Thursday 31st May

No post yesterday despite my pact with myself to do one a day for one month.

I went to book club last night and was not home until 11.30 pm and thus had to go straight to bed.

I did end up googling reviews for the books I bought and then thought it might be okay to read them. Ha ha.  But I just fibbed my way through the whole thing and all went well.

Naturally there was talk about kids.  All of those book club gals have children no older than seven so are at that phase in parenting where kids are generally easier to influence.  Is that the word?  Maybe not.  Maybe as a parent you feel more in control and then you get to the teenage years and realise that you and the child are suddenly in the cockpit together trying to fly the plane of life.  Both aiming for control.

I know I have gone on about this whole parenting thing before.  Parenting styles polarise people.  So many things will determine how a parent will guide their children through life.

Anyway, during the course of the evening there was a discussion about a family whose children go to the same local school as the children of two book club girls.  The parents are nice.  Mother is a solicitor and the father is a lawyer.  The girls are nice to but (ain't there always a but) they are always untidy.  Hair unbrushed, clothes mismatched and dirty shoes.  A bit wild.

Some of the girls have been to this couples house for a "play date" (I hate that term) and therein lies a little problem.  The parents are very, very easy going.  In fact, they are too easy going.  Too liberal.

The house is dirty.  And untidy.  The kids are allowed to run around and watch television.  They were even allowed to sit in the parents bed, eating chocolate and watching television.  If they are hungry they can just raid the fridge or the pantry and eat what they like.  

They are left to their own devices........

How awful.

Children left to their own devices.

No structured play.

No fruit plate with cheese cubes.

They might have found a chocolate biscuit and EATEN it!!!

Or drank milk straight from the carton.

And not washed their hands after having a pee.

Oh, wait, that's my place I am talking about.

Nah, seriously, hand washing after a pee is mandatory.

But I have to confess to all the other misdemeanours.

Which may explain why my son never has friends over.

Ha ha.

Ciao
LC

The IT Girl

I knew the day was off to a bad start when I put too much hair product in my hair and it sat badly.

Then when I got to work I realised that the pretty pink Tupperware container that I brought to work was not filled with my home made soup.  It was, unfortunately, filled with food I had made for my dog.

Then I checked my emails to find one from Boss Barney saying "Quickbooks not working. None of us can sign in. Fix it or get someone in".

Oh yeah, that's me.  The IT girl.  No, not Clara Bow IT girl.  More like the other person in the office that knows more about computers than the others.  Well, there are two in the office who are called on to fix something when it goes wrong.  Anything to do with Quickbooks lands in my lap. I know it like the back of my hand.  It works via the cloud (that mysterious cyber cloud) and when the internet plays up we have to file.

So this morning I spent three hours having to reconfigure things on each computer.  My head hurt but it got done.  Then had to do payroll.  It was such a rush as I had to leave work at 4.45 pm so that I could get home and then rush off with K to take Benny dog training.  

Tomorrow evening I have book club and have hardly read a thing.  This happened last time I went to book club so tonight I am going to look up reviews about each book I have and then LIE about each book based on the reviews I have Googled.

I would have read the books in full but they were SHITE.  If a book does not hook me in reasonably by the end of chapter two I just find it hard to continue.  I usually read the last chapter to see if it ends how I think it will and nine times out of ten it does.  Who wants a book like that?

I also like books with unlikeable characters.  Books that make me feel uncomfortable.  The other gals like books that are chic lit.  Jodi Picoult and Joanna Trollope are always popular.  And lots of books about people who go to live in France or Italy and write about what they eat and the lovers they have.  Not my cup of tea.  I'd rather read The Story of O or the complete collection of Anais Nin.  I wonder if I should introduce those books to book club?  Ha ha, not likely.

One book I read a few years ago which met all my needs for high squirm factor was Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey.  The ending made me go "WTF?".  It was made into a movie with Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes acting the main characters.  The ending, however, was changed and it kind of pissed me off.  This often happens with stories that don't meet peoples expectations.  Not many people like an unpleasant ending to a story.

To me, a book is more than just a feel good experience. It needs to be an emotionally troubling one as well.  If a book hits the right note in my head I will read it more than once.  I have some books I have read at least half a dozen times.  Somerset Maugham is one author I read a lot of.  D H Lawrence is absolutely top of the tree for me.  They just give so much in their writing.

The other day K, S and I were talking about music.  Both S and I have an obsessive way of listening to music.  I was saying how I was going through a phase of listening to Creedence Clearwater's song I Heard it through the Grapevine.  The long version.  I mentioned that I would listen to it over and over and over for the entire week or longer.

K asked how on earth I could squeeze anything more out of it after all these years?  But I just can. I kind of need to.  My head wants it.  Over and over and over.  S is the same with his music.  I think it is because K is a musician.  He gets music differently.  Besides, he sure is not going to want to listen to the same music as I do even once, let alone over and over.

I downloaded the best of Leonard Cohen on my iPhone.  K hates him.  Finds him so mournful and musically bad.  But I think I like that he is just that.  It's kind of poetry with some music thrown in to join it together.   That, however, is not the song of the moment for me this week.  I love that song by The Black Keys called Lonely Boy.  I love the song and the film clip is so good to watch.  No wonder it went viral when it came out.  I can't say the song is musically outstanding but the accompanying clip gives it a  feel good appeal which explains the success of it.

That is the appeal of those short lived pop songs isn't it?  The song with the clip making a deal with some random spot in your head.  Then when the brain has sucked the life out of it a new one comes along.

No wonder pop music is such a money spinner.

But I have to say that when I am listening to music there is nothing that I love more than music from the late 1960's and through to the late 1970's.   I never get sick of listening to that stuff.  I will be listening to Creedence Clearwater and Leo Sayer long after any song that comes out today.

I am not sure if it because I grew up with a type of music.

Today's music seems just so disposable.

Although, I do think that The Bay City Rollers were very disposable.

And they were the 1970's.  I hated them.  Boy band.  I hate boy bands.  All boy bands.

I love boys.

I love bands.

Just not mixed together.

Ciao
LC

Tell Me Who I Am

There is nothing better than reading comments that people post on a news article.

By reading these comments I have found out that I am the following:

A slut.
Stupid.
Bogan/Trailer trash
Of a low IQ
Whore
Insecure
Amoral
Trashy
Ignorant
Unemployable
Ugly
Sad
Pathetic
A follower
Psychologically disturbed
A bad role model
Lacking any class
Self abusing

This is because I am a female who has a tattoo.  Which I will no doubt regret (as people so often say).

You can bet that whenever the newspaper runs a story on tattoos there will be about 400 comments in response to it.  About 380 of them will give a negative opinion and the remainder will defend themselves by saying they work in corporate and earn lots of money.  Or they are a doctor or lawyer (that old cliche). And the men think it is awful when an attractive female defaces her body - unattractive females can do what they like.

It is just as bad when an article about overweight people pops up.  Heaven help anyone hoping for some compassion.  Everyone knows that fat people are weak, lazy and pathetic because that is the tone of the comments.  And nobody wants their taxes paying for looking after these weak, lazy and fat people which is another common mention.

