MWNews 132

Heydy, Howdy, Hoedy.  Whatcha been up to. Its Saturday here, first day of the kids two week break.  Maeghan is in New Zealand and William is staying with me for a few days.  Not sure if he is going home tomorrow or Monday but we will see.

Don't have anything to do today except go for a Pokémon walk.  William likes to play Pokémon on his phone but never gets a chance to except when we go together.  I like to go for a walk and sometimes play on my phone when I do, so when we get the chance, we go together.  It is kind of cold outside but I don't think it is too cold to go.  Just have to wait and see if it rains.

Juanita might be coming over later for me to do some computer work for her.  Not sure what time but she said sometime today.  Since we never go far on our walks, I can get back if she shows up while we are out.  Haven't asked William if he wants to go yet but I am sure he does.  Kind of boring sitting around here all day.

We might go to Kingston tomorrow, to a church I was invited to.  Not sure if we will make it or not as it starts at 9:00 in the morning and William sometimes doesn't get up early.  Most of the time he does, but on occasion, he doesn't wake up until 9 or so.  We will have to see how it goes tomorrow.  I want to take him to McDonalds anyway as he hardly ever gets to go anymore and both Juanita and I do not have any money until I find some work.  I have enough for the occasional visit though.  Besides, with no money, $20 is not going to make a lot of difference in paying my rent.

I need to go down to Centrelink and see if I can get government help from then. Right now, they said I could not get it until December, which was fine with me at the time but I didn't think it was going to take this long to get a new job.  There is just no work for what I do here in Tasmania and I have tried to get some other type of job but no one will hire someone with no experience and who is as old as I am.  You won't know it but I have to step away for a few minutes.  For you, it will be immediate, but the tone or topic might change while I am away and I wanted to warn you.

I'm back.  It was days, weeks, maybe even years since I was last here.  Or maybe it was 5 minutes.  Even in that amount of time, I forgot what I was talking about so lets start anew.

Maeghan is in New Zealand.  Been there for a few days now.  I think she is having fun but I am not sure.  I know she doesn't like the person she is rooming with and none of her real friends went with her.  There is one boy but I don't know if he is one of her friends or if he hangs around with Maeghan.  He has his own friends I am sure.  I think he is a friend of Maeghan's best friend and that is how she knows him but hopefully, he is spending some time with her since the other friend is not there.  That sounds way too complicated but the gist of it is I am not sure she is having as much fun as she could be without someone to hand around with.

I get pictures everyday and Juanita sends me pictures from their Facebook page for the group.  I don't have Facebook so I can't get them.  Maeghan mostly sends a picture of herself and she sent me one picture of a cookie shop but I am not sure why she did that.  I don't recognize what it is or why she might have sent it.  I do get to send messages back and forth each night so there is that.  First time she has been away for this long or first time I can't really talk to her.  There was the time Juanita took the kids away and I was unable to see or talk to them but that is old news.  It does kind of relate to why I have not been able to find a job.  I am sure I could go back to the mainland and get a job but then I would be an airflight away from them and if I did want to come back and see them, I would have no where to stay.  Plus, I don't have the money until I work for a while so moving back to the mainland is not a good idea.  I don't have the money to do it now anyway, so it is up to finding something here to keep me around.

I think Maeghan is going on the speed boat trip today.  That's where they go out in a very fast boat and it does some tricks and things while they are there.  I think it also shows them some things but you can't really see anything from a boat.  It is more of the thrill of the ride that is the purpose.  We have one just down the street from me, on the river.  The Huon Jet Boat place. It takes you up the river and then goes real fast and makes some fact turns and stuff.  I have never been on it but I see it sometimes when I walk down that way.  It seems there are more people that go on it than I thought there would be.  Guess it is one of the few tourist attractions around here so everyone that visits the forests down south stops in here and does that too.  I have no idea how much it costs.

Did I mention that William and I might go to a church in Kingston tomorrow.  I am pretty sure I did but in order to know that, I would have to scroll up and who has the time.  There is another church just down the road from me that I have been invited to also.  Not sure if I will be going to that one but I might.  I have been looking for a new church to go to since I haven't been in a couple of years.  I am not sure I will be welcome if I start spouting some of the things that I need to talk about but just for the people and being out of the house it would be worth it to try something new.  And if that makes some cryptic thing come out, just let you know that I also write another blog about that.  But I won't go into that here.

