Whoops

 I have no idea what happened in yesterday's post. Thanks to those who scrolled down to comment!!

I went with Himself to the dog park this morning. We took the dogs as well.They had their usual great play with each other and other dogs and came home exhausted. 

Listening to the news as I type. I am disgusted with both sides of politics. ScoMo (our illustrious *coffcoff* prime minister) declaring a new nuclear submarine base to be built and using the appalling situation in the Ukraine as the reason. Upcoming election anyone? Closer to home in Victoria and we have the ongoing kefuffle that is state politics and the red shirts scandal among others. I am sure Shane Warne was a great cricketer but he was a flawed man. The outpouring in the media has eclipsed the tragedy in the Ukraine and that is just wrong.

I was sitting weaving in the front room and noticed something approach the front door. It was Murphy! Himself had left the back gate open and Murphy had trotted up the driveway. I hope he didn't go for a longer walk. At least he came to the front door and I was there to see him. Had it been me that left the gate open we would still be sharing a stony silence!

Homemade pizza for dinner tonight. 

Nothing planned for tomorrow but I fear The Stig might have a urine infection or blockage so I will be watching him closely and will scoot him off to the vet if I need to.

I am having second (and third and fourth) thoughts about this Auslan course. It would be no issue to pull out but I feel ashamed at the thought.

I must have needed it

I slept for over 13 hours last night. Himself woke me at 1pm (yes it was midnight when I went to bed!). I wonder what time I would have woken if he had let me sleep. I haven't been feeling great but a RAT came back negative so it's just me.

Needless to say I haven't done much today.

I warped on the next scarf to sell (hopefully)

I have made a batch of pumpkin and coconut soup which we will have have with homemade cheese rolls. The soup tastes delicious and there will be heaps left over so meals to grab from the freezer. As I always freeze batches of unbaked rolls we will have an easy meal for a chilly autumn evening. If we ever get them!

A friend gave me a jigsaw puzzle. I LOVE jigsaw puzzles but so does The Stig. Himself made me a folding board so I can close it to keep furry paws out of the way when I'm not doing it. Not that I need anything else to keep me occupied.

This isn't The Stig but it could be his brother. Same colouring and annoying helpfulness. You understand why I need something to cover the puzzle with. Unfortunately nothing stops him lying on the puzzle as I'm working on it but he just so gorgeous I forgive him. And any attempts to move him result in pieces going missing!

Wine o'clock and knitting time, methinks. 

Mud

It rained last night. Himself has been preparing a large area of the back yard for new turf. It is just dirt.

I woke up to this

The mud spatters went all the way to back of the shelves, up the wall and onto the curtains. Even the wall above the TV had mud on it. The carpet will need cleaning as will the floors and walls. If they didn't shake themselves they lay against the walls and doors. 

This is the main culprit with his long, shaggy coat. As they dry off the mud falls off as dust. Oh my giddy aunt the mess. 

Himself has placed weed mat over the mud. Methinks too little too late!

You know you're getting old

when sneezing reminds you that you were on your way to the loo before you got distracted.

when younger friends hurriedly change getting older to not your age.

when the media refer to "an elderly gentleman" and said gentleman is younger than your husband.

when you become invisible at certain shops

when young people call you "love", "darls", "madam", "dear" and they call others .... nothing!

when you put something on and think "this is really comfortable - to hell with the rest of the world"

when you mention something sexual in younger company and they looked shocked (how do they think they got here?)

when you can still be amazed at new technology rather than just assume it will happen

when you know that you have been on this earth longer than you have left and that is ok because we are mortal

when the thought of death isn't scary (that doesn't apply to everyone but I wish it did)

I could go on.

What do you think?

Here is the news in brief

Amy has two sick kids. I think she might be looking forward to going back to work!

Himself and I went out for lunch at his suggestion. Ye gods and little fishes this is almost becoming a regular thing!

I am on a break from class. The computer gods are smiling on me tonight and the course isn't too complicated. I think we are learning more and expecting less.

I have all but finished the scarf for my brother. I am very pleased with how it looks. 

I had another migraine this afternoon which has left me feeling a bit woolly in the head. It gives me a good excuse to eat rice for dinner. Rice with butter and grated cheese (or rice without anything else as we called it as kids) is one of my favourite go to comfort foods.

When I was a kid living in Hong Kong we would get the news headlines aka the news in brief around 5.30. As it was always focused on the Vietnam war, for a long time I thought Brief was another country in South East Asia.

Thank you and good night.

SUGAR!!

