Photo a day

So today i decided i would get some photos edited.  I need to find one for a friend who ordered it like over a year ago.  James school formal, one of the mums had some pics done with her kids, in May and some horsey ones, just because i will be on a roll.  Heres a tip; dont hire me as your photographer.  I know thats bad for business but i really need to find my mojo, i have told you this before, my photo mojo has gone awol.  I have in fact knocked back jobs.

For a while there has been monthly photos a day (does that make sense?) you know it gives you a list of words and you take a pic to represent that word.  Was great to start with, but took up way too much of my head space, especially when i would miss a couple of days and also when people were using old photos.  Not fair, its about having to think of that work all day long and look at every single thing that is in front of you and then finding something that suits.  Cheats.

Now i am involved in Yellow September on Facebook.  The task is to take a pic of something yellow everyday.  Fun idea i hear you say.  No.  It is causing me so much grief, likened to that of the alphabet assignment at college when we had to take a picture of things that looked like letters of the alphabet.  It consumes your brain, i am looking at everything yellow, all day long.  Yet i still dont have a pic for today.  And the same cheats exist. I say that lightly because i am not the "photo a day police", you can do what you like, but surely you should all have the same distractions throughout the day looking for yellow and being in a position to take a pic, most of mine are done while i am driving.

My advice: Give it a go yourself, just for laughs and giggles, especially the alphabet one, it will make your head explode.

To be or not to be

I had a bit of a panic attack this week. 

On Tuesday (i think) i woke up and suddenly thought that the grey tracky jumper i wear to bed every night (sexy i know) did not feel the same.When i took it off, it looked different, i dont remember a tag being where it is and it felt different to touch, i am sure it came from a different store and should have been a different size. I texted every mum who has had a kid sleep here in the last 2 weeks and asked them to check if was accidently taken home, i asked James to text every person he knows to see if they had borrowed it.  I looked at the jumper over and over, smelt it, rubbed it on my face, checked the tags, folded it up.  Then did that all over again about 100 times.  I have slept in that jumper all week and keep checking to see that it hasnt changed again, that the cooking oil stains are still on the front from a Jamie Oliver special (yes i get in my pjs early sometimes).  All of it looks different.  I am scared i have forgotten what it was meant to look like, and i dont know why i dont have a clear visual of how it should be.  I still dont know if it is the right tracky jumper.

This grey tracky jumper is my dads.

Chicken tonight

For those of you who dont know, my dogs eat chickens.  If your chicken is in our yard, it is theirs, if your chicken is in your yard, it is theirs, if your chicken is locked up tight in the chook house in your yard, it is theirs.  I apologise.  Mr J has been putting up dog wire for almost 3 years.  That is after i spent $800 on electric boundary fencing which did keep one dog in and kept one dog out after he ran through it and took the shock to get out.  So when we finally put up some dog wire, after one dog had been attacked for the third time by some other neighbourhood dogs, we put it on upside down, so they can both fit through it.  Not funny. 

When a man turned up at the front door (of the boys part of the house) and told Mstr J he was going to kill his dog, Mstr J said in return he would kill him if he killed his dog and he will now get his dad as he might want a piece of him also.  Which he did.  Apparently Mr J has freedom because this man is a Vietnam Vet.  No disrespect, it was a terrible war which affected alot of people, but a bit extreme as a result of a chicken death.

The last time the dogs emptied an entire chook pen of 5 chickens and only got caught because they left a trail of feathers that lead to my front step, the owner said we were doing them a favour, and that dogs eat chickens, someone should have locked them up.  Didnt have the guts to say they would have eaten them anyway.  Needless to say Stringybark Rd has very few chickens residing here and my dogs have beautiful teeth.

Back to the mad man from a couple of houses away who wants to kill my dog.  So we declare that our dogs do not eat chickens and could he know it was them and in fact prove it.  He said it was a Jack Russell, Flick is a Fox Terrier but who is splitting hairs? AFter Mr J told him if he was 20 years younger he would be bleeding on the driveway (working on positivity), he left. 

The dogs have been in lock down since then.  Locked in the house, the pool yard, my car or at work with me.  At work we have chickens and one of them attacks Flick through the fence, she is scared of the chicken, but would probably eat it if i let her in the pen with them. On Wednesday they had a bath at work, came out smelling great, once at home i let them out to go to the toilet, they were out of my sight for 2 minutes and they both went missing.  Fuck.

Piper is older and going deaf/ignorant and he pisses off all the time.  He was arrested once and while they enjoyed having him at the pound, he cost a motza to bail out, he didnt get a discount for being friendly.  He came back when he felt like it, Flick came back and stunk, really stunk.  Her feet were filthy, she had been up to something chicken related i bet.  I gave her another bath in the tub so she could venture to house lock down for the night. 

Next morning i let them out for breaky and toilet stop.  Flick disappeared.  I spotted her in the back paddock with something hanging from her mouth.  Chicken?  I got in my cammo gear (dressing gown and gumboots) armed with a plastic bag aka body bag.  Lucky for me i am a pro at bagging up dead bodies, not human of course, but kind of handy should i ever need to.  I crept into the paddock, and in one movement grabbed the chicken in the bag, shoved it in my pocket (which by the way had eaten a recent meal of corn) and ran back to the house to get rid of the evidence. 

Nothing to see here, you just prove my dogs are chicken killers (i'm stuffed if he reads my blog).

Washing and other stuff

I have been thinking about a blog all week, in fact i have been thinking i would like to commit to submitting something each week which is not so long to read (assuming there are so many of you out there who read this).  Ms I has a very cool blog http://iramcguire.blogspot.com.au/ and every Friday is 'Friday Style'.  My whole day has been a bit muddled so i thought i could settle down to read the Friday edition.  It wasnt there.  Thats ok too because she is also about to start becoming a Doctor, so she must be busy. Or she is more likely at some trendy cafe drinking coffee that does not come from a jar like i am. 