Oh, but if you are thin you are good so don't worry any of you out there who have health issues or an eating disorder because your food issues are good ones.  You are thin and that is what counts.

If you are old though, well, sorry to say you will be invisible and sexless.  Nobody after the age of 50 has sex because they are old.  If you do admit to doing the rumpy pumpy be prepared for the vomit noises.   You are also unemployable because older people are not as clever as young ones.

Pubic hair?  Hey, that is not allowed.  Two of my friends have teenage daughters who want to laser off their pubic hair because it is unclean.  Most of their friends think they same way.  I don't know how to break it to them that if they laser off their hair they will regret that more than if they were to have a tattoo.  But how do you tell a teenage girl that her labia will sag just like the rest of her body and if she had a hangup about her bits as a teenager she is sure as hell going to have a bigger hangup at forty.  Apart from that, is it not just awful that a female feels shame about her genitalia because it has something as natural as pubic hair on it?

I could go on and on about it all.  Pressure, pressure and more pressure.

Guess what!  There is no normal.  There is diversity.  There are differences.

And of course there are opinions and we can give them but can people maybe stop and think about what they are saying first?  So brave behind anonymity.

It is okay to have thoughts.  They are only thoughts.  But to put it out there in such a mean way says a lot about the ugliness of some people in society.  It just crosses so many lines of integrity.

Not much empathy on show though.  I wonder if that is because people who empathise just live their lives and have their friends and do what they can to leave some kindness in the world and just do it quietly.

But how would I know?  Being the stupid, ugly, tattooed slut that I am.

And I have cellulite too.

God, what a loser I am.

Ha ha.

Ciao
LC

A Song for Sunday

I love this song.  Throws me right back to when I was a very little girl.

The clip is filmed not far from where I live now.  In fact, I walk down along this road when on a Saturday night out with friends.

It does not look like this now.  Very crowded now.   And there is not a chance of being able to ride down the road like that.

Today was uneventful.  Slept in, ate food, read the newspaper.  We did take Benny down to the dog beach where he was tumbled and rumble by bigger dogs but he had fun.  Came home and slept for quite a while after his running around.

My car is always dirty now I have a dog.  Despite putting a towel over the seat I still get dog hair just around the place.  I get to work and on my clothes I have dog hair.  Wearing all black does not help.

So, now just relaxing and reading online papers.  Making soup and watching television.

Which is a nice thing to do.

Ciao
LC

Saturday and Plastic Fantastic

Rainy day today.  The rain started yesterday.  Heavy grey skies emptying themselves onto the ground below.

In the office it is unaffected.  Warm and dry.  Music playing.  Coffee breaks.  The turtles in the pond have slowed their movements down now the cold weather is in to stay.  The don't watch us from the water, heads out and eyes following us as we walk past.  Always hoping for food.  Now it is chilly they just stay in one spot for most of the day.  Sometimes they come out of the water and sit under the shelter of the green bamboo that grows in the garden bed.

Today I had that Tupperware party.  I baked a few things but not as much as I thought I would because I realised that it would be possible to have too much food.  It was a busy day and delightfully social.  Being sociable takes effort for me.  Not as much as it used to as I have worked out what to do to be sociable and I appreciate the benefits of it.  As long as it is controllable I am fine.

When I decided to have the party I thought it would be nice if a few turned up.  As it was, there were twelve and they spent a lot of money collectively.  One of the women had not been to a Tupperware party since the 70's.  She was tempted to hold a party herself but was too embarrassed that her friends would never let her live it down.  My sister, however, fell for the temptation.  Sucker.......however, she expects me to come too.  Sigh.

I enjoyed baking bits and pieces for the afternoon tea.  It is a nice thing to do.  Calming. Productive. I like looking up new recipes and trying them out.  Degree of difficulty is never off putting if the end result is pleasing.

There was a lovely book that I read not so long ago.  It was called Mr Rosenblum's List.  In the book was mention of a cake that his wife would bake and I wondered if I would be able to bake it.   It is called a German Tree Cake.  Definitely not something to whip up after work.

I look at the recipe a lot and visualise all the processes.  I have to visualise it before I can contemplate doing it.  Like mapping down the journey in my head.  That process is one I use a lot to get through each day.  Even when I was training for the Oxfam walk I would visualise each section so that my head and body would be in tune with what was happening.

Today my son did volunteer work at one of the local charity shops.  It is part of his Duke of Edinburgh award that he is going for.  Two hours each Saturday for three months.  He enjoyed it and it was good that he got out and about.  His job there today was to arrange the books in genre.

One of the other activities he will be doing is an overnight trek.  They have been talking about what they are going to take for food.  Things have to be light as they will be walking a lot.  In fact, they will be walking on the same trail that I did for the Oxfam walk.  My son had a list of food that he would take and all seemed reasonable until I got down to what he intended to eat for dinner.  Two cheeseburgers from McDonald's.  Imagine the state of those two after being in a back pack for a full day.  In summer.  After a discussion with him he agreed that maybe they were not a good option.

There are a few local camping and hiking stores that sell freeze dried foods that you add boiling water to so we will try out a few of those.  As he does not eat nuts or dried fruit we have to work out what he can nibble on for slow release energy.  He thinks lollies are the go or banana chips.  Having over indulged in those at one point in time on a training walk I tried to advise him that he may well end up with a really bad gut ache if he just eats those.  But he made it clear that he knew best.  Fair enough.  I can't tell him anything really because I am his mother and therefore know nothing.

He also has to do one hour physical activity each week.  He suggested a one hour walk with me.  This was allowed by the coordinators despite me being a parent.  So, at the beginning of the week he and I had a conversation that went like this:

Son: So, mum, I need to start this walking with you this week.  I worked out that we can walk about ten minutes each day and that will make it more than an hour for the week.

Me: What?

Son: Yeah, ten minutes each day, seven days, seventy minutes.  That is more than the hour.

Me: It doesn't work that way.  You walk with me for one hour.  You go for a one hour solid walk with me.  Not a ten minute walk around the block each day.

Son: Why not?  It is still an hour each week.  It is more than an hour.
(as if that extra ten minutes will impress me more)

Me: That is not an achievement or a challenge to you.  Also, I have plenty of stuff I have to squeeze in a day and I am not adding a ten minute walk into the mix.  One hour per week with me.

Son: Okay, settle down.

He must have thought that the physical exercise challenge would be a doodle.  Ten minute trot around the block.  However, we did go for the one hour walk last Sunday and it was great.  He talked the whole time about what was going on in his life and his thoughts on the world around him.  No complaints about having to walk at all.  It was great.

Poor Benny today was relegated to being outside for a bit of the day today.  K took him for a long walk which was meant to tire him out a bit.  But Benny sat outside the back door looking at everyone and put on a sad face.  After nearly everyone left he was allowed inside and wagged his little body to bits.  Then, when our back was turned, he ate sandwiches from a plate that was too close to the table.  Very sly about it too.  He knew it was naughty.

