Bit of a messy Monday

 

I had plans for today that were centered around weaving as I want to get the scarf I am currently doing off my loom and on to it's new owner so I can start weaving scarves to sell at a Girl Guides' craft market stall that Amy is going to do.

Needless to say best made plans and all that.

Himself went to the doctor about his ears and neck. He won't accept that he is deaf and has arthritis which is causing neck pain. He also won't take the pain killers I suggest nor make an appointment to see a physio or osteo who could at least massage some of the tension out of his neck and shoulders. 

I got a bit of weaving done while he was out and then we popped down to see his mother. She was in bed and confused. I thought we would come straight back home. 

We had to go to Bunnings to get something or other. Then we went to the shopping centre to get dinner (steak again - I can never have too much steak) and while we were there I thought I'd pop in and get some glasses to wear when I am doing my zoom classes as the multi-focals are really uncomfortable. It took longer to process the claim than to pick the glasses. I got the cheapest ones with no fancy stuff in spite of a determined sales person. I should have them in a couple of weeks. Then a visit to Aldi to see if they had any of their limited time salted caramel and fudge ice cream. They did. We are right for ice cream for a while, now!

Home finally and Himself has taken the dogs for walk to the park. I have jumped on here to update and will now go and pour a wine and do some weaving.

Full screen and sound up.

I hope you have/had a wonderful Sunday. It's a glorious late summer's day here - clear blue skies and a gentle breeze. Birds are singing and life is good.

Showing my age

When I first left home I lived in a one bedroom flat. Think a square. Half was the living area. A quarter was the bedroom and the remaining quarter was divided into 2 for the bathroom and kitchen. It was a popular design for flats in the 70s and they are still around today. It was walking distance to the local shops and the station. It was furnished with my bedroom furniture from home and the rest came from the op shop. Rent took half my pay and my parents did help now and again with the bills. But on the whole I managed. I made a lot of my clothes. I shopped in the sales and my grocery bill was what I could afford. 

When Himself and I got together he had some stuff from his first marriage and my op shop furniture came with me. That was replaced with corduroy covered foam furniture (very 70s) and then a lounge suite from my in-laws when they replaced it for a new one (that lasted until they died/moved into aged care).

Over the years we moved around and each house we bought had a mix of old and new furniture. Old always outnumbered the new and the new was the best quality we could afford with the intention of it lasting. 

In 2007 we sold our house to downsize and got a really good price and as a bonus the buyers kept (and paid for) our furniture. That meant we were able, for the first time in our lives, to buy furniture that really suited the new house we had built. 

I don't get the current obsession with replacing major items of furniture on a regular basis to create a new look. How the hell do people afford it? What happens to the furniture they are replacing? People don't seem to want second hand furniture any more. Even those who are setting up their first home.

Does it all go to landfill? 

In the past we have tried to sell well made and cared for furniture for not very much at all but no-one was interested. We gave it away. The people that took it were newly arrived and very grateful.

And, no, we weren't creating a new look! We downsized again when we moved here and we didn't have room.

How dare my generation pass any negative opinion on the younger ones. Apparently we are the ones that stuffed up the planet. Yet we weren't "influenced" bullied into the latest trend. We didn't need to walk everywhere with a coffee in a takeaway cup. We cooked meals at home and ate leftovers. We wore the same clothes for more than a year. 

And we didn't buy new furniture every time the seasons changed.

A quick one today

It has become a thing for me to post something everyday. OK, I sort of stuffed up on Australia Day but I did write something - it just didn't get posted but so far I have a post for every day of the year.

The course last night was good. I am becoming a bit more confident and we are learning to cope with zoom and its issues.

Craft today. Not that many but still a good laugh. Alice seems to be teething. She was very unsettled so Amy took her home for panadol and she seemed better after that. Two bottles and a couple of nappy changes and she was happy. I have two ways of driving home and the one I prefer takes me past Sally's school so I popped in with Amy and met her when she came out. She was knackered, poor kid. I don't think she has realised this is not a short term thing!

Himself has been having problems with his ears (I think I mentioned it on Monday) and today he woke up with one ear completely blocked and the other feeling like it had a skewer in it. I was able to get an appointment and he had the blocked ear syringed and is on antibiotics for the other which has an inflamed ear drum.

Another craft day tomorrow hopefully. I offered to fringe a scarf that K made for her mum so will get that done tonight for her. 

Steak again for dinner - no complaints here.

Messages from the past

Every so often a penny drops. Sometimes it's been dropping for decades and then I get an aha moment - today I had a WTF moment.

Andrew posted about sour milk. I made myself a very rare coffee (I usually only drink coffee when out) and smelt and tasted the longlife milk that has been in the fridge, opened, for longer than I can remember. It seemed OK but now that I am drinking it I am not so sure but that could also be the coffee.