I have been trying to lose weight again.  Trying the occasional fasting methods.  I have found in the past that I can go a long while without eating so I thought I would try to reduce calories in this way.  Right now, I am up to eating one day, anything I want, and then not eating for a day.  I have lost three kilos in the past week that way but since I have 50 kilos to lose, it is just a start and will take a very long time.  I am going to up the times to 36 hours on and off soon so we will see if that does any better.  I know Maeghan was trying to lose weight and she did a really good job when I was doing all the cooking for her but we kind of fell off from doing Keto dieting and I am not sure if she was able to keep it off or not.  I will try to start helping her again when she comes back and we will see how that goes.  Kind of hard since I do not do all the cooking for her but maybe I can figure out a way to do it.  Send food home with her or something.  Again, it comes down to money as I am running out and I might have to stop eating all together if it gets any worse.

But I talk about that too much.  It's a real downer but for now, it is the major focus of my life and therefor the kids life also.  Once I find work, I hope to make our lives better but it cannot happen soon enough and I don't know if or how anything will change.  I'll be able to find more friends I think, going to work or meeting new people and that will be better for everyone.

Suppose I should be going now.  Maeghan will be back next week.  I have to go pick her up at the airport as Juanita will not have a car for a while as hers will be in the shop.  I don't know for how long but it will be a few days at least, I think.  Not sure what she will do.  I'd offer my other car but the brakes are shot on it and I have not wanted to spend the money fixing it before I have an job.  Once again, I bring up that topic so I will end this before I become too maudlin.  Yeah, it a big word.  Look it up.

Until next time

MWNews 131

See, I'm out of photos.  Not even sure what this one is but I got tired of looking.

Maeghan leaves for New Zealand tomorrow.  Gone for eight days.  On her own, with no one to pick her up and no one to play with.  Ok, so actually she is going with some of her classmates although the ones she likes are not going.  Probably should have said no to her going also but who knew I would be out of a job for so long.  Kind of an expensive trip but I guess it is once in a lifetime so hopefully, it will be worth it.

William got a FLAMES award at school.  Not sure what that means but he got one for having a good attitude in science.  I'm sure it is something we should be proud of but he doesn't know why he got it either so we just have to say good job.  He doesn't get a lot of awards so anything that shows how good he is doing in school is a positive.  Maybe it means the teachers have stopped hating him.  Only a few of them do and I am not really sure they hate him but I have spoken about it before and everything seems to be going better this term.

They go on vacation at the end of the week.  A two seek break between terms.  Maeghan will be in Alaska but William will still be here.  Not sure how often he will be staying with me.  I don't have any money to take him anywhere so he might prefer to stay at home where he can relax but we will see what he wants to do and do that.

Maeghan will be gone until next week.  She hasn't practiced packing yet and I have been telling her to do it for over a week.  We went to the shopping center last weekend and got her some shower shoes and some other little things.  They did tell her she was not allowed to wear leggings at some of the restaurants they are going to in France.  Leggings is about all she wears so I had to go and get her some pants.  Not sure why she doesn't wear them more often but she didn't have any so I got her one pair.  Maybe that will be enough but I couldn't afford any more than one pair.  It's horrible not having any money.

It's not that I don't have any but I am afraid to spend what I have until I have a real job.  And who knows when that will happen.  I apply for lots of jobs but get rejected each time. I have no idea why.  People I have asked say I have the experience and my resume doesn't look bad but I never seem to get beyond sending in my resume.  I never get the chance to get to the interview part where I think I can shine.  Then again, I have not done any interviews in a long time so maybe I can't do interviews but I haven't gotten the chance to find out yet.

While Maeghan is in Albania I might go to a movie or something.  I have a couple of free tickets that William and I can use but I don't think there are any movies we want to see and I don't want to waste the tickets on a movie we won't like.  We will have to see but I doubt if we will actually go, it's just a thought.

I seem to be having trouble typing today.  Not sure why but my hands keep going numb.  It is kind of strange.  One thing I have noticed since I started writing again is that my comprehension is better and my mind is working really well.  I used to be in a funk and couldn't concentrate for long and I had trouble thinking like I used to be able to.  But now, it seems to have gotten better.  I can figure things out and I can write and think funny things again.  Not sure how to describe it but I think it has helped me a lot.  I am writing and creating things I have not done in years.  Not a lot of funny things in here but I think it will come.  I do feel better about it.

