anyresemblance

No good deed goes unrewarded

The tyres were looking a bit flat so I went off to Bob Jane's to get more nitrogen put in them.  Don't ask why I have nitrogen but it is a bit of a faff as I always have to go to this special place but on the other hand they do it for free and are super helpful.  Then I went to buy a laser printer.  Having spent $$$ getting a 100 page document printed and bound and being fed up spending endless money on toner for my cheap inkjet, I decided to bite the bullet with a laser printer.  It is not as small and neat as I would have liked but it is super fast.  Toner costs an absolute fortune but at least you only have to do it every 1000 pages and I found an online store with an ersatz version.  I still have to work out the wireless set up but the kid has already printed 150 pages of her on-line course book.  Anyway, by the time I left Officeworks I was bathed in sweat and had to come home and eat ice cream at my desk.  It got to 36 degrees at one point. 

Last night, I bailed from work at 6pm and settled down to watch the oscars red carpet.  One of my team was conveying a request from India on a matter of no consequence whatsoever via whatsapp as they couldn't find me on line.  There is seriously no hiding place! I gave that one short shrift and went back to the dresses. "Yes, if they registered a hotel room will be booked for them.  No, I don't know which one but I can assure you it will be fine".

There was a torrential storm starting just as the kid was due to leave work and she got drenched at the petrol station.  In her rush to get in the house, she must have left the lights on.  I woke up at 2am certain something was not right outside and when I looked out the window I could see the lights were on, but getting dimmer so I got up and went out in the rain to turn them off.  She was on a  6am shift this morning so had to take the other car - which means it was a good thing I went and got the tyres done so she had better traction on those wet roads.  I am feeling the effects of no sleep, however…..

Mission Impossible

I'm no super hero.  I'm pretty resilient,  don't get sick often, am adaptable to change but I'm heartily glad to be home for a bit.

In the first 7 weeks of this year, I have been on 14 flights (5 of those overnight flights) and had three weekends away from home.   My kid has started college for the first time and my other kid has entered her final semester.  Thank god, the dog still loves me.

I'm thankful that the work is rewarding but when I got home on Saturday morning, I was determined the rest of the weekend was going to be all for home life.  My oldest picked me up from the airport with dog in tow and we headed straight to Silo.  They've done a beautiful refurbishment.  No major changes but some good rearrangement of the front portion so there is more room for customers at the front waiting for takeaway and a nice bench arrangement along the wall to make seating cleaner.  I went in for croissants.  I said "shall I get coffee or will you make it when we get home?".  The eye roll told me she had done a hundred coffees at work and was glad to have someone else make it for us.  We ate the pastries and take away coffees at home and I set to imprinting myself on the house after she set off for her afternoon shift.

When I was married and my husband travelled, it would drive me nuts when he came home and started wielding a cloth wiping surfaces in the kitchen.  Now I do it myself, and I realise I did him a disservice as it was not so much a judgement on my housekeeping as a way of connecting back with the household.  Having said that, I definitely have different standards to my offspring.  Plus, I was aiming for that level of cleanliness we had when we were selling the house and had troops of people inspecting my housekeeping standards.

I wiped the blades of all the ceiling fangs, wiped down the plantation shutters, wiped the skirting boards, lifted the sofa cushions and vacuumed, took the rugs out and hung them over the deck railings and beat them (somewhat ineffectively) with a big stick, vacuumed the entire house, steam cleaned the floors and cleaned the stove.  I did not clean the oven despite it being on my list for months.  I am counting on high heat burning off any residual deposits and frankly cook anything high fat on the bbq anyway.

I took the dog for two walks, talked to my youngest for 30 minutes, went to Coles, restocked the fridge, roasted a chicken with tarragon and garlic while I had a bath and ate dinner on the sofa with a glass of wine.  I went to bed at 9pm and was glad to be home.

