Don't say...I have to go.
Now, personally I cannot stand fireworks. Seriously - I think it is all a big yawn. I have never been impressed by it and believe that it is an empty waste of tax-payers money.
Having said that, I am very grateful to Anotherj for taking all 4 kids into see Riverfire tonight. From the 9th floor of his riverside workplace they had a pretty spectacular view and they were very impressed. Let the kids have their fun - I don't wanna spoil their wonder at boring fireworks.
X even said when he got home "Don't even try to give me any sugar coz we've had heaps !". How often do they say that ?
We are very lucky and maybe a bit sneaky coz we took the opportunity to go to a local Thai Restaurant sans children.
Don't say...Pooped.
I am fully pooped.
I think I am turning into an old man - you know, the ones that fall asleep whereever they sit. I almost fell asleep this afternoon. I think I am still recovering from the late night on Wednesday.
I am going to bed early tonight. My Bedtime ritual is :
1. Re-make the bed (every night),
2. Turn the lamp on,
3. Turn the room light off,
4. Go and do the things you've gotta do before bed in the bathroom,
5. Get into bed,
6. Sit book on chest and start to read,
7. Read 3 pages.
8. Start SLEEPING.
Don't say...no sale.
It was the Auction tonight at Broncos and well, we all knew the housing market is depressed so the house is still being negotiated upon with no definite sale.
We were able to resist sinking into a deep depression and enjoyed a meal at the restaurant before heading home. The whole smorgie-board concept is more about the notion of eating everything in sight, however our stomaches don't allow it. I am so anti-Sizzler. You need to know that very few of us can really get a bargain at Sizzler anymore. It certainly isn't an inexpensive place to eat. So I suggest that next time we are eating out - we stay away from the false appeal of the "all-you-can-eat" and simply go to a normal restaurant and order what you want.
Don't say...11pm.
Should a week night meeting finish at 11pm ? Should it ? Can it ?
These monthly meetings are interesting and worthwhile but they always always finish late. If you know me - you'll know that I cannot stay awake much past 9pm, so to stay alert until midnight is a stretch.
It is one of the participants birthdays tonight and I made this card (the answer is : None, the secretary will do it) and someone else is bringing a cake. I'll kinda focus on that...at least we get cake....oh no, what if it's fruit cake ?
Don't say...he's leaving.
Barry's days are over.
Barry is the turtle...I think he's gonna leave us soon.
Pthc4 is very close to moving back into his renovated Queenslander. He collected his plants on Sunday morning and I assume Barry is next...after all, he does own Barry.
Having a turtle for 3 months has been interesting...it just added that zoo element to the house - what with the fish, the hermit crabs (RIP), the guinea pigs, the chooks, dog and cat and the human ones.
I am not sure if a caged turtle is my thing...he is fascinating though - forever trying to escape, searching, seeking, finding nothing, but still looking. Pthc4 might not know...but he sooo has Tourette's. Shhhh - it's a secret.
Here's Pthc4 cleaning out the filter...over the past months I made sure I never learned how to do that.
Don't say...touch judge.
We are about to head off to the Saturday morning rugby ritual - there are only 2 weeks to go and it'll be a relief.
It has been enjoyed by everyone and by me in some unexpected ways...however, THEY haven't had the immense pressure that I have had.
All season I have side-stepped the various rugby jobs parents get allocated...I escaped touch judge (thanks Anotherj), score-sheet (thanks Blair), 'trainer' (I did actually do that one but not very well)...then last week at Kenmore I had to be touch judge...Anotherj couldn't do it and I thought of asking the 31 weeks pregnant Leesy to run the line, but knew she'd recline the offer. How unreasonable !
Inevitably, I wore the blue polyester vest...I raised my arm to indicate when the ball was out and who had the advantage. It was nearly the most stressful hour I have ever spent.
Everyone that knows me knows that when it comes to sport - I am a pretender.