I was writing a play for Maeghan and I to do at the next Shakespeare festival.  I'm not really sure what they do there but it is run by the family of one of Maeghan's friends.  I was writing a skit based on Romeo and Juliet.  Basically, having Maeghan make fun of me for being too old to be Romeo.  I am still working on it but it appears it might even be funny.  I told Maeghan about it and she thought it was funny so we will see where that leads.

William was in the car when I was telling her about it and I think he was jealous and wanted me to do something for him and I.  I will think about it and try to come up with something we can do together.  He won't be able to remember a lot of lines but there might be something I can do.  It would be fun to do something with both of them.  Maybe something for all three of us.  I will just have to think about it and see where it goes. I know I can write something outside of Shakespeare but I am not sure if that is allowed.

Guess I should be going now since my hands are really starting to hurt.  Might be the way I am sitting which is back from the keyboard and reaching out to type but it is helping my back to sit this way and I don't want to move.

On  a quick food note, I made a lot of guacamole today.  I started with two avocadoes and then added another.  When I tasted it, it had too much salt and no lemon so I went to the store and got two more avocadoes and a lemon.  Now I have a big bowl made with five avocadoes.  I am pretty sure I will not be able to eat all that before it goes bad.  I did make some avocado toast but they barely put a dent in the bowl.  I was hoping Maeghan would eat some but she is saying her tummy hurts.  I hope it gets better before she heads to Saudi Arabia.

And with that note, I am outa here.

Until next time

MWNews 130

It's morning.  I think.  Maybe it's more afternoon.  Can't tell from here.

I think it has been two weeks, maybe just one.  Days run together when you have nothing to do.  Still looking for work and I am all out of recent pictures.  Not sure why but there are some old ones no one has ever seen.

Haven't been up to a lot.  I think in the last one, we had come back from swimming.  As always, I don't really remember so I will just jump into it.

Paid off the last of Maeghan's trip.  She leaves next week for New Zealand.  She will be gone for 8 days.  Not sure if I get to say goodbye to her here or if I get to go to the school and say goodbye at the bus.  I gave here a couple of bags to practice packing but I am not sure she will do that.  She needs to make sure her stuff will fit and decide what she can and cannot take with her.  I bought her a great big parka and it has to go into her bag so it will take up a lot of room.  I don't know if she will need it or not but it is cold in NZ so she was told to bring one.

They are travelling everyday while they are there, staying in a different place each night.  Lots and lots of activities planned.  Boat riding, bobsledding, museums, hiking, all kinds of different things in different places.  Hopefully, she will get to do all of it.  They might even be swimming in a hot spring but I think it will be too cold to do that.  But she leaves in a week and I am sure they will have fun.  Be a long time to be away from home.

William has been doing ok.  He got his Naplan test back, it's an Australian thing.  He was disappointed but I think he might have missed some of it because he got zeroes in a couple of the subjects which I would think means he did not take those.  He didn't do that great in the ones he did have grades for either but he has never been good a school.  He does seem to enjoy going so that is good.

William has started laughing and smiling with me lately.  He normally doesn't do that but it would seem I have finally become funny to him.  Not sure what I have changed but I do notice him smiling a whole lot more lately.  It's kind of nice to see him happy.  Not that he is unhappy but he has never seemed to get my humor, or anyone else's, before now.  It's a nice change.

We went to a school movie the other night, to raise funds for Maeghan's trip.  I think it is for the insurance on the trip as I have already paid for everything else but they needed to make some more money.  It was the Peter Rabbit movie.  I wasn't really paying attention but the parts I did see I thought were really funny.  Most of the jokes would have gone over the kids heads I would think but they all laughed a some parts.  I did find out about halfway through the movie that Maeghan and William had already seen it so we could have skipped it but Maeghan had to sell tickets at the door so she had to be there anyway.  It was fun.

