New housemates. Or children. Whichever.

Last week the Teen asked, Mum! A friend of mine has been turfed out. Can he stay here till he finds somewhere else?

Well, ok. As long as he knows I don't have a room for him. The Elder graciously said he could use her stretcher bed.

So he moved in. The Teen did forget to tell him that I didn't have a room for him though! She told him on the morning he was supposed to arrive. Poor boy.

He's quiet. Not as young as I thought he was. He's 20. He's a chef. I'm getting my meals cooked for me. He doesn't have a good home life. He's fragile and broken. Hopefully not beyond repair.

He tells me that he's never had a family. He's insecure and has no self esteem. I'm hoping that might be changed a small bit by the time he leaves. We keep telling him that what he cooks is marvellous. And that's not an exaggeration - it's 'plain fare' but he made the sausages taste like they had been on the barbeque. And that's gotta be a plus.....

Let me start by......

Yes. Like it says. Let me start by apologising up front for anyone who doesn't have the stomach to read this. Perhaps you might like to get yourself a stiff cuppa tea before you come back......

The Teen wasn't well on Saturday night. One of those feeling kinda queasy, then suddenly it's a mad dash for the nearest place to be sick. She didn't quite make it. She started the clean up, and I finished it. And while doing this, I noted that though there were no solid bits, those noodles she'd eaten some hours ago sure didn't smell sweet the second time around. A kind of strong, acrid smell.

And no disinfectant either. So domestos in the bowl for the carpet, and dettol on the tiles and plenty, plenty airfreshener. Which didn't cover it.

I could still smell it the next morning. By god, whatever she ate she better not eat again! I'm thinking it's going to take a long time to clear the smell! I sprayed the carpet with some of the Preen foam. Which, as an aside, does a pretty good job of cleaning the carpet. Letting it dry for several hours, it was time to vacuum it off.

Now, I had been complaining during the cleanup that, by the amount of dust on the floor, that no one had waved a vacuum cleaner in the floor's general direction for a while.

I opened the broom cupboard door and the smell jumped out and grabbed me by the throat. While I was busy trying to fight that off, I espied black and white stuff on the floor under the vacuum. It was also along the floor to the other corner where I store the christmas tree.

Bloody hell! The carpet is soggy, stinks, and has set up a mould farm. On inspection, it also extends under the wall into the Teen's room. At first I thought that was the point of origin. She doesn't run a tidy ship. And there was an empty water bottle in the vicinity. On shifting the Christmas tree and discovering the full extent of the damage, I think we can conclude that there is a leak in behind the shower wall.

Emailed the real estate yesterday, and just have to wait for a response.

But heck it stinks. And now I think I can smell it everywhere. Even at work. It's in my skin! I scrub and it's turning black and furry..... And over the last week, I've been thinking that it's time to clean the bathroom drains again...

Sunday mornings. And late night visitors.

It's Sunday morning. *groan* and I'm exhausted. I feel like I haven't slept much. If at all. And I don't know why. I went to bed at a decent hour.

And the girls didn't wake me up. The Teen has a friend over. Who knows what they do after you throw caution to the winds and go to bed. Maybe it was MOTH who kept me awake.

It certainly wasn't the visitor we had last night. I think I mentioned late night. Actually, it wasn't late. It was night, but not late.

The cockatiels went crazy; the yellow one flapped herself off her perch. Crest up, she raced around the bottom of the cage. As best she could anyway.

MOTH went to investigate - maybe it was a cat? Then I'm asked to bring a slice of apple. No cat I know eats apple. Seems it wasn't a cat......

Or maybe, I'm tired because I have different hair now. Yes, that must be it. My hair is different and now, I can't sleep. Much like that Samson fella. Only he cut his hair. Or someone cut it for him.

Wow, I'm tired.

Shopping should be fun, right?

I have been pushing the Teen to start applying for holiday jobs. She's not keen. I guess I can't blame her, but I really think that now is the time. She's been employed before for about 4 weeks before she tossed in the towel. Perhaps that ruined her outlook. And although she wants this and that and new clothes, she is quite happy to make comments about her lack of these things, and make do with $20 a fortnight 'pocket money'. She is supposed to do things to get that, but doesn't do them. I pay her anyway. It's such a small amount.

