Don't say...get horse-poop on your hat.
Most mornings at Maleny we could take the kids to have horse-riding lessons. This particular day I decided I was gonna walk down to get some exercise - it's not far (probably 500 metres) but the concept of walking insitead of driving had psychological benefits. I put on my exercise gear with joggers etc...
Now, I feel I should explain the oddity in this picture.
As per the bath photo I asked one of the kids to take my photo with Leesy...who reluctantly agreed (even the kids ask if this is for my blog - I try to act indignant and shocked at the accusation). I took off my hat, stuffed it between my legs and clenched...the hat would be out of sight...or so I thought.
I mean, you don't throw your hat on the ground where horse-poop and dirt abound.
Don't say...it's over.
Had to re-enact this photo - some 35 years since Dad had me stand there pointing at the Glasshouse Mountains - tried to suck me guts in, tried, failed.
Maleny as usual was excellent. Half the benefit of a holiday is simply being away - I don't think it matters where you go...just so long as you get a break from all of the distractions, cleaning, jobs, normal humdrum routines.
Arrived home tired and worn out to find - fresh milk and bread, Saturdays newspaper, steamed pudding, home-made custard, an enormous quiche, rissoles, gravy, mashed potato and vegies ready to be re-heated for dinner. We are so grateful and so well looked-after. It's nice to be home.
Don't say...babies can come early.
The holidays have now officially started and we are heading off to Maleny tomorrow.
It occured to me that Leesy could safely have the baby any day now....so, I hope NOT to be reporting the early delivery of a baby born at the tiny Maleny base hospital.
Don't say...it's safe in the rainforest.
School holidays and this means our 4th September trip to Maleny to stay in the Farm House.
I'm a little apprehensive.
You see, last time I discovered a tick on my head after a rainforest walk, so I picked it off then woke up the next day with this ! Handsome, eh ? Someone said it was akin to Limes disease...but I don't think so.
It was pretty gross watching it blow right up -secretly I was loving it...never knowing how huge my forehead would grow.
I lay about feebly waiting to get sick, a headache maybe or a fever...but I was perfectly well and I'm not very good at pretending to be ill. I was thinking this could turn out very well for me with heaps of sympathy and people waiting on me. Didn't quite turn out that way.
Don't say...it's late.
We've just got home from a thing we went to tonight.
Can you see the time ?
I am so tired. Lisa just reminded me that on a normal night at home I am already well and truly asleep.
I used to be in that habit of counting the hours of sleep I'd get from the time I went to bed and then I'd weigh up if I would be tired the next day. I don't do that much anymore...why would I ? I'm normally in bed asleep by 9pm !
Don't say...insurance claims.
I have just thrown a tantrum.
A small - silent one.
He probably didn't even notice. That's a relief now that I've calmed down.
You see, this particular personage asked me to come over on the way home from work and I do so at the appointed hour in good spirits.
I am then handed WITHOUT WARNING an array of tax and insurance literature to read so that then I will be better able to complete his insurance claim form. THEN HE LEAVES. Help - come back. Don't walk away ! Tell me what to do !
Doesn't he know that I cannot fill in forms ? Does he know that I have very little ability to focus on money matters ? Doesn't he know and can't he see my patience exploding ?
I can't read and decipher his particular insurance policy. I thought I'd be moving furniture or packing picture frames....but instead I have to think, focus and process complex money matters !
So I come home and tell Leesy what's just happened and she's laughing and tisking all at once. Thing is - I react the same way every time she wants to talk money.
Don't say...petrol prices.
I've decided that I am not going to worry about fuel prices anymore.
I watch them go up, count the price increase, think "Should I stop and get fuel now ?", then I watch them come down by a few cents and feel stressed that I had fueled up at their peek. I am (no 'was') on that rollercoaster.
I am getting off.
Some people say "You pay more for a litre of water than you do for a litre of petrol" - I mean, seriously - I am not drinking 60 litres of water a week !
Nothing is gonna change. If anything, they'll continue to rise. While I drive a petrol car - I have to pay the going rate and there is nothing to be achieved by raising my blood pressure.
Don't say...sultanas.
Arriving early for dinner with friends is really odd for us...but we did it last night. We were seated at our 'watermelon' table - ordered sangria, buritos - chicken, beef and you can imagine my disgust that some of the dishes are actually served with sultanas ! Ewww.
Leesy loves mexican food (harking back to her Uni days) and there isn't anywhere close that makes it so generally we just do the standard mexican stuff at home. It was a very solid second choice when we couldn't get a seat at a Vietnamese restaurant that J & Chemistgirl highly recommend. It's become important for us to catch up with our friends sans children as often as we can.
Interestingly the meal is served with 'mexican rice' and some shredded lettuce. Plenty of carb loading last night - which is actually my preferred way to eat.
Don't say...magazines.
What a relief !
Here are my NEW library books. We all went today. I used the self check-out scanner for the first time which is just another step toward putting someone out of a job.
I heard a library joke on the radio yesterday : A guy walks into a library and asks the Librarian for some fish and chips. The Librarian replies "Excuse me but this is a library !" to which the man replies in a very soft whisper "Sorry, can I have some fish and chips ?".
I wonder what these books say about me...truth is, I know EXACTLY what they say about my unique perculiarities.
Don't say...I don't have a book.
I haven't got a book at the moment.
Since Dame Nellie, the Tom Cruise Bio and my most recent real-life tragic autobiography - I have now realised I have nothing to read.
I am resorting to magazines which are not satisfying. They are a barely adequate fill-in but not in the long term.
