tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69740342011-11-28T11:41:41.501+11:00retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.comBlogger561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-57271013816834093542010-01-10T09:39:00.002+11:002010-01-10T09:40:51.582+11:00

I've moved this blog to Wordpress. You can find it here.

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-56073387220146861222009-06-25T13:07:00.022+10:002009-06-25T16:37:03.789+10:00

In a previous post I mentioned that I'd won a 2009 LearnX Award for an online course I created for my employer, Telstra BigPond, using the wonderful CodeBaby application.The lovely CodeBaby people have popped a brief snippet of said course on their site as an elearning case study. Before you skip over there to have a look, I thought I'd just explain, briefly, how I put it all together.In one

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-66258642161812103252009-05-03T14:23:00.001+10:002009-05-23T10:10:04.645+10:00

If you had been in my kitchen one Thursday afternoon in March you may have wondered why I was hopping up and down, clapping my sweaty little hands and squealing with glee. Luckily this silliness lasted but a few minutes before my usual calm serenity returned.You see, I'd just found out in a roundabout way that I had won a LearnX award, to be presented at their April 2009 conference. Considering

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-8288398849612971212008-11-30T15:30:00.004+11:002008-11-30T18:39:06.980+11:00

Roundup of links from my Twitter feed:Free Practical guide - bringing together elearning & student retention; case studies, practical tips activities http://bit.ly/eEoKNew book: An administrator's guide to configuring, securing, customizing, and extending Moodle http://bit.ly/iOlBFlickrin; create a photo montage from Flickr photos, that can be embedded into a blog or web page http://

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-17022391216576597282008-07-11T11:37:00.002+10:002008-07-11T12:25:24.356+10:00

This week, I went on a short holiday trip to Beechwood in North East Victoria, mountain, wine and gourmet food country. Wanting to save my moolah for the finer things (food), I attempted to find some decent budget accommodation.Unfortunately the two (budget and decent) did not unite at the chosen establishment, quite an old building converted from its original purpose, a convent and school. I

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1288966657119587612008-06-30T12:34:00.014+10:002008-07-06T14:52:58.579+10:00

I've recently been working on some audio recording and editing for training modules; it's a learning curve to get it right so I wanted to keep a record of some points that are important to the process. This post is more of a reminder to myself more than anything else. Some of these actions I already had well in hand and some are as a result of the 'experience'.Before You Start:Write a script. I

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-36302049105216856212008-05-03T12:12:00.002+10:002008-05-03T12:21:35.532+10:00

So I'm out on the verandah, hanging out the washing and enjoying the peace and quiet when this car drives down the street, not one I've seen before.It starts up next door's driveway, which is 1 block over because it's a large double block. It seems to be going up slowly when I hear the tyres start to spin on the wet concrete. It gets worse and I hear the engine start to whine, as we say 'revving

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-61146757281751375802008-05-03T12:07:00.002+10:002008-05-03T12:10:38.239+10:00

I had a visit on the weekend from a neighbour across the road. She said 'Do you have a cat?'Yes - I have two.'Is one of them a black cat?'Yes - they both are'Does one of them have a red collar?'Well, it's orange really....At that point I'm thinking there's bad news at the end of the conversation.'I don't want to complain but I have to let you know he's been waking me up at 3.30am trying to get at

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-90552787671132003132008-05-03T12:01:00.001+10:002008-05-03T12:05:00.435+10:00

So I'm driving to work, as usual, and stop at the lights of a main intersection.A slightly ' alternative lifestyle' looking person walks across the crossing, followed closely by a small, perky Jack Russell-type dog, not on a lead.They both clear the crossing and start off down the path. I glance away.I glance back and see the man approaching the dog with a large, flowery plastic bag. Hmm, I think

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-16944378440289708062008-03-19T10:03:00.003+11:002008-03-19T10:11:12.188+11:00

