anyresemblance

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I received a free copy of Family Circle yesterday with the article on mothers who blog.  I come over way more witty and urbane than I am in real life "she said with a carefree laugh".  I found myself reading the recipes and cleaning tips.  Not having seen this magazine in a long time - it tends to be sold at the supermarket checkout - I was quite taken with the clean contemporary layout.  Not quite as groovy as Wallpaper but there you go.  So my blog address is in print at the supermarket checkout.  Let me tell you, there has been no noticeable rise in my site traffic which goes to show something - FC readers don't use the internet?

Life is bewildering.  I had a startling conversation with the father of my children, received a bizarre email from a man in Montana and started crying talking to the beauty therapist.  She was telling me it was her birthday tomorrow.  It's mine in a few days and I told her that I hadn't told someone close to me it was my birthday.  She asked me why and I realised it was because I couldn't bear the rejection of it being seen as insignificant.

Meeting etiquette

I was invited to a meeting by our client to discuss a skills training program they have for a selection of their staff.  As a major supplier to them, they have invited some of our staff to participate.  This has proved useful in breaking down the us and them barriers and helping each side understand some of the other's point of view.

I arrive at meeting in swish offices.  Tea and biscuits are on offer.  I take a biscuit thinking it has white chocolate chips.  They turn out to be peanuts.  Not even macadamias.  Bad start.

Meeting opened by training co-ordinator.  Senior client person arrives 10 minutes late.  Takes off his jacket and leans back in his chair ensuring his expanding waistline and hairy belly button are in panaromic view.  States a position that as we are only one of their suppliers, we should not have so many people on the course.  Read, "I hate you fuckwits, but as my boss likes you I will take my petty revenge in making you feel insignificant".  I respond, "I think that is a excellent idea  and as XXX are one of your major telecommunications providers, I think this is an unparalleled opportunity to make them part of the program as well"  knowing that he hates this supplier more than he hates us.  It made up for the peanuts.

On top of the world

What a beautiful weekend.  It was just beautiful up on top of our hill.  And a full moon shining a path on the ocean lifted our spirits.

Saturday morning was netball.  I confess I find it boring to watch but I am a dutiful parent.  Then off to watch the end of older daughter’s hockey.  She was in goal and as her team were beating the pants off the opposition she had little to do.  That was boring, she announced.

Two policewomen, aged roughly 14, came to visit me from Mascot police station.  While dropping my daughter off at the airport 3 weeks ago (long story, my car got blocked in and we had to take a taxi), a car reversed into the taxi I was in and then drove off.  I can’t see why this required the constabulary’s finest to drive across  Sydney but it was a beautiful day and maybe they felt like a jaunt.  I gave my version of the story and got rid of them eventually though I got the feeling they would have liked to have spent the afternoon basking on my balcony.

Then we went to Randwick to a fantastic bike shop, Europa cycles.  Not flashy but with a very knowledgeable bike man who showed my daughters how to measure the frame correctly for them and sundry other useful tips.  Our friend was adamant that the bikes would not fit in the back of my car but my daughter and I knew better and were proven correct.

We did a huge amount of grocery shopping to ensure that there was more than what is referred to as fridge food.  Fridge food are those jars of pickle, mayonnaise and peanut butter which lead one to erroneously believe that there is something that might satisfy appetite when the fridge door is opened.

I made veal meatballs, a creamy tomato sauce to serve with the former and with gnocchi, a meat loaf (surprisingly more yummy than you can imagine after I read an article referenced by this person last year) and slow cooked onions to make a quiche with onion and goats cheese which I haven’t quite got round to making the pastry for.

While standing at the checkout I read the Family Circle article on blogging.  I got contacted by the journalist and initially declined to be interviewed.  She persisted since she was interested in why I wanted to maintain my anonymity.  The irony is that since my friend was close behind me in the queue I did not buy the magazine.  I didn’t want to go through the “why are you buying that” “oh, because my blog is mentioned in it, you know the blog I mentioned but have never given you the address of because although I am confessional on the internet I don’t want you to know what I might write about you”.  How does that work?  I’ll have to wait for the complementary copy to arrive. 

I’m on an Italian theme with reading at the moment.  I love this writer.  This one isn’t so good but still has an elegance and world-weariness to it that I find soothing. 

John Howard is despicable.  I heard him comment on the radio about the poor Brazlian man who was “involved” in the shocking event at Stockwell station.  He was “involved” enough to be executed by police who I trust are now being charged with murder.

Bailing out

Yesterday morning I took my oldest daughter to the dentist.  She is missing a front incisor which we have known for years but her new dentist wanted to discuss if we wanted to do anything about it.  We agreed that it was worth an x-ray to see what was going on in her jaw.  Her teeth have gaps but I was impressed that he wasn’t pushing expensive orthodontic treatment unless it was something she wanted to do.  I have been blessed with even teeth as has her father.

