MWNews 124

Kids came back from camping.  They said they had fun.  The weather was really good for them.  No rain and the temperature was not too bad.  Maeghan even got to take her kayak out.  Don't know for how long but she said it was tiring.  She fell out of it when she got back near the shore and ran into the sand. She said it tipped over but she did not get wet.  At least they came back in one piece.

They are back in school now.  Not sure if that is a good thing or not.  I think they like it but it is hard getting back into the routine.  They both come home really tired.

The weather turned hot that last couple of days.  It is supposed to get back to cold again tomorrow but for now, it is very hot, about 30 degrees here which is unusually warm for this time of year.  Tassie normally only had a hand full of days that are that warm and that is not until around Christmas time or late in the summer.  I have considered turning on the air conditioner but have managed to avoid it up until now.  Maeghan wants it on but since this is the last day of it being hot, I think I can leave it off until the next time.  Power bill is really high in this place so I try to avoid using it whenever I can get away with it.

The kids stay with me now, after school.  Juanita is working her new job and I pick the kids up from school and bring them here.  I take them back home most days to their house around 7 so they can be there when their mother gets home.  Since she has just started and it is a physical job, cleaning a school, she comes home exhausted so they don't get to interact with her all that much.

They normally stay at my house on Tuesdays, Maeghan has scouts, but I think they might be staying more than the one night a week from now on.  It might just be too hard to drive them home each night.  It is good now because we stop and get a frozen coke on the way but I think it will be easier to stay here a couple of times a week.

Juanita is still looking for a new house.  The one she is in is going to be renovated and they will raise the rent.  She cannot afford it now so she has to move. That is the main reason she has gotten a job.  With the loss of income from Sydney, she can no longer afford the expensive places she has been living.  Even my place would be too expensive for her so she is looking for something cheaper.

The problem is, there are no places cheaper.  None at all.  All the rents have gone up and there are no longer cheap places to rent.  Plus, it has apparently hit lots of people the same way.  Each house she looks at and applies for has 50 other applicants for it and so far, she has not been chosen for any of them.  I think it will be too hard for a single parent with little income to get an approval from most landlords but she has to keep trying.  A couple of new places opened up this week and she will apply for them as soon as they are available.  They are close to me so that will be good.  She has the added problem in that in order to get her pension, she is limited to the number of hours she can work.  Too complicated to go into here but she has to stay within thirty minutes of her work in order to qualify for carer pension for Maeghan.

I have offered to let them stay here so they can look for a place they want instead of taking the first place that accepts them.  I don't know if she will do that but it is an option for her.  She can't move back with her parents as they would lose their pensions or carer packages and it is too far from her work.  Another option would be for the kids to live with me and she stays with her sister but that causes problems as well.  Just all a bit too complicate for me but it is how she has to do things to allow her to receive her payments.

My job keeps getting weirder and weirder but that is how is supposed to be since it has been that way for 14 years now.  Can't say what is happening as I don't really know anymore but it keeps changing and I keep getting lost in the shuffle.  Don't have a boss or anyone to report to so no one takes any responsibility for what I do.  At times, hard to work that way but I live with it and have gotten used to it I suppose.  The Australians have no idea if they have a job from one day to another.  A lot of their jobs have moved to Melbourne or oversees so they are just waiting for the hammer to fall.  I have no idea what that will mean for me as they sign my paychecks but we will see.

Maeghan had to chose her classes for next year.  They are no offering some of the classes she wanted as not enough people showed an interest but she has most of what she wants.  She chose IT work over drama this time.  I hope it is not because of me.  She loves doing the drama but she was afraid she would miss out on IT if she chose drama and then they did not have it, which I think they are not going to have it so she would have been without a class if she had gone there.

We ran into the guy who does the plays here in Huonville.  Maeghan has been in one, was supposed to be in two and missed out on the last one.  He says they will be starting a new one soon but he does not know when or what it will be.  He will notify everyone on the mailing list when they decide.  She missed out on the current one because they had 150 people apply and only 60 parts were available.  Her friend did not make it either but she will try for the next one when it comes.

Going to have to go now.  Have to take the kids home and make Juanita's dinner.  She gets home around 8 although I think it is flexible.  It is whenever they get done which usually takes about 3 hours and she starts at 4:30 after all the teachers have left school.  Hope things turn for the better soon.

Until next time

MWNews 123

Another day, another dollar.  I think I have used that intro before.  Can't be bothered to go back and look and since no one reads this anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter.

Been a whole day since my last entry.  Man, has a lot happened since then.  I played video games, I watched TV, and I slept.  Oh, and I also walked to the shops, without the dog.  I had coffee and got rolls for my beef stew.  It's a full life and not a lot of time for meandering.