People seem to be enamoured with facebook and keep sending me messages on my funwall, poking and doing other strange things to me.I'm not sure why they can't just email me, like they did in the old days. Facebook is annoying - there's just too much 'stuff' and I really don't need to know absolutely every darn thing about every darn body.I don't mind LinkedIn; that's professional networking and

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1155340331643523202006-08-12T09:37:00.000+10:002006-08-12T09:52:23.446+10:00

I can honestly say that life is not dull at the moment. In the last month I:Have been in a temporary manager role but...Was told all our jobs are redundantReceived great feedback about leading the team but...Heard a comment that if I didn't really want to be a manager I shouldn't have been given the temporary roleWas awarded one of the company's top performance ratings but...Learned that we would

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1138331801916036332006-01-27T14:07:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:16:41.933+11:00

Alessandro is one clever cookie and just keeps coming up with the goods. In this article he explains how to create bubble style tooltips using CSS and a smidge of javascript, utilising the Title attribute of links.Two classes are used to position a single background image so that the content height can expand or contract as required.I can think of some good uses in my elearning modules already!

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1138226067541852992006-01-26T08:45:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:18:47.890+11:00

Fantastic Free and Fabulous!Pocketmod lets you set up and print a mini booklet in just about any format - as a calendar, organiser, reference, notebook and more. Even includes an instruction video to show you how to do the folding.Clever.pocketmodIn a kind of similar vein, how about being able to print graph paper whenever you need it? Lined, grids, dots - it's all here and it's all free. We love

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1136697061360022872006-01-08T15:56:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:21:03.696+11:00

I returned to work after the christmas break and, even though I had a tonne of stuff to catch up on, I found myself spending 2 whole days fixing up a team member's online modules. Fred (let's call him Fred) had left me a short email to ask for them to be uploaded to be ready for training in 2 days time.Of course, I checked them out before doing this - I wish I hadn't in someways...Now, it wasn't

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1136696135366287912006-01-08T15:44:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:22:57.173+11:00

Kathy Sierra has created a great Crash Course in Learning Theory post in her Passionate Users blog. I think these concepts, while perhaps not new, are laid out here in a comprehensive way that's easy for everyone to grasp and apply in some way.Obviously you can tweak to suit your own circumstances - a lot of the stuff that I do for instance has to be developed quickly and has to contain important

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1136695351578529202006-01-08T15:29:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:24:24.943+11:00

I'm currently wading my way through Colin Moock's Actionscript 2.0 (O'Reilly). I say wading because I'm finding it particularly heavy going. I really want to read it all but I'm finding that I put the book out on the bench or a nearby table and say 'I'll just do x and then will sit down and tackle you again'... 'Let me finish y and I'll be with you'... 'Really - I'm nearly there'...I had no

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1136240293349153012006-01-03T09:06:00.000+11:002006-01-04T17:57:44.103+11:00

1. Chris Pederick does it again by updating the Web Developer Toolbar to version 1.0, and it's available for Firefox, Flock and Mozilla. The list of features shows how useful this little doovey is for us developers!2. Kathy Sierra writes... Learning Increases Resolution: "Learning adds resolution to what you offer. And the change happens not within the product, but between the user's ears. The

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1136076961484449492006-01-01T11:53:00.000+11:002006-01-01T11:57:01.056+11:00

A Learning Management System for individual instructors - and it's free!From the Website:Now it is easier than ever to create your own online learning portal from which to create multimedia hubs for classrooms, post prep. and follow-up for live sessions, or run stand-alone courses online. With simple yet powerful content-creation, communication, and evaluation tools, Nuvvo is broadening the

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1135758322866878522005-12-28T19:17:00.000+11:002005-12-28T19:25:22.876+11:00

Clipmarks is a new little extension thingy for both IE and Firefox that could be useful."Clipmarks are for specific pieces of information on web pages. Just like when you read a magazine or newspaper, sometimes you want to highlight or tear out a specific part of the page, when you surf the web sometimes you want to remember specific pieces of content (like an image or a couple of paragraphs).

