Barf

We recently watched Inside Man on Netflix. Not the movie, the four episode Netflix series. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is one of those series that keeps you thinking long after it's over. It does have a bit of violence but not gratuitous and very much part of an excellent plot.

Last night I started watching Taboo. It is set in London during the days of the powerful East India Company and around the time of the War of Independence between England and America. I am enjoying it (knitting and sort of listening to it) and I was really impressed that for the first time the actors actually have bad teeth as they would have done in those days. Until there was a scene with lots of extras and they all had lovely straight white teeth! It's these little things that irritate me no end. Like bad grammar in a novel. I don't like being reminded I am reading a book or watching a movie. I like to immerse myself and get lost in the plot. If I remember a character because of who the actor was then the acting wasn't very good (looking at you, Tom Cruise).

Today was craft day. It was OK. Every day can't be perfect and the personality balance wasn't the best. And I found I had two extra stitches so I am in the process of tinking my socks back to where I gained them. If I have to go back to the end of the cuff I will just decrease but if I do it now it will be noticeable. And I have a yarn barf with this ball as well. Not my day.

I have found where I created the new stitches. I am going to drop them and see if I can fix it that way. Wish me luck. Or it could be looking for a one legged person in need of a sock.

Question: my elderly aunt has been sacked by her financial advisor for refusing to give him a copy of her Will and her enduring power of attorney (I hold POA). In your experience is this the norm? We have been asked if we have these documents but have never been asked to produce them. As it stands, she doesn't really need this advisor who was charging her AUD5,000 a year to basically do nothing. She has some shares and her house. When she dies the estate will be divided up by percentages (her step son gets the highest percentage, me next, my brothers next and so on). There are a couple of gifts but it's not a complicated will. The financial dude says he can't act on her behalf if he doesn't know what her Will dictates in case he does something that would go against her wishes. 

I smell dodgy but would be interested to hear your opinions.

Self talk

 How many of us have had thoughts like this?

I saw my amazing psychologist today. It was my 5th session and things are getting gritty. I was really wrung out when I finished and could hardly stay awake for scrabble.

One thing we are working on is "should". As in "I should xxxx" which is usually followed by "but". I had an epiphany last night and thought "what if you exchange but for and". 

"I should get out of bed every morning to walk BUT I am too lazy"

"I should get out of bed every morning to walk AND tomorrow I will see how I feel"

"I should eat healthier BUT it's too hard"

"I should eat healthier AND I will have a think about how I can do this"

Not the most original examples but you get the gist. As least you get to see how my brain works.

How does your brain work? Do you speak to yourself kindly or do you heap blame on yourself for not being perfect?

Just try swapping BUT for AND. And if you can, remove "should" from your personal conversation altogether.

I have a post being written in the dusty spaces of my brain.

Scrabble intervened so it will appear down the track.

This means that today you get what I can cobble together at the last minute.

I worked on my bread box down in the garage under Himself's supervision. This is quite funny because one of the reasons I joined the women in workshop group was to get instruction from anyone but him! It turns out that the group has given me confidence in my ability on the tools and given him an idea of how to teach. We have both learned so much from this experience. I have said I would love to work in the garage/shed but I need my bench and my tools. Obviously not replicating all his stuff (oh my lord he has a lot of stuff) but my own power drill, drill bits, hammer and tape measure. And somewhere that he cannot invade as he is so messy.

I hope this works as I would love to make 'useful boxes for keeping things in' for friends and family and personalise them. That certainly won't invade his territory which is BIG stuff! (Think rebuilding the deck - not my scene at all!)

Scrabble meant music of course, and music today provided this.

I don't usually like youtube with lyrics but these are so poignant. This is from Abba's recent release and I think they have matured like a really good wine.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my psychologist. 

All hail Spring

Today is the first day of the last month of Spring not that you would know that by looking at our weather. 

Our government treats us like simpletons. We have to have the four seasons divided equally into three months each. This means that the actual weather really doesn't reflect the seasons because, as anyone with an ounce of sense would know when thinking about it, our seasons are more likely to be affected by the earth itself (and the moon and the sun and so one) rather than by some man dictated random counting of days and months. Lordy, we don't all even follow the same calendar on this good planet. 

In times past the seasons were marked with things like the equinox and the solstices. 

Daylight saving used to cover about 4 or 5 months - typically when the weather was warmer and people wanted to be outside later. A few years ago it was decided that this was too complicated so we get 6 months on and 6 months off. Which means that it starts too early and ends too late. And don't get me started on the states that do have it and those that don't. There is a town on the border between Queensland and New South Wales that has two different time zones during daylight saving time. If you live on one side of the street and work on the other - well you get the idea!