I did fall down the stairs as we were leaving.  I was looking at my phone and ran into an overhang on the staircase.  Didn't really hurt myself but I scratched my phone and my shoulder hurt for a long time after that.  My back hurt also and it seems to be getting worse the last couple of days.  Not sure why.  I did move some weight machines about three weeks ago so maybe the fall hurt it again.  Not sure but I can barely walk at times.  Makes it hard to go for a walk each day as I have been doing.  Trying to lose some weight, as always, so I thought I would at least walk each day.  Not very long walks and with my back hurt, I have to stop and rest a lot but I stop at coffee shops and have a coffee or I stop at the shops and buy things.

HQ is going right now, so I have to keep interrupting to answer questions.  So far, not so hard but I think I will have to stop typing soon.  Then again, maybe not.  I just missed a question so I am out.  But, I do have to go to the school soon.  William asked me to go to a play or something at school so I think I need to go.  He usually never tells me when he is in something at school.  Mostly because he does not participate a lot but he told me about this one and asked me to go so I think I will.  I don't know if he told his mother to be there or not but I am pretty sure she has to take her mother to the doctor so I would assume she would not be there.

In any case, I need to get going.  I am watching the kids tonight for a bit.  Not one of my normal nights but Juanita said she does not know what time she will be getting home so I am watching the kids until she picks them up.  I am not sure if this is a substitute for tomorrow night when the kids are usually here but we will see.  So, that's it for me.

Until next time

MWNews 129

Hey, Hello, and whatever.  Can't remember the rest. I think it has something to do with gumballs.  Then again, I might be mistaken.

Been a couple of days, I don't know how many and can't spend the time going back to look.  I am sure all the people who read this are very aware.  I can see by the number of views, this has become very popular.  No views in three years.  Might be my fault, I haven't posted in three years.  But, it never was about the views.  I think the only one who ever actually read these was my father and he has been gone for a long time now.

Maeghan might start reading them.  I am sure if she has, she will comment about it.  Or, it could be a secret.  She might just be spying on me.  That's what kids do when they reach the eleventh grade.

Oh, did I mention she has registered for the eleventh grade.  We did that last Thursday.  Was a grand ceremony.  Lots of people and lots of confusion.  We got there at about 4:15 or maybe 4:30.  There was a small crowd and you had to fill out an 11 page form.  Now that I think about it, maybe it was 11 pages because she is going to the eleventh grade.  Coincidence?  I think not.

It was a lot of stuff that they should have already had.  You can get it from the school and she has already filled out a lot of forms but I suppose each school is different so they make you fill out the same information each time.  Probably have to fill out a twelve page form for next year.

It took a while to fill out, which turned out to be a good thing.  There was the initial rush of people who filled it out and the line got to be about 20 or 30 people but by the time we had ours filled out, there were only 4 or 5 people in line.  Of course, about that time, a whole lot of other people started arriving but we didn't have to worry about them.

When we got in, they had a folder for Maeghan.  It had nothing in it but it was a folder with her name on it so I suppose it was official.  They were glad they had it because it meant they knew she was coming.  It was kind of confusing about where we should go but when Maeghan mentioned she was in VET class, they took us to the VET people.  There were a lot of other groups but as we did not get to talk to them, I have no idea what they were for.

The VET guy asked Maeghan what she wanted to do.  Maeghan being Maeghan, she said she did not know.  We had talked about it before we got there and she had looked up all the classes she wanted to take the night before but she said she didn't know.  I prompted her and the VET guy kept asking so I think she finally got across what she wanted to do.  He was trying to tell her to do something else but in the end, he agreed with her on what she should be doing.  He was saying that she should continue with her VET training but Maeghan had figured out that she wanted to do child care work first.  Once we got that straightened out, he recommended the same classes that Maeghan had already picked out. So I think she is taking a child care class, a math class, a drama class and something else I can't remember.  She is sitting about four feet from me so I could ask, but why bother.  No one reading this will ever know the difference.

After that, it was just a matter of making sure her forms were filled out correctly.  They didn't actually check them, they only took our id's but the lady said she was happy with the forms.  Guess that means Maeghan is registered.  They said she will get confirmation sometime in December and start classes the following year.  The guy did say the child care classes were hard and she had to go twice a week but since I have no idea what would be normal I am guessing it shouldn't be a problem.

The whole system is a bit confusing to me.  They have to do so many hours and complete so many credits in different subjects, I don't know what they have to take and what is an extra.  There are three main things, something called ICT, an English credit and a Math credit.  Her drama class gets her the English credit so I don't know if that means she has to take it next year or not.  Guess I will just have to wait and find out.