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1135727568995693152005-12-28T10:45:00.000+11:002005-12-28T10:54:37.530+11:00

Pretty neat idea - little paper corners that you can print from a template and then slip onto whatever book you are reading. Great for those fussy people that you borrow books from who don't like you folding page corners.If you like, you can also add a few notes about the page onto the bookmark.Simple idea, nice solutionTags: paper corners DIY bookmarks

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1135662256652914412005-12-27T16:32:00.000+11:002005-12-27T16:44:16.663+11:00

I'm on a stinker of a project at the moment so am quite enjoying the christmas break, if just to be away from it for a few days. It's not the actual work involved so much, although it's not an easy task. It's the project manager.See, he's come up with this thing he calls a methodology framework. However there is not much in the way of actual 'methodology'. It's just a very barebones structural

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1133932622826369442005-12-07T16:08:00.000+11:002005-12-09T11:02:36.983+11:00

I 'think' I'm pleased to see this new Telstra site up and running, but not sure what others will feel about it. I can see the journalists having a bit of a field day.I like the simple Web 2.0-ish design, but unfortunately it doesn't validate and has a few accessibility issues but I'm sure they would not take much to fix.Glad to see Telstra blogging though - something I've wanted to see happen for

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1129940078713201462005-10-22T10:14:00.000+10:002005-10-22T10:14:38.780+10:00

FeedTier - RSS Web Feed Generator for Web Pages without Syndication FeedTier is a web feeds generator for web pages without an existing syndication format. FeedTier performs content analysis, picks-up the most prominent cluster of hyperlinks and automatically generates RSS web feeds from web pages without existing sydincation options. FeedTier is an experimental service and free for personal

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1128379863492276402005-10-04T08:50:00.000+10:002005-10-04T08:51:03.496+10:00

Looks like Joe Clark got a bit snippy with Steve Faulkner.Steve used Joe's A List Apart PDF Accessibility article in his WE05 session on the title attribute to demonstrate, in his opinion, inefficient use of it basically. Although Steve said he used the article because of the number of links it contained - over 80.I must admit I was surprised at the time - why would you pick on a high profile

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1128234096343679902005-10-02T15:50:00.000+10:002005-10-02T16:33:46.743+10:00

Kevin Yank from Sitepoint has done a great job at summarising day 1 & 2 so I won't repeat most of it.Web Essentials 05 Day 1Web Essentials 05 Day 2I have to agree with Kevin's opinion about the SVG session with Dean Jackson. I came away not learning anything and that's a biggie for me. The talk was more of a ramble and lacked structure. Dean demonstrated some 'effects' I suppose but didn't

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1128124984195597972005-10-01T09:19:00.000+10:002005-10-02T15:50:02.486+10:00

Well, I'm just back from we05. I'll be blogging about this quite a bit over the next few days or weeks as my brain is full at the moment. I was sitting on the plane on the way home thinking 'Cripes. I've forgotten everything that was talked about' and 'Who was that guy that said blah?' but I realised that I was just in overload mode and gradually my thoughts started to clear a bit.It was a great

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1127463425392015902005-09-23T18:02:00.000+10:002005-09-23T18:26:02.530+10:00

Today was a very technology-based day and strangely enough quite satisfying.I sent an SMS via SMSPup to my other half for whom I had risen at the unearthly hour of 4am in order to take him to the bus which would then take him to the airport.I spent about ten minutes fiddling with my PC speakers and headset which were crackling - fixed that.I then later Skyped his mobile phone and spoke to him for

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1127019628856008032005-09-18T14:53:00.000+10:002005-09-18T17:09:22.336+10:00

I've previously mentioned how excited I am at being able to go to the WE05 2 day conference this year in Sydney (sold out by the way!).Once I got over the initial surprise at being allowed to go, I realised that I had very few people to share the joyous news with. You see, in our organisation NO ONE gets to go to these things even if they happen to be held in the same state where you live, never