Since she was late for school anyway, we stopped off at Rebel Sports for a hockey stick, shin pads and a mouth guard (I’d have spent more on the latter had we opted for braces yet).  She is playing goal keeper.  I loathed hockey at school but playing in the dark on a muddy Scottish pitch is some way from the manicured surroundings of the oval in front of her house (which is where the home games are conveniently played).

After I dropped her at school I drove to the insurance assessors who have thankfully accepted my preferred body shop’s quote.  Jeff, my new best friend, the panel beater is also lending me a car for the duration. He asked if I could drive a car with manual gears.  I am astounded that there are still women who learn to drive only automatic gear changes as though there was something difficult about changing gear.  It’s like not being able to reverse into a parking space.  It’s a life skill, people.  I except North Americans from this rant since I understand automatics to be so much more common there.

On other life skills, I have taught my children to empty the dishwasher and put away.  Small steps, small steps.

Yesterday I had lunch at Wagamama.  I was feeling pretty down but chilli chicken ramen made me feel much better.  For dinner we had what my daughter calls Anne’s pasta – a Sainsbury recipe I think with basil and tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  It was pretty yummy.

I am supposed to be going on a boat trip on the harbour this afternoon with one of the work groups I am associated with.  The idea of being trapped on a boat in the middle of the harbour with people on a freezing cold day has me filled with dread.  In fact, having written that, I’m bailing out.

Crash, bang, wallop

Updating begets more updating.  Sorry for slackness but no broadband connection makes me less than enthused.  I have this thing about not using my laptop at home if I can help it as it represents work and I like to separate out work from home otherwise I could spend my whole life chained to email.  And anyway, since I work for a corporate behemoth I prefer them not to be able to track the internet sites I am checking out.

Having said that, I am writing this on a break.  Since work consumes so much time, I chose what on a break means.

So here’s what’s happening.  I am seeing a man I like a lot but I am unsure of my ground.  I long to be cherished but my experience tells me that men let you down so I self-sabotage.  I don’t share the things that trouble me. I keep myself wrapped up tight.  I am relentlessly self-reliant else I fear I will be relentlessly needy, which I abhor.  In short, I have created myself a dilemma.  I write about this not to ask for advice or to whine but in the spirit of self-analysis.  I recognise where I make mistakes which is not to say that I won’t continue to make them.

Last week, my oldest daughter’s best friend came to stay from Canberra.  They slipped back into best friendness with ease and played on the computer, and hung around shopping in Bondi Junction.  We had hot chocolate here.  Big german dinners at Una’s and ice cream in Double Bay.  After that, I could barely move.

Youngest daughter came home on Saturday night.  Hooray.  Her father drove her up in a truck with the bed we were swapping.  Then we discovered that my mattress was non standard Hong Kong size and did not fit the bed.  Trip to Ikea on Sunday morning to buy new mattress followed.  This was a new experience for the father of my children and I had to hustle him through so he did not get distracted by the vast array of super useful items.  He slept on my sofa on Saturday night.  It was ok.  He appears to have split up with his girlfriend. He doesn’t like her pets.  Hmm.  My step-son helped load the truck with items I was getting him to take away and my garage is looking clearer.

My youngest daughter was exhausted and I was so happy to have her home.  She had to go off to school the next day and was a bit reluctant but reasonably good humoured about the whole thing.

The perils of doing things in a hurry.  I reversed my car into a concrete pillar in a car park yesterday.  I was not paying enough attention.  It had taken me an hour to get to this meeting in rush hour traffic in the morning and I was anxious not to repeat the experience in the evening when I had my children to get back to.  It's a horrible mess.  But benefits come of adversity.

1. I get the rear bumper replaced which was never well repaired after my last car debacle.

2. The panel beater is approved by my insurance company, comes well recommended and says he will deal with all the other scratches and dents while he has the paint mixed up.

* he had been to Ikea in Hong Kong but that was more than ten years ago and the fever was on him to shop

Rub a dub dub

There's nothing much that compares to clean clothes.  I have been living minus a washing machine for 10 days and today one was delivered at 7am.  Unfortunately the taps were too close to the wall to screw them on but the very efficient property agent had a plumber here at 12 and now I am typing listening to the sound of the tub revolving.

I can cope with many things better knowing I have clean underwear.  My romance has hit the rocks.  I am so clueless when it comes to love.  I think things are going in one direction and then find that I am completely off course.  That lighthouse of mine isn't proving too useful.

Normal service pending

Friday I went to Ikea Homebush (mega, mega Ikea) and bought a new bed for oldest daughter.  Saturday it and sundry other Ikea shelves got assembled by my friend.  Yesterday we put up other daughter's bed and tuned in the tv.  Today I put all the books away.  All of them.  I only have two boxes left to unpack.  My friend was invaluable in coming up with innovative solutions to place microwave where there was no power connection, stabilise wobbly bookcases and tune my daughter's tv.