Now my muddled day may have been because i could not get out of bed (thats everyday), Ethan stayed at home (to prepare for Grand Final tomorrow), i visited Jim and he looked happy with his new friends and looked at me like i had dumped him, i am changing my medication on my own because i am so tired and my blood test gave no reason for it.  So i am still tired, and my head is messed up, probably not a smart decision.

The blood test mainly came about (and skip this paragraph if i already told you this) because i had a work 'institute' bonding/useless information day and i had declared i was not going.  My boss who will no longer be my boss after next week said i better have a medical certificate for the doctors appointment i had said was booked for months and i could not possibly change to attend the work thing.  I lied.  I had to make an appointment, then make an excuse to the doctor as to why i was there, which resulted in sending me to have a blood test.  Nothing wrong, except my cholesterol might be a little high, although he thought that might be an error because the numbers did not add up. I admitted to recently eating Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals at least three times a week.  If you have his cookbook and i know for a fact that i should get a spotters fee as 2 of my friends just bought it this week, he uses stacks of oil and butter and custard and cream.  Oh and i should mention that i eat one croissant every day, with an iced coffee.  Is that bad?

My muddle started this morning when i did not have a croissant, then at 11 am i had to race to the bakery to get my fix.  Seriously it was just like when i quit smoking the first or second time. Not the third, i was hypnotised and i dont care about smokes anymore. 

So i have mentioned washing.  I dont want to be negative about it or the process as i am trying to create a new positive me.  I fucking hate washing (did i say that out loud).  I keep all the clothes separated in their own little piles according to colour and dirtiness (is that a word), i almost cant wait for Friday to get it going in an attempt to have nothing there for the weekend.  Today i did that, then Mr J and Mstr J emptied their cars and bedrooms and every other hidy hole and created a new pile. That gets me down.  I just would like that it either starts to do it itself or someone invents a washing machine that washes, dries and folds, i would ask for ability to put away but thats a bit unreasonable.



On a more positive note, i asked Mr J if he had noticed how positive i had been lately.  He said yes he had noticed and thats what he hated most is when i am so negative (which i havent been for some time).  He says this as he is yelling abuse at the news when they talk about most things, so i am trying to turn Mr J into Mr Positive.  I will keep you posted.

I made it through my 41st birthday, yes i can say it out loud and my beautiful neighbours put on a fancy dinner (on a school night) and a most fabulous cake with 41 written on it (not so fabulous).  My neice asked me if i got spoilt by the boys.  I said "no but we are happy".  That has bothered me since i said it.  Yes we are happy BUT i explained to them all that i felt unappreciated and when Mr J complained about me using too many utensils when he had to wash up the after night after a Jamie O special, i could have stabbed him.  I dont know what i am expecting.  Gifts, praise, a parade?  I think that i need to maybe get over it and expect no miracles, i know that they all love me, but they are boys.

Mosaic Madness

I came up with this fab idea to create a mosaic tile splash back for my kitchen.  Actually better homes and gardens did and now i am going to do, even Mr J said that was ok, although i have a feeling he is just agreeing with everything at the moment after the Baden Clay threat, or he thinks i have forgotten about the wedding.  So i came up with and even better idea, actually it is based on one of my besties christmas tree, which has a name and i cant remember it, but friends take christmas decorations and put it onto the tree which is stuck to the wall.  Friendship tree? Dont remember. I am thinking that i could ask if anyone is interested to send me a tile, i am looking for something different, antique, vintage, colourful, patterned, whatever.  I am going to create a new splashback and if i get enough cover a table as well.  It could be a long project but i am excited about putting some colour and if i get tiles from others, some love into my kitchen. 

I need to refer back to the not rembering.  Not only can i not remember what the tree is called, i have forgotten large chunks of my life.  I have forgotten stages of when my kids were little, i have forgotten what is was like to have little, this is sad.  Fortunately i have a lot of photos to remind me, but i wonder does this happen to everyone or have i had a stroke and just dont know it?  I guess what is good is that i cant wait to have grand kids, a few years ago i would have stuck a fork in my eye just thinking about it, now i just cant wait, after Mr J asked if we could have more kids so he could fill the house with them, i even thought about it....for a second and then remembered that Mr J has had the snip and i might have to find a suitable doner like Channing Tatum to father a child.  Its ok, i am over it now, i have a kitchen to tile.

So i drove out to Oakey this week to visit a student.  I wrote a list in my iphone, mainly because i was going to write a blog when i got home, i had the popping candy thing going on and i didnt want to forget stuff to blog about.  I forgot to blog, i looked at the list and have forgotten what half of them are. I cant put the list here because it is in a different format and i cant figure out how to put it here so you will have to trust that this is the list:

renovate kitchen - based on the purchase of magazine and coffee in Oakey

road trip - i told Mr J we are just going to get in the car Friday afternoon and then drive
He:  without a plan, you just want to drive, how far and what will we do?
Me:  i can get a map, we can calculate how long it will take us to do an interesting round trip, we can sleep over in dodgy motels and look at stuff we normally wouldnt look at
He: like what?
Me: like the Emu farm at Murgon
He: ok
Me:  you know we could visit all these odd places we drive past and take photos out the front and have a laugh (thinking Baden Clay moment, he is agreeing to everything)

Re invent - i dont know what this was

Painting - now i would love to be able to paint, in my head i can see great stuff, i cant put any ideas on paper but i am sure i could do it

Petas exhibit - my cousin has an opening of her first solo show on Saturday, i am so excited for her and i love her work, i may or may not have bought something already, i hope she takes mates rates

Moving house - dont know what this is, i am not moving, oh wait, i was thinking we could move to Oakey, buy 300 acres for less than what i can sell my house for, i can retire and farm emus to make money, only i am not sure what part of the emus you use

Emu farm - as above

New ring - highlighted in previous blog and now by the time i get it, unless he thinks to pick it up tomorrow before football and suprise me, i might change my mind and get something different