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1120005919734291082005-06-29T10:39:00.000+10:002005-06-29T10:45:19.740+10:00

I can't believe I am actually going to WE05 in September! I'm all abuzz with excitement. Fancy being able to meet my hero Eric Meyer (one of the many excellent speakers).Even more amazing, my employer is paying! I nearly fell off my chair when they said "Yes. Go."I mean, every year I timidly wave a conference ad in the air and laughingly say, "Gee, I'd love to go to this...". The expressions on

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1107737391568063672005-02-07T11:49:00.000+11:002005-09-18T17:11:37.800+10:00

cleveraccessible bar chart

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1104363062778096532004-12-30T10:27:00.000+11:002004-12-30T10:31:02.776+11:00

Websites providing information on victims and survivors of the Asian earthquake and tsunami. http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/ A detailed blog that offers list of aid agen cies responding to the disaster, how to donate, and a list of contact numbers for emergency services in each country. http://www.lankapage.com/ A site for Sri Lankan expats that details the situation in Sri Lanka. http://

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1101428428520409552004-11-26T10:53:00.000+11:002005-02-07T11:50:40.146+11:00

Disturbing Comment of the Week #1 Attending a presentation from an external company who are trying to get their feet in the door of the corporation I work for, I was called upon to explain how we were currently delivering some of our eLearning training content. The demo was good but nothing we haven't seen before, which I explained and went on to say that this type of training (completely flash

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1101170771667095552004-11-23T11:41:00.000+11:002005-09-18T17:13:03.346+10:00

This looks mighty interesting - a screenreader simulator extension for FireFox. Not meant to replace testing in the real thing (eg Jaws) but it's pretty nifty.Fangs for Firefox

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1100209454665273162004-11-12T07:56:00.000+11:002004-11-12T13:35:11.706+11:00

Imagine if every web page you visited looked exactly the same, whether it was an application, a banking site, a news site or a knowledge site. Imagine if you had to visit these same sites every day, all day. When one of these sites wanted to hold your attention, show you something new, teach you a new trick, how would they perk up your brain to say ' Hey now. That's different, that looks

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1099703610415388852004-11-06T11:41:00.000+11:002005-09-18T17:15:31.133+10:00

It's funny when you are thinking about something one day and it becomes reality, or at least springs into focus, the next.There has recently been a changing of the guard in my place of employment that I haven't quite liked. A new broom can be a good thing but when that broom brings all its little dustpans and mops (aka a personal posse) along with it, it can be disconcerting. I think, 'Hey, whoa

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1099607297413923342004-11-05T09:02:00.000+11:002004-11-07T10:01:20.203+11:00

Nice article by Eric Meyer that explains the mysteries of collapsing margins in CSS. Now, on to today's rant. I get a bit miffed when people bag Dreamweaver as though it was beneath them to even touch such a heinous beast; as though it was a badge of honour to handcode. Yeah, verily though shalt write the code and all of the code. All I can think is that these people have way too much time on

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1099189597420245482004-10-31T13:55:00.000+11:002004-10-31T13:26:37.420+11:00

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I won an award for my personal homepage. It was a rather glamourous award, presented by Telstra and the Australian Financial Review. It's sitting here on my desk with me now. A big glass bauble thing with gold WWW letters circling the orb. It's also very dusty. Well, it is heavy and it's not as though I ogle it every morning. To this day, I still wonder

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1098835958610663062004-10-27T10:00:00.000+10:002004-10-27T10:14:23.243+10:00

Just read this great article on Observing Users Who Listen to Websites. In a nutshell: Screen reader users scan with their ears; they are just as impatient as the rest of us who visually scan pagesThey listen to links; make them meaningfulThey jump directly to [properly coded] headingsThey want to skip to the main content and bypass navigation; if they understand what the skip links meanThey

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1098677131921675212004-10-25T13:34:00.000+10:002004-10-25T14:06:54.200+10:00