A puppy is so much like a child.  Later in the evening Benny was being very pesky and energetic.  In the end I put him in his pen where he rolled around for a few minutes and then crashed into a deep sleep.  Reminded me of when my son was a toddler.  Big day, silly behaviour and a bed time crash.  Very cute.

Tomorrow is just a relaxing Sunday.  Take Benny down to the dog beach.  Go for a walk with S.

Just relax before a new week starts all over again.

Ciao
LC

Friday 26th May

Today at work I was reminded once again how homophobic some men can be.  In particular, builders.

A young guy we have working in the landscaping part of our company came in for some reason.  He was chatting on his iPhone.  I noticed it had a hot pink cover and I noted how cheery and bright it was.

The other guys made jokes about how he had a pink iPhone cover.  Because you know, only gays and girls like the colour pink - this is how they think,  not how I think.  I don't have a thought about pink. It's a colour and a nice one.

I said that they were homophobic and that was pathetic.  Then the following brief dialogue ensued between myself and one of the "pink fearing" men.

E: Come on Linda.  Surely if your son came home from school and told you he was gay you would freak.

Me: No. If he came home and told me that he wanted to play professional AFL football I would freak and I would think I had failed as a parent.  If he came home and told me he was gay I would say okay.

E: You're joking aren't you?

Me: No, I am not.

Then the young guy who had the pink iPhone asked me if I really meant what I said and I replied that I did.  He said that was nice.

I can't imagine loving my child any less because of their sexuality.  I can't imagine not liking a friend because of their sexuality.  I can't imagine why people even think about another persons sexuality unless they are interested in them in a sexual way.

I just think it is crap that in this day and age people have to hide their sexuality because they fear how others will react.  Especially in the modern society I live in.  Imagine being in intolerant countries.

By the way, I used being an AFL football professional as the failed career choice because the tradesmen on site idolise the ugly, sexist, overpaid wankers that play football.  I needed to make it very clear to them where my thoughts lay and that one hit the spot.

Besides, it is true.

I would freak if S wanted to be a football pro.

I am happy with him being a brony.

I am happy with him being himself.

Ciao
LC

Caravan

When I was about eleven years old my dad came home with a beautiful wooden caravan that had been made by a prisoner years beforehand.

It was about three feet long and painted a beautiful cream colour with blue trim.  Black wooded wheels.  A door that opened and had steps that folded down.

Inside there was a lounge room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a small bathroom.  It had furnishings and little paintings were made from magazine cut outs and framed on the walls.  The windows had curtains.  There was a carpet like material on the floor.

You could lift the roof off in two sections to peer down into it.  I would put the dolls inside it.  Sat them on the couch.  Lay them in bed.  Sewed some material so it would make a new bedspread.

I spent hours playing with the caravan.  It was one of the most pleasurable things to sit out in the backyard  and lose myself in the world of dolls and the caravan.

It stayed in my bedroom.  It was my caravan and I did not want to share it with anyone.  Besides, I was more into playing with things like that than anyone else in the family.

As I got older the caravan got less attention.  Eventually it sat in my wardrobe and I did not play with it at all.

But it was still mine.

I moved out of home when I was nineteen.  When I was out of home my mother went through my vacant bedroom and threw out all my toys, caravan included.

Out went my collection of Bayko.  Along with that went my Britains Floral plastic toys.  Books I had kept for years.  The small, soft bodied doll that I had rescued from the nature strip outside my friend's house when they had a throw out.  It played Brahms lullaby when it was wound up.  Its little head moved.

Also tossed away was my small collection of Venetian glass beads that I loved to look at.

Things that mattered to me meant nothing to her.  They were just things that filled up space and were no longer used.  For me, they were objects that filled my world when things were chaotic around me.

Over the years I have collected a lot of Bayko.  It sits in boxes up on the garage mezzanine floor.  I also have managed to build up a collection of Britians Florals.  And some Venetian glass beads which, although pretty, are no match for the ones I had all those years ago.

No doll.

And no caravan.  I know I will never see anything like that again.

I am sure that my over consideration in regards to my son's belongings stems directly from my mother's lack of consideration in regards to what were my belongings.

He has quite a few boxes of things around the place.  Toys he played with a lot.  Books he read all the time.  I have kept quite a lot and maybe he won't care about any of the things one way or the other but I believe it is not up to me to make the call as to whether something stays or not.  I have told him that he can get rid of what ever he wants when he wants to.

Call me sentimental.

That is better than being inconsiderate.

Ciao
LC

Hair

I bought some new hair product online the other day.  It arrived in the mail today and when I got home the box of goodies was sitting on the kitchen bench waiting for me.

You wouldn't think that a person could get excited about something as dull as hair product but I do.

I've gone through all different sorts over the years and always love trying out a new one.  Sometimes they don't work and that can make for a bad day.

Bad hair days are a bigger nightmare for me now that I have grey hair.

You see, when my hair was dark I could get away with a frizzy hair day. It wasn't ideal but it just looked a bit fly away.  It just looked as though I had a bad hair day and nothing else.

Now my hair is grey a bad hair day just makes me look like I have let myself go.  It makes me look like a crazy lady.  Believe me, I know it to be true because before I had grey hair I used to think that women with frizzy grey hair looked like they had really given up.

So finding the right hair product is always on my agenda.

The other day I allowed my hair to look a bit more natural and went to work with it.  Don't think that natural means I just washed it and let it dry naturally.  It means that I washed it and put hair product in it and then using a myriad of brushes and the hair dryer I allowed it to dry with its waviness in tact.

When I do that "natural" look my hair looks quite okay until I get outside and the atmosphere changes the dynamics of the hair and makes it bigger.  Bigger and wavier and surrounded by a halo of frizz.  This also makes the grey look very grey.

By the time I got to work it looked like a crazy grey haired lady was sitting at my desk.

Fortunately that is a rare event.

Tonight when I go to bed I will think of using my new hair product the next day.

It is, I am sad to admit, rather exciting.

Ciao
LC

Nothing to Say

It is Tuesday and I have nothing to say.

I mean, what is there to say about a work day?

Tell you what.  I will list down what I did today in reasonable order.