S had another early shift this morning so I got up when she left at 7.15 and took Charlie up Red Hill for a good long walk.  When we got home I had another bath, ate poached eggs, bacon and spinach for breakfast and messed around on the internet.  

For dinner we ate slow roasted pork, home made tortillas (the joy of my tortilla press) avocado smash and tomato salsa and then ate mini chocolate eggs while watching Say Yes to the Dress, Atlanta.  I also started reading Elizabeth is Missing which is very good.  I'm now in bed again before 10 and wondering if there is anything nicer than clean sheets, an early night and a good read.

Say hello, wave goodbye

The youngest is starting college tomorrow. She's the first to leave home. Despite seeing her off to Africa without a backward glance, it feels more disconnected to have her in the same time zone but not home. We're both growing up.

Wedding prep

We are in Qld for the wedding of an old friend's daughter. They are a horse family. The bride is nearing the end of her vet studies. I've worked with her mother for near on 25 years and known her since she was a horsy kid. They have a beautiful property, a handsome and friendly stallion, three mares and a foal, a red cattle dog, cat and lab mix and a 2 year old girl. Mix all that with marquee erection, arbor construction, flower arrangement, European relatives melting in the heat and you have a lot going on.

Our job today (having attended to mani pedi) was to pick up the sound system. A nice kid, Jessie, helped us understand the set up and spent ages working out the right cables to give us. Faced with the chaos at the house, I appointed myself bathroom cleaner and scoured the tiles and removed cob webs. Sadly the septic tank system precluded me chucking a gallon of bleach down the toilet but I hoping vinegar will make an impact.

Tonight our small house party ate Thai food and drank copious amounts of water. It is going to be blisteringly hot tomorrow and I hope we don't find anyone murdered and left in the mobile cool room. I may go and shut myself in there if things get tense.

Sunday

My kid bought me this chocolate from Mexico. It was vile.

Sunday. It rained and rained last night. The cat was annoyingly meowing and trying to get comfy. Her version of getting comfy is lying on top of me. Everyone was restless. I guess we're all settling in under the same roof again.

We got up late and I took Charlie for a walk. It was still a fine rain so deserted. He chased a few rabbits with no success and lost his ball in the long grass.

The oldest and I took a whole slew of cardboard packaging to the tip along with the results of my enthusiastic shredding (the rest topped up the compost bins which I've been allowing to get soggy in the rain.)

We came home and dismantled the Christmas tree,did 90 zillion loads of washing and watched say yes to the dress and dance moms. Perfect rainy afternoon tv.

I went to the supermarket to buy a few odds and ends and then made a baked chocolate tart, roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, broccoli and pumpkin. I had a Hendricks and tonic, curtesy of my duty free. We watched the Great British Bakeoff and decided this would be our new Sunday evening Telly.

The youngest cat had slept on some sheets I forgot to put away and they were filthy. She's never really got the hang of washing herself so I took her outside and brushed her vigorously to her patent disgust. She is now hiding in the garage but is much cleaner.

It sounds the dullest day ever but it was perfect.

Loaves and fishes

The zopf was delicious but add some fishes and I have enough to feed the multitude. Tonight I had to eject one of our cats and his mouse from the house three times. The last time he refused to budge and growled at me. Miss S had to pick him up and bodily place him outside complaining "ewwh, you've got mouse breath, Misty". We couldn't get the cat flap to lock so we barricaded it with the washing basket until we were sure he had got rid of it (probably in his very fat stomach). Two weeks ago, my babysitter rescued a mouse she found swimming in the toilet that had escaped the same cat. She took it outside and left it in the bushes, worrying if she should have wrapped it in a blanket (???). I told her it would follow her home thinking she was Friend To All Creatures. The workshop was hard work and despite going slightly off the rails at lunchtime I got what I wanted by the end of today but 8 hours in a room with 15 other people is only slight less painful than a contract negotiation. Actually, it might be worse because at least with contracts it's ok to acknowledge that the other side have a different agenda to you. In this session, we were supposed to be all on the same side but it was obvious that there were many internicine battles being waged. Poof, corporate politics is so wearing. I am considering selling my piano. I don't play but my daughter does but not often and she can play a much better baby grand at her father's. We plan to put the money towards a holiday in late September. The children want to go to San Francisco. I have a feeling that Charmed has influenced this desire. We can fly there with Hawaiin airlines way cheaper than Qantas but I think we have to stop over in Hawaii. I need to do some research but it's exciting to have a trip to plan. I am tired and plan to do not much all weekend.