 

We finally got together to celebrate birthdays. I, too, got a gift as my birthday disappeared down the Covid gully trap last year. $100 to spend at my favourite yarn shop in Hastings. I am a lucky duck.

We went to a place called Sugar Buns. We were under impressed and won't be going back.

The picture is of Amy's "lunch". A MINI bubblegum shake (the blue/pink concoction next to Alice's bottle) which had all manner of lollies - jelly snakes, jelly babies, coloured popcorn, lollipops - as well as a bucket load of icecream and wafers. Diabetes in a glass. She also had the hotcakes (foreground) which came with "House made lemon curd, mixed berry compote, seasonal fruits, pistachio crumb, shredded coconut, vanilla bean ice cream, maple syrup."

The large scoop of icecream was in the icecream cone. I believe she had a massive sugar crash when she got home!

We asked if we could halve the serving size of the hot cakes. No. Could we order from the kids menu? No. Could the baby (5 month old Alice) order from the kids menu? If you have a kid at the table, yes. So K ordered the KIDS pancake with maple syrup and icecream. 2 massive pancakes with icecream and the ubiquitous coloured popcorn. She barely touched it, there was that much. And that was for a kid under 12. 

I don't mind paying for a meal one bit but I do have an issue with serving sizes that are so big they are off putting. And I hate wasting food. 

I ordered a thai chicken salad. Soooo much salad which was limp with warm dressing and you had to hunt for the chicken. My freshly squeezed carrot, apple, ginger and turmeric juice was lovely, though.

The lass that served us was great and I could see she was uncomfortable with the rules. It was run, as far as I could make out, by a bunch of trendy males who could do with some lessons in customer care and education on what the demographic actually want - not what trendy dudes think they do. Even Macca's will customise a burger. I can't see how hard it is to put less food on the plate. More to sell, one would think.

I will be interested to see how they go. They aren't cheap and I think once the novelty factor has worn off people will go elsewhere. 

After "lunch" I went and had a massage at the local chinese massage place. I haven't been in one of these for years. It was OK - boy were my back and leg muscles tight - and I will go back for head and shoulders on a regular basis.

When I got home Mick came over to quote us on demolishing and installing the kitchen. I have a feeling it's going to be more than Himself expected but we have bought the damn kitchen now, haven't we!? We can demolish ourselves to save a dollar or two. That will be fun. Smashing a glass splash back, anyone? Woohoo!!

We have put all Helen's clothes and toiletries in a bag and they will go to the tip. I could sort through to see if there is anything worth donating but after finding socks belonging to someone else I figured it could all go. I have kept the un-opened dressing packs they were using for her wound as they may come in handy. Her photos and other memorabilia will be offered to the grandkids. This is the messy, uncomfortable part of death. 

Fortunately we did the massive cleanout when Ted died and Helen moved into care. We found several thousand dollars hidden around the house. A friend of my father-in-law demanded access to the house to check for things we wouldn't know were important as Himself doesn't read or speak Polish. It didn't much to realise what he was actually after. $$ are $$ regardless what language you speak!

I found a $10 note in Helen's purse along with a photo of her beloved prick of a husband.

My favourite season

 Aah. Autumn. 

Although it will be a few more weeks before we get truly Autumnal weather I can at least put Summer behind me on paper!

I love the clear still days with warm sunshine followed by cooler nights. I love the crisp mornings and the warm days. I love the sense of nature slowing down. We don't get extreme winters here but I will take what I can get. 

I have been feeling crap of late with a vague headache and aches and pains. I even did a RAT today. I don't have Covid but I wouldn't have been surprised if I did as I have been feeling so off. It will be stress, I am certain.

Himself's phone has been playing up and to my utmost surprise he bought a new one. This is unheard of. Normally he would dilly dally for weeks on end whilst complaining bitterly that his phone wasn't working. Two has told us that android phones should be upgraded every 3 or so years due to security updates. Out of the three boys he is the one I listen to about stuff like this. We couldn't remember when Himself bought the last phone so definitely needed a new one. And I was getting a bit pissed off with him taking a call, ending the the call then using my phone to call them back! He has been trying to transfer data from old to new without much success. I offered to help but STUBBORN!!!

I had my Auslan class tonight and had to ditch it as my computer kept freezing. This made it impossible to follow and catch up. Add the headache and it wasn't going to end well. I sent an email to the teacher explaining. 

Reading back and this has not been a very positive post so I will ditch the good bad and ugly and go for good better best.

Good .. Ice cream

Better .. Ice cream

Best .. Ice cream