And while I am on this particular rant ... EASTER! Some twat in government decided that Easter - which is held on the first new moon after the spring/autumn equinox and is therefore a moveable feast - should have a non-moveable date. Like the first weekend in whatever. 

Moving on. 

Today, the first day of the last month of spring (in case you forgot) produced this ...

a really decent downpour or several of hail. 

So I spent the day knitting ..

And while I was waiting for Himself to come home from the Shed where he ended up watching the Cup (oh yes, today was Melbourne Cup day - the race that stops the nation - or not anymore) I was listening for music to add to the scrabble list. I came across another cover that beats the original. I now have three - Disturbed's version of Sound of Silence, John Farnham's version of Help and now this one. 
 

The lyrics. My god the lyrics. 

Poo

Another great day with the women in workshops group.

It ran late and I wanted to get some lollies for the trick or treaters but as we were driving home it looked like they were already out in force. In the rain. I decided to forget it this year and I didn't see any in our street so a sugar bullet dodged!

We played for the scrabble winner of the month. ME!! It was close and there was no cheating just some really good letters. How cool when you get a Q and a Z and can use them to good effect.

As I was playing I was thinking about tonight's post and what I was going to write about. I know I could give it a miss but I am so close to doing 365 posts in 365 days (even though I accidentally deleted one - you know it was there).

Himself's phone rang. It was the colorectal surgeon rescheduling his appointment from this Wednesday that Himself had no memory of making. They had a long conversation about how this was meant to be another colonoscopy not a consult etc etc. Then I remembered after his last scope a year ago where the doc couldn't get far enough up the colon to properly visualise and suggested a poo test, a follow up appt (wednesday) and then a repeat scope down the track at a hospital with better equipment.

Poo test? Didn't happen. "I didn't understand the instructions"

Ongoing bowel issues? Hell yes. How much Movicol does it take to move a bowel? Not enough, apparently.

Brother who died from colorectal cancer? Why yes. 

He is now scheduled for a colonoscopy at 4pm on a Friday late in November at a hospital far from home.

Please tell me. Is it just mine or are most men the stick your head in the sand sort? I know he is shit scared of health issues but he won't do what is required to deal with them. And as I wrote that I realised that is also me. But I am an ex nurse. That makes it different.

As we were playing tonight this song came on. Another favourite. 

I promise I will share a more uplifting song soon.

Be careful what you wish for.

I used to wish for constant rain. I love the sound of rain. I envied places like the UK where when it rains, it rains. Unlike the pathetic off and on drizzle we used to get here.

I apologise to all my Victorian friends. 

A bit like my sister in law wishing for a reason to not have to return to Italy in 2020. We know how that turned out.

Today started out as a glorious spring day. Then the barometer started to drop and although it hasn't started to rain it is on the radar and I can feel that heaviness that precedes it ... and now it's started. Gentle rain but still wet.

My pea beds are so waterlogged that we have had to drill holes in the bottom to let the water out. It explains why they wouldn't grow. Alright, why they would die. Everything is so wet I think I will wait before planting anything else.

We played another few games of scrabble. At this stage he is one up and we have one more day to see who will be this month's winner. When we started this, way back in the days we lived in the townhouse in Bonbeach, I was very generous and would show him better ways to place his letters. More fool me! 

We have a lot of fun playing but today I had to teach him there is a difference between "don't make me laugh" and "DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH" ... post menopausal women will understand what I mean. It wasn't pretty.

Saturday Sillies.

The best way to start a scrabble game! And I went on to win. It was close.

I watched a rather awful film on Netflix last night called 13 minutes. It was about a tornado. While the script, casting and acting was very ho-hum I was, once again, in awe of the fury of nature. We are fortunate to not experience the huge tornados that the States do. They must be terrifying. So much damage in such a short time and then - gone! 

Here's a bit of silliness for you

Three and his lot came over today. Alice is just delightful. She is "talking". Apart from talking scribble she is starting to say some words like harro, bye bye, goo girl, dadada, and she plays along with open shut them and row, row, row your boat. 

(You're welcome)

Sally is still riding high on her win from yesterday. Either that or it's all the sugar!

We played three games of scrabble today. (In 2020 we played a total of 408 games - yes, I keep score!). The scrabble playlist was on and "Always on my  mind" came on. 

"why did you pick that" I asked Himself.

"It makes me think of you" he replied.

Shortly after "Fat Bottomed Girls" came on.

"why did you pick that" I asked Himself.

..............................

At least we make the world go round.

Dinner tonight is teriyaki salmon with asparagus and rice. 

How do you cook your rice? Are you a microwave plastic bowl gadget like Andrew, a stove top in a saucepan or an electric rice cooker like me (blame my upbringing in Hong Kong - even in the 60s they were the norm)? 

Or do you have another fool proof go to way of producing light fluffy rice every time?