But, going back to the shopping. How many Teens do you know who positively hate shopping? Would do almost anything to get out of it? She even complains if her friends want to drag her along while they go shopping. And it doesn't improve even if I'm the one footing the bill.

With the handing in of resumes, we decided that she needed a new outfit. The dressiest thing she owns is black skinny jeans. Which may be appropriate for some places, but not for all. So off we go to buy her new clothes. Great. She's in a high dudgeon already. I'm not trying anything on!!

A much edited version of the shopping trip below. Your imagination can supply the bits I've left out.

Off to the shopping centre. Where do you want to start.
I dunno. Supre?
Ok. Walk in. The dresses she liked were not there. Now what. How about that?
No, it's ugly. No, it's not what I want. No, it's ugly too.
Sigh.
What about that skirt?
Forget it. Ugly.
But 2 minutes later she came back to that. And that's what we bought.

Now I have the skirt, I need new shoes!
Where do you want to go?
I dunno! A shoe shop?! *sarcasm*
Sigh. What style do you want?
A plain black pair of ballet pumps.
Ok, for those we need somewhere like Payless or Williams. Or Jay Jays.
Nope, Jay Jay's stuff won't be dressy enough.
Do you know where Williams is?
Nope.
Find a directory and we'll know where to look.
Nope! I'm not doing that!
Well, we'll start going this way.
Mum! Come back here!
And by this time, you are just ready to punch her in the head.

Eventually I got her into a Williams and up the back where the flats were. A mammoth task in itself; two women with kids in trolley and pram were taking up an awful lot of room. She picked a pair and wasn't going to try them on. Luckily she did, cause they needed to be a bigger size.

Fortunately, the whole task took about half hour, and I was free to be shot of her while I went shopping with the Elder. An altogether much pleasanter notion. Glad I did. I scored a pair of expensive rubber thongs for my effort.

Heck, I thought shopping with your daughters was supposed to be fun?

Wha? Was that a weekend went rushing by?

Well, I think it was. It seems like only Friday a blink ago, and now here it is. Monday again. Sigh *wipes a tear* weekends grow up and move out so quickly.

A strange weekend just gone. Well, it felt a little stranger than normal. For me.

I managed to grab some ME time Saturday morning. And took over the bathroom. I coloured my hair, and it became...... violet. Ultra Violet, the box assures me. So, while waiting for the colour to process, I took a dash more ME time. Sitting, minding my own business, hair piled on top of head. Violet stuff everywhere. The Teen wandered out, rubbing sleep, mascara, and other stuff probably not healthy to think about from her eyes, when she saw me. It stopped her dead in her tracks. Before she laughed at me. You just can't take someone seriously when they are vulnerable like that. Really.

At the end of the process when I was all clean and shiny, I thought it was time to do the same for the bathroom. Clean and shiny. Well. I had to. There had been voilet done in that room. Traces of it everywhere. So, clean and shiny.

The Elder took the Teen out on Saturday morning. The Teen wasn't supposed to go anywhere on Saturday - she is still supposed to be doing penance for some perceived slight; can't remember what now - but I let her go to collect some dollars that one of her friends was to give her. And she wanted to meet a boy. Her dad doesn't like the boyfriend stuff, but what the heck. She is 15, she'll do it anyway.

The two of them spent the day there. And returned with 3 additions. Luckily, I did know about those. But then again, if they just rocked up, I wouldn't be unhappy. I really like this bunch of hangers-on.

Saturday night was noisy, and messy. I didn't realise how messy until Sunday morning. When they left for Dreamworld, and mum got a good look at what they left behind. It was like having a house full of kids again. Empty glasses left on tables and benches. Food wrappers followed the glasses around. Dirty dishes lined the sink. Blankets, sheets, and a mattress took up space on the loungeroom floor, and continued to drape themselves in a casual fashion on the couch itself.

The bathroom didn't escape either. They all showered so I had a plethora of wet towels hung in strange places. The basin sink and bench top were full of black hair. See comment re clean and shiny. And I dare not mention the hair dryer and straightener left lying about.

It was almost like the kids' bedrooms had exploded and spread debris over a wide area. MOTH was less than happy.

Love those kids though. Can't wait for the next one.