Another question for you

I have nothing today.

So I will pose a question.

Background...

a past captain of the Australian cricket team was filmed having a very heated altercation with his (now ex?) girlfriend. He had been playing away, so to speak, and was found out.

All this is bad enough.

During the fracas she slapped him three times across the face.

The media is full of him apologising etc etc. To be honest I couldn't care less.

Except for this.

SHE slapped HIM three times across the face.

If the report was HE slapped HER he would be in custody by now and all the hounds of hell would be brought down upon him.

Surely when SOMEONE slaps ANYONE across the face it is assault - and in this case would be domestic violence.

Domestic violence is wrong. It needs to be stamped out. Society abhors it and rightly so. Until the perpetrator is female and then it is the bloke's fault.

I feel something is amiss here.

What say you?

Questions

Sally was dropped off at 8.30 this morning. Time to wolf down a bowl of nutrigrain (how can kids talk and eat at the same time?) and then off to the first of her two day dance intensive. She was over the moon with excitement, coupled with lack of sleep because last night was hot and muggy and I am glad I didn't have to deal with her! 

As part of the dance thing they decorated cup cakes. I don't know, either. She came home covered in chocolate frosting so her tights and leotard are in the dryer as I write.

She is still full of energy even though she barely ate anything in her lunch box. She had some of her lunch sandwich (Granny put her foot down) and the cupcake she decorated when she got home. Dinner will be interesting as we are having taco mince with corn chips but I don't use a packet taco mix. I also put capsicum in mine. I can see her eating corn chips and cheese but I don't mind.

I then got the questions. I will share so we can all contemplate the complexities of the universe.

• Where does the air come from?
• Why is water slippery?
• Why is glass fragile?
• Why is the inside of the window dirtier than the outside? (this one I could answer - sticky fingers and snotty dogs - and a Granny who can't be arsed cleaning the damn things)
• What is the point of space?

As John Grey says, answers on the back of a postcard please.

Which reminds me, do you remember the days when radio and TV stations would run competitions and you had to write the answer on the back of the envelope? They wouldn't open the envelope. And if you wanted a fact sheet from a DIY or gardening programme (remember them? - fact sheets, not the programmes) you had to send in a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

Two and his brothers used to watch some kids' programme on Saturday mornings. Unbeknownst to me he had entered a competition to win a Super Nintendo. The next Saturday I was greeted with cries of "Mum, Mum, I won". Sure you did, darling, I responded, but you have to enter these things to win them. "I did, Mum, I did". "Yes, Mum, he did". I must ask him how he managed to post that envelope as I'm sure it wasn't a phone competition. They were still to come.

Speaking of Two. He is testing strongly positive for Covid which is a worry with wee Henry but they had the appointment with the paediatric ENT dude who assured them that as long as he is feeding, gaining weight, sleeping and is happy (all of which he is) there is nothing to worry about and he will grow out of his noisy breathing. 

Three just rang. They have been having ongoing issues with a water leak that resulted in their water usage going through the roof, to the point that SE water contacted them alerting them to the excess usage. The landlord/estate agent have refused to compensate them for the excess water bill which they are obliged to do under the tenancy act plus they took way too long to address the problem in the first place, which resulted in the excess water usage. The leak has been fixed and they have the plumber's report saying there was a leak that resulted in water loss. Guess who's going to VCAT?

*for overseas/interstate people South East Water is the body that supplies and manages our water and sewerage and VCAT is the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which is responsible for dealing with these issues. They can be a toothless tiger but in this instance, with the tenancy act so obviously ignored, Three et al stand a chance of a resolution in their favour. 

I am now going to pour a gin and ponder what exactly is the point of space.

PJ day

Yup. I have spent the day in my pyjamas. They are very comfy Qantas business class pyjamas Two got for me. 

So needless to say I have not done much today. Planned some more menus and played a couple of games of scrabble, basically. And continued with my knitting of one of the colour work jumpers which I do when playing scrabble. Socks are for telly watching.

Speaking of which I watched The Witcher and found it quite good. I have started watching fantasy type shows of late. Probably because Netflix saw I watched Merlin and it all went south from there!

My friend in Junee has broken her wrist and had it pinned today so I won't be staying with them when I go north. I shall probably just stay overnight up and back in Wagga Wagga. Or maybe even Gundagai. I'll see how she feels in the next few days and if she is up to a visit but not a visitor I can stay in Junee's motel.