Thats a big list, you can imagine how my head was popping on this day especially with all those hours in the car and a few solo coffee stops.  Then i also think about how i complain about the hours spent in the car for work, yet i want to do road trips.  Odd

In case you want to be part of my mosaic madness send to:
Mosaic Queen
2 Stringybark Rd
Tamborine Q 4270

40 plus and Affogatos

In keeping with the theme of last blog i have given you a couple of random words as a title.  I might add that the last blog had the wrong date on it, i know you all noticed, so if this date comes up wrong also, it is actually Friday the 20 something.  Its closer to August i know this much and i will be soon rolling into my 41st year, my conversation with Mr J today went like this:

He: hey we should do something for your birthday
Me: no i am one year older than 40 and i dont need a reminder, plus all the other beautiful people born in August have hogged the weekends for parties
He:  i dont know what you are worried about, its just a number and you could have something the day after Miss N
Me:  i know but i still dont want to do anything, i cant be bothered, and thats optimistic of you to think i might have my head out of the toilet bowel long enough to celebrate my birthday after Miss N party, no wait, i am not getting drunk again
He: i am going to record you saying all of this so that on the day of your birthday or the weekend near it you are not arriving at your own suprise party i have organised, you cant blow up and say no one does anything for me, plus if i had a dollar for everytime you said you werent getting drunk........
Me:  i am so not going to say that and you would probably only have ten dollars, i hardly ever say that
He:  still recording
Me:  i would be happy to have a nice dinner with my family and have you all at home and dont forget the card, if you dont get me a card, i will blow up
He: ok then
Me:  And while you are at the card shop, go and pick up my ring that we ordered, that has been ready for 2 weeks and i thought you might get it for me as a suprise, well now the wedding ring can also become my birthday present
He:  i was hoping you had forgotten about the wedding thing (looks at me like i am crazy)
Me:  (look at him: yes i am crazy and i will have another wedding unless i find something else to do and then it is all off, sorry girls, i know you had your hearts set on being in the bridal party)

The Affogato is about my dessert i made tonight from the Jamie Oliver cookbook.  It was awesome and so easy and i didnt take a photo of it, so you will have to trust that i actually made it.  Friday i have decided is not only change the bath towels day, it is cook something fancy for dinner.  I like this because for the first four days i am at work and while we still eat nice food, it is all quick stuff and no fancy desserts.  Saturdays are usually take away because we are at footy and Sundays can be a good dinner night also, unless i have ridden the horse all day and i dont give a shit if you eat coco pops for dinner. So think shortbread, chocolate chunks, cherries, ice cream, cream and coffee covered with grated chocolate in a cup.  Yum. Before the dessert we had mustard chicken, dauphonoise and greens.  I had to google Dauphonoise.

Popping Candy and Sara Lee

I have been back at work for 4 days only this week, i am lucky enough to have Fridays off.  A long weekend every week.  Although it always feels really short so i dont know why it is called long.  By day 2 i was trying to figure out how i could go on paid stress leave for 20 years.  Apparently it is not possible, i did consider straight jacket type stuff, surely this would get me a few years.  Should this happen, it is all coincidence. 

Mr J has been cooking all week for us, he baked his very first cake and it was fab, i think he was pretty pleased with himself.  Pork Roast, i know the pork was pre roasted, but he did all the other stuff, it was good, followed by apple pie and custard.  We had a taco incident where he mixed in the salsa and not the taco seasoning.  I couldnt eat that one, not even to be nice. Funny today i can only remember 2 meals and i know we ate food every night. 

I have been waking up at 4am on the dot every morning, going back to sleep, then wake up at 5am to have coffee with Mstr J before he heads of to work.  I feel sad that he has just started his career and has so many years of hard work to go.  If only we could all not work.

This getting up in the dark has thrown me out of whack i think, that and the rain.  I have been saying it is like being up at night, and this morning The Project was on TV, confused or what ! I am thinking too that the out of whackness could be tissue memory.  Mstr E was born today, yes on Black Friday, i remember Mum even tried to talk me out of the caesar on this date 14 years ago. Not me, i live on the edge (mainly the edge of the lounge or the bed with the cats hogging the space).  So my baby is growing up, one is already grown, now this one almost there.

I went back to the gym today.  Wait.  I forced myself back to the gym today.  If they played Masterchef on the TV's i might have looked forward to it.  I hate it.  Not long ago i loved it.  I have about 9 months left on my membership. Whack.

My shower post gym, post groceries was busy.  Not the actual shower process but my head was like popping candy, it jumped from one thought to the next, really fast.  This is why i am writing this blog, i figured if i got it all out, my head would slow down or i might need to inject myself with the valium i keep in the fridge as an emergency should one of my cats or dogs need it. True. In brief this is what i thought about:

• Why i didnt clean the shower first, i had told myself yesterday i was going to do that today, it is swap towel, clean shower day.
• Lucious Mango Body Wash.  It really is.
• Fennel and Figs, they cook with them all the time on Masterchef, i should have bought them when i saw them at Coles before.  Fennel was only $1.  I dont know if that is good, i have never bought it, or noticed it for that matter. 
• The need for a new leather Pandora bracelet and why didnt i just get one when i was ordering my new wedding ring from the Pandora shop?
• What i could do for my wedding, and was that completely crazy and can you have another fancy wedding to the same person.  There is a method to my madness, its all about starting fresh. 
• Dinner parties and what kind of table i need to buy to put in manland.
• Whether we put a table or a lounge in manland, i figure that i might go in there if it has one of the two, plus we cant have a dinner party in the house because we have a baby dining table.  Sorry 2 guests at a time (share your chair with a cat).
• Leather or fabric (lounge).
• Singapore trip, yes i almost bought tickets to Singapore last night, to fly in September, when i dont even have holidays.  Whack. We are meant to be going in April next year to take Dad over there, Mr J and I thought we could check it out first.  Dont rule out tickets to Singapore, i am kind of excited by the thought of it and sad that Mstr E doesnt want to come and Mstr J cant because he is all grown and has a real job.
• How good i would be at basketball, seeing as the flannel i through over the top of the shower,  landed exactly where i wanted it to.
• Mstr E wants to go to disco tonight, i got sad because he should sit home and be bored shitless with his mum on his birthday.  I need to get over it. 
• Would have been cheaper to get eagle boys then the unneccesary grocery shop i had today to buy stuff just to make home made pizza for Mstr E.
• Why didnt Mr J clean the shower, he has had 3 days off work?

