Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Hunger roolz

And Sol droolz. I had better make sure I eat some lunch while I'm typing this. I'd share, but I want this ham and avocado sandwich to myself. Sorry...!

It's been a rather eventful week.

For the first time in around 18 years, I don't have to go through the horror of Back To School. I can't say how wonderful that is. No forking out for new uniforms or listening to the complaints that the old ones need repairing. No having to find money for text hire fees, P&C and yearbooks before the school year starts. No having to fork out for exercise books, pens, pencils and other assorted paraphernalia. Wheee! Kinda liberating really.

It also means the Teen is home a lot more. I can see there is going to be a fair bit of the Just Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home thing going. So I'm curious. Did I ever do that when she was growing up and I was at home and he was working? Heh.

We had been talking about getting a new boarder in to help with costs now that Teen is no longer at school. *means a change to government payments* A recent acquaintance was looking for a place to stay that wasn't too expensive; MOTH offered her the place. The Teen wasn't very impressed; she was on holidays and didn't get any say. I think she was looking for a younger person. A student perhaps. I had investigated Home Stay but the criteria were somewhat stringent. Blue card. Their own room. Take them where they need to go. Provide a bed and a desk, minimum.

Besides, Raisin *i shall christen her so for the purpose of this writing* pays almost as much as they do. And half the hassle.

She flew in on Thursday. She seems very nice. But yow! Mizz Chatterbox. She is around my age, and likes to stir MOTH. We should get on very well. *big grin* She brought a gift with her. Kopiko, a hard coffee flavoured lolly. And was quite disappointed to discover you can buy them here.

Saturday we went out for supplies for Australia Day. Bestie and her family were coming for a barbeque. Saturday afternoon MOTH and Raisin went looking for Asian grocery stores that may stock hard to get hold of food ingredients. They didn't find what they were looking for.

Sunday morning we did the usual thing and went to the local mall. We picked up the perishables for the barbeque on Tuesday. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the cool. It was hot outdoors. Has been for the last few days.

I had managed to wrangle Monday off. And sat around for a while. Discovered that the WoW account I had been playing with had been banned. I was somewhat disgruntled, but if I can't play I can't play and that is that. It gave me something to do. I don't use the laptop for much else. Again it was too hot to do much.

Found out later it was something to do with abusing the in-game chat. What the? That is one feature I DON'T use!

Australia Day rolled around. I had decided that we would run the dehumidifyer if nothing else to keep the back end of the house cool while we had guests. Everything was prepped in good time. Bestie and the family arrived.

She brought Boston Baked Beans! *yummm!*

Raisin made tofu and a thick soy sauce for drizzling. *yummmmm!*

Sunny and Judah arrived as well. And a friend of the Teen's. We knew they were coming so it wasn't a surprise. I peeked out the door and noticed Bestie's man with his hair lifted off the back of his neck. I decided we'd serve and eat indoors....

We squished around the table and chatted and ate. More food than I had at Christmas! Steak. Sausages. Chicken rissoles. Tofu and sauce. Boston beans. Garden salad. Coleslaw. Topped with a cold glass of Brown Brothers Crouchon & Reisling. MMMMmMMMM! Sunny pronounced the international dishes were the most successful - tofu (Indonesian), beans (USA). The Teen was thrilled to realise for Australia Day we had an Indonesian, an ex-pat American and an ex-pat Pom gathered around the table.

Dessert was vanilla icecream and lemon sorbet.

We ate till we were stuffed, chattered for ages and eventually joined the kids watching dvds. Shrek, Spirited Away and Shrek the Halls.

Thank heavens for the dishwasher.

And no wonder I went to bed at 09:30pm....

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

To the Random that makes the world go round...

Yesterday I dropped a book back to the library. After the deed, on passing the Subway outlet, I became aware that someone was apparently speaking to me. Why, I dunno. I turned. A youthy type lad was sitting at a table with a group of other similar types. He thrust a picture out to me. Do you think this baby is cute? I stared, slightly stunned. Silence while I considered the comment and tried to make out context and background that may have prompted the question. Was he trying to sell me something? Was my opinion canvassed to settle an argument? I didn't know. *and if you know me, this process can take a wee while* They waited. Then he said, It's more bout the nose really.... Oh, I said. Well I guess that's a standard baby nose... *face palm. now THAT was a snappy comeback!* One of the others spoke up. He's a bit off the wall today. *sure is!* It was random. *sure was!* Yes, I agreed. It was a bit random. Well, anyway, friend continues, Thanks for playing the game... I smiled and left them to it.

