I think I might be back. We will see once again. Writing to you from Merry Ol' Queensland. Been over a year since my last post. Took that long to get here. Ok, I made that up but I am here, we are here, we are all here. Way too much to go through. A whole years worth of things. I will just hit the highlights and go from here. Might take me a while, might just call it a day. You never know.
Currently, let's see, we live in Morayfield, a suburb north of Brisbane. Just a short distance from where Juanita and I first got married, in Redcliffe. We used to live closer, in Kippa-Ring, but moved here because that first unit we lived in was unlivable. Lots of problems I may or may not go into. Suffice to say, it was too small, bad neighbors and terrible parking. We had to park outside the gates, the gates only worked for about three weeks the whole time we were there, as we were not allowed to park in the drive because it was only wide enough for one car and there was a whole row of units along the drive.
It was two stories, bedrooms upstairs and only a lounge and kitchen downstairs. Bedrooms were ok but the living area would hold about 4 people comfortably and the kitchen only allowed one person in it at a time. It was too small. No backyard, it did have a garage but that was used by us for storage as two whole households of stuff moving into that small space was never going to be a good idea.
The neighbors were the worst part but I am tired of talking about it so I will move on.
We live now in a very comfortable house. It is classified as a unit but it is a whole house that it separate from all the other houses in this area. It is a gated community and the gates always work so you have to have a code or a key to get in and out. A small pool near us that the kids have used a few times. Used to be parking we could use but the managers of the area, who actually own their homes unlike us who rent, have decided that the excess parking is for visitors and we are not allowed to park there anymore. They said they were doing us a favor by allowing us to park in the driveway of our own home instead of requiring us to park in the garage. We have a very large van, that is used for Maeghan's wheelchair, and it does not fit in the garage. It is too tall. My van would fit but once again, we have too much stuff to keep it in the garage plus, Maeghan's wheelchair has to be moved in the garage to be charged and it would not fit both the wheelchair and my van. So, once again, my car it out on the street outside the gate and Juanita's van is in the driveway. Doesn't really work for me but I had no choice so it is what it is.
The new place has a backyard, albeit a small one. We have a dog now and he likes it in the yard, even though it is not really big enough for him. He is a small dog so it is ok, but he can never really get a good run going. He likes to run from one end to the other and back again, over and over again. I used to throw the ball for him but it would just bounce off the fence before he could get up enough speed to catch it. He is an inside dog anyway. We got a doggy door for him and he learned to go outside very quickly so that has never been a problem. He goes in and out all the time. Right now, he is sitting outside the glass door whining because we put him outside while we have a visitor. He jumps all over anyone that visits and tends to pee everywhere while he is so excited. So now we just put him outside. He sits there and stares at us and whines. although I think he has given up now and is falling asleep beside the doggy door waiting for it to open for him.
I just had a look at the formatting for this new entry. It isn't right but I am too tired to figure out why. So it will get posted this way. I need to move on to the kids anyway and with all I have to tell, it won't get done today. I will do what I can but most of it will have to wait for another entry, as soon as I remember what I was naming these. I think it was just the number but I'm not sure and I have no idea what number I was on. Have to figure it out before I publish. I think I have figured out what is wrong but I have no idea how to fix it. Some other time perhaps.
Maeghan has gradgi-ated. She finished 12th grade. Then again, at the time of this writing, she has not officially graduated. Seems there is a problem with her records. Long story, but since she did most of her work in Tasmania and only had the one year here, the requirements to graduate are different. They did not transfer her work from Tasmania correctly so she is one credit shy of getting her certificate. What has actually happened is the COVID story. I don't want to talk about that a lot but what happened last year was she was taking a class that would have been that credit. Some type of art class. When the schools locked down and the students did not go anymore, the school decided that this art class could not continue and they cancelled it halfway through the year. In order for her to get the credits, the school told her she could substitute a cooking class. She did that and finished a whole semester of work in about three weeks. But, she got it done on time.
When the school shutdown for the year, and they had the graduation ceremony, they told her she could download her certificate once it was available online. Heming and hawing around with it, it is now the middle of January and the certificate never showed up. She is scheduled to start TAFE (too much to describe that now, basically college without the university part, but that makes no sense either) next week. We got ahold of several people and government agencies and the end result is that the cooking class cannot be substituted for the art class. So she is short of graduation. We were told, with all the things that went on last year with COVID, a lot of kids are in the same boat and they are working on a way to fix it. The problem is, the school has to do it. I or Maeghan cannot. They have to have official word from the school about what happened and what can be done about it before they will change the records and issue her certificate.
Of course, no one has been working at the school. We did get ahold of her former teacher but she has been unable to help without the official school people. It would seem we are stuck at the moment, or we might have some progress. I went to the head office of the school and finally got an answer. They are going to work their way down to the school level and get this resolved. Whether it gets done before she starts school next week is the main issue now.
The real problem is that she has to have a certificate in order to start the new school. Or, she has to have it to attend for free. You can pay for the school and start that way but it is college fees and they are not cheap. And, we are not prepared for it as we were expecting her to get in for free. I will probably pay it if it comes to that but we are hoping it doesn't. I know I will never get the money back if I pay it as they will just forget about it once she starts and I will be constantly having to harass them for a refund.
But, we will see. Maeghan is ready to go. She is doing a child education course in order to work in a day care or something. I am not sure what the Grade III certificate does for you but everyone who graduates college gets one. It is a big deal over here. She already has a Grade II certificate from her work in Tasmania but it is the Grade III that is the big deal. I don't pretend to know what it means.
I suppose that enough for now. Of course, as usual, once I say that I only have a few more pages to write, but it gets me heading the right direction.
William goes to grade 10 this year. Grade 10 is the last mandatory year and a lot of kids don't go thinking it is over for them anyway so why go. I don't think William is headed that way but there are circumstances that might persuade him to lean in that direction. Not going to happen if I can stop it but kids over here, and probably everywhere, seem to think they can do what they want and the government tells them it is ok. Maeghan is the only one of the brothers and sisters that completed all the way through year 12. None of the grandkids, who are all the same age as him or older, have finished 10th grade. They all dropped out. William might see this as ok but I will persuade him otherwise, or at least I will try. William is getting to the stage where he doesn't listen to anyone or anything. Typical teenager. He is a very good kid and he will do the right thing but it might be touch and go for a while.
Everyone has come out and is talking to me now so I will be going. It's plenty for now anyway. Maeghan just told me her councilor had told her she will help her look for housing. I am not sure what that means or what she is telling me so I will be going to find out.
Until next time
