The agony and the agony...

I can't say it was completely unexpected. Things had been a little on the quiet side for a while.

The Elder is now single. Yes, you read that right. She's single. After four years, they have decided to go their separate ways. And althought it must have been traumatic, she's taking it rather better than I might have expected.

That is, she's keeping it well hidden. But she's sick. No, not mentally. Although, know the way we roll..... *wicked grin*

She's had a head cold for a while. The last day or so, she's developed pain. It's gotten worse. Stress? Or something more serious? I'm hoping for stress...

Working fun. Or giggles to start the morning.

On the way to work this morning. And, right in the middle of the traffic, is one of those scooter things I detest so much. The little ones. It was straddled by a chap of considerable size. Not sloppy, but not super slim got no meat on my bones either.

We were stopped at lights, a couple of cars back. I could see him well. Actually, a bit hard to miss. He had a matte black helmet, but a bright flouro outdoors shirt. He shifted on the bike - and I use that term loosely. He stretched his arms out behind him. He waved his arms about and looked like he was scratching the back of his helmet. Quite a display of gymnastics.

Traffic started moving, and when he launched himself, he leaned forward. And hooked his feet together behind the back wheel. I grinned. He righted himself in the saddle.

He flicked a gesture, almost a salute, at something. A house we were passing? The following driver? The big black 4WD behind him must have decided enough was enough. They changed lanes. Which left us with a clear view of flouro yellow shirt.

The Elder gained some ground. He flicked a glance over his left shoulder. He flicked a glance over his right. He bounced a little on the bike, and moved over to the left. As we flew past, I gave him a thumbs up and a grin. He grinned right on back. And that grin told me that Mischief might feature in his name somewhere.

Waiting at the traffic lights at another intersection, another chunk of time. But still this morning. There were a group of girls waiting to cross. The intersection is pretty busy; traffic from about 5 different directions.

They wait. Slim, medium, plump. The plump one is wearing red knee length tights. You can't miss her. And she stepped out on to the road at the light change. But she didn't have the walk signal. A car had the cheek to come around the corner, and she had to step back to the footpath. She was embarrassed. So embarrassed, she went to laugh and hug a blonde friend.

And they head clashed.

It was brilliant.....

I'm still giggling. Whew. *wipes eyes...*

Bored, bored, and how about a dash of bored?

It's Friday evening. All is quiet.

So quiet in fact, I'm expecting the Teen to come crashing out of her bedroom in an explosion of noise. Heading straight for the kitchen. As usual.

But no, she's out of the house. For the night. The Elder is out at a concert. With the assurance that she will try to make it home alive. Terribly reassuring that.

No visitors this weekend. None. Sunny isn't over. Nor are any of the others. So I feel at a bit of a loose end.

So I thought I would blog about something the Teen did the other day.

(retainer: a thing that retains. Keeps the piercing open when not wearing a proper stud)

The Elder's Shitbox car has been acting out. Not playing well with the driver, and stalling, and running rough. She decided to visit the friendly local neighbourhood type mechanic. For a bit of a checkup. For the car. Just thought I would clarify that.

But while the mechanic was busy talking to other people, I decided to remain seated - safely buckled too I might add - in the parked car. The Teen decided to escape.

She leant against my open window. She's looking at me play about with my ipod. I can see her out of the corner of my eye. But I'm not paying attention.

Untill she grimaced. And pulled this really strange face. And stepped away from the car. Grimacing continuing of course. She bit her lip. Coughed. Swallowed. Waved her hand in front of her face.

I looked. What's wrong?

She coughed again. What, I repeated.

She grinned sheepishly. And said, I just swallowed my retainer.....

More Movieworld

Here is the Tasty...

This is what happens in the Wild Wild West

And this is what you look like after. A duck.

A fitting finale to the stunt show.

Hogwarts Express goes nowhere; the steam does.

Pretending smoothness; but going nowhere fast.

Singing in the rain....

My my. Time is aflying away and I just can't keep up.

The celebration of the passing of time went well. Since the Elder and I almost share the same day, we decided to share the adventure. We spent the day at Movieworld.

And Sunny joined us.

They talked me into going on the Scooby Coaster. O.M.G. I think I spent a lot of time screaming. But apparently it still didn't drown out Sunny. And Elder laughed maniacally the whole way. She's done it before. Many times.