Can you imagine how i felt when i go out of the shower. Out. Of. Whack.

For the first two or three  years of Mstr J life, i made fancy birthday cakes, for the remainder (15) and ALL of Mstr E life they have had Sara Lee Chocolate cakes for their birthday.  I just decorate the top with something different.  Today Ethan has White Chocolate and Rasberry Sara Lee Cake (you heard right). I got a chocolate one too, i thought it would be bad luck not to, being Friday the 13th and all.

Those are the days of our lives

Lots of things buzzing around in my head today. Delayed and altered by the fact my blogger keeps deleting my blog and this is the third time i have written it.  The first one was so freaking funny.  Trust me.

For those of you not fortunate enough to work for the Dept of Education, i am on Natt Leave, this is non attendance time.  At Tafe we like to call it Not Leave.  I have never worked on my Natt leave, if my boss is reading this, i have made it all up for the sake of writing a blog. I am deep in preparation for next semester.

So far i have stayed in bed until 9 and watched morning television. I say that like i have been doing it for weeks, it is only Wednesday.  Today i bought a funeral plan for two which came with a magazine subscription.  Except when i did it online, because i dont like to talk on the phone anymore, i didnt have the option of a subscription.  I have emailed a complaint which required me to leave my contact number.  I hope they dont call.

I need to let you all know that i have also recently increased Mr J life insurance.  After the stabbing incident (and a hundred other things) i thought it might be time to seriously think about how we could live without him.  With our life insurance and funeral plan sorted, should either of us go all Baden Clay on each other, it is purely coincidence.  You need to know this in case you are called in for questioning by the police. Also i still have the script for his epi-pen in my diary, i promised him i would get this sorted for him, that i also do love him and that its not a lack of interest in purchasing this life saving device.

I have also compiled a new list on my phone for my not leave.

The cross indicates completion of a list item. Super effort i know.

I have lost my gym mojo.  My friend reminded my that Biggest Loser is finished.  This is true.  I used to join the gym only when Biggest Loser was on.  You can ask my old gym.  You cant really, it has closed down.  I was just saying. I have gone all Master Chef now.  Monday night i cooked a Jamie Oliver deal from the 30 minute cookbook, the mini one which came with the paper.  While it took about 45 stressful minutes of cooking three things at once, it was awesome. I am going to get the cook book for sure so i can try some others. Yesterday i spent most part of the day preparing arancini, after googling 'mince recipes' three from three family members asked what they were.  Understandable they looked like giant deep fried ice cream.  Master E put so much BBQ sauce on it, thank goodness it was not ice cream.  Today we are having steak, mainly because i hadnt selected a recipe by the morning and should i need anything i cant get it because Master J has my car.  Yes the car he said he would never drive once he got his licence. 

It is now 1.57pm and i am still sitting in front of the television.  With a cat on my lap and a laptop.  I am not the only one, my cousin posted a pic on facebook with her cat in a sling around her neck, just so she can go hands free at her desk, like a baby sling. Why didnt i think of that?

I will be the crazy cat lady.  Wait.  I am the crazy cat lady, its just my numbers are down at the moment.  I am working on this but Mr J has cut me off.

The last time i watched days of our lives was probably 15 years ago.  Beau and Hope have not changed.  I chose the heading for this blog before the show came on too.  Weird.

Not Holidays

I have been a bit absent in the blog department, perhaps i have had nothing much to say.

I am on holidays today.  Technically non attendance time, which means i am meant to be working on getting stuff ready for next semester.  I tend to plan my stuff ahead of time so i dont need to do any work on the holidays, which i love. When we are at work, we cant call them holidays.   I had a master plan for these 2 weeks, its a short list:

• Ride my horse, starting with a show this Sunday to make up for an ordinary show last weekend, two weeks of intense training and lessons:  Jim is lame, sooky la la can hardly walk. Bummer. Its ok he has medicine and i do feel a little bit sorry for him, but more annoyed he has ruined my only plan for my holidays. 

I now have to come up with some other ideas.

• Pick the last tomatoes and do something with them:  i have picked them and plucked them, i think they call for a relish/chutney something.
• Get back to the gym: i have had a week off because work just gets in the way.  It doesnt really, the gym is 24 hours, it has just been too cold and i lost interest.
• Clean my car: this wont happen
• Celebrate with all of my besties for one other of my besties coming of age.  She is 40.  The caterer has been located and i have a bed in which i have permission to vomit should i need to. I am excited about the party, not the vomit.
• Hopefully see my eldest son for more than 15 minutes each day:  he has his P plates and a real job and has only been here to sleep in his bed and drink my sachet coffee.
• Drink Coffee: not the sachet variety.

Happy Holidays !!

In the olden days

Do you remember when you wrote letters to friends, you know on paper with a pen, then put them in an envelope and go buy a stamp then put it into the mail box?

I remember you could buy so many nice letter sets, i know i had quite a few when i was younger, i even had a pen pal, she was from Texas and i still have the photo of her family.  They look like axe murderers.  I remember i stopped writing after that photo.

Anywhoo, i have promised a response to a fellow blogger via the way of a letter.  After i read it i felt like it kind of needed an official response, put pen to paper.  I have spent the last 2 days looking for a 'letter set'. I have gone to at least 7 shops and today i found one.  It is perfect.  She will laugh and hopefully put a pic up of it once it has been received. 

