... Again

And I started the month so well. Time got away from me... again. Too busy to post... again. Too busy to read other blogs... again.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Clive is the biggest one. At 20 months, he simply takes up more time and energy than he did at 6 or 12 months. Right now he's screeching because I committed the crime of putting him down. He's happy to play with things so long as he is either perched on a hip or has me sitting right next to him. He started at day care one day a week in preparation for the 5 day a week for a month trial that is to come when I start my clinicals next week, and he's not happy about it. He has a really good room leader who is very patient with him, and if he ever gets too upset (hasn't yet) than Her Majesty is right down the hall.

The other kids keep me busy as well with all their goings on. Sports, jobs, school... I spend a lot of time in the car and I thank chocolate every day that I discovered podcasts. Her Majesty is only at preschool two days a week, so she needs attention as well. I know I only work 3 nights a week, but that's also time I can't blog.

And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not the most organized person in the world. No really - shocking, I know. I'm not the type of woman who will spend an entire afternoon baking and freezing meals for the week. I don't have a schedule of when to wash floors, do laundry, clean the fridge. I don't get up early to make sure I'm dressed and ready to go and hour before everyone else is up. I should, but I don't.

So I apologize... again. I know that of all the people who are still left to read this, you guys (my New England upbringing slipping in) totally understand. I've told Momma Mooselet that if I don't post for ages not too worry - it just means I'm insanely busy and not that something is horribly wrong. I'd probably manage to get that up. I hope to spend some time day getting the Skinfest and Match Report Monday up - backdated so this remains on top. I have a list of things I want to blog about and I'll get to it eventually. So thanks... again... for being patient with me and my infrequent postings... again.

Match Report Monday

Round 12 U13s, Div 2
Date: 3 August 2008, 1:45 pm kickoff
Where: Purtell Park, Bardon
Who: Wests Panthers v Albany Creek Crushers
Score: 42-12, Crushers. Crappy doodles.

Well the tide has to turn against you sometime, and yesterday was that time. The boys we know and love to watch went MIA for the first 30 minutes of the game. They put in an appearance after halftime, but the damage was done. A big thanks to Miss WTF for coming down to the field and getting heaps of pictures for us. She's doctored a few for me for the match report, which I've included. Be sure to double click them to see them in all their glory, especially the first one. It's a beaut!! Let's go to my Good, Bad, and Ugly format of match report with the Ugly to go first.

The Ugly: Um, did you read the scoreline up there? The only reason it wasn't worse than it was is that Albany Creek can't kick worth a damn. I know they got a few kicks over, so working backwards (since I stopped counting tries after their first 4) I think it was 9 tries to 2. Although I could be giving them more credit in the kicking department and it was 10 tries to 2. I don't know, and with that scoreline I don't care. We lost by a lot.

Jackson holds him steady while Josh gives the biggest wedgie EVER captured on film. Charlie rushes in to help. OUCH!!!!!

I wanted to run out onto the field the shake the boys in the first half. Lethargic, head in the clouds, thinking about anything other than where they were... it just wasn't them out there. Sure we were missing Scott and Eli, but a few of the U12 boys joined our bench (and full credit to them - they had just played a bruising game against Redcliffe) to make up the numbers and it wasn't as if we haven't played most of the year with a boy or two missing. Maybe they'd gotten too used to the Friday night games and didn't cope with the heat of a Sunday arvo, maybe they'd gotten to sure of themselves. Who knows why a good team has a bad game?

The Bad: There was a definite lack of intensity and urgency on the part of a fair few of the boys, especially in the first half. When you're down 18-0 it's not the time to watch the ball bounce and let your opposition pick it up. We had a few minor injuries, but nothing serious. All it all, not too much can be classified in the grey "bad" area.

Tackle by DJ or hug? You decide... Nah, definitely a tackle.

The Good: I can always find the silver lining in most any situation, and there were good things in this game. Coach Thom fired them up during halftime and they played so much better in the second half. They won the second half, with each team scoring two tries but Wests landed their kicks whereas the Crusher did not. Too bad they count the entire game when awarding the win. There was no in-fighting as so often happened in the past when things went belly-up. The game saw the return of Jarrod from injury way back, and he was taking on those big boys like nothing had happened.

DJ breaks the line with Jarrod in support.

Our two tries were scored by Jack the Taller and DJ, with Jack the Taller converting both tries. DJ nearly scored a third try, but it was called held up. We, the parents, thought it should have been rewarded merely on effort - not like the game was in doubt!

There were some great individual efforts that deserve mention. Again, a big shout out to the U12 boys who played for us after playing their own game just before and held their own out on the field. Our Jackson had an outstanding game, one of his best of the year. Chris and Simon really did their best to keep the boys motivated throughout the game, and Chris had some great offloads. Actually, there were many good offloads and not too many that went astray. Jack the Taller and DJ took on the Crushers line - especially in the second half - and made many metres before being stopped. Broden had some great runs up the middle, including one that saw him running straight into his opposition player, who was head and shoulders taller, and knocked him on his backside with a hit we all heard and left Broden's mother speechless - surely a first! It was fantastic.

DJ again (he is my son, so he gets to feature on my blog) keeps the Crushers at bay with players in support.

With only two games left to go in the regular season the boys are sitting just outside the top 4 and are clinging to a chance of cracking it and making the finals. We still don't know the results of last week's cancellation, which is pretty crucial to our chances. The boys take on Redcliffe this Sunday before finishing at home against undefeated Arana Hills. Keep your fingers crossed, light a candle, do whatever you have to do to send some good vibes our way so we finish strong. GO PANTHERS!!!