Just stuff

The father of my children called tonight to talk to them. He asks, what did you do today. Just stuff, I hear my daughters reply. Here's the stuff we did. Alas, we have head lice again. This time I got them too so the day started with getting rid of them and patient combing. Then I laundered all the sheets and towels and hair ties and hung them all out in the sunshine. I took down the netting over the fig tree. I had only just put it away in the shed and gone back to the tree and there was already a magpie in the tree. I chased it off to get the last of the fruit off the tree. Then I swept up two wheelbarrows of leaves. The I made the beds up with clean sheets. Miss S's friend came over and they played a Harry Potter cd-rom. Then they printed off medieval recipes. They are reading the Redwall books at the moment and seem obsessed with mead and the like. They wanted to make crystallised rose petals so they gathered stuff off one of my bushes. They made a sugar syrup while I looked on in fear of burnt skin but they were safe and sensible. Unfortunately, my sugar thermoter got dropped towards the end of the proceedings. As it was covered in syrup it stuck to the floor which was a challenge to clear up. Miss S's friend said the rose petals tasted like artichokes. I don't think this was high praise. Since the big girls were cooking, Miss I made a marble cake with lurid application of food colouring. It tastes pretty good though. Then I ironed sheets and pillow cases and we all watched Pride and Prejudice. I was surprised at how attentive my 8 year old was. They watched about an hour of it which was good going. Then they played outside on the trampoline while I hoovered and tidied up. Miss I walked down to the newsagent by herself and came back with a restaurant pad which cost her $1.50. She is delighted with it and has enjoyed taking our orders for various meals all day. The bit she likes best is the carbon paper between the sheets. I share her love of stationery and find it charming that she is fascinated by carbon paper. It is a struggle for me letting her test her independence but I try to balance my fear of the unlikely with the need for her to expand the boundaries of her world safely. I am heartened that I live in a safe suburb in a safe town and that if I stand on the edge of my tiny upstairs balcony I can see to the local shops. When I was her age I walked a couple of miles to school but it seems almost unthinkable to let her do that. Tonight we made risotto for dinner with lemon and black olives. This is a nice soothing thing to do when you have helpers to ladle in stock and stir and grate parmesan cheese. It was perfect comfort food for a cool autumnal evening. We have some left over and I plan to attempt those arancini balls tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to emerge from my cocoon of domesticity into the work world again. sigh.

I am disinclined to acquiese in your request

Friday we went to the beach. The girls swam but complained the creek smelt a bit sulpherous. Saturday we went to the beach. I walked the crescent of the beach to the Broulee nature reserve and back. It was pretty empty. Miss I pointed out that a dog would have made the walk more pleasant. I ignored this comment. Sunday it rained so we went to Mogo and the girls spent their pocket money in the Mogo Trading Post, home of eastern crafts and trinkets. I bought a woven sea grass basket from Vietnam to put my wool in. We had lunch at the Willow Cafe. The food is lovely but the pricing is weird. Miss I's pasta with tomato sauce was $5. Miss S's had chorizo and black olives in, was the same size and cost $14. I think $5 was cheap but the $14 made me feel ripped off. I cooked slow roast lamb - 5 hours at low heat and the meat fell off the bone. Very easy and delicious. Today we went to the beach. It was busy with lots of surfers. The girls played in the surf for ages then made a den with their boards in the sand dunes. Then we went and drank hot chocolate. Then the packing the house up. I've done it so often it's a quick affair but I left my digital camera (and consequent water views and close up of kookaburra in the tree outside my kitchen window) behind. I'm hoping my step son may be going down soon and retrieve it. In the evenings we played cards and watched dvds. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean. The children like the phrase "I am disinclined to acquiese to your request" and use it on me. I, nasty grammarian that I am, pointed out that you can't acquiese to, only acquiese in. I read Barbara Nadel. I really liked the tone and the milieu so will read more of these. Tonight when we got home we played scrabble and then watched Charlie's Angels. I'm tired. The drive home was slow with traffic. The long weekend has been good but I still feel like I need more sleep. The weather has been beautiful. It was 25 degrees today. I can't believe I'll have the heating on next week but I know as soon as Anzac Day passes, we'll start to feel the chill. Much chocolate has been eaten.