Let's see, is there anything amazing I can say about William.  He seems to be doing ok in school or at least I have not heard anything bad.  Not sure if that is good or bad but none of the teachers have tried to talk to me so I assume it is all good.

The kids stayed most of the weekend with me and they are here now.  Juanita had other things to do.  We won't go there.  They are supposed to be here again tomorrow but I don't know if that will happen yet.  I might have to go to Devonport for a job interview on Wednesday.  A whole of driving and a whole lot of money for a job I am not qualified for but maybe I can lie my way in.  I am positive I am better than any of the local yokels they are bound to get but it is just a matter of getting my foot in the door someplace.  I have another interview here in Hobart on Thursday but that is just with a recruiter, not an actual job.  Maybe I can get in somewhere.  I need to do that soon as I am rapidly running out of money.  Trying to make it until December when the government will supply me with some income but a job would be better if I can get it.  I don't think I will make it until then.

I'm going to be going now.  Starting to get a headache.  I have been getting a lot of headaches lately and stomach aches and just a lot of being sick.  I am putting it off as stress but maybe not.  We might never know.  But,

Until next time

MWNews 128

I'm here.  A couple of days since the last entry.  Must be losing my mind posting so often.  Is this 2005?  I suppose now that I have started I have to finish typing.

We went swimming on Sunday, Father's Day.  I swam for about 15 minutes.  The kids pool is heated and pleasant but for some reason, the kids wanted to go to the big pool.  It is not heated, or it is so big it is not heated as much.  It was a cold walk from one pool to the other which was kind of strange since it was very warm in the building.

Once we got to the bigger pool, the kids jumped in but I was a bit reluctant.  I knew it was going to be cold.  Maeghan talked me into it so I got in.  I was right, it was cold.  She kept telling me it would warm up when I moved around but I was not finding that to be the case.  I treaded water for about two minutes, it is 2 meters deep so I can't stand on the bottom.  After that, I was exhausted.  And, I was not any warmer, in fact, I was getting colder.  So I opted out.

One good thing about it was that is was a lot warmer being out of the water than when I was in it.  It was actually pleasant at that point.  So I sat on the bench and watched for about ten minutes then I decided to go get a coffee.  They have a small café there and the coffee was not too bad.  I had some kind of muesli slice, or that is what they called it.  It tasted really good, lots of fruit in it, but it was overwhelmingly sweet.  I got it to have with my coffee but it was so huge and tasted so sweet, I finished the coffee before I finished the slice.  With no coffee left to counteract the sweetness I did not finish the slice.  I ate about two thirds of it but could not work up the appetite to finish the rest.

Just about the time I was going to go back to the kids, they showed up at the café and said they were hungry.  I think they got some chips and some dim sim or something.  William also got a coke before he went back to the pool.

They said they were going to slide down the slide but I did not see them do it so I cannot say whether they did or not.  It is a decent slide into the water.  Lots and lots of kids and adults go on it.  I never have but it looks like fun.

After a while, they went back to the big pool.  I went and got dressed and then sat on the bench where they were.  I am told William went off the big diving board but I did not see it.  It is a ten meter board so I question whether he actually did it or not but they say he did.  I have seen him go off of some smaller ones but I don't think I have ever seen him do something that big.

Afterwards. we went to McDonalds of course.  I was just stopping for a frozen coke and a snack but they both said they were hungry again so they had two snacks.  We were at the pool for about 3 hours.  The hardest part was leaving the pool and walking to the car.  It is all uphill and by the time I go to the car, I was exhausted.  I think that says more about what bad shape I am in as opposed to how big the hill was but it was hard to walk the whole thing without stopping and resting.

We came home and had my special lemon, fried olive spaghetti.  I think I need to start leaving out the lemon as I used it the first time I made it and did not put olives in it and it was really lemony but since I have added onions and green olives, you cannot really taste the lemon anymore.

I have been making my green olive spaghetti for a long time, since I was in the US and I saw something similar on the Frugal Gourmet show.  I have adapted it and changed it over the years until it is my favorite way of eating spaghetti but then I saw the lemon thing on the movie Chef and I tried that.  Now I have combined them and I think it is great but since Maeghan does not really like the green olives I will make it two separate thing from now on I think.

