One has just reduced me to tears.
He told me I do what my mother does.
Make "subtle" comments about things. For subtle read snide and nasty.
I do it to all of them but they just say it's Mum being Mum.
I've always said if I start to turn into my mother tell me.
Only they haven't.
Until now.
I thought I had done pretty well in not turning into my mother but I guess I was wrong. I hope it's not inevitable.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Just so I don't forget!
Upon this spot will rise my house!
I'm hoping to get down there this weekend. I WILL get down there this weekend!
I saw the physio this evening. My calves are still really tight. So tight they fucking hurt when she was massaging them. This is something relatively new. I have always had tight calves but never to the point of pain when being massaged. It's probably not helped by the fact that I wear a smallish heel most days instead of the dead flat shoes I've worn for years. I must remember to stretch.
Next Monday I am starting a 6 week yoga course through the health promotion department at work. I'll see how I like it and then might try and find a tai chi class to try.
Himself is stuck in Sydney. He was about to board his flight home (he went up this morning for a meeting) when they closed the airport due to inclement weather. And Sydneysiders love canning Melbourne for our weather! They have far more rain than we do. The radar image showed some pretty vicious weather but hopefully it will clear soon and he will be able to get home before midnight. He will have spent more time in transit than he has at work today. And he WON'T be happy!
He just rang. He is on the plane and they were about to take off but another storm came through so there they sat!! Maybe in the next 15 minutes they will take off. And he was due home about half an hour ago!!
OK. I'm off to have some dinner.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Things are happening around the place
Remember how I said I cleaned out the pantry ....
It all ended up on the family room table!
The original shelves were way too deep and Himself pulled them out and replaced them with shallower shelf units (gotta love IKEA). Only he didn't patch up where the original shelves had been. So that was needed to make the kitchen look better.
When he'd patched and painted and replaced the shelf units I refilled the shelves ...
Would YOU consider buying the house that contained this pantry?
It all ended up on the family room table!The original shelves were way too deep and Himself pulled them out and replaced them with shallower shelf units (gotta love IKEA). Only he didn't patch up where the original shelves had been. So that was needed to make the kitchen look better.
When he'd patched and painted and replaced the shelf units I refilled the shelves ...
Would YOU consider buying the house that contained this pantry?
A sad story
In this tree (the yellower one) ...
was a possum's nest ...
... a bloody stupid possum, if you ask me, considering that we have two cats. The other day we were sitting outside and Tom was keenly watching the tree (and, we realised later, the nest as we didn't know it was there). Suddenly a baby (well, probably more an adolescent) possum fell from the tree and landed at Tom's feet. Upon which Tom grabbed the poor creature and disappeared over the fence.
The possum didn't make it.
A few days later I came home to two cats locked in the house and Himself informing that another possum (bloody teenage independence) had attempted to fly the nest (possums can't fly).
I picked him (it has to be a him) up and put him back onto the tree. But he wanted to climb back down ...
I poked him until he headed in the general direction of the nest ...
But, sadly, he was determined to leave the nest and explore the big, wide world ...
... only this is a dead end and after returning him to the nest once more I came out some time later to find him dead in this hole. And the cats were still inside so I don't know what caused his ultimate demise.
RIP possum boys. I hope your parents choose their house better next year. Although we won't be here!
was a possum's nest ...
... a bloody stupid possum, if you ask me, considering that we have two cats. The other day we were sitting outside and Tom was keenly watching the tree (and, we realised later, the nest as we didn't know it was there). Suddenly a baby (well, probably more an adolescent) possum fell from the tree and landed at Tom's feet. Upon which Tom grabbed the poor creature and disappeared over the fence.The possum didn't make it.
A few days later I came home to two cats locked in the house and Himself informing that another possum (bloody teenage independence) had attempted to fly the nest (possums can't fly).
I picked him (it has to be a him) up and put him back onto the tree. But he wanted to climb back down ...
I poked him until he headed in the general direction of the nest ...
But, sadly, he was determined to leave the nest and explore the big, wide world ...