Kids get back today.  I think they are staying the night with me.  Not sure what I am going to feed them.  I am having one of my special dishes that no one likes but me.  Onion, bacon and cabbage.  All fried together with a few other things thrown in.  The special ingredient that makes the dish is caraway seeds.  I add a lot of those and it seems to bring what otherwise would be a bland dish with no real taste into something I really like.  Gives me gas but I love it.  I sometimes serve it over rice, which I will probably do this time as Maeghan doesn't like the dish but she loves rice.  I'll make her something else to go with her rice.  William will probably have either chips and gravy from the chicken shop or macaroni and cheese.  Might make him a pie and sausage rolls.  I have enough for one of them but not both.

I did buy some rolls and I have a lot left over.  I will need to make something to go with them for tomorrow night.  Not sure what yet, maybe I will make the corned beef I have in the freezer.  William doesn't like that either but he loves the rolls.  I have some cauliflower I need to cook soon so I might add that to something.  I already added it to my breakfast omelet this morning.  Just bacon, cauliflower and eggs but it was good.

I have a lot of work to do but I can't really be bothered to do it.  Nothing important but I need to get back into the swing of it and doing more work instead of playing video games.  The problem with the video games is that I am re-playing Fallout 4 on survival mode and I bought some DLC for it that I have not used.  Since I am back at the beginning, I have to get to a certain level before I can use it so I am replaying the whole thing.  Since I spent 15 days game play time on the first run through, it will be a while before I can get to that level again.  And, if I do not play at least a couple of times a week, I forget what I was doing and how the controllers work.  Can't go play other games because it messes with me in knowing which buttons do what.

Which brings up another thing about me and not about the kids, which is what I should be doing.  I think I am losing my mind, and I mean that seriously.  I don't know if it is the beginning of Alzheimer's, or just old age or what it might be but I cannot concentrate anymore.  I know, it is probably just my imagination, but it is getting serious.  I cannot work for very long and things I used to be able to do when programming I can no longer do.  I have to write everything down and cannot remember what I did 10 minutes ago.  It is serious.

I have not told anyone yet but maybe they have noticed and are not saying anything.  I don't think so.  Since I do not talk a lot and never have, they may not notice that I am just a little quieter that I used to be and it is mainly because I cannot remember from one moment to the next what they are talking about and I can't remember any thoughts I might have had on any subject they might be talking about.  Since I have never really commented on what others are saying it doesn't really have an impact on the conversation if I don't say anything but now, I have noticed I think of something I need to add and then I forget it by the time someone else has said something else. It has a lot to do with why I cannot write in here like I want to.  I just can't remember what it is I have to say but I know there was a lot I wanted to say.

Now I have forgotten where I was headed with this, not that you would ever know, but I do forget why am doing something or why I have gone somewhere or even why I stood up at times.  I know, that is what everyone goes through and maybe it is what I am going through but it is really bad at times.  I will think of something, get up to do it and not remember why I stood up.  I have begun to mention it a lot to others but they just think it is funny and have not put together that it happens a lot lately.

I mention it here because I am scared.  I have always been if not the smartest person in the room then one of the smartest.  I know that sounds conceited and full of myself but that doesn't make it not true.  It is just something that is.  I have known a few people who are smarter than I am and there are a lot of things that others know more about than I do.  But it has rarely been the case where I do not know something about anything that is being discussed and most of the time, I can see where other people are getting things wrong.  I have always tried to not interfere with others beliefs or their interpretation of the facts but I have not always succeeded and have made my self seem arrogant and condescending.  Maybe I am and more likely probably I am but now, I am scared because it is not that I have lost that but that I am afraid I am losing it.  Could be a good thing and maybe I won't even notice it when it happens but I am noticing it now.

My life has always been about the ability to think. Not that I have a lot of information, although I seem to have a lot according to others, but I have always had the ability to think through something and figure it out.  Now, it is hard.  It does not come easily to me and I am afraid I am losing my mind or my ability to figure things out.  It has gotten to the point where I notice it everyday.  It is not nice but I am too young to have this kind of problem, which is why I am afraid that if it is happening now, then what will it be like in ten years.  I don't know and it scares me.  My kids need me.

I am through talking about that.  Just that abruptly, I will stop.  My problem, my issue, I will figure it out.  Or not.

I am going to work now.  Have to create some document that I use to keep information about a system.  I tried to introduce this to every system back when I ran that project but I was voted down but the rest of the team.  Must have been about the time I stopped consulting the team.  Not that there is anyone left but I will not go into job issues again today.

The kids will be home sometime this afternoon.  I am going to make them brownies.  Maeghan has been asking for them for a while now.