Did you notice I turned this into a food blog again.  I am good at it.  You probably didn't even notice, that's how subtle the switch was.  I'm tricky that way.

Maeghan has her college signup this week.  It's on Thursday.  She has a doctors appointment in the afternoon and I was not going to get to go as I have to pick up William from school but now I think we have arranged for me to pick up William and then meet them in town and swap kids so I can go with Maeghan.  Her thing is between 4 and 7 and she can show up at anytime but I think we need to get there early so she has more time to do what she needs to do.

She has to take her resume, and a cover letter and several other pieces of identification.  I think we have it all together now.  I had helped her write a resume a few months back and we wrote a cover letter for her last night.  We will see if that is what they are looking for.

I guess I have written enough in this entry.  If I write everything every time, I might run out of things to say and have to resort to talking about food all the time.  We don't want that. So I will go ahead and end this for now.

Until next time

MWNews 127

Hey, hey, hey.  Another day, another entry.  Don't think this is a sign of things to come but with nothing else to do, I thought I would do this again.  I have been updating my other blog but I won't mention it here.  If you want it, then go look for it.  Not for everyone.  Warning, religious content.

But back to this one.  It is a bit before the kids come over.  I am not sure what time they will be here but I was told after dinner.  It's 5:27 now, so I expect them at any time.

Hopefully, they are bringing their swimsuits.  I told them to but they might forget.  We are planning on going tomorrow, assuming they still want to.  They might have changed their minds or one of them might be sick.  That happens sometimes.  We will have to see when they get here.  Since it usually takes me about an hour to write one of these, they might be here before I finish.

One thing I am noticing, I am getting back into typing for some reason.  I have not had to do any extensive typing in a while so I normally am using the one or two finger method on my phone or, if I have to type anything on here, I use two fingers.  But since I have been regularly updating these blogs, I seem to have gotten my old rhythm back.  When I was a kid, 45 years ago, I took a typing class and I could type over 120 words a minute.  I think I am at about 60 now.  Don't know.  I think there are some typing tests you can take online to find out how fast you can type.  I will have a look and get back to you.  I know how much the suspense of not knowing will haunt you.

I thought I just heard a car outside but I don't see anything.  I hear cars all the time lately.  I think something happened to the lady who lives next door.  Two ambulances came a couple of weeks ago and ever since then, there have been some people I don't know living there.  Not sure who it is but I assume they are relatives of her.  She lived there with her grand-daughter and maybe they are just there to take care of her while she is sick.  I think it is something worse than that but as I did not really talk to them I was afraid to go over and ask.

The kids did show up, I just couldn't see the car.  So I suppose I should end this sometime soon.  But I had so much to say.  One thing I will talk about is what I am making myself for dinner because we all know this is really a food blog and not about any kids you might have heard of.  I just put them in here to make it seem like I am writing this for them, but really, it is a chance to talk about food.

I am making chili.  I think I vaguely remember writing about chili at least once before.  I spent the day, or maybe it was just an hour, searching for dried chili's in the stores.  You cannot buy they here apparently.  They have started selling chipotle in adobo sauce in little cans so I got some of those to use.  I have used them before but I tried a different brand this time.  The other brand had them all chopped up in the can, or jar in this case, but the new ones are whole in the can.  I am hoping they break up a bit before they are finished cooking.  If not, I will have to try to do it in the chili while they cook.

I don't think I but enough onion in it but it is too late now.  I only put a small onion in because I did not want to open the other package of onions I bought but I am pretty sure it needs more.  I put two jalapenos in it and some garlic and tomato paste.  I might have to add some more water to it but I used a whole litre of chicken stock and it seems to be doing ok for now.  I know, chicken stock in chili but that is what I had.  I did not have any beef stock and I was not going back to the store.

So, there it is.  My dinner for tonight.  I usually make rice with it and pour it over it but I am thinking I might go Cincinnati style and put it over spaghetti.  I don't really like that style but have not had it in a long time so I might just try a bit of it over that.  Then again, I might just have it by itself with some tortillas.  I think that might be good this time.  Maeghan loves rice so I will probably end up making rice for her but they already had dinner so I don't know if she is hungry or not.  We will have to see.  It will take another couple of hours before it is ready so I have plenty of time to decide.