1. Woke up early in the morning after a weird dream that I was having open heart surgery in my bedroom.  In my dream I felt as good as I do when I get the premed just before surgery.  It's the most wonderful feeling.  Then I woke up.  Obviously the prospect of open heart surgery in my bedroom was too much.
2. Went back to sleep.
3. Woke up at around 7.00 and felt mildly disappointed that it was not Saturday.  Lay in bed wondering what it would be like to have a week that went Monday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Saturday, Sunday and so on.  
4. Got out of bed. 
5. Called out to son to get him out of bed.
6. Fed furry Benny.  Scrambled egg dry dog food.  He thought it was okay
7. Yelled again at son
8. Decided to eat breakfast.  After a piggy week last week I went shopping and bought lots of healthy food.   That was on Sunday.  Now it is Tuesday I realise how very hard it is to chew some healthy food.  Chew, chew, chew.  But it is healthy so I can deal with that.  
9. Yell at son again only to realise that he was out of bed and I was just yelling out of habit.  That is me, habitual yeller.  Which is to be expected when I have a sloth for a son.
10. Shower.  
11. Get dressed.
12. Put on make up.
13. Say goodbye to son as K takes him to school.
14. Dry hair. 
15. Take Benny for walk with K.
16. Get home and organise Benny's treats and toys and put them outside.
17. Drive to work listening to my music.  Realise that the 70's is my all time favourite period for music. Groovy stuff.  
18. Get to work.
19. Make coffee.  Only wanted to make one cup but then ended up making four cups for others.  Had to add water, coffee beans and clean tray before I could make the coffee. 
20. Started payroll.  
21. Realised delivery of ink toner had not arrived and I had to forward all my printing to someone else in the office so that they could print things off via the other printer.  
22. Continued with payroll which takes at least three hours. 
23. Had lunch.
24. Did four hours of general journal entries and other accounting related activities.  
25. Headed home at 4.30 pm as Benny was having training. 
26. Get home and eat quickly.  
27. Open box that arrived for me in the mail.  It has my new boots in it. I try them on with guilty pleasure.
28. Change into dog friendly clothes. 
29. Have a cup of tea.
30. Sprayed new boots with leather care to keep them looking nice.
31. K and I drive to dog training which takes an hour and is in peak hour traffic
32. Whilst waiting at the lights a person rolled into the back of my car and hit it.  Fortunately no damage.  
33. Get to dog training early and have to wait in car.  
34. Do dog training for 45 minutes.  Benny is a star.
35. Drive home and get there by 8.00 pm
36. Son does not want "bland pasta" for dinner so I heat up sausage rolls for him.  What a shite mother I am giving my son sausage rolls for dinner. 
37. Also a bad wife as husband heats up party pies.
38. Feed Benny dry dog food with some puppy milk.
39. Eat my dinner which is a turnip, swede, zucchini and fennel soup that I made.  I add chicken to it. Nobody else likes it so that is fine. 
40. Have a cup of tea which K made for me. 
41. Play on computer while watching TV.
42. Have just realised it is 9.10 pm so I better yell to son that he has to get ready for bed.  This action will be repeated at least a few times.  
43. Remind son to feed lizard. 
44. Play Scramble on iPhone. 
45. Resist the urge to watch some pointless medical show on TV.

So, there you go.  

That's my life this Tuesday.

I could do this every day couldn't I?  Just list it all down.  It reminds me of a story that some actor told on TV once.  His father used to keep note books and every day he would write in them.  Every single day for years and years he would make notes in these little books and when the books were full he would put them in a box and start a new one.  This son always wanted to know what his father wrote in these note books.  

When his father died his son found the box and read the books.  

However, instead of deep and meaningful words of wisdom or salacious stories filling the notebooks,  his father had just written down what he did every day.  Things like "went down the street and got milk" and "read the newspaper" and "made myself a cup of tea" were the wonderful words that filled the books. 

Nothing else.  

I always found that story incredibly amusing. 

Ciao

LC

Monday 21st May

Monday is always a grind at work.  I have to get things in place for the week ahead.  No matter how hard I try, I can't organise myself to get things ready on Friday.  It would make more sense to get the following week sorted on a Friday afternoon.  But a lot of things that make sense are not the things that we choose to do.

The other day my son told me that he needed a new lap top.  He is using my old one and it is pretty tragic these days.  I said that he really needs to get a part time job and save for a lap top.  Then I suggested that whatever he saves we will match it.

I could buy him one outright but I believe he is getting to the age where he needs to work and earn a bit of money.  Now he is starting to go out more he is asking for money.  Yesterday when he went out he asked for $50.  This was after I had paid for the movie tickets.  I asked him what on earth he needs $50 for?  He wanted food and to buy a game and stuff.  We had a discussion about it all and he got less than he wanted.

On Friday K took him down to the bank and they opened a savings account for him.  Then put a bit of money in it. S had asked for it because he wanted to have access to his own money.   I give him pocket money each week.  I don't physically give it to him.  It gets transferred into a little interest bearing account.  He gets an age amount each week.  He is fourteen years old so he gets $14 per week.  When he turns fifteen he will get $15 per week.  This has been going on for a few years and has allowed him to spend money on things.

I personally do not insist that he does chores in return for money.  He does what I ask him to do anyway.  Helping around the house is not something one should get paid to do.  Helping around the house is something that we should learn to do because that is what has to be done.  He gets the money and it teaches him the value of money.  When he wants to buy a book, I pay for the first one and he uses money from his savings to pay for any more.

Sometimes for a more expensive item I will offer to pay half.  Other times he will rethink about spending his money when he realises that once it is gone it is going to be a while before the amount builds up again.

He asked if I could put all the money from this interest bearing account over to his new savings account.  I refused saying that he needed to show us that he can manage his money properly before I put more than $100 over to him.  But I did agree to pay the weekly amount in.

So, back to this lap top he wants.  I said that it was about time he gets a part time job.

Conversation follows like this:

Me: S, you need to get a part time job because I am not paying for a new lap top.  I will go halves but that is it.

Son:  I am not working for $6 an hour at McDonald's.

Me: Oh, really.  And what are you worth then?

Son: I don't know but I am not working in some greasy, stinky place like that for $6 an hour.

Me: So, where else have you considered working?

Son: I don't know.  Just not there.  Or KFC.  And it is too hard to get in at Coles.
(Coles being a local supermarket).

Me: You know there is a part time job for you at my work.  Digging trenches and cleaning the site toilets And you will get more money.  You have to work somewhere because I am not going to hand over money to you every weekend.  Besides, it is not just about money, it is about learning the process of working.  It is part of life.

Son: I know.  I just don't want to work somewhere that I don't like.

Oh, dear child of mine.  You will have to work a lot of places you don't really like before you find yourself somewhere you do like.  Sometimes that very places you thought would be crap to work in turn out to be great places.  It is all about the people and not just the job.  If you work with nice people you will enjoy any place, even a greasy, stinky place like Maccas.

From the shelf stacking boredom at a supermarket to the overworked and underpaid glamour of the corporate world.  I've done them and my son will have to do the same.

I did not explain that to him.  I just said that he needs to take the first step and start looking.

He must have thought about it overnight because the next day he said to me that he will be happy to get a job anywhere.   Even Maccas.

One of the up sides of getting older is seeing the down sides of being young.  Looking for work is a very big thing for a teenager.

What I didn't tell him was that the best job I ever did was when I spent a few years home with him.  Before he went to kindergarten.  Before he went to school.  Just the two of us enjoying life.   That mother and child thing was so very precious.  It still is, just different.  My mother used to say that before a child goes to school they are still all yours.

Those lovely days.

Now that is something I would go back to any day.

Ciao
LC

Rated M

Today my son went with his three friends to the movies.

I organised the tickets for them online.