Don't say...cheap champagne.
Had drinks this arvie at A's place...rowdy kids, slamming screen doors, chips, yummy homebake and of course, champagne.
Pthc4 is on holidays (or a 'break' as he would say) and he turned up with some champagne (Australian Sparkling Wine as one Senior Personage would correct) saying "This bottle is ok - it's was on sale at $20-something dollars". Oh - yeh, that's what I would normally spend on champagne. It was good too...gotta love the real thing.
I love Fridays....plus - my schedule says I get to have chocolate tonight !
Don't say...sugar-free.
I wasn't going to blog this true story. Be warned I am not going to come up smelling like roses, literally.
Last night I started to minimise my chocolate consumption by trying to have something different after dinner...I had sugar-free lollies. No sugar and no saturated fat.
I ate the whole packet (oops) but at least I didn't eat chocolate for once. I felt like I had been a real success and went to bed feeling kinda proud of myself.
At 1am I woke up with this desperate urge to go to the bathroom and well, can I say the laxative effect of the sugar-free stuff took an explosive hold...for about an hour.
Poor Leesy was woken up and started laughing followed by unkind teasing with her regular raspberry noises.
Don't say...Scientol*gy.
It was a real page-turner and not in a good way. I hunted down this book on ebay (coz you cannot buy it in Australia apparently) and was bidding at $25...thankfully, I was outbid by one of the Scientol*gy minders.
All hope was lost of learning all of the dark sinister Scientol*gy secrets of Tom Cruise (aka : Thomas Mapother). Miraculously, Leesy brought it home from the library. So much for not being able to access it in Australia !
Everything you've ever read in a magazine was simply regurgitated here collated by the controversial biographer Andrew Morton.
In a nutshell, Tom thinks he's God and we all have very good reason to be afraid of Scientol*gy.
Don't say...it's time to go.
Friday night out to dinner with my good friends of 25 years are (from left) Scarlet, DH, Nay, me, Leesy and MB.
Belgian beer is pricey and later that night I think I imagined one of us having a beer the size of small bucket.
Before we arrived we gathered in the foyer of a nearby swanky hotel where Scarlet and DH were staying...as we are waiting Anna Bligh (Acting Premier) walks past with her posse. I'm surprised, she's a little bit pretty, trying to do the stylish thing aka Quentin Bryce but failing. I get a little excited and someone shoots me a teacher look to say calm down. She sees us seeing her and smiles curtly. As she walks off I am thinking I might chase her for a photo.
The dinner venue was hip - I am not hip - I am seriously hip-less and it is vital to realise when you no longer have 'hip'...my most recent hip-moment was last century, that was only in my head. As we walk in amongst the hip crowd I am flattening down my hair, thinking I need a haircut and can anyone see the holes in the front of my jumper ? Why didn't I wear my brown jacket ? I wore it to work, that's why.
After a few Belgian beers I walk to the loo. It's always daunting in a foreign venue but uncanny how I always walk straight there no matter how many twists and turns...an inbuilt urinary GPS, of course I almost walk into the Ladies, Ooops.
It's always good to catch up with this crowd. I love that feeling when you have been chatting, laughing, drinking and eating then out of the blue someone says it's late and time to go.
Don't say...we watch in ignorance.
There it is...should we ? I know they've started already and I have tried to ingore them on TV...but it's just easier to watch....but I do feel guilty.
I know that the role of host of the Olympic Games is not based upon the history or politics of the country but...can we just stand by and do nothing at all when China is centre stage ?
This might be a good time to make even a small statement about a country that has a long history of human rights violations against the Tibetans through harrassment, unfair arrest, excessive force, assault against women, random beatings, dentention, the threat of deportation and well, you know the list goes on. A country that drove out the Dalai Lama and even now they have broken their promise to give the press the freedom to report openly.
It is not a statement against the Chinese people - it is directed at the government (not that there actually is one). Maybe just talking about it openly and educating eachother is enough.
