Monday Stuff

I should try to be more imaginative with my headings shouldn't I?

But I am going to blather on about stuff and the word shall feature many times over.  And it is Monday.

So, there you go.

I had a busy kind of weekend.   But not action packed or anything.  I just did things that had to be done and it filled my weekend.

On Saturday I am not sure where the day went but a lot of it was spent tidying up the back room which has been cram packed with stuff that was emptied out from the kitchen and lounge area.

When we filled the room we did not put much thought into just how long it would be out of action for and  thus kept on dumping more stuff in it.  If there is one thing that makes my life stressful is a room that does not have a pleasant feel about it.  It can be untidy but it needs to have some sort of feel about it that is pleasant.

Over the past couple of weeks, every time I looked at the state of the room I felt even depressed in that "fuck, I have to do something about it" kind of way.  You know, that feeling that is going to require great effort to fix.  Great physical effort.

Sooner or later I was going to have to tidy that room up.

Saturday was it.  I picked my way through the books, kitchenware, pfaffity pfaff stuff and "things that had meaning but no longer do but I find it hard to get rid of it" stuff.   I managed to fit all the bits and pieces in neat boxes and wedge them under the piano.  Then some items were place on top.  The end result was a room that made sense.

It took ages.  It was dull.  I also tidied my bedroom (again) and my son's bedroom (again) and the front room (again).  Having a small house requires careful placement of things.  We always seem to have one wall short.  Do you know, my studio is now as full as it can be.  If I had another room I would find a way to fill that too.  The longer you live in one house, the harder it is to fit everything it.

I am trying to be organised so that if I peg it at least my things will be in order.  My husband thinks that is a bit morbid but I don't agree.  I like to think that, if nothing else, people can say that my things were in order.  I am sure they will say more but I like to strive for order right to the last second.

Of course, my handbag will never reach that state of Nirvana.

So, Saturday was a good day in a dull sort of way.  I wanted to go to the movies in the evening but my son said he did not want to because - wait for this - his hair looked bad......  Truly, that was his reason for staying home on a Saturday night.  But, hey, who am I to criticise him.  Because the next day when I went for a training walk I skipped breakfast so that I could blow dry my hair.

Yes, Sunday was a training walk.  Up at 6.30 am.  Normally I would never wash my hair before a training walk but I did buy this deliciously lovely shampoo that makes my hair extra smooth and I wanted to use it.  Is that sad or what?  However, it was really a waste of time because the walk was so hot that my hair was in a pony tail and stuck under a sweaty cap.  I had hat hair by the time I got back home.  But I had lovely hair as I left the house early in the morning.

We did a walk that was 20km return.  Up hill on the way there, downhill on the way back.  It was a bush track and we saw kangaroo and wallabies which was very nice.  Plus lizards.  Heard some frogs.  Saw a huge spider.  No snakes but they are there no doubt.

Up hill was awful.  And never ending.  Up, up and more up.  But we just do it.  Have a whinge, stop for a drink and then keep going.  At the halfway mark we came to a big park near a dam and there was a coffee shop.  The area we were walking in is busy with mountain bike riders and bush walkers so the coffee shop does a good trade.

Then, after two coffees and two toilet stops we headed back, downhill.  Down hill is hard in its own way.  You have to watch for slipping.  It is hard on the knees and thighs.  But we all exercise on a regular basis so it was okay.

We were home by 1.00pm.  I pretty much wrote the day off after that.  I was tired.  Lay on the bed reading and then slept for a couple of hours.  There is not much to do when the body wants to sleep.  Better to listen than try to fight it.

Today I am sore.  My muscles are sore.  I took extra magnesium and have started retaking some supplements I had left for a while.  I feel like they help.  The magnesium definitely makes a difference.  I need to rejig my diet a bit because my fatigue is quite a lot more than it should be.

Next Sunday we are doing a 32km return walk.  More hills and horrible ones at that.  This track is also part of the Oxfam walk but last year it had been washed out by the rain.  This year the ground is quite dry.

I am a bit anal about walking in the bush on hot days.  Bush fires freak me out.  Next Sunday is going to be 30 celcius so we will have to read up on the Parks advice on whether or not to walk the track.

We have not done much about fund raising but that is because we only have to raise $1000 this year instead of the almighty $5000 that we committed to last year.  I have a lot of friends who are waiting for me to send the details and they will donate.  We just do not feel the pressure to fund raise like we did last year.  This time we are focussing totally on the training and the fitness aspect of it.

Now, onto a completely different story.

At work today my boss and another supervisor were discussing the drug using habits of half of the tradesmen we have working for us.  Every weekend at least half of the guys would use all sorts of recreational drugs.  A wide range.  They also drink to excess.  It is pretty scary when you think of it.

I understand that the reasons that people use drugs is as wide ranging as the reasons that people over eat or drink to excess.  There is no one defining reason either.  More like a myriad of things.

Although I like to think I am non judgemental about drug users, deep down, I probably am in some cases.  I know that I feel empathy for the situation that got them to where they are, but I do often think that hard choices can be made for many of the people.  And I do apologise for being judgemental.  It is not always nice to be that but I am just human.  It's just not black and white really is it?  Every person has their own set of circumstances.

So, back to the guys at work.  What I am intrigued by is the fact that a couple of the older guys do drugs when they go out.  Just for fun.  I must be thick but I always think that drugs are more a young persons thing and, hopefully, one would drop it as they got older and got their shit together.  I am thick aren't I?  I am naive.  Totally.  I need to grow up.

However, in light of this I sent my boss an email that had a link to kits you can buy to test employees for drugs and alcohol in their system.  What people do in their spare time is their business entirely, but when at work it is not unreasonable to ask for a person to be clean.  It is unsafe to have drug and alcohol affected people working on a building site.  Bossman thought I was being a bit over the top but I said that if guys are using power tools they need to be alert.   Our insurance cover is astronomical.

So, that is my excitement for the last few days.  I do have another story about the painter at our house but it is long and convoluted so I think I might save that for another day.

In the mean time I must let you know of a little saying I read on some else's Facebook page that is still making me laugh 24 hours later.

Your arsehole must be jealous of the shit that is coming out of your mouth. 

I don't know why, but it really resonates with me.

Must be something about working in the building industry.

Or listening to politicians.

Or celebrities.

It's just funny and I cannot wait to use it.

I will you know.

One day, out of the blue I shall say just those words.

Before someone says it to me hopefully.

Ciao
LC