My computer monitor is stuffed - could it be as the removal fuckwits left it out in the courtyard of old house overnight?

Telstra and Foxtel are still stressing me out.

I collected my oldest daughter from the airport last night.  She was excited about the new place and cosied down in her new bed with her cats.  She did climb in at 6am with me.  This child knows nothing about sleeping in.  By 7am she was insisting that we got up.

Yesterday was so stormy.  I could see white caps on all the waves and the steel grey clouds whipping over the harbour.

Beacon of light

I am sorry for the events in London.  I am sorry for the impact on the ordinary lives of ordinary people.  But I couldn't bear to listen to Tony Blair's staccato delivery and empty words.  I felt better listening to Ken Livingstone pointing out the impact on  working people going about their daily lives.  I had to turn off the radio listening to that unspeakable Bush pontificating on innocent lives.  How many innocents have died in Iraq this year alone?

Moving is hell.  I think this may have been the worst.  But the worst is over and I am sitting typing this looking out at the grass and the sea and the lighthouse.  Some children are playing football on the grass.  It rained heavily last night but when I got up I could see the clouds moving out to sea.

My step-son helped me move most of the small stuff on Monday and Tuesday.  I had the kitchen sorted - so important.  The removal men - 3 men and a van came on Wednesday.   Well, two boys and an idiot would be more descriptive.  Two backpackers from Yorkshire and Mexico.  The so-called boss was a poor supervisor.  He gave them confusing directions and they were painfully slow.  The van wasn't big enough, they damaged my table, they took hours more than they should.

Then my washing machine wouldn't fit through the door to the laundry.  Call to agent.  Then the cable service turned out not to be fitted in the building.  Which means a 6 week wait for broadband access.  And the lift broke down.  Fortunately no-one was in it but I became an amateur lift technician with the lift company talking me through how to lower the lift manually by turning the hydraulic dial.  This lift serves only my apartment and opens directly into the living area - very James Bond groovy bachelor pad.

The agent and owner turned out to be good sorts.  The owner is  buying and fitting a new washing machine for me, he sent someone over to install satellite tv temporarily till the cable gets sorted and offered me a substantial rent reduction until it is fixed.  I accepted, of course.

The cats are getting over their trauma of being moved and examining their new territory.  They have taken over the laundry sink (currently full of unwashing dirty clothes) as their den whenever they feel nervous.

I went to the enormous Ikea at Homebush yesterday.  I came back with the things on my list and only two things that weren't.  Drawer dividers and a stand to elevate tins in my pantry so I can see what is at the back.   Ikea is a shocking place for the impulse buy so I think I escaped lightly.

I have made an enemy of one of my neighbours.  I temporarily blocked her access to her garage and she was very rude to me even though I apologised politely and explained that I was new to the building and hadn't realised that was her access route.  She was a complete cow but I am not going to waste time my energy on her.

Like I am not going to waste my energy on Telstra and Foxtel who have the worst call centre staff in the world.  Now I know that call centres are the sweat shops of the 21st century.  And I know that they are badly paid.  But they have no problem solving skills at all.   None.  And when he started telling me "our policy..." I pointed out that policies are not rules and that he was interpreting policy in a particular way that I knew to be incorrect.   I had to say I was going to hang up so I didn't throw the phone out the window.  If they had a shop front I would be down there complaining in my best grumpy old lady fashion.  That's Monday's problem.

I loved sitting in the dark last night watching the lighthouse beam move around. 

When I find my camera I will post some photos.

Moving

Surrounded by boxes, packing tape, endless loading of car.  Posting will be light.

The pleasure of small things

I hae youngest daughter on her own at the moment as oldest daughter finished school a week early and has gone to ride on the farm.  She's slept in my bed the last two nights, missing her sister and wanting to be close to me.  I'm a limpet, she announces as she clings close to me.

We walk from the parking spot two streets down back to the house in the pouring rain and she sings at the top of her voice about heartbreak having been listening to Joss Stone in the car.

Her student teacher is leaving so we search the drawers for a gift and find a small bottle of lavender eau-de-toilette.  She wraps it carefully in pink tissue and writes a card "thank you for giving us your time and teaching us the ten commandments".

She wants to help and wields the tape gun to close boxes and writes careful labels on them so we know what's in them.

She wants to go to dinner and eat crab, she says.  Is it because of the crab patties in Sponge Bob, I ask.  They don't have crab in them she replies scornfully, they are just named after Mr Crabs.  We agree that crab might be better eaten on hot days and we settle for grilled bream fillets.

She reminds me what a gift it is to have children.