Missing my children

You know, although I have come to appreciate the space that a weekend to myself gives me, I loathe coming home from work and not having my children around me. The house is an empty shell without them. I had just missed them since they had stopped by on their way to their father's to pick up some stuff. They left me a loving note. I was desolate to think that 5 minutes earlier and I could have hugged them close before they went off. I talked to them on the phone but it's not the same. Does this shared custody stuff get any easier? My youngest daughter writes me lots of notes "Dear Mummy, I love you. Do you love me?" I write her notes and occasionally put them in her lunchbox. When she is cross she sometimes writes "I hate you" notes but the loving ones are more frequent. Last year I got one in the post "Dear Mummy. Thank you for letting us get our ears pierced. Love I and S xxx". They had nagged me for months on the great ear piercing. On our big trip back to England for my dad's 80th, Anne introduced them to Claire's Accessories - pavilion of wonder for the 7-17 year old including many ear-rings. When we were in New York the most exciting thing after the Tenement Museum was spotting a Claire's Accessories. In November, I had a trip planned to the US. Unfortunately, their father then also ended up having to be out of the country and we both missed my younger daughter's school concert. The beloved Mary was there but out of pure guilt, I told them they could get their ears pierced as a make-up. It worked and I was forgiven. The office was empty today. I had a photo pass taken at a customer site. I look dreadful in the photo even though I thought I looked ok today. Sort of Myra Hindley or Charlize Theron in Monster. I bought the ingredients to make a simnel cake but plan to do that tomorrow night with my lovely girls. They won't eat the cake but they'll like making the almond paste (and eating it). It's getting cooler. Still no rain. I'm not counting the ten drops that came down this afternoon. Please, please let it rain.

My father surprises me

When I went to graduate school my father started writing to me. He and my mother used to take turns week about to update me on weekly news. My mother's notes were short and loving. My father's longer and more detailed, typed since he never wrote easily. He is left handed and found holding a pen awkward. His turn of phrase was sometimes very stilted (my niece once commented that getting a letter from grandpa was like getting a letter of rebuke from the bank manager) but he wrote with detail about what he had done or read or seen. I have a box of letters going back 20 years. When I moved to Hong Kong, he bought a fax machine so our letter writing would be more immediate. And the past 4 years he's graduated to e-mail. Ironically, the immediacy of e-mail has actually made him a less diligent correspondant but although the cost of an international phone call to the UK is cheap we still write to each other regularly. He's uncomfortable chatting on the phone but waxes at length in writing. This week he told me about the builder who is putting a new window in his dining room, about how the fact that this builder lives next door to him doesn't stop him from disappearing for days at a time; about his stress levels during the Six Nations; about how he has cut the grass three times this spring and what he plans to plant in his front garden; about his proposed itinerary when he comes out to Australia and New Zealand at the end of the year; about going to see Lost in Translation which he loved and how much he likes Bill Murray. If you'd asked me, I'd have said he didn't even know who Bill Murray was which just goes to show that people have the capacity to endlessly upset your preconceptions about them.