The movie was The Dictator.

About an hour after my son was dropped off he called K to get picked up again.

Reason?  The boys were not allowed to see the movie because they were under 15.

I found that very bizarre.

That the government sees fit to impose age restrictions on movies is all well and good.  But isn't it kind of contradictory considering the total lack of monitoring as to what is freely available on the Internet?  Or even what is on television?

Once, many years ago, the morning news was on television and they showed (without warning) bodies hanging from trees.  It was footage from what was happening in Yugoslavia.  My son was three at the time and was actually upset by it.  He said to me "I saw something bad".

I was really annoyed.

Where was rating at that time of the day?

Ciao
LC

Sunday, 20th May

Today I did not get done as much as I thought I would.

In fact, sitting here at 8.00 pm I am wondering where on earth the day went.

I do know I just spent 1.5 hours at the supermarket getting the weekly shopping done.  It was crowded.  Goodness knows why I go on a Sunday evening because it is always crowded.  Maybe nobody wants to waste Sunday daylight hours schlepping around in a grocery store.

I went for a walk with Benny and my son.  Son did not want to go but talked non stop for the entire 40 minutes we walked.  He likes to argue and debate things.  It's great.

Next Saturday I have this Tupperware party.  When I agreed to have one I wondered who on earth I knew was going to want to come to it.  I sent an invitation around and I now have at least fifteen, possibly more, coming.  My house is small.  Where shall they sit?

Having decided on also providing an afternoon high tea menu of sorts I spent some time today organising the food.  You know, as much as I like to bake a cake, I am not into cooking as such.  But I have come up with a list of the following things on offer for Saturday:

1. Selection of sandwiches
2. Buttermilk scones with jam and cream
3. Biscuit lime pie
4. Monte Carlo biscuits
5. Sticky malt loaf
6. Vanilla cup cakes
7. Fruit platter
8. Tea and coffee
9.  Cheese platter
10. Champagne maybe

Plus some vanilla slices which I will buy because I don't like making them.  The rest I can do without too much stress.  The most fiddly things to make are the monte carlo biscuits.  But they are worth the effort.

It is a funny thing with Tupperware.  The moment I said I was having a party, so many wanted a catalogue to look at so that could order some stuff.  Deep down, it's a little secret love affair that women seem to have and only confess when fellow Tupperware lovers are around.

So I am going to fess up.  I also love it.  I love how it fits so nicely in my fridge and freezer.  I love that it can make my pantry neat and tidy and keep bugs out of my food.  I love the pretty colours it comes in.  I love how it lasts the distance.

What I don't love is the price.  In the US it is half the cost of what we pay here.

Anyway, if I can get $1500 of sales and bully two people to hold a party I can get lots of it for zilch!

Oh, no.........

There is my motive for having the party.

Shame on me.

He he.

Ciao
LC

Saturday 19th May

 I love the weekend.  Not that I don't like work, I just happen to like not being at work a bit more.

In the morning K and I went with Benny to the Farmer's Market which is a twenty minute drive from our house.  It is the same market where I did fund raising work for the Oxfam walk.

From the car park you walk along a lovely track.  On the right is a drop down to the foreshore and a great view across the bay.  I love this little track.  It makes me feel as though the suburbs are miles away.

We meandered around the market for an hour.  Benny met up with other dogs and thought it was terrific.  He is still looking like a soft and fluffy puppy so he was the recipient of many pats.  Enjoy your youth Benny, as you get older the random pats drop off (speaking from experience here).

After the market we took him to the dog beach where he could run off lead.

I am so glad I wore my nice black pants and boots - not.  Lots of wet dogs around and sandy paws.  You just should not be wearing good clothes when you get there.  Some dog is going to jump on you at one point.

On the whole, most people who go this beach are thoughtful dog owners who watch their what their dog is doing around other dogs.  

For example, if someone has a puppy they make sure their dog does not overwhelm or dominate the puppy.  And they put their dog back on lead when it misbehaves.   However, now and then there is going to be one jerk who does not give a shit what their dog does. 

Benny was having a good time running around when another dog came up to play with him.  It was a Rhodesian Ridge Back and quite big.  Initially the play was fun and then the other dog started to intimidate Benny.  I stepped in to grab Benny and this other dog just kept trying to mouth at Benny and myself.  The owner just stood nearby and I asked him to call his dog back. 

He took his time doing it and did not put it on lead to allow me time to get Benny away which meant his dog kept coming back and also started hassling me because he could smell treats in my bag.  So here I am trying to get Benny on his lead and calm him down and I have this big dog pushing its big wet body against me and sticking its nose in my bag and hand and his jerk owner is just doing nothing.  

Eventually the owner moves off and his dog follows.  I should have known the guy was a sap because unlike the average dog owner who has a leather or nylon lead for the dog he had a heavy gauge chain as a lead.  It was the sort of chain we use at work to lock up the gates on a work site.  

But Benny had fun and was it was a grubby dog that sat in the back seat of the car on the way home. 

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk with a friend.  We did the same last week.  I walk faster than I can run these days.  Seriously.  The two of us can cover 10km's in 1.20 hours.  It helps that we both have long legs.  It is great walking with someone who keeps the same pace as it gives me a chance to really stretch my legs.

I also spent the afternoon loading music onto my computer.  I still like the feel of cd's.  Downloading music from the Internet is okay but I tend to only download transient music that way.  Any music that I really love has to be on cd.  It is the same with books.  

So, that is my Saturday post.

Ciao

LC

Glasses

I wear glasses.

For most of my life I only wore them now and then.  If I was tired or needed to do a lot of reading.

There was a slight dip in my eyesight after I turned 45 which was to be expected and I had to get reading glasses.

Last year I experienced a significant change in my eyesight.  It just went down hill in a very short time.

I am very short sighted in one eye and very long sighted in the other.  And I have astigmatism in both eyes so it is a fiddly process getting the glasses right for me.

 Now I have to wear glasses to drive pretty much all the time.  Those glasses I also use to walk around the street or watch television.  But I can't wear them when I am talking to someone because my focus changes and the glasses don't work, in fact they make things fuzzy.

I have to wear another pair of glasses when on the computer at work.  Reading glasses are no good because the computer is further away from my eyes.

Which means I have to have a third pair for reading.  I have not bought those yet because I just have not got around to it.  That is on my "to do" list.

When I had my eyes tested we talked of multi vocals but it was decided they would not work for me.  The idea of having to tilt my head like some sort of chicken pecking for food was not an option anyway.

I don't like wearing glasses and it is not a vanity thing.  It is the feel of glasses on me.  I just know they are there.  Sometimes I try to not wear them and just end up with sore eyes and a big headache.  It has taken a while for me to accept that glasses are really going to be a for ever thing.

When I bought the new glasses last year and put them on I realised how unclear the world had been for me.  Even now when I put my glasses on I realise how bad my eyesight is.  It is like looking through a dirty pane of glass and then a sparkling clean pane.  Everything sparkles.

So, does that mean when I look in the mirror I see myself through a soft and fuzzy lens and look younger?