I am rather flat today - it has been hot again with a cool change forecast overnight so the barometer is dropping.

Time to make dinner. A warm chicken salad with avocado. The chicken is wrapped in prosciutto and baked in the oven then sliced over the salad. Easy peasy lemon squeasy.

Later ... dinner was delicious and the rains are here with lightning and thunder. Bliss!

It is not the speaker who offends but the listener who takes offence.

Sally was dropped off at 8.30. 

Amy was telling me that yesterday they went to the Moonlight Sanctuary which is a place where you can go and see native animals and feed the wallabies etc. The wallabies and roos are behind a fence and you can feed the through the wires. More a suggestion than an actual fence and to keep the public out I am guessing. Anyway, they purchased the roo food and went to feed them. Every time a wallaby (or as Three called them when he was young, Wabballies) came near adults (of the human kind) came racing over and pushed Sally and other kids out of the way so they and their families could feed the animal. They were, without exception, a certain ethnicity and I was trying to explain to Sally that they weren't deliberately trying to hurt her feelings but some cultures do things differently. A difficult discussion to have as there is a sense of entitlement among some of these people and they do look down on those of us who are different from them. I must say I am getting sick of hearing about how racist white Australians are when the coin can just as easily be flipped the other way. No doubt that will be an unpopular opinion. 

I had an appointment with my job provider. When I got there I found that Centrelink had granted my medical exemption til the end of March at which time I will be old and can claim the age pension. This was after them sending me a letter - on paper, no less - saying my claim had been rejected. A wasted trip but a great outcome. I am now free of applying for jobs for ever unless I actually want one. 

A huge load lifted.

Grumpy took Sally to the park while I was gone and when I got home she wanted to go to the shop. Silly Grumpy should have taken her while I was out and she would have got an ice cream. Granny got her the ice cream AND a tub of lollies AND a whistle lollipop. Grumpy and Granny got an ice cream as well.

We played a game of scrabble and I managed to inhale the vinegar from the cocktail onions. We have cheese, pickled stuff and berries as our scrabble nibbles instead of crap. I swear my airway spasmed shut. I couldn't breathe. It was terrifying. I forced myself to breathe out and could so kept telling myself I would be ok. A glass of cold water and lots of coughing and wheezing and I was able to take a breath in. Not a deep one, but a breath nonetheless. I have never been so frightened in my life. I had a glimpse of what it must be like to suffocate or drown and it just emphasises that this is my least favourite way to die.

What is your preferred way of shuffling off the mortal coils?

Feeling a bit more human

The dogs started hassling us. Himself grumbled "alright, alright, I'll get up" which usually means I get up. I don't mind as it's usually around 8am at this stage (yes we sleep late). It was 11! 

He finally surfaced at 1.15. I think we were both very sleep deprived. 

Needless to say not a lot has been achieved today. I did water the very thirsty garden. The last couple of days have been terribly hot but today is much cooler. The pumpkin plant has gone ballistic! The zucchini is still producing. The strawberry plants are trying to take over the vege pod. The beans are struggling. The tomatoes are starting to ripen. The two remaining potato tubs should have nicely growing spuds in them. I did harvest some for dinner the other night. I had a teeny tiny one to taste and it was very nice. It would have been better if it had been a large bowl smothered in melted butter and chopped chives but I need to shift this weight so that will be a treat for another time.

I dumped another kilo this week taking it to 3.9 kilos in two weeks. 

We went to the supermarket. Himself flinches at the checkout but I keep reminding him it is two or three times a week and not every day.  And we bought things like Lady Grey teabags and olive oil which were half price but still costly. And a large box of nutrigrain for Sally's breakfast on Thursday - she can take the rest home which helps them a little bit. I must say, the Twinings tea bags at half price are not far short of what full price used to be not that far back in the past. I really do feel for those struggling financially. First and foremost Three and his lot. And as he rightly points out, if you are financially strapped all the cost saving measures like buying in bulk don't work because you don't have the money to spend on bulk in the first place so you are forced to pay what can afford which works out to be more in the long run. Add greedy landlords (or more to the point, greedy real estate agents who encourage landlords to up the rent) and life and the future are rather grim.

On that cheerful note I shall go and set up for scrabble. Sally is being dropped off at 8.30 tomorrow morning. Thank god I slept in today!

