On the record

I am told that if you are the family of a blogger, particularly one who is participating in NaBloPoMo, you live in a heightened state of alert wondering whether you will be blogged about. Apparently, they wonder whether their phone conversation is being turned into a story or whether some childhood mishap will be re-told to the amusement of the blogosphere.

I said if this is such a concern you could always say whether your conversation is 'on the record' or 'off the record'.

My brother had a better solution.

He got me this t-shirt for my birthday. I think it makes it clear. Crystal, in fact. I may need this in a range of colours. And perhaps a matching handbag.

Shirt from this very cool online store - I want the Sonic Screwdriver and the LOLMagnetz

He's with the band

Yesterday was the blow test.

Before you quickly change channels, the blow test is the day where all the interested Year Twos line up and try out lots of different types of instruments to see which one suits them best.

Padawan Learner has been very excited about this. The band program at school is very cool and there is a band camp at the beginning of the year. I'd like to think this isn't his only motivation to join band but being the only camp at school before Year 5 it is certainly an attraction.

So PL turns up with a list of possible instruments he'd like to play: clarinet (like his sister), trumpet, saxophone or trombone. I send him with instructions to try out for instruments that have very small cases (knowing full well I will have to lug this thing around a fair bit).

He tries out the trumpet but only scores 5/10. Not good enough. He scores better on the Saxophone and not bad on the Clarinet. In the end he has a choice of Clarinet or anything he likes from the brass section (other than Trumpet).

So he chooses...

the Trombone.

Big case. Bugger.

According to PL you have to spit into a Trombone and you get to wave your arms around a lot. From an 8yo boy's point of view, what's not to love about an instrument that allows you to wriggle and spit!

* pic from here

Canteens as a positive force in schools

Yesterday I was on canteen duty. Our school has a traditional canteen run by the P&C, staffed by two paid canteen managers who are assisted each day by 2-3 volunteer parents.

Until the end of first term this year the canteen had been managed by the same person for many years. Her sudden departure left a vacancy which was quickly filled by two school parents with a background in restaurants and catering. And, oh man, what a difference. Despite now employing two canteen managers the canteen has increased its takings.

The reason? Really good food. Good, yummy, kids.don't.know.it's.healthy food. Before the change the most exciting thing on offer was a hamburger. Now food like pies and hamburgers are restricted to one day a week - and even then they are homemade versions made with organic beef. Instead we now have sushi and wraps available every day and each week there is a different lunch special made on the premises by these excellent cooks. There are no chips, lollies or ice creams on the premises.

Yesterday's lunch special was Crazy Chicken and Avocado Salad. It had avo, pasta, chicken, coriander, tomato and loads of other yummy bits held together with dressing that was mixed on the spot. Seriously good food, and at $3.50 is the most expensive item on the menu.

In the past the most popular item was the meat pie. Eaten with a spoon. Last Friday they had a record 81 orders for the lunch special alone.

Our school, while in a 'good area', has a mixed socio-economic base. Many kids come to school without a real breakfast, sport is not high on the agenda for many families and, judging from the contents of lunch orders in the past, nutritional guidance can be low. Whatever your view on the role of schools vs the role of parents, Canteens play a vital role in educating children in what is okay to eat and what is best left for special treats. Our canteen now takes this seriously and I applaud them.

How about you? Does your canteen play a positive role in your school?

eBay: it's a full time job offloading stuff

After the garage sale a couple of weeks ago I took a lot of stuff to St Vinnie's and the rest I photographed and put on eBay.

Jeepers, it's a full-time job trying to sell stuff on eBay. People have questions. I've had several emails a day asking me to measure this, estimate that, can they send a courier and how far am I from the Timbuktu town centre?

After seven days of this I feel exhausted. Every item has sold and I now have to arrange for pickups and couriers. To boot I have to be nice and efficient so that I get a good "seller rating". That will all take another 15 or so emails.

I tell you, garage sales are a doddle by comparison. Mind you with a combination of garage sale and eBay we now have over $1000 in the Bikes.For.Christmas fund. All from stuff that was clogging up our shed/junk room.

Do you eBay?

OLD-ER

This morning I woke up the proud new owner of one of these, which is very cool because my previous iPod died halfway through a song on NYE last year. In fact it died before the guests had even arrived which made for a very quiet evening as it was connected to a sound-dock and was the entertainment. Luckily for us fireworks make even better entertainment around here.

I have to admit knowing about this gift as I was present at the Apple shop last week when it was purchased ...

What I didn't know, however, was that I would get these...

Bose in-ear headphones.

Very cool. You see the headphones that come with iPods are white - which would never do when one has the uber-cool black iPod Classic (I'm old school).

I'm off to download every song, video and picture I have.

There'll be music at our party this NYE.