Let me go and put my glasses on and see.

Oh, wait, maybe not.

Ciao
LC

Thursday 17th May

I got my coffee machine the other day.

Fiddled around with it.  Followed all the instructions to get it working.

Made three coffees to try it out and they were delicious.  However, I was awake quite a lot during the night because of the caffeine.

I went to sleep okay but then at 1.00 am I woke up and was a bright as a button.  Benny was making a noise so I got out of bed to let him out for a pee.  Then he ran back inside and into the bedroom and woke K up.  I tried to call out for him quietly but to no avail.  I had to run after him and then get him back into his pen and he went to sleep.

However, I remained awake for about two hours.  Then when I had to get out of bed the to go to work I felt so tired.

I really need to get to bed early if I am to function well the next day.  Today was a perfect example of the consequences of a late night.

Last night I stayed up to watch back to back episodes of Embarrassing Bodies.  It is a British show where doctors drive around to different towns and tackle all sorts of health problems with the locals.  It is compelling viewing in a voyeuristic kind of way.

Anyway, it finished late and I was not in bed until midnight.  Took a while to get to sleep and then woke up early.  I felt very tired.

When I finally got to work I was still dragging my feet and decided to eat a banana for some energy.  Also had a coffee.  And then I made the fatal mistake of having a slice of chocolate mud cake that was in the fridge.  Just a thin slice.

After the coffee, banana and chocolate cake I felt tired and fat.  Lunch time rocked around and I just had toast and a bowl of fruit salad.

Then more cake.

Then a bit more.

And one more bit.

All thinly sliced of course.

Now it is the evening and I am still as tired as ever and picking at some chocolate things.

Waiting for some energy.

But I think what I really need to get some energy is to go to bed early and get a good sleep.

So I may just do that.

Ciao
LC

Benny Twaddle on Wednesday

Last night K and I went to dog training.

It's a long drive and I always feel rushed.  I leave work early because we need to allow at least an hour to get there because of the evening peak hour traffic.

Initially Benny whined in the car all the way but he is much better now as he has realised that the car takes him to good places.

He loves the trainer (who is also the breeder) and greets her like nothing I have ever seen.  She is a tough as nails and doesn't acknowledge him until he sits.

Last night we worked on call and recall.  It is all about the correct hand signals and body language.  I hate to say it but I think I do a better job than my husband.  He tends to wave his hands about a bit much and Benny gets all confused or distracted.

We discussed the issue in the car and then when we got home I demonstrated what the trainer and I do and what K does.  Then he got it.

I felt like a bit of a pain in the arse.  I mean, we are talking about a dog here.  Not a child.  But I want to do agility training with Benny one day and I need to get it right at the beginning.  Dogs are into body language and the slightest change means the intention gets mixed up.

K and I also had a discussion about Benny being off lead.  He thinks we could let Benny off lead when we go to a dog park but unless there is a fence around the entire perimeter I am not letting a four month old puppy off lead.  Not until he is under voice control.  You wouldn't let an 18month old walk randomly down the street with you.  It's the same with a dog.

Anyway, on the way home I said something about going to the dog park later and K said "and let Benny off lead" to which I replied "are you for real?".  This response from me led to K being offended.  He thinks I am over the top and I think he is very casual.  We want the same result but he works from a different book I think.  But we resolved that thing.  He understood why Benny can not go off lead yet unless he comes when called every single time.

The other week I was walking Benny and his collar slipped over his head.  He darted onto the road which, thankfully, was car free.  I freaked but called out to him in that happy high voice and he came over, albeit slowly.  In my head I was thinking "fuckity fuck Benny come here pleeeeease" but my voice said "Benny come, good boy".  However, had there been another dog over the road or even another person he would have run over to them.  It was just lucky.

So, off lead ain't happening yet.

Sometimes I hate that I am a bit bossy.  Or like things my way in regards to certain things.  It is very controlling and I do try hard to not be like that too often.  K assures me that I am not as bad as I think.  But I do know that there are some days where I am a pain.  Guess we all are sometimes.

After last night's training with Benny I realised I need to put more into it each and every day.  So this morning I spent ten minutes going over it all and he was great.  I then took him for a twenty minute walk before heading off to work.

He can only go for short walks like that.  It works out 5 minutes per month of age up until 12 months and then there is no limit.  I am busting to get up to an hour of walking with him.  Can't wait to walk him down to the beach.  Or use a frisbee with him.

Until then there is lots of training and playing fetch.  Meeting new dogs and going to the dog beach to hump other dogs....

This Saturday he is coming with me to the Farmer's Market.  Meet and greet the local dogs.  Get some specially made healthy dog food.  Hang out with me while I drink coffee.

Then a walk down to the beach.

It's a doggy life isn't it.

Ciao
LC

Work on Tuesday 15th May

On Tuesday I do the payroll.

It is not a straightforward process.

Everyone uses a tag to clock in on various sites and then every Monday morning the site foreman goes to each site to pick up the hours.  This is done via blue tooth and he sends to data of to some place in cyber space and I pick it up via the software on my computer.

Lots of our jobs are cost plus which requires me to record the hours on complicated spreadsheets.

We have found, over the years, that there are just some things that require a lot of human input.  No matter how efficient technology is and no matter how detailed software packages are, nothing beats a spreadsheet for really detailed information.   And nothing beats a human being for doing costings.  Humans and computers work best together for certain things.  One software package may do lots of things, another does other things but we have yet to find one that does it all.

I learnt bookkeeping the boring old manual way.  Using ledgers, cash books and other dull things to gather information.  I certainly would not want to go back to that but at least I know how.  Now I use an online accounting package that interfaces with the bank.  I can access it from my own lap top at home which is great when we go on holidays.  Just in case things go wonky and some help is needed.

Years ago I used to love the beginning of the financial year when I would start a new cash book.  Rule up the pages.  Put in the headings.  Use sharp HB pencils for the figures.  Now I just order the folders that will hold the thousands of bits of paper that will be processed over a twelve month period.

I do more than bookkeeping these days.  I do loads of financial administration and deal with the tax office quite often.  We have various companies and trusts that have to have accurate figure work to present to the company.  It suits my inner anality.  Is that a word?  It should be.

One thing I love about bookkeeping is that it is order in a world of chaos.  

No matter how technology changes, the core basics of bookkeeping never changes.  

I never think whether or not my job is easy.  I just do it and whatever new thing I have to learn I just learn it.  Recently I have started a job description of my job to enable me to create a more structured process to work with.  I also wanted it in place in case the unthinkable happened and I could not work.  After a few pages I realised that I do quite a lot more than I thought and there is a good reason why I am often stressed when pressure is high.

We have had someone to help us in the office recently.  She does data entry, filing and answers the phone.  The plan had been to delegate some of my work but it has not yet happened as she has limited office experience.  Now and then I give her a few things to her because I believe she is capable of a lot more than she realises.  It is a slow process to show someone the ropes.  Recently she became engaged so may not be staying for much longer.  It is her second marriage, her first husband having died three years ago.  Her new partner lives in a rural area and I am guessing (by what she has said) that she may move there with her two boys.

