Monday, November 24, 2008

The bread for my sandwich is stale!

Which pretty much sums it up really. What a day it's been.

This week has been a little hectic. The Teen has been preparing all week for a trip to visit her sister. She's been on edge all week.

A little while ago MOTH decided to apply to have his super released. Because, like, he's old and no longer working. The fun we had with the paperwork. While he was away visiting his friend, it disappeared. I was so worried. I think there is a pixie or something living in the house, because important papers get put to one side and you never see them again. But no one can remember seeing them or moving them. Eventually I found them - when I was looking for something else that had gone missing.

When he came back, he went off to the doctor once again. The original report he had from them didn't address the information the super fund wanted or thought they needed. But the original information he was given didn't say anything about special forms for the doctors to fill out. Just what they needed to say. More or less. So when the papers arrived from the super fund, hey presto. There were the report forms. So back he trundled. (And he does that so well. The trundling I mean.)

But I'm wandering again. They paid him out. And we found that in the account last Thursday. Mind, the paperwork from the fund advising it had been paid hasn't been sighted yet. And the money has gone. Almost. It wasn't a huge sum to start with, but it has helped to get rid of a loan. With a little bit left over.

I had - and yes, I know it's not my money - hoped that we could sit down and decide where it would be best spent. The car needs a service. Teeth need fixing. We're going away in a couple of weekend's time and need to pay for it. A hair straightener. You know, important stuff.

MOTH has always been a heavy impulse spender though. And I guess I am too. But I'm slowing down a little now. I love getting gifts though, and I did get one out of this. A new laptop. It's not the one I wanted. I was thinking of other options to get the one I wanted. But this one will do well enough. It's good enough for what I'm wanting to do. It's matt black, and reasonably light. I've nearly finished setting it up too; just trying to see if I can network the printer. *wriggles like an excited puppy*

He got himself one as well. And yesterday accessorised it. Computer bag (I TRIED to talk him into getting a smaller cheaper one so I could take it and give him the bigger one he bought me. But no luck there.) USB stick, and a 4 port hub. And something else.... oh yes, a wireless mouse. For me!

Saturday morning saw us up at a preprescribed time called Sparrow Fart. Yes, that's its proper name. So we were up at three am. The Teen flew out at six am, so we had to have time for her to get ready, then jump in the car and head for the airport. As is usual, she got a bit panicky in the terminal, and started snapping at me because I wasn't paying her due attention. AND confusing her as well. Although how you confuse the confused is beyond me.

After having a minor arguement in the terminal I got her settled. And MOTH paid her off with a sum of spending money. $100 to be exact. She thought it was a fortune. Luckily, we've always been povo (the Elder's word when she was at school) so it doesn't take much to keep 'em quiet.

After we saw her off, it was time for home and a bit of a nap before I started the day. Again. A trip to the library and shoe shopping with Sunny rounded out the rest of the day.

Sunday was a bludge day. Actually most of my weekends are. I played with my new toy(s).

Because I forgot to mention. I upgraded my phone. *hides eyes* I know, I know. Did I upgrade it? Or did I just change the phone? I'm still on the same plan, so I guess I just changed it. It's a Sony Ericsson C902. The thing I use my phone for the most is ... the camera. Oh, and texting. And the Samsung was seeing a good deal of wear and tear. In fact, it will be the first one I have not been able to resell in almost mint condition. It looks like it has been well and truly used and abused.

*loves new phone*

And while in the library, it went off. Took me a second to realise it was ringing. No one calls me! And it was the Teen. Help! I think I left the money dad gave me at home! What can I do? Ummm, the last time I saw it, you were tucking it into your shirt.... *silence* Umm ... and the Elder in the background It's in the bra! *mumble* two days! And a sheepish reply ... it's ok, we found it...

And just on the quiet, the Teen is coming back with a tattoo. But MOTH doesn't know yet. I'm gonna be in sooooo much trouble when he finds out... *shrugs*

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Strangeness. Disappointment. A solid week, really.

We waited with baited breath for the week to fly by. There was something special supposed to be happening on the weekend.

And we weren't to tell Sunny. Again. No wonder that boy is tall, thin and white. He's starved of information and kept in the dark.

This is the Teen's final week of school for the year. She has three exams this week, and only needs to be present at school for the times she has them scheduled. She doesn't have them scheduled for the final week of school. Which suits her fine because we had decided to let her travel to visit with her sister for that week.