We lined up for the Police Academy Stunt Show. I love that show. It's brilliant. Sitting on the stands is boring. But the show is worth it. I managed to get some good photos. Quite by accident and surprised the heck out of myself.

They went on the Loony Tunes ride. I stayed outside and held all their stuff. And they had plenty of it by then. And looked like a pedo I'm sure. Sitting outside in the kiddie area, with a camera and no kiddies....

They went on the Wild West Adventure ride. I stayed outside and looked after their stuff. Just as well too. They got wet. And I didn't. Nhyer.

Sunny thought he found someone he once might have known. And the Elder found something she thought might have been tasty.

We ate ice cream and sat on the footpath to watch the street parade. At least, they sat. I was a bit worried that if I sat I would never be able to stand up again. Shrek came by to say hello to the crowd. He asked for a bite of Elder's ice cream. She refused. He showed his approval by picking his backside. And flicking it at her. We laughed.

We dived into the line up for Shrek 4D. Nattered on about inconsequential stuff. And sang songs about rain. When you go on the ride, you first must wait in the 'dungeon' before you gain entrance. We waited. I got bored, and poked Sunny in the back. He gets uptight and tense. So I poked him in the back. In one of his 'special' places. He went to water. And whimpered. Don't know what the woman standing in front of him thought, but she gave us a strange look. Made us laugh. A lot. I wussed and sat in the back row. For wusses and invalids. But I knew about the spiders. I had my backpack on the floor and my feet tucked up. And I jumped every time that darned Farquad breathed on the back of my neck.....

And I decided to sit out the last ride of the day. The Wild West Adventure again. This time I decided I would sit it out under the shelter of a covered table. Just as well. It rained. Hard. But, they were going for the wet ride, so I guess it didn't really matter.

So, end of day. My feet hurt. I managed to get sunburned. It's been so long since I've seen the sun, I forgot what it could do.

It must have been a fun day though. I was exhausted. Usually a good sign......

Big mouth or what??

Seems I may have spoken too soon. Also seems that Top Deck won't be over on the weekend.

They broke up this morning, while she was on the way to school. She is devastated. But I think time with her friends will be better than time alone.

She's not convinced.

Got that song stuck in my head now...

I happened to look back at a previous post. The title of that post is a line from a song. And now, it's stuck in my head. Hopefully not permanently.

Again, I am back at work to recover. Had a house full of people again. Thankfully, only a select few of those are a permanent fixture. One almost is, we haven't managed to scare him away yet. One was totally brand new.

Sunny and a friend of his came over Friday afternoon. We dropped them off this morning. The friend has known Sunny for a long time. He and the Elder have been chatting, introduced - as far as one can be online - by Sunny. So, this was the friend's first face to face meeting of the Elder. And he decided to do it all at once. And take on all of us. He's either very brave or very silly. Either way, it says a lot for Sunny's powers of persuasion.

Saturday afternoon, the Teen asked if Petunia could sleep over. MOTH and I have decided the grounding thing is more or less over. She has the hiptop back now, and can have friends over. We'll wait a while before I let her back unsupervised in the city though.

That's where we will be next weekend. Saturday afternoon at any rate. When we go to collect Top Deck. Ah, another fun filled weekend.

Time is racing t'ward us..

It certainly is! It's almost the weekend already; Teen has nearly finished her second week of school. I'm still not certain if she likes it though.

It's nearly time for a birthday or two. I have no idea what I'm getting for the Elder. I think I shall try treat myself to a trip to Movieworld. That's where she's going and I intend to tag along and make a nuisance of myself. If I can manage. I am getting old you know.

Have Sunny and one of his friends over tonight. Should be interesting. I haven't met this chappie. I'm told he makes Sunny look small. And Sunny towers over me. Well, heck, let's face it - most everybody does. But I think Sunny is at least a head taller than me. And the new chappie makes him look small? Yikes!

Next weekend we have Top Deck over for the weekend. Saturday, at least. Not sure about Friday. He's welcome. Because it's Valentines Day. And I thought they make such a cute couple that I could stretch my tolerance to another night. They won't have seen each other for 2 weeks by that time.

