Friday morning

I love a friday morning, even in the rain. Alex (the dog) and I head off to the beach for a morning walk. Alex has been part of our family for over a year now. We collected him from the pound when he was just over one in age. His first visit to the beach was an experience. The sand was strange to him and the sea was scary. Obviously he had not been taken to the beach before. Now he runs like mad, chasing the sea gulls in eternal hope he may catch one. So far the sea gulls are winning and Alex is staying fit. We had the beach entirely to ourselves today. The sea was wild and the rain mild. Beach dune erosion was making those great walls that kids adore jumping off.

Friday morning is market morning at home. I go each week to buy our vegies off the local growers. I love knowing where our food comes from and who grew it. The farmers share stories about their farm such as the green houses being destroyed in the recent winds and the trick of actually feeding the vegies nutrients to make them so superb. My home grown vegies never look as good as theirs.

I walk back into the home at 8am all relaxed having seen the sea, chatted to the food providers and breathed fresh air only to be greeted by the school morning crazies. It took no time to start bellowing stop fighting over the footy cards or I'm throwing them in the bin!, have you brushed your teeth, go make your bed, where is your homework folder... Then the bus arrives, it takes the little monkeys away then its just Alex and I. Alex sits by my side as I try to muster up the motivation to sit at this computer and work on the PhD. Luckily the house is such a mess from the morning chaos I give my self an hour to feed the chooks, have brekky, clean the kitchen, pop on the clothes washing, bring in a load, have a tea and check the emails/facebook/blogs.

Alex is now fast asleep, its time to study, no more procrastination excuses (except maybe hang the washing on the line).

On My Mind: A Friday home photo initiative of Down To Earth.  Check it out.

New Dress

Retail therapy has been a theme this holiday. I escaped to the camping shop one afternoon to purchase hiking boots, a new backpack and a polar fleece. My sister in-law enjoyed pointing out my warped view on retail therapy compared to lipsticks, handbags or jewellery. My boots were at the end of their life. Last time my boots died was during field work in Adelaide tramping up and down the burnt loose slopes. I'm missing the field work component of study. Conferences are bringing on a new dimension to shopping requirements.  Its not OK to attend a conference in ugg boots and an old sloppy jo. Actually the annual fire conference has been a great incentive to actually buy some new clothes. The last conference was with a bunch of geographers. Slightly simpler dress requirements. Sandals with socks were fine ; )

Its the last day of school holidays today so I need to find a new procrastination excuse. Actually the scholarship funding runs out in a week, I'm really fed up with the whole PhD so hopefully this will encourage me to get a MOVE ALONG! and finish. A great job came up a few weeks ago. I weighed up the choice between balancing work family versus the cram as much into life as possible approach. I decided for a blend of the two. I did not apply for the job. So many PhD advice books suggest not starting a new  job until the PhD is finished.  So back to the old mantra

Family, self-care, thesis, friends
  

Prezi

Last week I was at the Institute of Geography conference. In an experimental mood, I tried a newish sofware package called Prezi. It's a bit like powerpoint but involves zooming. I'm guessing its what Hungry Beast used in their TV show. Prezi has real potential to give the audience sea sickness. In case I stuffed up with the software I also wrote my talk out. A written talk is not my style and resulted in a nervous delivery. I'm going back to the safe one page dot points accompanied with simple, photo rich, reliable powerpoint. I'll  leave the zooming and whirling for motivational speakers.  

You are welcomed to have a look at the prezi I made. Its shows various photos and computer modelling I do as part of the PhD research
http://prezi.com/laxmcc1masxj/post-fire-erosion-monitoring/

Prezi was easier for uploading videos compared to powerpoint. This video below is a model of the eroded slope after the Mount Bold wildfire. We captured this data using terrestrial laser scanners in Feb then again in May. Red is erosion, blue is deposition.

There is a chicken at my back door demanding to be fed. Better get on with the day. Hanging out washing, feeding the chooks, writing a thesis, a bit of stats, home-cooking and lots of mothering.