That holds me back a bit in regards to handing over too much to her as I will have to do it again with someone new.

My boss says that when I am ready to retire then he and his wife will.

He is going to have to wait a while then.

I think I have at least twenty super productive years in me yet at work.

Besides, I have a kid to put through university!

Xbox University.

Ciao
LC

Monday Evening 14th May

I came home from work around 5.30 pm.  On the way I stopped at a place that sells the most delicious ready made meals.  I buy the lasagne for my son because it is not practical for me to make lasagne for one person and I certainly don't make a lasagne as tasty as theirs.  They also sell very interesting salads full of aromatic herbs and spices.  I would not make it at home because I am the only one who eats it.  So, once ever couple of weeks I splurge and buy from there.

When I got home I had to eat because I had exercise at 7pm and my lunch just would not have seen me through until then.  If I leave it until 6pm it makes exercise really, really uncomfortable.

Benny is always so happy to see me when I get home.  Or when I get out of the bathroom.  Or out of bed.  Or out of the laundry.  Or from one part of the room to the other.  He wags his tail and then his whole body joins in with the wagging.  Sometimes he does these really strange body rolls in excitement.  I can't help but cuddle him and then his wagging and wiggling is out of control.  Wouldn't it be cute if humans were like that when they saw someone they loved.

Tonight it was raining outside.  These cold months of exercise make it hard to get out but I go anyway.  The worst thing is having to put my hair up in a pony tail in this cold weather.  It makes my ears and neck cold.  I do have a hat to keep my head warm but that gets too hot.

We had to exercise under shelter and the rain cleared for a while.  But towards the end of the class it poured.  That fine but heavy rain that is blown across the park.  It soaks everything and everyone very quickly and we all complain about having to run in it.  Not much running, but enough to get very wet.  The class ends and we go inside the council building to stretch.

I headed home and the rain was still coming down in sheets.  The car was warm by the time I pulled into the driveway at home.  I ran inside and the warmth of the house enveloped me.

As I opened the kitchen door Benny was staring at me from the other side of the room, his tail in wag mode.  His fur was warm and soft.  I wanted to just pick him up and cuddle his wriggly warmth but he is a bit heavy for that and gets very silly if I do it.

Now I can relax for the evening.  Play games on the phone, watch ABC television and read some newspapers online.

It's nice to be home.

Ciao
LC

Posting

I don't post as much as I did when I first started blogging.

Perhaps I have less to say?

Or maybe I am busy.

I also thought that I may have just slipped into the habit of doing a post once a week.

So,  I am going to see if doing a post every day for a month will get my mind into blog mode again.

Every day for one month I will post something.  It may well be as boring as can be and totally pointless but I will do it irrespective.

I am planning on doing a similar thing in the studio.

Once a day I open my sketch book and do a drawing, painting or whatever.

I wonder if it is like exercise.  You just do it and get results even if you don't feel like it.  Were I to wait until I felt like exercising it would not happen.  So maybe the same thing happens with writing and drawing.

I did a similar thing with reading books.  Just made myself read each day.  Only a chapter.  After a couple of weeks I got back into it.

Be prepared to be bored over the next month!

Ciao
LC

Wet Sunday

I have had a fantabulous weekend.

It started on Friday evening when I came home from work and was very organised.  Did lots of laundry, tidied up and worked out what was going to have to happen to allow me free time on Sunday so that I could go on the studio.

On the Saturday morning I continued with my busy household activities before taking my son to the hairdressers to get his six weekly hair cut.

My husband thinks it is a bit lame that S goes to the hairdressers to get a hair cut but everyone knows that only old blokes go the the Barber.....my son likes to remind K of that.

Son of mine went through a phase where he had the worst hair style.  It was kind of heavy and fringy and flopped across his face.  The fringe was so weighty that he seemed to have a permanently tilted head to enable him to see where he was going (fringe being long over his eyes).   He was always pfaffing around with it.  Fiddling in front of the mirror for ages before heading off to school.  Plus he would not go outside if it was windy because it messed his hair up.  Honestly, even I have never had such a fiddly hair do.

Anyway, earlier this year he had school photos taken.  A few weeks later he came home with the photos and his hair looked hilarious.  His fringe looked like a big flippy slide.  I took the photos out and looked at them for a good ten seconds in astonishment.

"Do you mind if I don't stick that photo on the wall," I said to him laughing out aloud.  

"I know. Isn't it crap. I don't know what happened," he told me.

"Don't worry, I still love you. I'm your mother," I told him.

A couple of weeks later when he went to the hairdressers he had his hair cut short.  Well, a bit longer than short.  You can see his face and he looked so much better.  He decided then and there that a Justin Beiber type of hair do was just too naff for him.

I know I was not the only one who thought the photo was bad.  The other week we had Parent Teacher night and we met his art teacher.  She loves S.  Thinks he is a natural artist and very creative minded.  Then she mentioned his school photo, how awful it was and that it was nice to see him with a decent hair cut.

Even teenagers can have bad hair days.

So, yesterday he gets his hair cut and we go home.  Then K and I drive to some far away suburb to pick up something I had bought on Ebay.  It was a shadow box for the studio.  I have so much tat to put on it and did that today.  My little memory shelf number two.

In the late afternoon I caught up with two girls from the Oxfam team and we went for a big walk.  Not a training walk, just a lovely long walk.  I picked them up and drove down to the beach.  We walked about 10km's along the beach path and then had the most delicious meal at a great fish and chip shop called Hunky Dory.  It was the best meal.  They allow for people who like healthy cooking and offer chargrilled seafood, brown rice and salads without oily dressing.  It was delicious and extra delicious because I was famished after the walk.

Then we headed back to the car.  On the way it had been very wild, windy and chilly but the way back was fairly settled and the rain held off.  We stopped and have coffee at a little Italian cafe and sat outside feeling all warm in our coats and scarves.  The walk home only took an hour and a half so we felt pleased that we had lost none of our training fitness.

As we said goodbye we decided that we would do this walk weekly as long as the weather was okay.

Today was Mothers' Day and I enjoyed myself.  S bought me a bottle of perfume.  Lovely Chanel no 5 which has such a beautiful scent.  He also gave me a voucher to The Body Shop.  It was very thoughtful and much appreciated.

I then went into the studio and tidied it up.  Rearranged a few things.  Did a few little drawings.  Benny came in, sniffed things, chewed paper, did more sniffing, went outside and then came back inside.  After more sniffing, chewing and other doggy things he had a sleep while I did some ink work.

After a while I went inside and made some soup.  Then baked a lot of biscuits.

It was such a nice weekend.  I think it was because I made a very deliberate effort to pace myself and achieve what I wanted to.

I did also see the therapist on Thursday afternoon (after a few months break) but that is another post.

Now tonight I am just chillin'.

Ciao
LC

Coffee Time?

I really have to record a conversation I had with one of the Project Manager's at work.