Don't say...that you wont say.
Tomorrow I am gonna suggest something that I might regret. It is written in this book.
Don't say...IT.
Ok - so I proved to myself today that I get very very stressed out by technology.
As computers forced their way into everyday life I proudly resisted absorbing new information...when I started work they didn't even have a computer in the office and we had an exchange with a 3 digit number for a phone calls. I would skite about not knowing much about any IT lingo and now, as a result of my own inaction I am totally left behind. Totally. I wish I'd paid more attention and when work would have to sign off that I had a particular level of IT competency - well - I would just smile and shrug and off we went for another 3 years.
AnotherJ surprised us with our very own DVD Recorder on Saturday morning. We were pretty overwhelmed but I just wanted to run in case he expected ME to set it up. Then this morning he popped 'round and connected all the cords and even downloaded the photos I am using on my blog.
When I arrived home from work I kinda went into an ungrateful meltdown....I couldn't locate the photos on the computer, I couldn't take the subtitles off the screen, I couldn't work out how to play a DVD rather than movies saved onto the hardrive...so of course I called Anotherj - 6 times, seriously, literally - 6 times - each time - whinging, complaining, begging for a resolution to each issue....each time the solutions would have been easy for any normal personage....but for me...it was pure hell.
Don't say...you weren't brave enough.
Yesterday - I wore the green vest to work.
I had put it off - in fact, pretty much resigned to never wearing it. I woke up Tuesday morning and realised I had nothing ironed and new I had a brand new white shirt so thought - hey - it's now or never.
I am certain that people were sniggering behind my back but at least I've worn it once.
Don't say...I'm not lucky.
I love it when...
a child asks for a skipping rope for Christmas,
they make a funny card for their Grandad's birthday without being asked,
I get an uninterrupted hour to have my Kindy nap (which didn't happen but at least I got the opportunity),
I get a take-away coffee early in the morning,
someone holds my hand,
there are enough left-overs so that I can make dinner easily,
I get a freshly cooked bbq bacon and egg burger (with onion) at football,
a 5 year old child gives me and his Mum a Milky Bar chocolate from his only Show bag and says "You guys deserve it",
we set plans to go to Bunnings tomorrow to spend my birthday voucher from anotherj.
This is my Saturday. What more could I want ?
Don't say..."How are you ?".
People greet me at work regularly with "Hi, how are you ?".
I always reply with "I'm well" or "I'm going great guns".
I recently noticed that I never ask them how they are in reply. Never. I don't mean to be rude but I just kinda smile and keep walking. It's a bit bl**dy selfish, isn't it ?
So then I made a concerted effort to dive in as soon after with "I'm well and how are you ?". Trouble is, I keep forgeting and only remember the instant that I have walked on. I feel the urge to run back and ask them but obviously I am aware enough to know that that is even weirder.
Today I trialled "And you ?" but that doesn't work either. Even basic greetings are too complex for me.
Don't say...road rage.
On my way back from a mid-morning meeting today I accidentally cut-off a motor-cyclist who was attempting to merge. When I was safely infront I raised my hand and made a gesture to infer that he was very very close by holding up one hand and showing a small gap between thumb and index finger. This was a mistake because this can also be construed as a comment on someone's manhood. Ooops.
As we travelled along for a few minutes I thought it was interesting that he was going exactly the same way as me. When there were two lanes I made sure he was safe to pass but he didnt. That's strange - so keen to get going moments earlier ?? As I turned into the final street I thought "Oh, he might be someone on staff" then as I drove around the staff carpark - he follow along too...it was then that I knew - "HE'S FOLLOWING ME !" and clearly he was cranky and was making a point and if I stopped he was gonna give me a gob-full or worse.
So, I drove out of the carpark and went round the roundabout - he came too - "Sh*t ! I'm being followed and this guy's got some serious road rage going on"!!! I drove back down the street and thankfully he turned off raising his middle finger high in the air. What a relief ! It was over.