Move away from your letter box Miffy, it might not be there until Monday xx.

Labels

I had a coffee with one of my girlfriends the other day, an unplanned coffee treat. I was telling her about the stuff i found in my Dads cupboards after he died, how everything was so organised, how he had a giant box of all the Singapore trips put into envelopes and dated as per trip, each envelope held brochures and tickets and just stuff he collected while he was overseas.  I reckon Dad had 12 trips back to Singapore in the last 6 years, his last visit, he got sick and was stuck in bed, very cranky.  He had planned to go back to make up for it and didnt make it.  I will go for him. 

Anyway i told my doctor about it and he suggested OCD.  I asked my Mum if he had always been like this, for as long as i can remember he could pack a car like no other, also the fridge and the cupboards.  He would reorganise mine when he wasnt out creating a stick pile, walking over 5 acres to pick up sticks.  Mum said "your father was just very organised", i tried to tell her he had OCD.  Why would i do that? 

My girlfriend put a post coffee/discussion blog up which to my surprise (not really) she had categorised her holidays also, in almost the exact same way.  I cried.  Not because i was sad for her, but because she shared this with me. It doesnt matter what you do with your holiday stuff, or any stuff for that matter. If you choose to use it as wall paper, then do it, its ok (might consider this).

My Dad was really organised.

My girlfriend has gone through a lot, in fact she was missing for a bit, but has been back for a bit more, while i havent actually gone missing in body like she did, i have gone missing in mind, just a little and she especially  (and not excluding Inga and Madonna) have been my rocks for the last however many months.  Now the big man has helped with drugs and the little man is good with the tibetan bowl, but money cannot buy these girls and their support. I am not going to give myself a label, i dont need to, maybe just a little nuts.

40 something

On Saturday night we welcomed another member to club 40.  It is getting quite popular, with new members joining almost every month.  I am still not happy with my membership but apparently you cannot cancel it, no refunds, no returns. 

The girls had some pre-dinner drinkies in their apartment at the Hilton while i attended tall boys formal.  Can you believe that, grade 12 formal, i also cannot believe when he got out of the limo, before anything else, he came and gave me a kiss and a cuddle.  That must have been so embarrassing, he still did it.  Love you tall boy. 

Anywhoo after pre dinner drinks at formal i headed down the coast, destination Sufferers Paradise, in the blinding rain.  I almost died/turned around at least 6 times, but i knew i would never hear the end of it if i was to do a no show.  In hindsight i wish i had of turned around and just taken the beating from the girls, would have been far better than the 12 hours of staring into my toilet bowl. 

Dinner was at Salt Grill, some famous chef apparently owns it, but i was informed he is probably too busy to cook the food in it, only had his name on all the plates.  Gay.  So my $50 steak and beans was very tasty, add to that the McDonalds fries, yes people they looked and tasted like Micky D fries, the service was ordinary and i think that is why we got the complimentary fries, the bill was almost a grand. Wow.  Miss Cake remover had a discount card, gave us $50 off, we didnt tip, we decided to use the excess money to buy cocktails. This of course was after Miffy made a Japanese visitor with baby and sars mask pose for a photo.  I am sure she went and washed her hands afterwards.

Inga had said a few days before we just had to visit the bar that made molecular modified cocktails.  What ever that means.  Hell yeah i thought.  So we did.  This is when they turn liquid to other stuff like foam or sherbert or smoke i think and we drank a bit of each.  I think this made me sick.  Madonna went home because she is trying to re write the bible and Miffy cleared out also as she feared she might get arrested should she stay out with us.  Goodnight, dont forget the keys.

Off we go.  Avenue.  Beergarden: they clearly didnt know who we were and when Miss bday girl announced we used to drink in that very place when we were 16, he didnt care.  Not one bit.  Arse.
Down Melbas via the Irish bar, we danced here to a really bad band, Inga met a boy.  Enough said. 

Melbas, more drinks and finally home.  All i can say is thank god for Miss cake remover to get me home safely, i dont actually remember getting there.  Smoking apple drink, you are to blame.

Morning after.

I woke up on the floor, i lay there for a minute trying to decide where the fark i was.  I stood up, there are 2 girls in a bed.  Who are they, where the fark am i and where are my shoes. It felt like 15 minutes of walking around this room, trying to figure out what had happened and why was i in a strangers room with no shoes.  Bday girl rolls over. Phew. Familiar face and i hug her.  Where the fark am i?  Adjoining room.  Phew. Everyone is next door, yes this is where i went to bed, somehow i made it to the floor of Bday girls room.  Phew.  And i help put a cake away and may or may not have eaten some horse duvers that had salmon on them and were left out overnight.  Salmon made me sick.

Laugh out loud the next morning hearing the stories of the night.  My god my girls crack me up.  I think the laughing made me sick.  Apparently the apples made Madonna sick and also Miffy who had to stop to retch (not vomit) in the hotel bin.  We are a classy bunch.

A little bit of crazy and a whole lot of love....

Lunch date today with my besties aka charlies angels which was then changed to awesome foursome as there is four of us and not three. 

We have known each other since training bra age, i still wear a training bra when i dont feel the need for a bra with stuffing, anyway it has probably been since we were 13 ish onwards that we have known each other.  There has been gaps in our friendships when we have been off doing other stuff, all the while living in the same state, just doing other stuff, now we are back together and i love that (i know i have probably said this in a previous blog, just want to refresh your memory). 

Get togethers usually mean gifts from someone, last time Miffy lost my gift, although did have Madonna searching Sufferers Paradise to find it without any luck.  So Miffy brings a decoration for our Easter Tree and some lemons.  The chef in the restaurant thought he should bring a bottle of tequila to the table, given the amount of lemons we had.  We dont need tequila.  They found this out after 3 hours of talking and laughing out really loud.  We talk about the funniest things, even the non funny things become funny, I am talking so funny we need a tissue to wipe the tears from our eyes.

Humphrey syndrome is not funny, we should not laugh.