... only this is a dead end and after returning him to the nest once more I came out some time later to find him dead in this hole. And the cats were still inside so I don't know what caused his ultimate demise.RIP possum boys. I hope your parents choose their house better next year. Although we won't be here!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Something to live by ...
Let us be lovely
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free.
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But dammit how happy we'll be.
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free.
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But dammit how happy we'll be.
This was a card sent to the unit by a patient on the completion of his treatment. I apologise because I cannot remember the name of the person who designed the card but the image and the rhyme have stayed with me.
Monday, 28 January 2008
A long weekend
Saturday was Australia Day and today we have a public holiday. I love Australia's commitment to the holiday long weekend. We will have another in March (Labour Day), another in June (Queen's Birthday), a holiday in April (Anzac Day) but that is always on 25th April, regardless of the day of the week so if it falls on a weekend, so be it. In November we have the Melbourne Cup (the first Tuesday in November and many take the day before off work so it's a really long weekend). Of course we have Easter and Christmas and New Year's Day.
For as long as I have lived in Australia (36+ years) I had never found a great sense of nationalism on what is meant to be our National day. At the bicentennial celebrations of 1988 there was a stirring of national pride but I have found over the recent years that more and more people are celebrating Australia Day with a sense of pride. Kids (OK, young adults!) greet each other with Happy Australia Day. Unheard of when I was their age. We were at a barbecue yesterday and the 24 year old son wished everyone a Happy AD for yesterday.
So today I am clearing out the linen cupboard and Himself will do some patching in the boys' bathroom.
My feet are better. Still sore but getting less so. I might go for a walk this evening and will get back on the X trainer tomorrow.
And if you want a giggle go and read Miz S's entry about her Very Bad Cat. There is something about owning (or, more correctly, being owned by) a cat that inevitably results in a loss of human dignity somewhere in the relationship.
For as long as I have lived in Australia (36+ years) I had never found a great sense of nationalism on what is meant to be our National day. At the bicentennial celebrations of 1988 there was a stirring of national pride but I have found over the recent years that more and more people are celebrating Australia Day with a sense of pride. Kids (OK, young adults!) greet each other with Happy Australia Day. Unheard of when I was their age. We were at a barbecue yesterday and the 24 year old son wished everyone a Happy AD for yesterday.
So today I am clearing out the linen cupboard and Himself will do some patching in the boys' bathroom.
My feet are better. Still sore but getting less so. I might go for a walk this evening and will get back on the X trainer tomorrow.
And if you want a giggle go and read Miz S's entry about her Very Bad Cat. There is something about owning (or, more correctly, being owned by) a cat that inevitably results in a loss of human dignity somewhere in the relationship.
Saturday, 26 January 2008
More random stuff
Yesterday I sat. And stretched. And rolled the golf ball.
And emptied out the pantry.
Two came over and I took him down to The Mermaid's new shop to buy stuff for a get together he and GGF are having this evening. They are house-sitting for her godmother and are having a few friends over before they do the final cleanup tomorrow. I feel very sorry for those two. They have house-sat for this person before but this time it was for a whole month and she had neglected to tell them that she had agreed to let a series of other people stay there as well. So not only were they house-sitting they were acting as unofficial and unpaid house keepers. NONE of the house guests cleaned up or changed their bed linen. And one family took over the house so that Two and GGF were confined to their room. They couldn't even watch telly. They won't be house-sitting for this person again in a hurry!!
Himself came home a bit early and we went out and bought Two and GGF a barbecue. Just a small, inexpensive one to use this evening (the barbecue at the house they are sitting is filthy) and then one they can use in their miniscule garden at home which will be great as their flat is tiny and doesn't have very good ventilation for cooking smells. I know that Two and GGF are struggling a bit financially and he hates asking for money so I try to help out in other ways. Like giving him a whole lot of food out of the pantry I emptied with some lame excuse like noone else eating tomato soup or drinking Milo. Which is sort of true.
Himself had been to look at flooring and we have found some we like. It's bamboo! Apparently harder than most (if not all) Australian hardwood so perfect for the kitchen and it looks very nice, too.
My feet are better. Last evening it felt as if I had a nasty toothache in my left foot and it's still a bit sore today but I can walk on it. My back, however, is not very happy so will have to go and stretch it out.
