It is Mother’s Day here in Australia and it has been a success all round I think. She came over for her favourite McDonalds breakfast (hotcakes and a sausage and egg McMuffin), with the Mother-in-law. Flowers, cards, chocolate and cash were involved.
It feels, to me at least, that my mum is in a good place and I am really pleased with that. It has been this way since at least March and I am hoping this is more of a plateau than a mountain with a steep drop. She has been doing some paid odd jobs for me and other friends, visited my sis in Karratha and is working towards a Certificate II in Horticulture. She is getting some good help and seems to be learning a lot about herself which is keeping her even.
This is the mum I miss when she’s gone. The one who gets so excited about buying me an awesome jacket for $5 at the op-shop. The one who is keen and motivated and tough and goofy and funny. Perhaps it is selfish of me to like this lady better than the other one who is not as easy to love – the one that is sad and dark and dragging and illogical and lonely.
On the flip side I haven’t seen my dad since March. It is weird and stand-offish. Well – in my mind since we actually haven’t had a falling out or spoken. There was a misunderstanding over my birthday plans. A silly one that I feel bad about but also feel a bit put out about. I wanted a hassle free b’day. To get it I didn’t do anything with the family. Just a quiet dinner with Beloved and I. Dad was upset about this. Which I only found out via someone else. I addressed it via sms (real mature I know) And now it has gone too far. Or not. I don’t know. I suppose I should call.
It is easy to fight with my mum. We scream and ignore and bitch and then we are fine. There is routine.
There is no precedent with dad cos it never happens. It is really rather unsettling.
Boy did I have a shit day at work on Monday. When I got home after that crap day I tooted the horn so Beloved could help me bring the shopping in.
No reply in the form of manly assistance.
I dinged the doorbell as I stumbled in with gym gear, school stuff and shopping bags.
Still no reply.
Beloved was obviously napping. Considering I got up at the same time as him this morning I was mildly unimpressed. I am a selfish bitch like that.
And so I dinged it again as I walked out to get the next load of shopping, and again when I came back in.
And then the finale. I was snorting with merriment when I thought of this one. Our doorbell speaker is portable. Oh yes I did. I gently and lovingly and nearly busting a gut with illicit giggles, placed the speaker in bed with Beloved ready for the last load of shopping.
Why was I so mean, you may ask? (Beloved certainly did) Well, it was a no-brainer really. I could have stayed in a feral mood after my crap day, clomping in with the shopping and banging cupboards and savagely scrunching up empty plastic bags. Instead each trip was announced with a satisfyingly long and annoying tune. What would he REALLY prefer – a nap or a happy wife?
Ah, what is that saying about laughter and medicine?
As we settled in for breakfast we were watched very carefully. He strutted up and down the balustrade, arms folded behind his back, head cocked as if to say ‘Come on then grunts, hand it over!’
Today was one of those perfect days on holiday and funnily enough, not one you often get. We headed over to the adult pool, books in hand and plonked ourselves down at a table. We read a bit, swam a bit and had a cocktail or two (or as I renamed them, finding myself particularly amusing - ’wangtails’)
Later that day we sauntered back to the beach to take some photos of the camels and the beautiful Broome cloudscapes.
Now if you don’t know, Broome has a nudie beach. However it isn’t a good time of year for swimming because of the stingers. One intrepid nudist decided to give it a go. While his mates drank beer by the car. He was asking for it wasn’t he? Yup. They nicked off with his gear and jumped into the car. He spent a good 15 minutes, hands cupped over his tackle, chasing the tantalisingly stop/start car. Highly entertaining for all viewers.
We spend most of our adult life with the fear of getting pregnant, so what happens when you actually want it to happen?
Well, for me, I somehow expect that because I am not trying not to get pregnant it should just happen. When using the contraceptive pill I thought that if wasn’t for that tiny little dose of hormones my super fruitful womb and his Olympic champion swimmers would be getting together and wreaking havoc.
So gone is the 6am rustle, pop and dry swallow of that non-baby making pill; 3 months now. I think my body is still trying to figure out what to do with itself after nearly 16 years of scheduled programming.
Either way I think it is time to make more of a concerted effort. Beloved will be pleased.
- when your leg hairs are getting split ends.
I can’t quite figure out who is the biggest rip-off merchant: Harvey Norman (huge electrical and furniture chain) or Hewlett Packard. It seems that every couple of months I am running off to buy new ink cartridges for the printer when I really don’t use it all that much. I think I have spent twice the amount of the printer just on ink now, and I didn’t choose a particularly cheap printer.