I think there is some confirmed and yet to be confirmed crazy amongst us, I know there is a whole lot of love.

Car Wash

I spent a bit of time vacuuming about 6 tonne of dirt out of my car this afternoon.  Next i thought i would wash my car.  Pack the bucket, the car wash and drive the car around the back near the tank to start washing.  There is not pump on this tank, that is ok, i will just take a bit longer to do it, so what if the water wont run out of the hose when you reach the roof of the car.  Tom wanders over looking for Elvis (who i called Joe in my previous blog) and when i ask him to tell tall boy to come wash my car, he says "if you want it done right, do it yourself" agreed, i am a fan of this saying.  And i was in a car wash kind of mood.

10 minutes later Tom and Elvis come back out to see how i am going.  Not "right" apparently, Tom says bring it over to his house and use the wash bay where he washes his trucks.  Ok, i reluctantly give in and take my little car over.  Tom seriously has a wash bay, with a high pressure hose and special shampoo stuff and a drain under the car.  Tom and Elvis wash my car for me, i sat in the sun and did nothing.  So if you want something done right, start doing it yourself until a better offer comes along.

FYI when you google hot guy washing cars, you are directed to all sorts of gay porn sights. Really. 

Dry spell

So it seems that not only i am going through a blog dry spell.  Madonna, who is a daily blogger, and had i not been going through so much would have noticed earlier, that i hadnt read her blog for some time. Just yesterday i realised i hadnt gone onto her blog, excitedly i went the the bookmark, thinking i have at least 2 weeks to catch up on, nothing, nata, nil.  Madonna is seriously busy with a thesis, yes she is a smart blogger, and has not come up for air/food for some time.  I know she would be having coffee but was concerned about the other, until tonight she puts up a platter her beautiful candian made as a study snack.  So now i know she is eating and well air is a given, or she would be dead.  I will confirm this on Wednesday when the awesome foursome meet for lunch.  I had called us charlies angels, was their 4 of them or 3 (i could google this but i like to have a question, just to check that you are reading). 

So i have left my chair purchase phase and have moved into the cook like a crazy person phase.  This started when i was off for couple of weeks, a couple of weeks ago.  I never have really liked cooking, i mean i will cook if it involves one bowl and up to 4 ingredients.  I think this started with the increasing amount of magazines which are entering my house (smoking was much cheaper).  I am buying recipe mags and other mags that have recipes in them.  I cut out the good ones and glue them into a scrapbook and write notes next to them about stuff i might need to buy which wouldnt always be in the pantry. 

What i have learnt is that the stuff i cook, does not EVER look like the recipe.  I have had some epic fails, and thankyou family  Joe for still saying it tastes ok, the young boys are less forgiving, thats fine, dont eat EVER, see how you like that.  Not only am i cooking, but setting our mini dining table and we are all sitting at it, i was going to light candles tonight but i thought that might be going to fast and would freak everyone out. 

Note that on the box the cakes rise over the top of the case and the icing flows down the sides, also the most ridiculous cake mix i have ever seen, these cakes are about the size of a teaspoon. 

Starting from now....

As you may or may not know i lost my Dad last week.  He is not missing, he passed away last Tuesday.  I know this has been the single saddest day i have ever had to face. I have cried and cried, but never too much in front of other people.  I dont know if this is good or bad, but it is how i have dealt with it.  I dont want to put people in that awkward situation of being sorry or sad or not knowing what to say.  I think death is an awkward situation, everyone you see is sorry, sad and doesnt know what to say, myself included when other people have lost love ones. 

Dad had cancer.  I think he had it for longer than he ever admitted, see dad didnt want anyone to be sad, he didnt want anyone to feel sorry for him and he certainly did not want to admit defeat.  In the past, he had escaped so many illnesses, or did he?  Perhaps he just told us he was fine, i will never know. 

Dad did not want a funeral, he did not want people to have to take time out of their busy lives and have to attend a church when perhaps they had different spiritual beliefs, have a priest or a celebrant talk about a person they have never met, and have people cry when they have to say goodbye.  He also figured that the money spent on a funeral could be spent on say a trip to Singapore.  So we followed his wishes and had a 'gathering'. 

The hardest part was giving this 'gathering' a title.  Is it a reception or a toast or bon voyage?  It was also not to be called a wake.  Dad tried to organise his own wake for the Saturday before he died (he wanted to be there in person).  He organised all of the family to turn up to the hospital to have a BBQ in the visitors area.  Robina hospital has a nice facility for this, but you cannot actually use the BBQ for safety reasons.  Anyway the BBQ was changed to a picnic, we all turned up at the hospital and Dad was unable to attend.  He was not well enough.  The only thing he said on the day was to ask Tall boy who had won the footy the night before, then he went back to sleep.  At least everyone got to see him one last time.  I spent the next couple of days with him at the hospital then he was gone. 

We organised a 'farewell toast to Fred' for the following Saturday.  Friends and family dropped into mums place, it was a beautiful day spent listening to stories from different people on how they remembered my Dad, you know i didnt realise he had touched so many people until this day, the kind words and love that filled the room was amazing, i felt blessed.  A fellow band member of dads who knew him for many years came and played the bagpipes after a few words were said by my cousin in a toast (we nominated him as the only person who could keep it together to say a few words). 

Bagpipes are beautiful.  I loved watching my Dad play in the band (he was on drums).  We had a toast and drank Glayva (it was his favourite drink), it was nice. While i was deeply sad inside it was a special day spent with special friends and family and i thank you all for being part of my  Dads life, he would have loved to have been there to catch up with all my old school friends.

So now i am back home, and ready to regroup, with a few tears in private.  I love you Dad, you will be sadly missed.

On the back of this photo i found hidden in dads room, it had written on the back 1978-1994 RIP.  He cried when he traded it in. 