The flight itinerary was sent to her this week and she's so very excited. It will be the first time she has flown, and she has to do it by herself. It should be interesting; her flight leaves very early in the morning so to make the airport on time, she has to be out of bed around three am. We shall see if she can get herself up, or if I have to play alarm clock. As usual.

The real estate contacted us this week. It seems that we are able to take out the lease for another twelve months. This time, though, the rent will increase to $310 a week. I have checked around and yes, this is more in line with the market value. Although, with some research, I can see that we can get a house in slightly better condition for the same amount or a little more. I have told MOTH though that I will let the decision rest with him, and I will abide by whatever choice he makes.

The week flew by, and the much anticipated event arrived. I did have some difficulty keeping Sunny in the dark. As a requirement from the Elder. She was coming to visit this weekend just gone. But he guessed anyway, and I told her to let him know. She chose not to all the same.

The Elder and Jawsome arrived on Saturday afternoon. The purpose of the visit was to pick up a car they had purchased. Not to see the family of course. I took her out to see Sunny at his job. I missed the meeting because I stopped at the ATM. Darn. He was still shaking when I did get there though, so it should have been a good one.

Oh, and as an aside, have you noticed how popular suzuki swifts are becoming? I don't know if that's supposed to be a recommendation, but after spotting quite a few of them around, we decided to keep a tally. And over the course of the afternoon in our travels, we counted 14. Yep, popluar.

Saturday was rowdy then. As you can guess. And there was stuff all over the lounge room. We put up the inflatable bed. In the lounge room of course. And there you go - no space left at all. Although we did manage to amuse ourselves seeing if we could bounce the skinny dude off the bed. Almost, but not quite. Jawsome, too, is tall, skinny and white.

Sunday the two of them lit out to collect the car. Oh, the Teen went with them. Judah and Sunny had made arrangements to pop out to visit Judah's sister, and spend some small time with Sunny's family. While they were out, a sudden storm hit. It made the news, and apparently got some suburbs declared disaster areas. We were fine though. We had rain and wind, but no damage. The only water that got into the house happened because MOTH forgot to close the back door.

The Elder and her carful were caught in it on the way back with the new car. It was so bad that visibility was down to a couple of metres and they had to pull up to wait it out. When the worst was over, they then got caught in traffic and it took them four hours to do a trip that normally takes a couple of hours.

Then the real fun started. The seller of the car didn't get the RWC. He said he ran out of time. Which meant that the Elder had to arrange one herself. *shocked face* It wasn't registered properly. MOTH organised it for her, and by the time the chappie could come out and look at it, it was too late for them to leave to go back home. To make matters worse, they couldn't get the RWC. The engine number couldn't be found. And the seller had failed to keep the registration papers anywhere to hand. They can't do anything until the papers are received - the RWC can't be issued by just taking the seller's word. And he can't post them until next week.

Jawsome is very, very disappointed. And the rest of us are disappointed right along with him. It's not good to pay out good money only to be thwarted at the end. I have my fingers crossed that it works out after all. Not having the engine number sure puts a halt to the proceedings....

Monday, November 10, 2008

My fish is upside down. Which has nothing to do with this post, really.

It's true. My fish sleeps upside down. Sometimes. Or he lies on his side. I've just been watching...

What a week it has been. Or has it? I really can't remember much beyond Friday. Which is probably the important day anyway. But let me cast back into the distant mists of the beginning of the week to see if there was anything worth remembering...

...............

Nope, I don't think there was. As I remember it, the week progressed pretty normally. I woke up every morning, went to work each day, bored myself silly each day, came home each day, watched telly or read a book each day, played with my children......

Wait! I seem to recall a water fight. Was that this week? Or another? I don't remember that much, I just remember that I think I lost that fight, and ended up quite soggy. Waterlogged even. But only in patches.

Anyway, another of my 'children' and her father were in town for the weekend. We arranged to head out for dinner. Actually, there had been a few of us arranging it over the course of the week. It was eventually decided that we would dine at a little place called the Three Monkeys in West End.

There were Alm and her father, MOTH, Sunny and another of my varied 'children'. Judah was working. The Teen wanted to come, but Wogboy would not arrive in time, so she opted to stay home.

We arrived early because they don't take bookings on Friday and Saturday nights. I couldn't quite follow that myself, and decided that maybe it's because it's first in best dressed for the tables and you don't get to hang around keeping the table for FOREVER? Like I've seen in some places.