School holidays

Holidays are here. Last day of school for over two weeks. Hmmm what to do with the lion cubs. So far there is a sports camp for a day, soccer camp for three mornings, local production of Peter Pan, some play dates, Bastille party with cousins. I reckon that's enough for two weeks. The big question is whether to squeeze in uni work, clean out the house cupboards or just play with the kids.  I'm facing some serious sorting of the clothes, time for the hand-me-downs to trickle down the line. I guess you can see one of my time saving methods. Clothes are not exactly folded very well.

We've been using the family fun day Sunday $2.50 all you can travel on public transport lately. Geez its great. Sunny days at Manly, aquariums and lego shows in Sydney, BBQ at Neutral Bay. Life is so much easier now the kids are getting older.

Messy cupboard photo is dedicated to Down to Earth On My Mind   a lovely idea to share our homes and lives. Am I too honest about the mess of boys?

PhD Survey and TED

For the past 12 months I've been participating in a survey about PhDs and how I felt about it. As part of the follow up survey they sent me a graph today that showed my survey response. The graph looks like this

The graph is about right for an average monthly view.  If you asked my hubby, who kindly listens each night about my studies, he might argue differently. Just like raising a child a PhD has so many highs and lows. Even on a daily, minute by minute  time-scale my feelings towards my studies alters. The graph really should look more like the one below. This graph has been inspired by the TED talk given by Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman on Let's talk parenting taboos. Any parent will understand the ups and downs, just like any third year PhD student. Should we really be talking more about it. Would you really tell someone how hard parenting is and expect them to try it. It's just the same as telling a potential PhD candidate that the PhD will leave you crying in the gutter. I like the truth but sometime ignorance is bliss allowing people to step outside their comfort zone.

Maybe I should combine both the parenting graph and my Phd graph. Hmmm scary concept, the graph would look like chaos.

Household Chores

Our 9 year old announced last night he wants to do more chores to earn more money. Wouldn't we all like more money hey! He has his eye on a 3D DS game console. Hmmm extravagent purchase really.  So of course I came up with all these useful things he could do to help. The decision was left in the air as they all sounded like too much work.

We chatted about it again this morning when my hubby got involved and nicely pointed out it would be good if Kai did something to help Mum around the home.  So I politely pointed out it is not "my house" it is our home and everyone should be contributing. We had a laugh, easier than fighting, and then tongue in check Sol suggested for Kai to help Dad out in the garden. Kai nicely replied "but Mum does the gardening too". Hmmm I think its time to rethink the domestic situation.

The boys get pocket money of $2 a week. This comes under the deal they unpack the dishwasher, make their beds, put their PJs away.  So of course this morning the PJs were all over the floor, beds not made and bionicles spread everywhere. Maybe its time to enforce the reason behind pocket money before we look at a pay rise.

It's time for a family meeting to discuss household chores. How do your families work it out? Is it a state of war or do you manage to negotiate it? Is someone the household dictator or does everyone notice and contribute to what needs to be done?

I find every six months the issue of who does the household chores in our home needs revisiting. 

Crescendo in the music

When the PhD is over I have plans. One is to learn jazz piano. I started before Kai was born only to quickly find that morning sickness and piano lessons do not go hand in hand. Music stopped during the early kid rearing years. Every time I jumped on the piano the kids would destroy any resemblance of organised music by joyfully pressing the keys.  Bedtime was a disaster for playing as the little monkeys would wake up to listen in, jumping out of bed in curiosity. I gave up for so long. Recently I’ve started to play again. I play out loud now. I don’t care what people think when I make mistakes, I just play for fun.

An old memory came back today of my music exam for the HSC when the examiner asked where the main crescendo was of the Mozart score. I learnt to play the notes correctly but never thought of the music as an entire piece of work. It was played in stages as each section was mastered the next was begun. I didn’t really appreciate the music as a whole.

My thesis is starting to come together as a whole piece. It is time to pull together all the papers I’ve written and compile the work. Last week with no kids around I worked hard on the last paper of my thesis. This means there are two published papers, one draft and two rough drafts. It is still a long way away from finishing. The crescendo I played on the piano today reminded me to treat the thesis as a whole piece, not just notes joined together. Looking forward to when I can learn jazz without a lingering PhD awaiting to be finish.