Dry spell

Yes i have been MIA since January 18, this was my last post (cue trumpet).  I have spent some time with very little motivation and have just been accessing what i need from my iphone, this would be difficult to write a blog on so i have not.  I thought i now is as good a time to get my shit together and get blogging (amongst other things).  Fresh start, new beginnings you know that kind of motivational speak.  You might need to read some future blogs to understand what i am talking about, but for now i need to let you know that i did subscribe to Frankie Magazine and 2 months between issues is too long.  I must write them a letter.

Speaking of writing letters and way off topic and has nothing to do with my blogs i will be spewing out tonight (thats the plan).  Tall boy played footy at a Gold Coast football field on Saturday afternoon.  The ref was pissed.  Yes he was drunk.  It took tall boy to tell the officials he was pissed for them to do anything about it and this was 10 minutes into the game.  Really.  The said club is a rather big one, i dont want to name names, but they are idiots mostly and probably were thinking they could let this slide. Really.  So i am going to write a letter to the governing body (names witheld to protect a defamation suit against myself), probably wont make any difference but what would have happened should an incident occured on the field? Not good.  That is my white whine for the day. 

Cheers

Magazines

I have always bought magazines, even subscribed to some, mainly american western horse ones, which cost a fortune in Australia, but stuff all if you subscribe. I have taken to only buying one gossip type each week, but it must contain recipes.  I will probably never evey cook anything from the recipes, but at the moment it is a pre-requisite, i do the monster crossword and file the magazine on my magazine pile.  I also get a house/garden mag each month/week. I dont throw them out.  Ever.  I found have Better Homes and Gardens from about 8 years ago in the Bermuda Triangle, i flick through them, and tear out the good recipes.  I even thought about buying farm machinery magazine the other day.  Yes i need a tractor.

While in a coffe shop in Evans Head, i discovered Frankie, i know it has been around for ever, i have read it before, but this time i fell in love.  I even stole a copy.  Wait.  Elvis stole it, i wrapped it in his newspaper and gave it to him to carry out.  Partly because i was in love, but mainly because it has a huge article on dolls houses.  Madonna and Miffy are both considering renovating theirs so i though they would love the article. I even thought a dolls house would be fun.  Yep, need another hobby. Not. 

I have been to 4 news agents since then and i cannot find a copy of Frankie.  I might have to subscribe.  

Couple of Sundays

So it appears i have not been around since Jan 3rd.  I had better review my last blog so i dont repeat myself. Dog vs Magic Mushrooms, check.  Christmas Day, check.  New years eve, bundy snorting and vomit, check. Impromptu camping, KFC Kilcoy (or lack there of), check.

Since then i have had some blank days.  Really i dont remember anything.  I have been on holidays for a bit, and the days seem to roll into the next.  I have happy days and sad days, sometimes both in the same day, actually mostly in the same day, hopefully when you have seen me, if you have seen me, it has been during the happy  less insane part. 

I did go camping.  With Elvis and the boys and 2 of their friends.  I had an anxiety attack leading up to departure, during the packing phase and even before this when i was deciding  whether to stay or go. 

I am just going to add that this blog is taking fucking forever to write.  Tall boys computer is really pissing me off.

So when TT#1 said she would leave her air conditioned house even after we have been warned of an impending heatwave, to house sit in my queenslander, with a swimming pool but no air con and look after my fur babies, i had no excuse not to go.  Plus the tall and the short were looking forward to camping, actually not camping so much as they are 13 and 16, but the fact that the camp grounds are full of pretty girls who can all surf and ride a skate board. They are now the alley cats we used to talk about when we first started camping at Evans Head about 15 years ago.  Tall boy drove me down, i must say i was not so nervous, except when we had to merge onto the highway, its ok, we survived without an accident or a speeding ticket , he doesnt read signs as often as you should, and for this it became a quiz all the way down "what did that last sign say ?" needless to say, tall boy quit driving at Chinderah, he was bored of it and wanted me to stop quizzing him mostly.

Day one, set up,  cant remember anything else.  The next morning, Elvis is cleaning a table and is stung by a bee.  I know this because when i got back from my morning walk/newspaper/milk/magazine trip he was sitting in a chair, all red.  Yes he was red, and puffy.  He showed me where he was stung on the little finger, his hand resembled a cartoon hand.  It was at this point i offered him a zyrtec OR a ride to the hospital.  I was secretly hoping the antihistimine would work and my days plans would not be ruined.  Is that selfish?  I am a Leo, have i told you this?  Anyhow, off to hospital, turns out we should have called an ambulance and it was one of the worst reactions they had seen in a while. 5 hours later,  loads of drugs, couple bags of fluids, and a prescription for an Epipen, we arrive back at camp. Elvis put me in charge of looking after and administering adrenalin should he be stung again. Someone asked if i was going to start bee keeping (name witheld).

In total Elvis spent one afternoon at campsite, one day in hospital, three days at work and then another day and half at camp until i decided we should pack up and go home.  The weather was turning and for those of you who have been to Evans, it puts on a pretty mean storm.  I was so happy to be at home.  Isnt that sad.  The beach was beautiful, i even got to do some surfing when i could get my board off the boys. It was usually brought back to me when the surf had gone to shit and i was so sunburnt from waiting.  I did get some waves, the water was warm and so clear.  It truly is a beautiful place.  When i grow up i might move there, you can ride your horse on the beach.  That is my happy place (horse on beach) if anyone is interested.

So as we did not camp with any of our fellow alcoholics, we didnt drink as much as we usually do when camping.  You know the kind of holiday when you need to detox when you get home?  Not needed.  I did however find Long Island Iced Tea in a cask.  The Goon is back.  My boys did not know what a goon was, nor did they know you could use the empty one as a pillow, or a pool float.  Kids of the 70's would absolutely know this.

Since being home i have started to re-invent my office (aka Bermuda Triangle).  I have started buying an unusual amount of magazines, especially those with recipes in them that i will never ever cook, and cushions.  I have moved furniture and even squeezed a dining table into my baby kitchen.  Should have seen the shock on the boys faces when i announced we would be eating at the table.  Sad.  I remember having to ask to be excused when i was finished eating.  Need to get back to talking over dinner.