I went to my optometrist this morning. My distance vision has improved but my close vision has deteriorated. That is to be expected as we age and explains why I was tending to look over the top of my glasses. I have chosen new frames (Gucci, thankyouverymuch) and am quite looking forward to getting them in a couple of weeks. I am amazed at what a pleasure it was choosing frames for a slimmer face. And I have chosen frames which actually draw attention to my face. Another plus was that I have thick corneas!!! "WTF?" I hear you say. When I was 36 my mother was diagnosed with glaucoma and so I started getting the pressure checked in my eyes as there is a strong hereditary link with glaucoma. The pressures were always a bit high and I have had them regularly checked and have had vision field tests and other tests done to make sure I wasn't experiencing any optic nerve damage (which is the inevitable, irreversible consequence of untreated glaucoma). My lovely, geeky optometrist has a new gadget which measures the thickness of the cornea because studies have shown that thicker corneas return higher pressure readings which aren't a true reflection of the ocular pressure. So, whilst the pressure in my eyes is still at the higher end of normal, it IS normal. So I don't have to have them checked again in 6 months, I get to wait for 12 months before he puts those horrible drops in my eyes!
Off to clean out the linen press so himself and fix the shelf, patch a hole and I can make it look neat and tidy.
Things are happening, folks, things are happening.
And emptied out the pantry.
Two came over and I took him down to The Mermaid's new shop to buy stuff for a get together he and GGF are having this evening. They are house-sitting for her godmother and are having a few friends over before they do the final cleanup tomorrow. I feel very sorry for those two. They have house-sat for this person before but this time it was for a whole month and she had neglected to tell them that she had agreed to let a series of other people stay there as well. So not only were they house-sitting they were acting as unofficial and unpaid house keepers. NONE of the house guests cleaned up or changed their bed linen. And one family took over the house so that Two and GGF were confined to their room. They couldn't even watch telly. They won't be house-sitting for this person again in a hurry!!
Himself came home a bit early and we went out and bought Two and GGF a barbecue. Just a small, inexpensive one to use this evening (the barbecue at the house they are sitting is filthy) and then one they can use in their miniscule garden at home which will be great as their flat is tiny and doesn't have very good ventilation for cooking smells. I know that Two and GGF are struggling a bit financially and he hates asking for money so I try to help out in other ways. Like giving him a whole lot of food out of the pantry I emptied with some lame excuse like noone else eating tomato soup or drinking Milo. Which is sort of true.
Himself had been to look at flooring and we have found some we like. It's bamboo! Apparently harder than most (if not all) Australian hardwood so perfect for the kitchen and it looks very nice, too.
My feet are better. Last evening it felt as if I had a nasty toothache in my left foot and it's still a bit sore today but I can walk on it. My back, however, is not very happy so will have to go and stretch it out.
I went to my optometrist this morning. My distance vision has improved but my close vision has deteriorated. That is to be expected as we age and explains why I was tending to look over the top of my glasses. I have chosen new frames (Gucci, thankyouverymuch) and am quite looking forward to getting them in a couple of weeks. I am amazed at what a pleasure it was choosing frames for a slimmer face. And I have chosen frames which actually draw attention to my face. Another plus was that I have thick corneas!!! "WTF?" I hear you say. When I was 36 my mother was diagnosed with glaucoma and so I started getting the pressure checked in my eyes as there is a strong hereditary link with glaucoma. The pressures were always a bit high and I have had them regularly checked and have had vision field tests and other tests done to make sure I wasn't experiencing any optic nerve damage (which is the inevitable, irreversible consequence of untreated glaucoma). My lovely, geeky optometrist has a new gadget which measures the thickness of the cornea because studies have shown that thicker corneas return higher pressure readings which aren't a true reflection of the ocular pressure. So, whilst the pressure in my eyes is still at the higher end of normal, it IS normal. So I don't have to have them checked again in 6 months, I get to wait for 12 months before he puts those horrible drops in my eyes!
Off to clean out the linen press so himself and fix the shelf, patch a hole and I can make it look neat and tidy.
Things are happening, folks, things are happening.
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