Then I was sitting in a planning meeting later on, when I happened to glance down at my watch and had to jump up and run out of there as it was time to pick Mia up!  I am sure we will get used to our new timetables soon, but after being able to leave work and swing past daycare to pick Mia up at whatever time I liked for so long, it may take a little while!😬

I went to Zumba with Dani and talked her into doing the 8 week challenge. There is a cash prize for the person who loses the most weight and also for the person who gets the most points for challenges!  So I am aiming for us to get one each!  It was very hot again today and I sweated my arse off!  Then I had to have a sweaty photo taken  so that we can compare them in 8 weeks time!  There are some very unflattering images of me being captured this week!😳 Then I got home and realised I had left my challenge book on the table at Zumba!  Great start!🙄

Ian went to bring his bike inside from where he had left it outside the house and realised it had been stolen!😲 As much as I “told him so” about leaving it unlocked, I was still pretty shocked as we live on a very quiet street.  But it just goes to show that you can never be too careful with your belongings!  It is another two weeks until he can get his driving license back so someone is clearly having a laugh at us!

Thursday:

I was GW this morning as I had to get up extra early to get everyone ready and deliver Ian to work first thing!  I am not a morning person and Ian starts work when only birds should be awake.😴

I did my first school visit of the year which was nice and good to get out of the office.  I also had tutoring in the afternoon, so went home to prepare when a delivery van pulled up in the drive and a man got out with a beautiful flower arrangement!  “Awww!” I thought.  “They must be from Ian for putting me out this morning!”

The delivery guy said “Is this 7 Lavarack?”

“Yes!” I said beaming.

“Oh, sorry!  Wrong number!”  And he went next door!!!😣

At this point, Richard arrived for tutoring, looked at the van and said “Oh, who got you flowers?!”

“Nobody, unfortunately!”😒

Mia had completed her first week at school by default as it was a Public Holiday the next day,  but she was still very excited to get a certificate for it!  I said she could choose what she wanted to do when she got home and she chose to give me a makeover!  I won’t take too much offence to that!

Friday:

Australia Day!  Mia and I went to the free activities (featuring free food!) up at Picnic Point, but it was understandably pretty busy and queue-tastic for face-painting, so we gave that a miss this time or we may never have left!  She queued for the big slide and then almost bottled it, but faced her fears and her face on the video was hilarious! Unfortunately, I can’t show you because Facebook won’t let me save my own video to post here! What is up with that?! Answers on a postcard please technical wizards!🙏🏻

Then it was over to Bianca’s for a good old Aussie Barbie and thong-throwing competition.  Ian retained his title which swelled his head a little!

Then we took control of the music and were trying to find Aussie classics, but Ian’s choices were ridiculously obscure so we sacked him from that role and put on the Spice Girls and Steps and had a dance instead!  Mia was a big fan of “5,6,7,8” and has been requesting it ever since!🙊  Ian turned into GH (imagine Clark Kent turning into Superman and take away the “Super”) and loudly moaned about every musical choice from that point onward and pretty much everything I said because, well, that’s what GH does!🙄  Mia and I had a great night regardless of the moaning and were well and truly ready for our beds!😴

Saturday:

Ugh – hangover!🤢  Could have happily stayed in bed all day, but had to go and fetch the car from the night before AND take Mia swimming!  I had to drive Ian’s Ute to get the car while he barked instructions at me.  He had not turned back into Clark Kent!😒  Hangovers make him GGH!  We argued in the car and then he chose not to sit next to me at swimming, which was pretty childish.  I just played on my phone, which also makes him mad.😜

I tried to avoid him for the rest of the day because he was like a bear with a sore head, so he watched movies on the couch with Mia and I went back to bed!😴

Sunday:

Mia got invited to her first classmate’s party at Kloud9ine trampoline park!  She took a while to warm up to the bouncing (which was the whole point of going there!), preferring to loiter around the food table looking like I never feed her – she does this a lot at parties!  At least it makes her fairly easy to locate I suppose!🙄

She won a teddy on the grabber arcade machine, which was quite a feat in itself, but then decided that she didn’t want that prize and wanted to keep trying for a makeup set (which she already has at home!)!  I refused to give her any more money which sent her into a meltdown where she wouldn’t listen to any form of reason – our cue to leave!

When we got home, Ian was still GH and would only grunt responses, so gave them both a wide berth for a while!

Mia was still being a pain in the arse on Skype to my Dad later and at bedtime story, so I closed the book, switched the lights off and stomped out of her bedroom!  She cried and tried to get me to come back in, but I stood my ground and she went quiet moments later, so must have dropped off pretty quickly!

Three grumpy Tolchers by the end of the week!  A new record!😬

*GH = Grumpy Husband for any new readers!  I was asked this recently, so thought I had better add it in!😊