I am still not smoking.  Despite the hypnotherapist saying i will not replace it with anything, i have replaced the smokes with:
magazines
alcohol
cushions
cooking (but not anything from the new magazines, just some old favourites)
gym
going to bed really really early
writing lists (yes more than before)
notebooks

I cannot decide if it is the smokes or my mental status or a combination of the two which has contributed to all or part of these replacements. 

Is it Tuesday?

What day is it? I have been so confused since. wow. christmas.

Update on Piper first:  he had recovered from his magic mushroom episode and was safe (but remained disorientated) at home, and was attacked by a couple of neighbourhood bullies, he appeared at the back steps covered in blood, instigating another trip to the after hours vet.  Stapled and bandaged and still on antibiotics post mushroom feast, he is going really well now, and owes me a few dollars. Felicity has her splint off also ( i may have mentioned this before) and is walking really well.  She has a sports splint on through the day, should she decide to take a bolt around the back yard, she has a little support.

Christmas day went off with a bang.  We had Santa Fever, Dad had some other illness and couldnt make it, which was sad, we missed him.  Loads of love and laughter, very little dessert.  There was a breakdown in communications and no one made dessert, fortunately we had a packet of white chocolate Tim Tams and a Ginger Bread house i didnt want to demolish, it was so perfect.  The kids were excited about crushing it, as they were with smashing santa with a stick.  Yes we had a pinjata.  We didnt leave the house all day, it was nice for a change.

Roll on new years, it was a quiet one, a few close friends came over, everyone seemed to have their own plans this year, a first for a while and this was kind of sad.  Our beautiful 'pommie' neighbours organised a game of cricket, there was Pimms and Cucumber sandwiches, and a million other things to eat and drink.  It was a great day with loads of laughs.

I am still not smoking, i think that i have replaced the cigarettes with alcohol.  Really, i know i can be the Queen of binge aka Boozy Von Drunk Alot, on occasions, i can admit that i do love a binge, and also why i loved Vegas.  But this night i cut myself off at 1/2 bottle of vodka/red bull, i was proud of this decision, except that i found out the next day i had just switched to Turkey because i was out of red bull.  I know this because i posted it on FB that night. Together we shot zambucca and apple schnapps (apparently) and the Axe lit up Bundy OP to prove it was the real deal, that the table wouldnt burn and that we could also encourage him to snort it up his nose.  After this was done (and please dont try this at home), and we could smell his nose hairs, i also thought his head was on fire, but it was one of the partiers cigarettes behind him, waving smoke which appeared to be coming out of his ears, everyone went to bed.  I did not.  The Axe and i sat up and i believe i was speaking a huge amount of shit resulting from overindulgence of alcoholic bevvies since lunchtime at the cricket, and it is now about 2 am.  I dont remember going to bed, i woke up and got in my swimmers and jumped in the pool, the hangover kicked in soon after and my fellow revellers who were all quite healthy the next day decided on a road trip.  Excellent.  Not. There was also alot of solutions to my problem:  "you should eat something" "you need to get up and move around".  No.  I have had hangovers like this for 20 years at least.  Miffy will remember the long trips back to Lismore with all the vomit stops.  I think i know what is best for my hangover.  Go to bed.  Get up and vomit. Go to bed.  Get up and vomit.  Continue in this sequence for next 12 hours.  Declare that you will never drink again and pray for someone to come in and kill you.  I requested suffocation by drowning in the morning swim (i knew the day would be ordinary). 

To prove a point, i grabbed a sausage, and ate it while i walked down the road.  Didnt work.  Dog ate the vomit.

Anywho, road trip was fun, we impromptu camped at Somerset Dam.  By impromptu i mean each family through some food in an esky, a tent, something to sleep on and a spare set of clothes.  I got to lay in the back while we drove the 2.5 hour trip.  We all went because we thought i was only an hour away.  Wasnt.  We set up camp.  We had no mattresses, no BBQ, no lights.  We did have cheese, sausages, chips and trifle.  Bad start.   So when we got desperate and sent the boys to get KFC (for hangover) from Kilcoy (i had googled Kilcoy KFC to make sure it was there), they came home with Hamburgers.  Guess what.  No KFC in Kilcoy.  It helps to open the page when you google as these probably all said that there is not KFC anywhere near Kilcoy.  Bummer.  Also can you imagine me eating trifle in the dark?  I am terrified of soggy cake. I am not sure if i have blogged about this before, one for the list if i have not, just to clarify the situation with food phobias.
While camping with your dearest friends is fun, this was particularly funny.  We had been ill prepared and spent the whole time laughing about it.  I had sore ribs from laughing.  We hugged trees and sat in the dark.

I also decided that i am not a fan of skiing, or the process.  I like the surf.  I like to fish off boats, i get a bit anxious going fast, and it really looks like an expensive hobby where you could actually get really hurt everytime you fall off, or lack the ability to walk the next day because your muscles are aching from trying not to fall off.  The thing i did like is the camping deal and the fact that all the ski boats have glitter on them (nice touch) and really cool names, mostly to do with not having any money.  The boys enjoyed it, but it seems they all sit around alot waiting for a turn.  So i guess you also need to have your own boat, again, expensive hobby.  I thought i would pimp my horse float, or my surf board, put some glitter on it and then i could feel like part of the club? Cookie voted to buy a jetski, you could have two sitting on it, and tow two: fun family outing.  Yep if you dont crash into the other million people on the dam driving fast, apparently jet skis are to boats, what boogie boards are to surfers.  I am too anxious for such a sport.  I am trying to have this anxiety diagnosed and have some drugs dispensed to help me survive, will keep you posted on the outcome. Perhaps should go back for Hypnosis with Miss I, it seems we could sort out our whole lives through hypnotherapy.  Nice.