Now that I have doubled the size of this entry talking about food, I am gong to end it.  I hope to take some more up to date pictures tomorrow but we will see how that goes.  Not sure if they will let me or if I will remember.  These old pictures I have do not really have just Maeghan and William in them so I need some more.

I guess I am going so,

Until next time

MWNews 126

Now where was I. Talking about something important I am sure. Then again, probably not. I just start new from here.

I would talk about some more of the bad stuff but I don't want to do that as much as I do.  Maybe it would help me to talk about it but this is about the kids and I want it to be something they will enjoy reading later, if they ever get around to reading it.  Lots of good stuff in here and maybe they will remember some of it with fond memories.

I think I mentioned that Maeghan is going to college next year, or the equivalent of the 11th grade.  I think we go to sign up for her classes next week, or I think I am taking her to that.  Not sure if that is the case but I am going to try to do that.  She says she has picked most of her classes.  She did say she was going to take Spanish for some reason.  I have no idea why.  Haven't talked to her about what she is actually going to take.  The school is supposed to help her and give her advice.  We have been to a couple of meet the school nights and she talked to a lot of people.  I think she has a pretty good handle on what she is going to do but I probably need to go over it with her to make sure.

She is going to have to take the bus to school everyday.  The city bus although I think she can still get a student bus pass.  It is almost all the way in town and I am not sure when the busses run.  I think they have a direct bus from here to there but I don't know if she has had a look at when they run yet. She takes the bus to school now and most days she takes it home but that is an official school bus and only has school kids on it.  I don't think the new bus is that way although I have been told the direct bus has mostly kids on it.

William has gotten a lot better at school or he seems to have.  He gets in a lot more trouble at school but I think that is mostly being a growing boy.  What I mean by getting better is he actually reads things now.  He's not very fast at it but he can read almost everything he sees so that is much better than before.  Used to, he didn't even try, he just asked someone else to read it for him.  Now, he will read things and then ask what it means so that is much better.  He still does not do his school work very well.  He can when he tries but he always says he never has any work and I don't find out about it until later.  His report cards still put him at the bottom of the class each time.

Some of his problem, and I don't really have much evidence of this but have witnessed it in action a couple of times, if that the teacher really does not like him.  I know all kids say that but I have seen it and been called in to witness it on a few occasions.  It got to the point that I was going to talk to the vice principal about it.  I did have a little talk with him and with William and there has been no other incidents since then that I know of but I didn't report my thoughts on why I think the teacher has it in for him.  It just that on a couple of occasions, she came up to me and reported a problem and made some accusations that turned out later to not be true.  Don't know if it was on purpose or not but if that is happening, her reporting things that are not true, then I should be talking to someone about it.  But, we will just wait and see.

Sunday is Father's Day here.  The kids are coming over to spend the day and night with me. I think I am going to take them to the swimming pool in town.  It is heated and they have been asking me to go for some time I just did not want to take them over to their and house and ask for their swimming suits.  I told them to bring them with them this weekend so I guess now I have to go.  It's cheap and easy, if it is not too crowded, so I am sure they will enjoy it.  Not sure if I will swim or not but I think they might make me even though I don't really enjoy it.  Last time I was there, some lady tried to pick me up or that is what Juanita said.  All I know is she kept talking to me and I couldn't really understand her so I just nodded my head and agreed with her.  It was strange but I don't think that will happen again.

Since the last time I posted, several years ago, I have grown a beard.  A full beard not the goatee that I have had in the past.  I cut most of it off a few days ago, only because I could not get it straight and ended up trimming too much. I am still not sure if I want to keep it but I have had it for almost two years now.

I am still looking for work and the prospects are not looking good for getting work in Tasmania, which means I will have to move to the mainland away from the kids and that will be very, very hard but I still have a couple of months before it becomes a think I am forced to do.  I am hoping something comes up before then that will keep me here.  As I type this, I got a reply from someplace that is rejecting me so it gets worse.

Guess I should be going now.  Not sure what I have to do but I am sure there is something.  Hope to have better news next time and everything begins to work itself out.

Until next time

MWNews 125

I thought I had entered something in this a while back but it would seem that I have not in a long while. Lot of changes in our lives, most of them bad or should I say not-good.

