tday I had the afternoon off. That was nice, as I hardly get Saturdays off. Since it was a cool afternoon, me and the girls went out to sit on the swing. Naturally the girls took off their shoes and went barefooted. Later, while gettin off the swing, Nel picked Jo's shoes for her. Little Jo put on her shoes with a smile and said in the sweetest voice, "Thanks Nel, thanks for giving me my shoes, that's so awesome. "

I told that to my hubby later and we had to giggle about it. hahaha...it's a word we hardly use around here, but she must have picked it up from the tv. :)

Anyway, that was followed by some gardening and catching worms for an upcoming fishing trip.

As for me, I've been busy working, and the kids have been up to mischief as I work. Today I came up to find oily finger prints over my computer screen. The things you find in a house with kids! let's see what I've found in the past...

mouldy rotting cheese under sofa
poop in the bathtub
rotting banana in the kitchen playset
toothbrush in the toilet bowl
empty shampoo bottles all emptied down the toilet bowl again
pepper and salt in my drink
and the list goes on............................

In fact, just last week, while reading, I noticed that there seemed to be an endless stream of ants going in and out of my handbag. I emptied it but nothing unusual came out. Then I checked the tiny side pocket, and lo and behold, I found Jo's half eaten lollipop from a week ago. It was covered with dead black ants, and needless to say, that pocket was filled with ants!! ewwww.....
i killed them all! and showed the lolli to my children. I said "See, lollis attract ants! That's what you get in your mouth when you eat lollis." I thought that would deter them from liking sweets for the rest of their lives. Alas, I was wrong. The very next day I walked into a shop and guess what Jo asked for? a Purple lollipop. Purple remains her favourite color.

ok, the night is here.... time to head to bed, but not before preparing a little for next week's lecture. taaa all.

I've been busy busy. Semester has started and I've been given a new course to teach. That means a lot of reading and research to do and notes to prepare. WOrking part time is not easy. Sometimes I think full time would've have been easier. WHen I was working full time I had the office to myself to do all my work without distractions.

Now I work part time, i barely get by reading a page before one of my kids come disturbing. So I find myself either resorting to the television as a baby sitter, or I find myself working very late into the nights after the kids are in bed. It's not good for my darkening eye bags and achy shoulders.

My schedule is different every day. Sometimes I've forgotten classes totally and parent and kid appear at my doorstep to find me in rags and hair looking like a crow's nest. haha....and sometimes I've scheduled 2-3 classes together without realising it. Then when all these students appear at my doorstep, I ask them why they're at my house. I must be going nuts.

Being a full time mum would be nice, but reality states that I should work to help with household income. CAn't place the entire burden on hubby alone. COst of living is getting incredibly high.

Yesterday after a full day's work (kids and work work), hubby called to ask if I'd join some friends for a bowling game. Though I was feeling so extremely tired....I decided to just go. I did ok on the scores and it was pretty fun.

We got back at almost 11:30pm. Considering I woke up about 5am, you'd know how tired I was. PUt my super duper wakey kids to bed... then went brushed my teeth and washed my own face.

Mechanically I put on my face moisturizer ...and after a while realised it was extra creamy, and smelled different. I looked at the bottle and knew why then. On the bottle it read, "Hair Nourishing cream. Will promote hair growth." Rewashed my face and put on the right moisturizer.

Well, I woke up this morning and checked my face, no, no extra facial growth. thank goodness.
ok... the day awaits, I must go. it's gonna be a heck of a long day. (there's extra classes for my speech students coz concert is this saturday.)
taaaaa..........................

continued from last post..

today Nel came back and said excitedly "mum, I did well in my Chinese spelling test. Some of my friends didn't even know the words. And mum, do you know why I did well? because this morning, daddy woke up early and taught me those words. My daddy can teach Chinese so well! " She said it, like a daughter so proud of her dad's ability. that little effort of my hubby to spend that bit of time with Nel meant the world to her.

How the miracle took place? I don't know. Well, perhaps it's because of the prayer I said last night. BEfore going to bed, I prayed

"Lord, teach me to be a more patient mother...give me wisdom to guide my children when I don't know how to, teach me to have unconditional love and to love them for who they are, and not what they do."

I prayed that earnestly last night...

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Anyway, yeah, I popped by the library today and chanced upon this book by Tony Humphreys "Self-Esteem: The Key to Your Child's Education." I've now just managed to go through one chapter, but it really is a good book. Here, in just the first chapter I found some really good stuff...let me quote them here..

Success and failure in themselves have no effect on a child's motivation to learn, but the reactions of parents, teachers and other significant adults to success and failure can have a devastating effect.

Parents need to encourage children in their efforts to master an activity. What counts is the effort and NOT the performance.

Parents who put too much pressure on children for academic performance unwittingly damage the child's self esteem.

Parents who are overly protective/hands off, can undermine children's belief in themselves.

The Self-esteem of the child is affected by the parents' relationship with each other. The child who regularly witnesses openly hostile or silent hostility between parents can become chronically insecure.

That's about the gist of the first chapter. Now it's off to snooze land, will continue reading tomorrow. Semester begins, and thus my lecture begins next week. I will be busy busy busy again. but no complains, i thank God for this job, coz it brings in the additional income which I really need.