My new favourite word courtesy of Lily. The things you read to work out how to build something? Constructions.

You're welcome.

Send gin

Well, that was an experience I don't want to repeat any time soon.

They played relatively well together. One thing I learned about little girls is that they can be in floods of tears one minute because we didn't like what the other person said and then they are best friends the next.

Dinner, bath, pjs and bed went smoothly. Silly Granny was lulled into a false sense of security. 

It was a hot night, I will give them that. Lily wanted the light on. Sally did not. Lily touched Sally. Sally touched Lily. I put a small pillow between them but that didn't work because now they wanted to cuddle each other. Both girls had melt downs and missed their mummy, daddy and sister. And dog. And cats. And other grandparents. These meltdowns were not simultaneous. Oh no. Finally at around midnight I decided that I would sleep with Lily and Sally could sleep in our bed with Grumpy.

Half an hour later I had been kicked out of a queen sized bed by a sleeping 5 year old.

Himself kindly said he would sleep on the couch and I could sleep with Sally. We had to keep the dogs away from the bedrooms because Jinx had taken a liking to Lily's teddy - another source of angst - and the cats were on my side of the door because their food and shitty litter is in our bathroom. I lay awake listening for Lily and could not drop off to sleep. Just as I was about to head into the land of nod Max decided that he missed his canine brothers and yowled the house down pacing up and down the corridor outside where Lily was sleeping.

The last time I checked the clock it was just gone 3am. Sleep had eluded me. I tossed and turned and finally fell asleep to be woken just after 6 by Lily who had had enough and was ready to get up and get going.

Poor Grumpy had slept on the couch the dogs use (the 'good' one was too short for him) and his allergies flared up overnight.

Sally was up about an hour after Lily and they played and argued until 9 when One arrived, followed shortly after by Three. Himself had gone off to bed and slept until mid morning. 

Three came back around lunch time to start going through Himself's parents' photos and papers. He has an interest in his history and his mother in law studies genealogy so she can point him in the right direction.

The photos date back to the late 1800s and there are some really interesting ones of my mother in law's family and we could trace a lot through the war to when they arrived in the UK. Father in law's stuff only starts during the war.

This was when Three going through some very old documents from Germany during the war using Google translate to work out what they were. It seems like a lot were extracts of births, deaths and marriages which MIL's mother probably procured to prove they were legit. Although they were from Poland there were at some time or another under German occupation hence the Germans being able to proved the documentation going back three generations. Three will research more. It will be interesting to see what he finds.

It was made all the more special using this to look at tiny photos taken during the war to identify people. It was in with their papers and I reckon could tell a story or two.

Three has now gone home and I am going to set up the scrabble board. To hell with the diet - I am going to have cheese and biscuits and a decent chardonnay tonight. I think I deserve it.

Cousins

Amy went back to work today so we had agreed to have Sally. She will stay over as they are going to see Elton John tonight  Alice will stay with the other grandparents and Three and Amy will stay the night there as well.

I invited Lily over for a play with Sally (I HATE the term play-date).

Sally arrived in her pyjamas. Lily arrived in a purple frilly dress.

They played a bit, watched a bit of Matilda and then Grumpy bought them a happy meal each for lunch. They were both adamant they wanted the 6 nugget pack. The dogs will be happy.

After lunch they played with a colour your own unicorn money box kit I bought them and a Bluey sticker kit. No wonder the supermarket bill was high this week!

They then went outside to draw on the pavement with chalk. I had to stay and supervise in case the big black bug came back. Country girls these most definitely are NOT!

After some cartwheels they came inside and got changed. Lily in yet another frilly dress (that was making her itchy) and Sally into day clothes (finally!). They then started to play with the very limited number of toys I have. I need to get to Ikea to get more train tracks.

Lily wants to sleepover as well so her Mum will drop the necessaries over later. They will share a queen size bed. Sally was so excited they could stay up all night. She later amended that to midnight. I have news for news for both of them!

After watching half of another movie they announced the wanted to go to the park.

So we did.

You may note the girls have changed again. Fortunately Lily only came with one change of clothes. 

After a while Sally asked if I had any lollies (sweets/candy) at home. I said I didn't but we could go to the shop. They said they were hot. I said we could buy icecreams.

So we did - even Granny as it was so damned hot.

 

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And then she had a large gin.

You will get the full details of the sleepover tomorrow. If I do not post, send help. Or more gin.