Happy Easter!

So here comes a long weekend... dad gets to take on a bit of my 'mum' role as I go off to work outside of the home for part days over the weekend. It would be nice to have the whole weekend off but unfortunately bills need to be payed and when dad has time off it means I can step up into the heading out to work role. The good thing about this arrangement is I get a little 'time-out' from the house and the pay works out nice with so many public holidays. So it is helpful in a couple of ways.

 

I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend and keep safe if your are heading out with the many others on the road.

Here's to a Happy Easter and one with not too many carrots...or should I say Easter Eggs!

As I have not created a Easter Egg design as yet, I thought I may share with you one of my RozArt Tags the is still worth sharing and enjoying over the break... especially if you love cupcakes :-)

This my RozArt Cupcake Tag

I hope it inspires some of you to make some or at least eat some over this weekend :-)

 

As for the Cheeky Boy, he doesn't understand what Easter is all about yet but I'm sure that will change by next year! and of course my Cheeky Girl definately has a concept of Easter and was working on the hope that the Easter Bunny was to visit today not Sunday.

 

Here's to a enjoyable weekend and a short work week ahead :-)





Decisions

Allowing some time to process ones thoughts enables the right decisions to be made...

at least I hope!

Tonight I must try to stay brief as I have much work to do before the morning... anyhow this week has been a challenge for me with decisions for me to make with some of the early intervention program that my Cheeky Boy is involved with. I am still trying to filter through my head what to do as I believe as a child with complex epilepsy he needs to have someone to supervise him at all times. Not that he has small seizures all the time, this isn't his problem. His problem is that with his variety of seizure types they go for 10 minutes and longer and when he has his 'big' ones that need medication to stop them as they typically go for 20 minutes or more every time.

 

After a meeting with his teachers I feel they don't quite grasp the nature of his seizures and the fact he does need his sleep. Does any child at three years of age find it easy to sleep in a class with other special needs children racing around and making noise?? At most there should only be five other kids in the class but still... I'm not sure, I can't quite see this situation being easy to do for him especially when a change of routine on several levels is required...perhaps I'm just a slightly confused mum who is trying to figure out what's best for her child? To me trying to get any child to sleep in the corner of the room on a mattress would be difficult in a classroom situation, even if the kids are out in the playground, it's not the same as being in a bed...

 

I also feel a little disappointed that my request for a look into one-on-one supervision was brushed over as "not really going to happen..." I think it will be a visit to the Principal and showing of the letter from his Neurologist once again to see what can be done.

 

Ultimately I would love to put him into a Day Care facility for a day where provisions are made for his needs...it would be great for him to have the stimulus of 'normal' children as this would be most beneficial to him. He loves getting into his sisters class and sitting with the other children so I think this avenue will need to be explored.

 

As for my RozArt work that is keeping me busy late at night... I have jewellery valuations to finish and Dog Tags for pets and some lucky mums are having some beautiful tags as pendants being made... all shall be done for Monday so they get them before Easter :-)

 

Also, it's only 9 weeks until the RSPCA Million Paws Walk! Time goes by so quickly!

 

Here's the link for you to find the one in your state:

http://www.millionpawswalk.com.au/

 

Must get back to it. Have a lovely weekend and week ahead :-)

Common Ground

I am a few days late with my post but I have a good excuse...I was at the Camden Show with my RozArt Dog Tags for People & Pets range. I did 1,120km in travel over three days so I can say I am a little over the driving thing :-)

Anyhow I had a great time meeting people of the Camden region. It was definitely a country show with the stalls set amongst some of the small arenas activities. I have one photo I would love to share with you all, as it is something you don't see every day...

How to get mobile coverage in the country...

 

Yes, you do see correctly, it's a man riding a bull using a mobile phone! It put a smile on my face when I saw him, I hope it has done the same for you... by the way, just in case you were wondering, the bulls name is Charlie :-)

Anyhow, in my many chats with people at the show, I realise something, those families with children/siblings with a disability, no matter what the disability is, share some things in common

• they love their children/siblings greatly
• they have empathy for those who struggle with the same challenges of raising & living with a person with special needs
• they understand my issue completely when it comes to people who park in disabled parking and are clearly not disabled! I was amazed at how many others go through this in other areas with clearly marked disabled parking zones... I now know that my rant in last weeks post is not just a rant by a single frustrated mother, unfortunately it's a bond I share with many other families dealing with the laziness of able bodied people parking where they don't need to be!

Here's one story that was shared with me in relation to the last point:
A husband and wife were sitting in their car and they saw a young 'P' plate driver park his car in a disabled car spot. The husband went up to the young man and asked him nicely to move his car from the car space as he clearly had no need to be in it. The young man refused and the husband said politely that if the he didn't move his car, he would tow it out of the spot for him. The young man just went on his way... so true to his word, the husband had the car towed out of the disabled parking spot.

It is unfortunate that some people feel it is their right to do as they please and ignore the rights of others but it would have been a great thing to see the look on that young mans face when he came out of the shopping centre to find his car was removed and now he was inconvenienced! I truly hope he learnt a valuable lesson...