In future, all motor-cyclists have right of way no matter what !
Don't say...there is only ONE way.
I had a really interesting chat today with a teacher about alternative education...during our conversation we followed the sun to keep warm coz it was freezing and wndy today. She said she did not want to be the ogre in the kids lives.
I've gotta be careful when and who I talk to about this stuff coz inevitably I come off sounding like a lunatic....but today, the other person raised the topic and it was nice to hear someone else shared my thoughts.
I had to be careful not to suggest that the public system is all bad and clearly it is not - I work in it everyday.
There's just more than one way to skin a cat.
Don't say...it's over.
Sometimes I don't know what I've got til it's gone.
I love talkback radio (seriously, compulsively love it) and in the afternoons on the way home from work I always listen to one particular announcer who hosts the 'Drive' program from 3 - 6pm.
He has infuriated me with his over-announciation, deliberately perfect articulation and pervasive and unnecessary Sydney-Northshore pretentious carry-on. I have scoffed loudly alone in the car at the way he announciates "brochure" as if it's normal to say it as if we were all half french, thumped the steering-wheel at the posh long vowel way of saying 'brown' and his constant reference to his favourite posh inner city suburbs. I have literally hated every minute of it and let anyone that would listen know.
Then on my way home this afternoon, I found myself feeling disappointed that he wouldn't be doing the afternoon session owing to the end of his contract with the radio station.
I think sometimes it's comfortable to have things in my life that annoy me...I grow attached, wishing it would end and then it does....and it wasn't what I wanted after all.
Don't say...sandwiches.
It is back to work today after a busy fun weekend with friends from WA. They leave tomorrow.
I was pretty pleased with my lunch box today...there were heaps of interesting leftovers and as usual, by 11am - I'd eaten all my food ! I had the feeling at 2pm that I certainly didn't pack enough sweet things.
I'll do anything to avoid a sandwich - so I usually fill my lunchbox with various left-overs, tuna and crackers and if there is cake - then I am pretty satisified.
Tomorrow, I am going to over-cater.
Don't say...it comes in 3's.
All this talk about our ungrateful pets must have kick-started some kind of karmic lesson....
On Saturday arvo one of the guinea pigs was involved in an innocent accident and as a result now cannot operate it's back legs....of course I immediately paniced screaming loudly that we have to get it to an after-hours vet - NOW !!! Leesy was more relaxed suggesting we wait until the morning to make any decision.
Following this, later that evening - one of the kids cracked the massive turtle tank while trying to put the marble chess board back in place. The drips of stinky reptile water started to leak out - it was then I knew I had to empty the entire tank and secure the turtle "Barry" in alternative accommodation. This took an hour - but hey - I surprised myself by not needing to make the whole family suffer.
The tank is fixable with some clear silicone sealant...but the guinea pig - that remains to be seen. Leesy suggested I fashion a mini-chariot to attach to it's back half.
Don't say...worry.
Saturday is OPEN HOUSE Day for the Senior Personage.
Today he officially begins the process of selling his house to move to his Unit nearby (pictured).
Auctions, open for inspections, contracts, negotiations...it's all pretty scary and given the depressed housing market - let's hope it goes well for him so that it's a smooth transition. I reckon he deserves that.
No doubt we'll all worry, worry, worry until he sells it. As he says "If all else fails...worry".
Don't say...roast chicken.
As you can see the chickens live another day. They are all fine. They are in no danger.
Although I look deliriously happy about it - inside - I am not.
It's been a major topic of conversation for with our excellent long time friends who are visiting at the moment. Clearly we've explained that they almost haven't laid a decent egg in the last 3 years - the last time we saw our friends.
Anyway, our 3 remaining ungrateful savage chickens will continue to be housed, fed daily, watered and protected for the foreseeable future.