This reminded me of when I was only 19 or 20 and was living with Himself (a bit risqué back in the mid 70s) in a flat in Robe Street, St Kilda which was THE street in the red light district. I had some interesting encounters walking home from work but they can wait for another day. I was working for a real estate agent and one of them came around for a coffee. He was old enough to be my father. I served him coffee with off milk and I didn't realise until he had left. The shame! 

I got to thinking why he was there. I can't remember but I do remember other male agents would also drop in or give me a lift home. 

I married shortly after this and left the agency. After we were married I went to work for a car dealership and had similar encounters with several blokes - all married. I thought they were just being friendly. I was so naïve. I thought being taken out for lunch (only me, never the other girls in the office) was them being nice. In hindsight I realise that there were some not so subtle messages being given to me but I was just so ignorant I had no idea. And I was married! It wasn't until I was working for the parts manager who told me that I was the sort of girl he would have taken to bed but never taken home to meet his parents. I was flabbergasted.

Some years before this I worked for LifeLine and there was a minister who provided counselling. He was another really nice bloke, married and lived in council housing because that was where he felt he could do the most good. He drove me home one day and gave me a big bear hug. It took me a while to figure out what was in his pocket - if you get my drift.

So here I sit 40 odd years later a bit bemused. What messages was I giving these men? I was incredibly shy, certainly didn't dress provocatively and for a long time looked much younger than my years. Thinking about all this (and I haven't for many years) makes me feel a bit sleazy as if I should have known something I didn't. 

I don't really know why I have written this today but it wanted to come out so here it is. I am a strong advocate for women being able to dress and be themselves without the fear of being accused of provoking men. I think everyone should be able to go about their day to day business without unwanted and unwarranted attention. I would like to think that what happened to me all those years ago would never happen today but I know I am wrong. I just hope we are raising people who will respect others. Regardless of their gender, sexuality, race, religion and abilities. I fear we have a long way to go.

Wobbly Wednesday

Last night I finally saw some results in my signing. It's not that I'm impatient or anything! The study notes are finally up and I have spent the last hour going over them. My head is spinning. It might be listed as a part time course but I reckon for every hour I am spending in class I will be spending at least that amount again on study, revision and assessment. This is quite normal in these days of self directed adult learning. 

I had brunch with K, T and J today. It is T's birthday tomorrow. We gave her a voucher to Spin a Yarn so she can buy some decent yarn for a change. She remarked on the anxiety rings K and I were wearing and joked was it a club? I gave her hers and she was thrilled. They are a great way to release a bit of tension when I would usually pick my fingers or chew my nails.

Himself and I went to visit Mother in Law. She was in a princess chair and we walked straight past her. She was dozing but roused enough to hold our hands and say thank you. We will go more frequently. 

We have been told she will never walk again.

Not much else to say today. I have a lot going around in my head but it doesn't want to spill out through my fingers yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Steak and salad for dinner tonight. 

Roses and memories.

I gave the roses a good mid season prune today. Some of them just needed a bit of dead heading and others needed a bit more. They fought back valiantly but I won. Just. Much blood was shed. I then gave them a good soaking and a feed. It will no doubt rain of course.

As I was pruning them I found a few had already set rose hips. This reminded me of being given rose hip syrup from a teaspoon as a very wee lass. Probably late 50's early 60s. Apparently rose hips are rich in vitamin C. I don't remember much about the taste other than being quite sweet. We then moved onto Ribena and eventually vitamin C lozenges. Did anyone else have rose hip syrup? It could have been an English thing. 

My mother was always a bit different. She was eating muesli and yoghurt long before it became a thing. Brown bread (even though in those days it was white bread dyed brown) until she decided to make her own stone ground wholemeal bread which was impossible to chew. Fortunately that didn't last long.

We went to New Zealand one winter and she decided the best way to prevent us getting colds was to drink cinnamon oil. During the second world war the women who worked in the cinnamon factory didn't get colds. My mother never did quite get correlation and causation. I don't know if anyone has tried cinnamon oil and, to be honest, I don't know why anyone would but it burns. Oh boy does it burn. Our top lips would sting for ages. We drank it in milk to reduce the sting except the oil didn't mix in with the milk - it floated on the top and stuck to our top lips. It is one of my main memories of what could have been a lovely holiday in NZ!

At some point in the 70s she discovered bio-strath. A swiss supplement that also tasted disgusting. My father used to tease her that it had fairies in the bottom of the bottle for all the good it did. I did a quick search and it is still being sold. I wonder if the fairies are still there.

Jinx's hot spots seem to be improving and Murphy is leaving her alone so we might not need to resort to spraying her. 

I have my Auslan class tonight. I am still really apprehensive about this but I will persevere. I have to keep reminding myself it's just certificate II.

I have a small bowl of roses on my desk. They smell lovely. I must remind myself to keep enjoying the simple things in life and not stress the rest.