Here's to new friends!

Once again, it's Monday and I'm doing the blog update thing. *smiles*

Sometimes though I do wonder what it is about Monday that can make it go so terribly wrong. Why Monday? Why not Tuesday? Or any other day ending in Y. This morning, I left the Teen talking to her friend at the railway station. I just have to trust that she'll grab a train in time to actually get to school. She has a tendency to get distracted helping friends and forgetting her responsibilities to herself.

Anyway, I'm standing, sunning myself on the platform. The train is about 10 minutes late. Suddenly, I'm thinking that I'm in a call centre. *accented with stumbling over words* Passengers. The 0743 train has been cancelled. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Great.

Silence for a while. Some passengers shifted position, some yawned. Obviously seasoned public transport users. The loudspeaker announced that the next train would be the 0750 express. Not so bad.

The train eventually arrived. Packed. To the portals. But three of us managed to squeeze on. And it remained packed all the way to my destination station. And guess what. It was an all stops! Dang it!

But I missed my usual connecting bus and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. I arrived at work at about 0930. I had left home at 0725. Not a bad effort for a Monday.

Generally speaking though, last week has been quiet. Except things got a little difficult in Sunny's work life. He works for a local clearance house. He has his own 'department' which he keeps stocked and tidy. They loved him. But it's nothing posh. He keep himself clean and tidy. But it's a clearance warehouse. Hair must be all the same colour? No streaks etc. It's a clearance warehouse! He gels his hair so it spikes in the shorter layers at the back. After he's done it a few times, they ask him not to do it any more. He's not happy, but he complies. They whisper in his ear about getting a hair cut. He ignores it. It's a clearance warehouse, after all. New owners, new management. A store chain name change. It's his first week on a full time basis. The Area Manager goes through the shop. He should cut his hair. His pants aren't black - she says they are navy. They've faded - he wears them every day. But most importantly, he must removed the lip stud. And no, he ISN'T allowed to wear a retainer either. BUT IT'S JUST A CLEARANCE WAREHOUSE, nothing posh!! His choice, remove the stud or don't set foot on the floor again.

He didn't like the environment enough to sacrifice the stud. He quit.

While out late night shopping last Thursday, he got a call. *wails* Sunny, I have no where to stay anymore! Can I stay at your place? You know me. Sure, why not I say.

She arrived Saturday afternoon. Love her. She's a big girl, happy, confident. And works in the Cheesecake shop.

Defs a friendship to cultivate.

Where I notice an empty space.

All week it's felt strange to come home. The driveway is empty. There is a huge blank space where Team Shitbox used to rest. Ok, so maybe not blank. There is cement, grass, oil stains, and other stuff. It's not like it's ... white.

But it feels odd nonetheless.

And the house feels a little empty as well. Sunny has moved in and staked his claim on her old room. But it still feels like something is missing.

I'll get used to it. Heck, I already am. But it's not quite the same as being able to yell down the hall to ask a question.

I think she's settling in. She sent me a text from a party she was attending. She was inebriated, though not greatly. Enough to tell me that the chap she was looking at looked like Gibbs of NCIS. I asked her to keep an eye out for Probie and DiNozzo.

She didn't find any.

I mentioned that Judah had been visiting for the week. It's been kind of hectic having the extra person about the house. Considering that we have all been at home. Except the Teen, who had to attend school on the odd day. Poor poppet. But now I think about it, she had a day off sick, a public holiday and a teacher free day.

Sunny and Judah really enjoyed their week together. And apart from a hiccup on the last night, it all seemed to go well. I guess a long distance relationship is always hard work.

A sibling of mine, Mouse, was visiting this same week. I had hoped that I could find a place for her. But she bought her entourage and I couldn't put everyone up. The weekend she was to visit, I had the Teen in her room with Wogboy; the Elder in her room with Jawsome; Sunny in the lounge room with Judah. And MOTH and I in the comfort of our room. It was great to see her though. She shouted everyone lunch. And anyone who buys me food is always welcome in my house.

The Teen has been quiet. She spends each weekend with Wogboy. Or tries to. At either our place, or his. She's been very quiet lately; I think she misses the Elder. She hasn't said anything. But this last week, while everyone has been home, there has only been the occasional very minor altercation with MOTH.

I took them to the movies last Friday. I've been saving up the Magnum wrappers for the gold class upgrade. I managed to wrangle six wrappers, so we all went. It seemed to be a marathon to decide on the movie though. There didn't seem to be a lot to choose from. Three action movies, one kids movie and one chick flick. MOTH and I were the only ones who had been to gold class before; I hoped we could have a good experience. I was a little nervous, since the whole outing was my idea. It didn't quite work out to my expectations. I misinterpreted the seating plan, and discovered that we were right up the front. In the first row. Yoiks. That's way to close to the screen for me. And the speakers. And I had asked the Teen's opinion about the movie; she'd seen it before. Is there any gore, I asked. Somewhat foolishly in hindsight maybe. No, she said. Plenty of shooting and stuff, but no gore. Judah comes from a Christian background, and isn't a fan of gore. So the movie starts; gore abounds. Some of it in slow motion. I quizzed her about it afterward. Well, I didn't think it was gorey she said. Compared with Rob Zombie movies. Rambo. And others. Ohhh, yes. I forgot her usual fare....