At any rate, the place is amazing. It's very small and cozy, and built much like a rabbit warren. It appears to be an old converted house, the rooms are very small, dark panelling and rough timber, there are persian carpets on the floor and occasionally on the walls; posters and other kitschy stuff abounds. The menu is on the wall behind the counter where you order; you take your number and find a table. We chose outdoors. The drinks arrived first, followed shortly after by the meals. I had ordered nachos - the 'working' nachos according to the accented waitress. I couldn't work out what that was. It was just nachos with avocado AND beans. MOTH ate a chicken and mushroom filo.

The food was very good and the kids kept me in stitches. Their volume was rather loud and some of the topics would make your hair curl. Both the older gentlemen (and I use that term loosely) shook their heads.

We finished our very delightful meals and sat and chatted for a while. We had chosen an outdoor table and the weather, although a little sticky, was lovely. The atmosphere was vibrant, with several other small tables scattered about; some under umbrellas, but all slightly below the level of the street. Sunny watched as one woman wandered past, reached over to an empty table and helped herself to unattended left over pizza.

We left the restaurant and wandered back toward the car. The path took us below some form of modern sculpture that looked like an amoeba, white and lit with coloured lights. It was decided that part of it looked like Sunny's anatomy, and Alm was inspired to burst into song. From a corner a completely different voice continued the chorus and we laughed. He then cheered us on saying Christmas was approaching. I think he was quite in his cups, but young enough not to look sleazy and tired. MOTH piped up from across the other side of the little square with a comment about Santa. The young chap asked who was saying Santa, and when MOTH stepped into view, exclaimed Oh yes, and you look like him too!

We parted, Alm and her dad back to their room, Sunny and the other lass across to the city to meet Judah. On the way home, I finally realised that the working nachos were nachos with the works! Not slow, me.

Saturday, Sunny had to work. A new employer and it was his first shift. They sent him to the warehouse, and told him it would only take about half hour to get there. But MOTH said it was near West Wynnum, and that would take much longer to get to! We decided that instead of doing two long trips, we would spend the day at Cleveland. I got Sunny out of bed at 4.30am for a 7.30am start. And when we were on our way, we discovered that the chap who had phoned ... was right. It was close to West Wynnum, but that's not near Cleveland! We had an hour to spare when we found the place, so decided to have breakfast at Hungry Jacks. I finally got my grilly chicken burger. I've only been craving one for ages. We dropped him off and spent the day at Carindale.

Sunny finished work and hour earlier, and asked if we could give a friend a lift home to Ashmore. So we did.

It was a great day, and I was happy to have done something different.

And Sunday? I spent till lunch time in my jammies. And did very little.

I'll add some photos later, once I get them uploaded. I have to do it from my phone, a slightly convoluted, painful process.

Oh look. The fish is alive after all......

Monday, November 03, 2008

Where it's horses for courses ... whatever that means

I've just been reminded that tomorrow is Melbourne Cup day. And I had completely forgotten. Where on earth is my patriotic spirit? My spirit is mostly in a glass. Regardless of the occasion. Needless to say, I won't necessarily be participating. The unit as a whole is organising something, our small part of it is not.

But I did manage to wrangle a work from home gig....

So, what did you manage to achieve last week you might ask. And yes, well you might. For I'm sure that I could weave a fractured fairy tale that would have absolutely no bearing on the reality of my totally mundane week.

So maybe not that mundane. Well, maybe it was. Judah has himself a job, and they made use of the newbie well and truly. He worked 5 long days. Sunny didn't cope too well - he had the run of the house all day; a solo gig. And couldn't go anywhere.

The Teen returned to school, and was less than impressed. Although, now I think of it, she only went two days. The other three she was home sick. And tomorrow she will be home sick as well. The poor thing seems to have picked up another infection.

Sunny has managed to find himself a placement in a store in a chain he really wanted. I have my fingers crossed that it works out for him. It's only casual at this point, but that is better than nothing.

MOTH returned home to a spotless house last Friday afternoon. Thank you kids! *bows to their hard work* And he was in a good mood. I think the holiday did him some good. He certainly seemed a bit more relaxed than when he went away.

Sunny and Judah are still living at home. There might be a place in the offing, but it isn't available for inspection yet. Hopefully for them, that will be soon. I still don't want them to go - I really enjoy having them about. But MOTH does want his house back he tells me.

He has very generously allowed Sunny to stay on, in an arrangement similar to the Elders, when he starts work. His workplace is close to our current abode, but not close to where they would be looking to relocate.

But for a close note, overheard from the Teen ... "shut up Andrew! I'm riding a rhinoceros!"