I am going to hunt down a book...this weekend...and I will review it - whether you like it or not.
Don't say...no more quizes.
There is something you should know about me...I love a quiz.
I strongly dislike 'real' quizes, you know, the trivial pursuit style questions. Hate them. The quizes I like are written by us, about our family, things we've done, embarrasing moments or new developments.
I have done them for many many years at family gatherings (whether they like it or not)- Easter, Birthdays, Christmas at the Botanical Gardens and most recently at Dad's "House-Cooling" Party last Sunday (pictured). I have been asked many times to NOT do a quiz too. Quite frnakly, it all feels a little empty without one.
Generally speaking most individuals play along, some people groan and roll their eyes, others leave and start the washing up.
Don't say...things don't start on time.
I attended another school meeting last night (pictured with car in background) and GORD it pee's me right off when they don't start or finish on time.
I am flexible to a point. I don't mind 10 - 15 minutes either way...things happen and you can't always run to schedule....but it just seems to me that NO ONE is running on time at the moment.
Last night, they said a strict start time of 6.30pm - ok - I was there at 6.25pm sitting in my seat and they say "A group of people think the start time is 7pm so we'll wait for them. You don't mind do you ?"......Oh, I minded. Luckily another person spoke up and told them that they could easily be at home working or putitng children to bed...so they begrudgingly started.
We didn't finish until 9pm either...so I was tired and cranky and everyone knows that 9pm is way past my bedtime.
Do you expect meetings to wait for you if you are running late ?
Don't say...you're trying too hard.
Ok, Ok, I will move on from Father's Day...I will. This is my 3rd post on the same general topic but I just need to get this out.
May I direct your attention to this card that one of the kids made me.
I laughed out loud and it is sadly SO true....however, I didn't think I was that obvious ! I thought I had convinced her that I was a cool and groovy conversationalist, neither prying nor being overly quiet, at ease with the quiet but interested in daily goings-on.
Perhaps it's ok just to say nothing sometimes.
Don't say...the high cupboard.
I forgot to show you what I got for FD yesterday...basically it was all of my favourite things...I desperately wanted those 4 pottery goblets...I had been watching them and hoping they wouldn't sell and finally I got them.
Trouble is, what do you drink out of them ? I don't think I wanna drink wine out of them, that wouldn't taste right...maybe they could be water cups at dinner but is that grooming the kids to be drinkers ?
I have washed them and placed them in the high cupboard while I try to solve this dilemna.
Don't say...I can tell.
Friday again and Pthc4 made an appearance for afternoon drinkies with AEB also.
As you can see I provide the "average" champagne and Pthc4 always brings the "expensive" one (thing is, he doesn't think of it as expensive). Secretly, it all tastes the same to me....but sometimes I pretend to recognise the difference.
Don't say...it's raining on me.
This may sound weird but why stop now....there are two things I really really really hate.
One is being tickled. I cannot stand the 'surprise tickle', the 'hold you down and out number you tickle', the fingers in the ribs and being chased with the threat of a some tickle action. Seriously, I'll smack you in the chops if you try to tickle me. I am serious.
The second thing I hate is being out in the rain. The feeling of raindrops on the skin is like being poked over and over again. Picking the girls up this arvie I got stuck in some reasonably heavy rain and it gave me the creeps.
This is our weird architectural guttering....and let me assure you that I was well undercover when I took this shot !
Don't say...you can't go back.
Seems someone somewhere sent the Big B some good fortune and we think he sold his house today ! Phew. It was a tense time for him and for us as observers. He really deserved something good to happen...and it did.
He can still settle in the perfect timing for him to move to his new abode on schedule. You've gotta have faith in life sometimes.
Makes me ponder the circumstances of the sale of our family home, some 20 years ago. The interest rates were at a record high and the market was very slow...he sold our run-down but excellently situated family home (with tennis court and pool) for less than half of what it was truly worth. It's always bugged me.
A creek runs behind the house and we were there last Saturday in fact (this is me trying to point to location of the house amongst the scrub - you can see the new deck around the pool). I loved growing up there...I spent 21 years in that house...being able to walk to school, play in the creek, find places to escape the busy, hectic house or mean big brothers.
Don't say...
You know, some days I am astounded, puzzled at what is brought home uneaten in the lunch box. These carrots were cut with love by myself this morning. It's tricky and cutting them this way risks a digit... but I'll risk a digit for a chinese-cut carrot in the shape of a flower. I can do Christmas trees too.
I rarely bring any food home....generally (as you know) it's all eaten by 11am. I never take enough. Of course, it's my own problem. I have a morbid fear of school tuckshops. One too many cranky tuckshop convenors probably dating back to Charleville when I'd have to walk through the High School passing all the big kids (thinking they were about to pay me out) and then arriving at the tuckshop only to be told I was too late, too early, hadn't established an account, they didn't have enough and to try back after lunch. I don't think I was ever yelled at...but plenty of my collegues were. It's like when someone is being yelled at and YOU feel like you're in trouble.
Don't say...it's Spring already.
September is here...it's Spring, it's sprung...it's warm....or is it just me ?
We have made our Maleny Poster for 2008 and the previous 3 posters are stuck on the sliding doors so we can rehash, reflect, recount our previous adventures. This will be our 4th year and oddly enough, it hasn't lost it's appeal.
We buried a time capsule at the base of a huge mulberry tree so that'll be interesting to see what our predictions were back in 2007.
Given the unexpected circumstances of the past 7 months...I have learnt that absolutely ANYTHING can happen !