Developing for an IE only user-base can have its upside; you can take advantage of some specific features which are not always available in other browsers, such as the Wmode Flash parameter. Unfortunately, I've come across some accessibility issues using this handy doovy, which allows the Flash movie to sit transparently on the page, particulary useful with layers (or flyout menus), which are

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1098493210616396512004-10-23T09:47:00.000+10:002004-10-23T17:57:54.526+10:00

Yesterday, at the last minute, I was invited to attend an Accessibility Risk Management Assessment workshop. Sounds like fun, doesn't it. Considering that it was a 5 hour phone hookup... Actually, I really enjoy the working side of implementing Accessibility features and Web Standards - I'm not much of a one for committee meetings and yabbering on about process etc. But it was nice to be asked.

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1098225600877485902004-10-20T08:26:00.000+10:002004-10-20T08:40:00.876+10:00

After my last post I suddenly realised that this situation is not entirely Bud's fault (a fictitious name by the way to protect Bud's real identity or, more to the point, to avoid me getting myself into trouble). Being shy, I prefer to stay in the background with projects. Give me all the stuff and I will build it but keep me away from meetings and product managers and all that. 'Tis anathema to

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1097999912352945852004-10-17T17:49:00.000+10:002004-10-17T17:58:32.353+10:00

I know I'm meant to be grown up but I'm a shy kinda grrl and sometimes it's hard to stand up for myself. In particular with a certain person at work. I work hard (don't play hard) and treat each project I'm given like a special child; I plan it, design it, develop it and release it to the wild with hands clasped in anticipation of its success. So when someone else continually takes the credit

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1096169297365786082004-09-26T13:10:00.000+10:002004-09-26T13:42:21.486+10:00

I've been online for about 4 hours now - that's the longest in ages, but it's great. I feel in control again; I feel like getting things done and putting everything in order. I know it's because the Boy has finally gone home. You might notice that there has been a distinct lack of activity in this blog. I had grand plans for it to be a chronicle of 'adventures with Boy', but it didn't turn out

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1087191649910236592004-06-14T15:21:00.000+10:002004-06-14T15:40:49.910+10:00

It's been a tough weekend. The boy's grandfather died suddenly and we had the duty of having to tell him. This was made more difficult by the fact that he hadn't seen his grandfather for some time. He'd been living at the boys home but was deeply depressed and alcoholic to some extent, and the boy and he clashed so much that they had to be kept apart. This man had been a member of the police

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1086323303508067382004-06-04T14:21:00.000+10:002004-06-04T14:28:59.806+10:00

1. You will never tire of hearing "What's for breakfast?" or "What's for dessert?" Never. It's up there with "I'm bored, what can I do?" 2. It will take at least 3 occurrences of the dreaded 'white snow in the laundry' before checking pockets for tissues becomes an ingrained behaviour. 3. The lilting, inflected refrain of "awwwwuuwwwww" becomes music to your ears - really. 4. In the abscence

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1086232165848886972004-06-03T12:54:00.000+10:002004-06-03T13:09:25.846+10:00

It's amazing how much all this 're-parenting' tires you out. Mentally, I'm a wet dish rag and getting up each morning gets harder and harder. At the moment, I'm running about an hour behind my usual schedule and getting into work at 9 instead of 8. Partly because the boy takes so much effort to get parcelled into bed at night. He pops in and out more often than I can keep track of - I call it '

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1086132887261082632004-06-02T09:14:00.000+10:002004-06-02T09:37:10.036+10:00

Lordy, what a night it was last night. Another hissyfit but with outstanding results, if I can phrase it like that. Once again, a tiny, insignificant thing set the boy off - we asked him to pick a small piece of paper off the floor. "It's not mine, I didn't put it there!", he yelled. And he was off. Who knows what he was thinking at the time, but as mentioned previously, he has issues with

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1086067072456532032004-06-01T14:59:00.000+10:002004-06-02T09:14:42.296+10:00