So, today I found myself in the printer ink section of Harvey Norman and I see a black ink twin pack (say that one quickly after a couple of egg-nogs) declaring that it will save me money. I pick it up and read the price of $67.95. Just for a comparison on how much I will be delightedly saving, I pick up a single pack. $33.95.
Right.
So it is actually cheaper to buy TWO separate packs? Ridiculous. I know I can’t blame HP for this one necessarily, as Harvey Norman put their own price stickers on the items.
Damn you Harvey Norman – you should know better than to mess with a woman and her savings!
I lied when I said my next post was going to be about how a dude selling tickets at the cinema whizzed me and Nursey Chick off. That can be next. Currently I have three books that I need to get back to the library, so I better get them off my desk by doing my normal mini review thang. And oh yeah – I am supposed to be editing school reports for the maths department…..and well. You can imagine how much I want to get stuck into that job!
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is the second book in ‘The Mortal Instruments’ trilogy. When we last left Clary, Jace, Simon and co, Jace and Clary had found out they were brother and sister. In this book Simon finds that his time as a rat has given aftereffects that are certainly more than anyone bargained for, Clary’s powers are becoming apparent, Alec starts coming to his senses…a little and we meet Maia – a werewolf. I enjoyed the second book as more mysteries unfolded themselves but I just found myself wanting to rush to the next book.
It is a little embarrassing to mention that I finished the final instalment, all 512 pages, in about 4 hours. Now, I don’t think this spoiler is a spoiler but just in case – don’t read the next *hand on while I count em* 3 lines. SPOILER alert! If by 3/4s through the 2nd book you aren’t aware that Clary and Jace are NOT brother and sister that is sorta okay. By the time we meet the mysterious Sebastian in City of Glass if you really haven’t figured it out well, you need to revoke your reader’s licence. Even so, it still makes for a suitably torturous and angsty plot device. SPOILER over. I am guessing the at which I devoured the book speaks for how much I enjoyed it.
Following on with my fascination with all things supernatural at the mo, I read Evernight by Claudia Gray. This novel uses a very intersting plot device which I spose is okay – it adds drama/shock value but I felt it was more like cheating than actually being clever. Bianca is a student at the Creepy Evernight Academy where her parents work. She meets Lucas, who like herself, doesn’t quite seem to fit in. They embark upon a romance that is destined to end in death. Not bad. I don’t know if I will be rushing out to read the others in the series.
I knew there would be a blog post in it when I decided to use Beloved’s GPS when I left to play Bowen guinea pig again for my Naturopathy student mate. I had been there once before so I sorta knew where I was going but I was keen to use the GPS.
I knew my anal retentive self couldn’t handle it when it told me in its voice with a European lilt:
‘At the roundabout take the 3rd exit’
I could SEE that it was taking me to Nicholson road but I am telling, ya – it was the freaking long way as far as I was concerned. After it corrected its course for my transgression (I taught Tiger that word) we were on our merry way and I got to my destination only slightly agitated. I don’t think the machine was much impressed either
On the way home I thought I would use it again. I was curious. If the route we took was the most efficient/shortest or whatever the hell it bases its decision on, would we then go home that way? One word. No. That is when I decided that Tom Tom and the petrol companies have got some sorta scam going on. Tom Tom takes us the weirdest way without being out and out ridiculous and the petrol companies rake in that extra lil bit of petrol consumed per car.
I am on to them!
PS: Next post – what happens when a cinema ticket seller tries to take on a high school teacher and a mental health nurse.
G’day All, (hah! By ‘all’ do I mean the dozen people who read this?)
Well, re: the letter to myself . I totally stopped being a lazy pants bitch and did some writing on the school holidays. I did not take ONE bit of school stuff home and I have to tell you, it was of the most liberating holidays I have had. I would get up in the morning, give the place a bit of a tidy, go to the gym, put a slow cooker meal on, write till Beloved got home and here is the biggest surprise – guess how many naps I had? (hols were 14 days) 2. TWO! Can you believe it?
I wrote the 50 pages I told myself I would but I have plenty to go on with, so I might not even wait to the next hols to get into a bit more. I have told myself that I want the novel finished by the end of the Xmas hols. I think I can do that. I know I have a lot of editing to do – I reckon I am ‘rushing’ it a bit cos I want to ‘know’ how it ends 
Amongst other, I read Markedby PC and Kristin Cast on the break and boy, did it annoy the living crap out of me. SO tryhard, even though the general idea was good. Now I realise though that I definitely have some areas myself that I have to work on - for example, try not to use too much ‘current’ language that dates easily and will sound gay in a few years (see what I did there?)
Well, I must say I some pleased that I got back into it – I feel so much lighter and fulfilled now that I am getting my dreams under way.
Much love,
GYL xo