Saturday Skinfest

I didn't post yesterday - which was Sunday, I know, but I had planned on sitting down then and posting - because I was just in a foul mood when I got home late in the afternoon. It had nothing to do with the boys game and everything to do with something I have no control over but wish I did. It just made me cranky and not want to post. My bad. Better today, so here we go with the skin:

I'm not a fan of the full sleeve arm tat, but the rest of Ben Roberts? Very nice.

Billy Slater and his rock hard torso show they like to play cricket as well as footy.

Craig Wing and a woman who shall remain nameless - mainly because I don't know her name - show off their Bonds undies, as well as Craig's, er, fishing tackle.

Claire Danes shows you don't have to have a 'DD' rack to have a smokin' hot bod.

More skin, better mood, next week!

The Reason

Now that my other issue has been resolved, I feel like I can tell you about it. It was causing me a lot of anxiety and making me so down that I didn't even feel like blogging. Since I enjoy blogging so very much and have precious little time to do it these days - never mind reading the fantastic blogs that are in my feed reader - you know it had to be a major thing to put me off my blog.

Nearly all of you know that I'm a Registered Nurse, at least I am in the US. It took me until my mid-20s to work out that being a nurse was not a betrayal of the feminist ideals I had been brought up with and it was what I wanted to do with my life. I feel passionately about nursing - it's not just my job, but it's part of who I am. When I'm asked what I miss about the US, my answer is always "my family and my job". I put off pursuing my career here for a number of reasons, mainly Her Majesty and Clive, but recently started to go about getting it back on track. You may remember I talked about my trials with bureaucracy and apathy in dealing with various institutions, and had said I was just going to go back to university here and get it done.

All was back on track, and I was very excited to learn that all I had to do was clinical work - even if it was going to take me half a year longer than I hoped. Sure I was hoping to have it done sooner rather than later, but mid 2009 with a licence and a degree wasn't too shabby. Until early last week, when it looked as if it was all going to hell in a handbasket again. Suddenly I was being asked for the same documentation that the QNC was looking for and that I had been unable to get my hands on. Via email, I pleaded my case with the director of the university program and was told repeatedly that unless I could get those documents, I would not receive credits for my prior education and would have to start from scratch.

Last Monday was my lowest point. I was only the second time I have ever regretted coming to Australia because (I reasoned in my pitiable state) I gave up the career I worked so hard for, walked away from a job that I loved and where I had so many options. Now where was I? Literally halfway around the world away from my family and friends and with a career that I was being held back from. I just sat on the floor and cried - freaking poor Clive out in the process. He kept shoving me and letting out little shrieks of dismay, trying to get me to stop. I'm not one to wallow that deeply in the self-pity pool, so I pulled myself together enough to stop crying and over the next two days convinced the director to see me personally the following week to discuss my case.

I wasn't hopeful as I'd seen many folks come to Australia with various qualifications and degrees only to be told it wasn't good enough. Hell, I've seen folks come from other parts to Australia to Queensland and told they weren't good enough to work in their particular field. I gathered what little documentation I had, dragged Her Majesty and Clive along for a bit of sympathy and went to make my case.

My case was a good one, I thought. The university had accepted me back in 2002, so why reject me now? The description of the nursing program that I had from the year I graduated was not what I had taken but was very very close. It really came down to my degree, an Associates Degree in Nursing. There is no real equivalent in Australia and for a few minutes it looked as if that would be the sticking point, especially when after doing a Google search he read this statement:

The 2-year Associate Degree focuses more on technical skills than theory and is often a stepping stone to the BSN.

He turned and looked at me expectantly and I thought, "Fuck. I'm fucked." I agreed that yes, many holders of an Associates go on to obtain their Bachelors, but an Associates was not an obstacle to taking the National Licensure Exam, the NCLEX. In fact, I continued, I took the same exam as a graduate from the top 4 year nursing school in the US and held the same license. Different pathways lead to the same exam, the only limitations come from the job market. Several minutes ticked by as the director looked through my documents again and read his computer screen, with the only sounds coming from Clive as he happily pounded on the keyboard of a computer I was sitting in front of. I may have stopped breathing. Oh please, please, pleasepleasepleaseplease...

Finally the director held up one of the papers I had brought - the notice that I had passed my NCLEX exam back in 1999. I had only saved that paper because of what it meant to me at the time - I remember opening the letter at the mailbox and dancing at the foot of my driveway as traffic drove past because I had passed the exam and could begin my career as a RN. Once I had my license it was nothing more than a memento, but for some reason I brought it. It was that letter, with a 10 year old digital picture of me and with my maiden name, that sealed the deal and convinced the director to give me all the credit points I needed to resume studies this semester.

I could have hugged the man. I could have hugged him even more as he held the corner of the form for me to fill out as I held Clive with my other hand - how many men know enough to do that? One with 8 kids, apparently! I didn't hug him, but thanked him at least a half dozen times. When he told me to submit copies of my transcript, licence and NCLEX letter, I didn't point out I'd already submitted the first two - I just agreed.

Now that I'm back on track and ready to start my clinicals in a couple of weeks - 5 days a week for 4 weeks - I'm feeling much lighter and happier. Still worried as hell as to how I'm going to manage to do everything in those 4 weeks, and how I'm going to pay for full time childcare for Her Majesty and Clive for 4 weeks, but getting back into nursing has lifted a weight from my soul. Bring on the bodily fluids - I'm ready!

Photo Friday

I could only wish he fell asleep like this more often:

Great eater, lousy sleeper.