I've noticed that the boy does NOT like to be hit, tapped or biffed in any way unless he is absolutely sure you are playing a game with him. On the otherhand he is a dab hand at headbutting you in the guts if you are not looking. The man of the house was encouraging this as a blokey bloke thing but I've had to put a stop to it pretty quick smart. Turns out the boy was running up to our girl at

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085893806265755232004-05-30T14:55:00.000+10:002004-05-30T15:10:06.266+10:00

Just finished The DaVinci code and honestly am wondering what all the hype was about. It seems to me that more and more books are being written as screenplays. See Matthew Reilly's works that simply ooze Sylvester Stallone or good old Arny. It's easy to see how this would translate into a blockbuster without any tweaking. Unfortunately although I can't blame authors when there is so much money

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085786726140378742004-05-29T08:51:00.000+10:002004-05-29T09:27:46.743+10:00

Something I've discovered in all this is that the boy anticipates. This is why it's now easy to understand more about the way he is behaving. When he goes off his tree, he really goes WAY off. He becomes evil child with shades of Linda Blair. Scary. And most of the time there seems to be no reason, or whatever has happened is so trivial that we are left with our gobs hanging open at the

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085618994040063052004-05-27T10:38:00.000+10:002004-05-27T10:55:07.440+10:00

Boy was listening to a kid's story on CD which happened to be the parable of The Prodigal Son. Boy said, "I love this story, it's the best one in the Bible." "Why? Why do you like it so much?" "I dunno. I just do." "Do you think it relates to you? Reminds you of you?" "Nup. Well... yes" "Why?" "Because I ran away too." "Why did you run away?" "I dunno... (much quieter) because Mummy

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085461867355275612004-05-25T15:06:00.000+10:002004-05-25T15:11:07.356+10:00

Small boys are a dangerous breed and must be handled with care. There comes a time, however, when battle lines must be drawn, usually at bedtime... 1. The contest will always begin with your opponent saying NO. It doesn't matter what they are saying NO to, in fact, it will probably be to something quite inconsequential 2. There is no limit to the number of times the word NO may be used. In

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085372366605818572004-05-24T13:47:00.000+10:002004-05-24T14:21:13.373+10:00

So, what is the boy's story? He's smart. Bouncing with energy. Has love to give. Good looking. An enquiring mind. He's also full of fear and anticipates the worst. Convinced he is stupid and angry. Disrepectful of your efforts on his behalf. Selfish. Hyper at times. What's his problem? His 'real' dad can't be bothered to keep in touch and was never around from day one. I've heard the boy

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085095049840240842004-05-21T09:04:00.000+10:002004-05-21T09:35:55.600+10:00

Phew. How relieved do I feel today! The boy has come back from the land of big bad things and is in fine form - almost angelic (well, he is a boy and let's not go too far...) I was almost scared to go home yesterday in trepidation as to what sort of mood he would be in. But a fascinating thing happened. During yesterday's episode we laid down the usual 'threats', if you like, regarding what

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1085012465240235062004-05-20T10:08:00.000+10:002004-05-20T10:23:26.406+10:00

I feel rattled this morning. The boy had another hissyfit and he just wouldn't let go of his anger. When he's like this he is totally incommunicado - you can't reason with him as he will counter everything you say, even though his thoughts are clearly illogical. He hums to himself, puts his hands over his ears, wraps himself in his quilt and faces the wall. It's distressing to see him so

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974034.post-1084937525071282932004-05-19T13:23:00.000+10:002004-05-24T14:20:51.560+10:00

I'm fostering the boy at the moment. I say 'I' as I feel most of the responsibility for decision making seems to be on my shoulders. It's a heavy load and uphill all the way, with small enlightenments. How can a ten year old be so emotionally screwed up? How has he had the time to build such walls of defence? This boy has no sense of self-worth and is so insecure: "I'm stupid" "I'm an angry

retrogrrlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13116265087828318270noreply@blogger.com0