I was talking about buying a coffee machine.  It's been on my mind for twelve months and I am about to make a decision.

Twelve months is a long time but I like to extend the pleasure of the decision making process.  Also like to overload my mind with as much pointless information about coffee machines as I can.

Anyway, I have pretty much decided what I want and am now just looking at prices.

So, there I was in the work kitchen at lunch time talking about this coffee machine when I just happened to mention that I saw an almost new one on EBay for a lot less than the retail cost.  It had only been used five times and came with a five year warranty that the purchaser had paid extra for.

It sounded like a reasonable deal.

Not so because the following dialogue ensued after I mentioned this "bargain".

PJ: You can't buy that.

Me: Why not?

PJ: You don't know what could have happened to the machine.

Me: What do you mean?
(Thinking he means mechanical)

PJ: You don't know what the guy did with his ball sack.

Me: (after a few seconds silence)  What do you mean?

PJ: Well, you know.  He might have done whatever to it.

Me: Are you serious?

PJ: Yeah man. You just never know what people do to things.

Me: What? You think he masturbated onto it or something?

PJ: Hey, I am not saying he did or didn't but at least when you buy it new you know it's clean.

Me: You must hate eating out at restaurants.

PJ: Yes, it is hard sometimes.

I mentioned this conversation to my husband that evening thinking he would not agree but he said something along the lines of not buying second hand kitchen appliances for all sorts of reasons.

"What, you think someone is going to buy a coffee machine for $650, wank off onto it and sell it three months later for $400?" I said.

"Just get a new one, that way you know it has no history." said my husband.

You know, I just don't know what to think sometimes about what other people think.

The expression by Anais Nin that goes "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are" comes to mind.  I'm not saying the the Project Manager or my husband have ever interfered with a coffee machine but maybe they have some sort of deep rooted fear that it may happen one day.


Anyway, I have decided to buy a new one.

One without unknown history.

Ciao
LC

Weekend

I am glad to say that the week has been relatively peaceful for me despite being very busy.

Today (Sunday) we took Big Benny down to the local dog beach where dogs can run around off leash.  This is the first time that he has been exposed to strange dogs and it all went well.  Lots of running around and bottom sniffing.  Then when he continued to try to hump strange dogs we put the lead back on him and headed home.  He was tired for the rest of the day.

He is not coming to work with me now which I think both he and I are happy about.  He was getting bored out of his furry brain having to be in his pen and I was as anxious as can be when he whined or started getting a bit naughty in the pen.

So he hangs out in the back yard.  Plays with his toys and rests when tired.  K is often home during the day so Benny would not be alone for more than a couple of hours.  He gets walked three times a day.  They are short walks as he is only allowed twenty minutes at a time until he gets a bit older.

It is funny how quickly a puppy works out what a walk is.  After three walks he knew that when I had a certain coat on it meant a walk was on the cards.  Now he sits at the front door and intermittently whines when the coat comes out.  I love taking him out.  He is so happy no matter the weather.  Lots of sniffy things for him and the world is getting more exciting when he ventures out.  The upside of all that is that he no longer whines in the car.  He does not like being in the car but at least he does not whine.  I think he has worked out that something good usually happens at the end of a car trip.

We have finally learnt (after seven rolls of toilet paper) to shut doors properly when Benny is around.  I don't know what it is about tissues and toilet paper but puppies love that stuff.

I have dropped one exercise class and am deliberating what is next on the agenda as far as fitness goes.  Running is out unfortunately.  Last Thursday K and I went for a short run and for the next two days I had so many aches and pains in my back and my piriformis muscle that I was reminded, once again, that my body is just never going to like running.  Better for me to walk.  I can almost walk faster than I run without any side effects.

I even contemplated joining a gym.  It has been over five years since I was a member of a gym.  I will go if I join and a super whizz bang one has just opened up around the corner with lots of different classes. I have been doing the group training for almost five years now and I am getting a bit sick of it.  A change is always good but I need to ponder about it all for a while.  Two of the Oxfam girls have joined and the third may join later on.  Having a gym buddy is always good fun.

Until I make a decision I can do stuff from home when I am not at the group training.  I have to do something or I will get a bit ratty, especially over the colder months.

I confess that I did go to that Tupperware Party and I did buy something but worse than that, I booked a party.  I know that is such a sad thing to do but now and then one does silly things.  Also, the girl was just starting out so I figured it would be good to help.  However, I did put out feelers to see if friends and family would be interested in coming to a party if I were to have one.  Just like a politician, you have to have your numbers before you make a move.

The theme for the party is high tea so I shall be baking like a 50's housewife all morning.  Someone has even offered to loan me their vintage cake stands.  I can then justify taking out the Royal Doulton tea cups and using them for a change.  Oh, and my lovely tea pots of which I have a few.

Did I get out in the studio?  Nope.  But I am okay with that.  That is next weekend's plan of action.  I have a lot of catching up to do while my head is in the right place.

This afternoon I met up with the Oxfam gals and had coffee.  We talked about next years effort and who would replace the one who does not want to do it again.

One of the girls said that she desperately needed something to do.  So I suggested she come to my Tupperware Party.

She agreed, saying that was a greater challenge than walking 100km's.

Personally I think holding the party is the greater challenge.

But we'll see.

Ciao
LC

Plastic Talk

After all the training and hard work to prepare for the charity walk it has been great to think of nothing along those lines.

I have been on Ebay buying a few things.  Cruising the craft pages of Etsy for inspiration.  Going through a few things around the house.

And, to top of my self indulgence I am going to a Tupperware party.

Yes, it has been a while since I bought any of that overpriced and overrated fantastic plastic.  In fact, years ago I got rid of some Tupperware when I went through an anti plastic phase.  I wanted to use glass containers and got rid of most of my plastic items only to find the glass heavy and hard to store.  Nothing stacked properly.   Besides, nothing looks quite as lovely as a pantry all Tupperware organised. Mmmmm.  Everything in its place all neat and tidy.

I can't help myself when it comes to Tupperware.  Despite the hideous cost of it I think most households have a few pieces of it.  When I was little my mother had salt and pepper shakers that sat in a plastic tripod kind of stand.  One shaker was pale yellow and the other was pale green.  I would love to have that set now.

On Ebay you can get Tupperware by the bucket load.  Used and new.  A lot of the new stuff is from Malaysia and so, so much cheaper than buying it here but I do wonder if it is the real thing.

Anyway, I need to go to the party to see the items and then know the sizes I need (loosely using the word need here).  I could buy a couple of thingies and then get more online.

It's shallow I know.  Getting excited about going to a Tupperware party but I am allowing myself the pleasure of it without the guilt.  But seriously, I need a fridge thing to stop the celery going limp so quickly.

I think I might measure my pantry shelves.  Make full use of the space I have.  How else can I keep my finger on the pulse as far as what I need to stock up when I go grocery shopping?

With Tupperware everything will fit nicely and keep me informed every time I open the pantry doors.

I love it when everything is orderly.

Ciao
LC