I lost my job.  Way back in November of last year. They gave me a lot of money to go away but that is coming to an end soon. Still looking for work. They do not do what I do in Tasmania and no one will hire me for anything other than what I do because I do not have an experience in anything other than IT work. I'll go into it more a bit later but I should say what the kids have been up to since this is supposed to be about them.

Juanita and I have split up, again.  May be permanent may not be but for now, we are barely civil.  The kids come over to my house at least three days a week.  The stay one or two nights on the weekends. I take them home otherwise. We live near each other now, about a kilometre away on the same main road.  Its not hard to go back and forth when I need to but with me not having a job, I might have to move soon, either back to the mainland or to another part of the state.

Let's see, there is so much to say and so much to catch up on and I do not remember what I have said in the past or have any idea where to begin. Angie, Juanita's daughter, was living with Juanita for the past few months.  A major contributor to our problems.  She was here with two of her kids, the other two stayed in Queensland. Angie also has a new partner. Won't go into it too much but he is here also. He is basically paralysed and has a lot of other medical problems and has to be pushed around and maintained on a constant basis. But that is a tale not for this blog. They were supposed to leave this past week and were all set to get on the boat and move back to Queensland but he got sick while they were waiting on the boat and is now in a hospital somewhere in Launceston. No idea what the plans are at this point. I though the two kids would be coming back to stay with Juanita but they are still there staying with another relative and where is goes from there depends on how he recovers.

Natalie is also back in Tasmania. I don't think we know the full story but she said she could no longer afford to live in NSW because she has been out of work for almost two years now.  She came home to try to get a job here while her husband continued to work at his job. This was planned before Angie showed up and at one point, they were all living in Juanita's house. That has since changed but to describe that I have to go into another bit of news about Juanita's parents.

They are both really ill now.  Her father had a stroke about a year, maybe two years ago.  He has gotten steadily worse over time.  Frequent visits and stays in the hospital and each time is a bit worse than the last. He has become disoriented and forgetful and can no longer take care of Beverly, his wife. She is not better either and has continued to get worse. With his problems, he now has a nurse come in everyday to check on and help him with different things. He has what they call a package, some type of health care program that provides him with different things and services. I do not know if that includes care of Beverly but mostly what they do is clean the house, wash the clothes and general upkeep for the house. When the nurse is there, she also provides health care for him but I do not think they do the same for her. Once a week, they take them shopping and stuff.  All the other appointments they have to go to handled by Juanita, her sister and her brother. This is where Nat comes in.

Nat now lives with them or I think she does. I think officially, she does not because that would lower their healthcare package but I don't really know what the arrangement is. Nat stays there and watches out for them.  I think if they made it official, Nat could get paid for it but as I said, I do not know what the arrangements are, I just know she is there all the time, with no car and no way to leave the house. Doesn't seem like a good arrangement for her but it does allow her to live rent free with no real expenses. I have no idea how her husband sees all this. Not being in that loop anymore, I don't know what goes on or what does not. They don't speak to me anymore.  I don't know if Juanita has said something or what the issue is but I have been on my own for a while with no contact with anyone other than the kids.

Which I should get back to. I am pretty sure I said Sydney was gone from Juanita's care.  It's been over a year now.  She is in that picture but I don't really have any new pictures anymore. Haven't taken any in a while.

Maeghan is in year ten. What that means in Australia is this is her last year of school. Years eleven and twelve are considered University or College or something else. She has to go to a different school next year and pick all her courses and make all the arrangements herself.  It is a bit weird to me but they seem to understand it.  Basically, she has to decide now what she wants to do with her life and take courses that will help her do that.  She's fifteen.  How is she supposed to know what she wants to do with her life. But that is the way it is here. Depending on what courses she takes, she can get certificates in different things, like child management, hospitality, IT and dozens of other subjects.  If she wants to go to a real college after year twelve, she has to take classes that will allow her to do that and she has to be in the top of the class in order to qualify. It is still hard for me to understand what exactly she is supposed to do. The easiest way for me to explain it to myself is to say she is starting college next year, at fifteen. A bit strange for me.

She could just drop out at this point. No compulsive reason for her to go, other than she would have to find work but there is no requirement that she attend school beyond the tenth grade.

I just looked at the clock and it is 5:30.  I need to make the kids dinner before I take them back home so I need to end this right now.  Maybe I will get back to it maybe I won't.  Still lots of things to say but it will have to be another time. So ta-ta for now.

Until next time