Now a word about a lovely group of people I met prior to my journey to Camden. I was fortunate enough to meet some of the lovely staff who work with the Brain Injury Association of NSW. They do great work and advocacy for people with acquired brain injuries and their families.

Here's  a link for any of you who may wish to have a look at what they do:
http://www.biansw.org.au/
They are a wonderful bunch of people who are happy to answer any questions you may have on brain injuries, services and assistance available for people with acquired brain injuries.

Well I must be off, I hope you all have a wonderful week :-)

The Laziness of People & the Fun of the Week Ahead

Sometimes I feel that I am hitting my head against a wall... please don't panic, I don't mean literally!! For the past five weeks I have been doing the school run and I feel just a little angered when people who have a car full of able bodied passengers choose to park in the designated disabled parking places to drop off their children... I'm not sure if these people are just plainly naive and think that no one will use these spots or does it come down to plain old fashion arrogance?? Anyhow it gives me the cranks! I have approached one of the mums and spoken to her and she hasn't parked their since but has chosen on occasions to park other people in or parked in clearly marked "NO PARKING" zones.

Perhaps it's just a case that people are just becoming too lazy to walk that few hundred extra metres to get their children into the school? of course these people who choose to park in the wrong place are the minority but it such a pain in the rear end (putting it politely!) when people who are entitled to use these Disabled parking spots can't, we obviously have a permit to park their for a good reason! In the perfect world there would be no need for me or any other parent with a Disabled parking permit to have to justify to others why we need to park in these spots...

This picture gives you an idea of how I feel when having to deal with those who choose to ignore the clearly marked Disable Parking Spots.

Now that I have that off my chest... lets get onto a much more upbeat topic! Next Friday and Saturday I will be attending the Camden Show as store holder showing my Dog Tags for People & Pets range. I am hoping that the weather Gods will be nice to all of us at this show and we will shall have perfect weather (especially after our four seasons in three days at the Royal Canberra Show a couple of weeks ago!).

I am really looking forward to this show as it is truly an old fashion country show. I enjoy the hospitalilty and friendly nature of people who live in Camden and its surrounding towns :-)

Of course I will be showing of my full RozArt Dog Tags range, taking orders and offering

• FREE Jewellery cleaning
• and anyone can enter the FREE competition to WIN a Dog Tag of their choice valued up to $29.95. This competition went well at the Royal Canberra Show with some very happy winners so I am very happy to run it once again at the Camden Show :-) 

My RozArt stand will be located near the Baby Animals area. You just need to look for this picture:

So if you are in the area or if you have friends that live around Sydney who would like something fun to do please pass on the following link to the Camden Show:

http://www.camdenshow.com/

If you do come to the show, please come and say HI! and I just want to let everyone know that with every Dog Tag order made, money goes to the Friends of Brain Injured Children ACT Inc.

So I hope you all have a nice week ahead, filled with much fun and hapiness :-)

Unexpected costs & the Greatness of Pets

So another week disappears before my eyes...and what have I achieved? well it feels like nothing much! but I'm sure it's not true... I'm feeling completely exhausted after the all the work leading up to the Canberra Show. It's just not mentally it's also emotionally. I feel I've had a completely crap week, with the stress of needing money to pay bills also wearing me out!

 

 

It's a constant battle when you are not able to work to your full capacity, due to being a full time carer, to find that extra money to pay bills. We do have my husband working as hard as he can to make money to keep the roof over our heads but then you get those unexpected costs that are sitting there needing your attention. We have a few of these unexpected costs hovering at the moment. I will share with you one of these.

 

We need two cars, as public transport isn't a feasible way to do all that is needed where we live and when it comes to taking the Cheeky Boy to doctor/specialist appointments, therapy and early intervention commitments a car is the only option. Well our unexpected cost with my car is the replacement of the whole air conditioning system. It will cost $2200! Why is this a worry you ask...many cars are fine without air con...this is true and I would be fine with this until you bring the Cheeky Boy into the equation. He has large seizures if he is in the heat for extended periods of time and having commitments to therapy etc we need to use the car even on hot days. Unfortunately he did take a bit of a 'turn' the other day as a warning of things to come if we don't fix the problem but unfortunately we aren't in a place where we can find that money at the moment. The one good thing that has been happening here is that there has been a few days of cooler weather so this has brought some relief.

 

Anyhow, despite all of the stress, I always work with the thought that things always come good in the end, so I must keep this positive thought in my head otherwise I will completely collapse and I can't let that happen!

 

Anyhow, I had a reminder of how to relieve stress when I opened my emails and saw one I had from an email subscription to Oprah...the good old remedy of a having a pet and being with it. I then went and spent some time with my scruffy dog Angus who is always happy to spend some quality time with his mum :-) 

Here's the link to the Oprah article on relieving Anxiety and Stress:

 

http://www.oprah.com/health/Help-With-Anxiety-Stress-Relief-All-Natural/4

 

It's aways good to be reminded when you are feeling out of sorts that you will always find unconditional love and affection from a beloved pet :-)

 



Well here's to a better week ahead and I hope that you all have an enjoyable week too :-)