April seems to be rushing head on. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough saved by then to be able to travel at all. But again, it's rentals to the rescue, and I have booked the flights. Booked the accommodation as well. Wow. Everything is on the ball. Just have to get the confirmation numbers. And since the room cost will be split 4 ways, I don't have to worry quite as much. I'm so happy about that.

So, sister of mine, watch out. We are all prepped, ready and waiting to wreak havoc on you and yours for a couple days. .... Excellent ....

Mondoze......

Yes. It's Monday. And I'm back at work for a rest.

Saturday. We three ladies - and I use that term loosely - ventured into the city. The Elder was hoping to meet up with a friend; the Teen to meet her boyfriend. Me, to collect a very important addition to my collection. Yes. A comic. I'm collecting the series. I'm up to issue #5 of 6.

Elder's friend didn't show up. Top Deck - ex Skunk, cause, you know, his hair really is brown and white - was working till 3pm. We had some time to waste. The weather was terrible. It was raining and muggy. While wasting time, Teen was approached by all and sundry. Whom she hasn't seen for a very long time. We found one or two of my 'children' and wasted a little time with them.

I picked up my comic. Elder and Teen decided we needed to waste more time watching the nerds play DDR at Tops in the Myer Centre. A computer game that involves dancing. On the arrows on the floor. You get the picture. So we did. An asian bloke was getting Perfect on every one. Typical.

We found another of Teen's friends. He's a very nice chap. He, Elder and some of his friends decided to play with some bouncy balls they had received for prizes. He dropped one over the railing; it landed next level down. A girl tried to throw it back. And missed woefully. It bounced into the foodcourt on the bottom level. The game continued. And it seems, after we had gone our separate ways, that Security wasn't too happy about that. Hopefully, he got away in time. *grins*

On Sunday we go to visit rellies. They now live within about a 2 hour drive. And MOTH's mother was visiting. So, left the house at 8am. Dropped TD off on the way. Actually a little bit out of our way, but the drive was scenic. He doesn't live close to us.

We spent the whole morning there, till past lunch. We dined on chicken and salad, at tables set outdoors under the trees. The sun shone for a bit, the sky was blue for a bit, the breeze blew and it was lovely. And I got sunburned. It's been so bloody raining and overcast for so long, I forgot to sunscreen. Teen got burned too.

Finished there and popped over to a friend's place. They now live in the same area as the rellies. Kill two birds with one stone. So to speak. And spent Sunday afternoon there. It was great to see them again. I got plied with so much coke! So did the girls. Oh, and biscuits. And chocolate.

What a weekend. Back to work now for a rest.

And it's first week over....

I think she's beginning to settle in. At school. She has mentioned, in the last day or so, that it's getting better. I had thought that she might have been turning into Piglet - scared of Everything. Piglet always gets a capital letter for the stuff he's worried about.

She's met a couple of people who she seems to like. I have seen them from a distance. Ok, so it was a very short distance. When I walked past them to let her know she was required to join MOTH and I on the other side of the food court.

The lad is joining us this weekend. It's the second time he has slept over. He's very quiet and shy. No, this is not Sunny, who is no longer shy and retiring. This is ... ummm ... actually, I haven't thought of a name for him yet. Maybe Skunk. And that has nothing to do with scent. Skunk lives up the coast a bit, so getting them together requires some thought. He has to catch a bus to the city, then the train to our place.

At any rate, he doesn't talk much. Smiles a lot though. Has the requisite piercings. Has brown and white hair - hence the name. Not a great complexion, but hey, can't all be like me. He's slightly younger than she. And, I've been told, has Aspergers and dyslexia. Unfortunate combination that. For him. The Teen thinks it great and rags him about it mercilessly. How do you spell this? How do you spell that? Shakes her head, giggling. Skunk, you're stupid. Kind of nasty (yes!) and kind of cute at the same time. In a weird way. I am also told that he prefers that no one knows just how special he is. So we don't know, right? I guess we are just supposed to think he's stupid? Teen tells us often enough he is.

But where was I? Oh, yes. He's sleeping over. Again. And then we get to drive him all the way back home. But that's ok - we are spending, I hope, the day at Bribie Island. Unfortunately, part of that visit will be with the Outlaws. But then, I can actually tolerate this bunch.