And all in all, it's been a great week.

Friends never say goodbye....

So day of departure finally dawned. And I use that term loosely. Actually, I woke to the sounds of cupboards opening and losing. It was three am.

The last week has been a bit of a shambles. Team Shitbox hadn't been running and the debate was to get the car back on the road, or fund a tow bar for our car, borrow a trailer and drive her there ourselves. She opted for the getting of Team Shitbox back on the road. Which turned out to be a lot more expensive, time and work than originally thought. In the long run, I think it would have been cheaper to get the tow bar. The upshot was that she has no spare funds, and didn't spend the time she needed to pack.

Well, it's not that she couldn't have started the packing when she knew she would be leaving. But she comes from a long line of hoarders and procrastinators. And if it wasn't for the eleventh hour, nothing would get done.

They left at about four am. And Team Shitbox was packed to capacity. Packed. Totally. The boot was full. And you couldn't see out the side windows. Or the back one. She had to leave a lot of stuff behind. And now I get to find places to put it.

And it does seem a little strange. She's not here. Jawsome is not here either. And in spite of what is left, her room seems empty.

Sunny will be moving in there when I get it sorted. And he will no longer have to sleep on a couch. Well, reconsidering, he'll be able to close the door. The bed in that room is a sofa bed. Which folds out from a couch.

Judah is down for a visit this week. We hatched a plan and purchased his tickets on July 20. And I've not been allowed to tell Sunny. I've watched him come down, and I've watched as he's missed his man. And not been allowed to say a thing! That was a tough ask. Having to keep my mouth shut for that long.

And we thought we would keep the arrival a surprise as well, so we stashed Judah in the cupboard when Sunny got home. And normally, the routine is to change out of his uniform then throw himself on the couch to chillax. This time, he decided to change his lip ring first, and it takes a while to get it positioned properly. And everyone knew there was something going on, so they kept hanging around. Sunny twigged that something was happening, but didn't know what. And it didn't help his mood any.

Eventually, I took pity on the cupboard dweller, and told him to come out. Sunny was shocked speechless. I think. He was very quiet for a long time. I wasn't sure that I had done the right thing after all...

But I'm wishing the Elder all the luck in the world, followed by plenty of blog updates. But don't come visit too soon!

I'm all for usual...

Usual. Yes, I seem to usually update this blog on a Monday. After the weekend.

Time is getting along, and the Elder has actually begun packing up. Well, I do say begun. At the end of yesterday, she'd spent considerable time in the shed going through boxes. There are now 3 boxes in the loungeroom. I don't know what's in them but have my fingers crossed really, really tightly that what didn't make it to those boxes went into the bin.

Ah, I hope in vain methinks.

She finished up work last week. They gave her a lovely gift. Don't ask me what it was; I really couldn't tell you. She did tell, but alas, I have forgotten.

I shall really miss the ride to work....

Friday evening, the Elder had a friend sleep over. And the Teen went for a sleep over. The thing was, she had to find her way to Wogboy's place. And he's a country boy. She'd been there before, so MOTH said he would be right.

Off we went. And I should have known better. My usual practice is to check the route before departing. He said no, we'd check it in the car. When I finally made it to the car after the others, the Teen was talking street names. I thought they had it sorted. No...

We knew where we were for a small part of the way. Middle road she cries, we need to take the middle road as we came around the corner and the road split several directions. I think we go around there! What? Back to Brisbane? Small voice from the back. Maybe not.... And it was all downhill from there.

I looked up. The sign said Middle Road. Ohhhhh she says. So that's what he meant. And we journeyed off into the dark to points we'd never been before with a roadmap the navigator couldn't read. The print is too small and there was no light. Needless to say, we got lost. I picked a random street and thought I'd try it. When I eventually got the driver to park under a WHITE street light - those stupid ORANGE sodium lights aren't worth diddly squat - and got out of the car to read the directory, the street I wanted came off the random one. w00t! And it was even better because when we eventually found the street, we couldn't see the house numbers. There is no street lighting. The Teen lucked some reception right about then and got a call. Where are you? We're in your street, but can't read the house numbers. He stood outside so we could find it. Coming back wasn't much better - MOTH kept ignoring my navigation and getting himself lost. That's right. In. The. Dark.

As usual.

Saturday I went into the city with Sunny. He had arranged to meet up with a friend or two. I spent the afternoon with them, and had a blast. I have the photo to prove it.


Elder went in earlier to do some stuff then go meet Jawsome at the airport. A friend of hers, the Pirate Queen - was supposed to meet up in the city to party with her, but PQ's bus stuffed her around. By the time we got back home that afternoon, PQ had to turn around and leave.

Sunday was a kick back and relax day. Ahhhhh. Loves weekends.