A quick note about the kids so this is not all about me, but Maeghan says she wants to cook and is taking courses at school.  I don't think she really wants to but I think we are going to start working on things with my end goal to start catering for people.  We need to come up with things that are repeatable and cost effective so we can offer them to others, mostly family and friends at first but maybe a way to make money later, when I lose my job.  I don't think she understands what is involved, I don't understand what is involved, but everyone tells me I should do it and I think it is about time I got started.  I have ulterior motives but I will not go into that now.  Just say we are going to work on it.  Might even get William involved but I need to start playing sports with him.  He has had no one to do that with and I used to be good at it so I will try to do something to improve his coordination and help him make more friends  at school.

On that note, I am going to go now,

Until next time

MWNews 122

I keep getting ready to type a new entry but then I never have the time.  As you can see, I am making the time now.  Not that I can remember all the things I wanted to talk about but at least I can ramble along as they come back to me.

The kids are away camping for one day.  Not sure why they would only go for one day but I had to work and it is school holidays and they were promised to go camping, so their mother took them.

Way down south of here, almost to the artic circle.  It will be very cold but they went anyway.  A place called Cockle Creek.  It is on the ocean, not sure why it is called Cockle Creek but it is about as far south as you can go in Tasmania and since Tasmania is already pretty far south, it just gets closed to the bottom of the world.

They come back tomorrow.  If they are not back by the afternoon, I am supposed to go looking for them.  We are not sure if they will have phone service down there.  I have no idea who they are going to go a whole day without the phones, iPads, and electronic toys.  William will go crazy.

They took along one of Maeghan's friends.  William's friend wanted to go also but he was supposed to have another of his friends over so he could not come.  I am not sure they understood where they were going or how cold it is going to be.  Maeghan has her kayak with her and she expects to go kayaking.  I believe the water will be close to freezing so I don't think they will be going in the water.  It takes up most of the car and if very heavy so I am hoping they do not drop it at any time.  Normally I do it but Juanita said she could do it by herself and could not be talked out of taking it.

Anyway, they will be back tomorrow.  I have the kids here for the rest of the holidays.  Juanita starts a new job on Friday.  Another long story I will probably never go into but she lost a lot of money when she stopped taking care of Sydney so she has gotten a cleaning job at one of the schools.  It is afternoons, after school, so I will have the kids from school and they will stay with me until Juanita gets off work.  I am sure they will end up staying most of the time at my place but the plan is for Juanita to pick them up on her way home.

Speaking of home, Juanita is having to move again.  The house she is in is being renovated, while she is still living there, and they want to almost double the rent.  The are charging too little now for where it is but with the improvements, they can get as much as they want to ask.  Juanita cannot afford that so she has to move.

The problem is, there are no houses available anywhere in this area.  She has to stay in this area because the kids have to go to the same school.  Next year is Maeghan's last year so it would not be good to have her move schools again.  William has made some friends at his school so we would prefer he not move either.  But there are no houses, or there are no houses that are affordable.  Only two have become available that Juanita can actually afford and they are not that close and when she has looked them there have been 20 to 30 other people looking at the same time.  So she has little hope of getting either one of them.  She has to be out of her other house at the end of November so at this point, I have no idea what she is going to do.  When she gets back, I will discuss her options with her but none of them are really good options.  As she has no choice, she might have to do something does not want to do.  We will see how it goes.

Now that I have all the downer messages in here, maybe I should talk about something that is uplifting and better.  Can't think of anything.

I do have a dog now.  Not that I wanted a dog and technically, I am not allowed to have him but Juanita's parents can no longer take care of their dog so I have inherited it.  For a while, it was staying at Juanita's but she is not allowed to have a dog either, so I asked my landlord if I could keep the dog on a temporary basis and they said it was ok, as long as it is temporary.  Having no plans or idea on what I will do with the dog I am sure I will be in trouble when they find out it is here permanently.

He is a good dog, well trained in going outside.  He does get bored and will go crazy every time he thinks he is going out the front but I have to keep him in the back since there is a fence there and he cannot get out.  Plus, he was always running away at the parents house so they had to keep him chained up all the time.  Since I don't do that, he thinks he is free to run anywhere when he is outside and if I let him, he will run away as soon as he can.  Actually, I only think he will run away, he keeps pretty close to me when we are out so he might not but since I live in town, there is good chance for him to run out into the road and I can't let that happen.  I have taken him to the shops with me before but he is not well behaved when he gets there and if there are any other dogs, he goes crazy trying to get to them so I don't take him very often.  Maybe this situation will work itself out soon and we can find a new home for him.

I can smell my lunch burning so I am going to have to go.  I didn't say a lot of positive things but I meant to.  Just got lost in the problems and issues so I never got around to it.  Be a good excuse to try again tomorrow.  Like that will ever happen.

It's been fun and I will get back to this soon but I have to go take my pie out of the oven.  Never thought I would be saying that but I am having a meat pie for lunch.

Until next time