I could have said so much! I think....

The week that was. I guess it was pretty normal. The Teen returned home from holidays. In a better mood than I thought, considering she'd been on a 9 hour train ride with only a bottle of water. Elder told me they didn't have money for food and she didn't think to pack a sandwich! *duh* I took one with me when I went to pick her up. It had gone a bit stale. I told the Teen what was on it - peanut paste. Oh great, she says. I've been living off pb&j sandwiches for the last week! But she ate it.

She's still talking of wanting to move back up north to Hometown. I really don't know why. She tells me it's the people. I'm guessing it's the ones her age, because when we left, the whole influx of new faces drove a lot of the locals out and changed the whole feel of the place. I guess that's what happens when Industry comes to town; the itinerants follow and the companies ship in their own employees. An acquaintance commented that she once could walk down the street and see so many people she knew. Now she can go a whole day out and not see anyone she knows.

Nothing much else happened during the week. That I can think of. Work interrupted my WoW time. So did the Teen. Saturday I didn't touch it because I didn't get the laptop for long. We did a bit of tidying in the outdoor area. I trimmed some overgrown ferns and fronds surrounding the gazebo. Sat the chairs/table out on the grass and scrubbed them down. MOTH grabbed the blower and cleaned all the old cut grass, leaves etc from the patio. And we put everything back. In different places. It looks much tidier.

It stormed that night.

Sunday was hot and humid. The Teen had taken over the laptop again. It was too hot to do much. I think I put the airconditioner on and sat on the couch reading and doing sudoku puzzles. Briefly. Doing that stuff is almost guaranteed to put me to sleep....

PS I thought the baby was pretty darned ugly too.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Sight of the week.

Imagine. Three burly constructions workers. All dressed in construction bloke uniforms - navy pants, fluro yellow and navy long sleeved shirts. Red hard hat. At the edge of one site. Run across 3 busy lanes of traffic. Pause in the middle. Saunter across the rest of the way. That's the way to do it lads!

A small yacht sailing up the river into the city precinct.

I thought this week would be rather slow. Only the usual work routine. *dangit. tea cup is empty*

But we had some news that MOTH's mother isn't feeling 100% and needs to have surgery. We don't know yet when that will be but will keep you posted as we get any news.

Saturday I spent time roasting. Yes. Roasting. It's been hot again. Not as hot as Adelaide, but we have the humidity to deal with as well. I've been melting, but not enough to run the airconditioner. For some reason, I've been a bit stubborn about that. It might have something to do with the fact that I get a bit too cold if it's been running for a while? I dunno. *shrugs* I have been spending most of my free time at home playing WoW.

Sunday morning dawned bright. I tried to lay in bed for a while but didn't succeed very well. I did some washing and pegged it out. I caught up on the folding and did some ironing. I swept the tiled areas in the house. I pulled a few weeds. I made the bed. I tidied the bench tops a little. I had a shower. Then, with all my chores done, kicked back to relax a little.

Mid quest MOTH called to me. Hon! I need your help. *great. it's bloody hot. i'm dressed in minimum and now i shall have to get properly dressed so i can go outdoors and help you* Hon! I need your help. I get up. Alright! I'll be there in a tic. Honey! I'm bleeding everywhere! *dammit! why didn't you just SAY SO?* I go to him. He's not joking. It's running down his hand and dripping on to the carpet square outside the door. *wonders what to do about that. we have no first aid kit and i'm not sure what damage he's done. a towel? some cloths? i get a washer* By the time I've done that, he's given up, come inside and rinsed off under the tap. We wrap the washer round and try to stop the bleeding. There's so much I can't even see the injury. We get it a little under control and wrap said digits in insulation tape. Good stuff that!

Turns out he had been trying to remove a blown bulb from the back of Jawsome's car. The bulb shattered in his hand and sliced his thumb and his index finger.

He sat for a bit then decided he wanted to go to the hospital to have the wounds looked at. The one on my thumb has me a bit worried. I think it might need stitches.

I drove him to casualty and settled in for the long haul. He was finished about an hour and a half later. They cleaned him up, put two stitches in. The one on his thumb turned out to be about 10mm deep and 15mm long. It goes diagonally from the corner of the nail over the tip of his thumb. Ouch!

So poor MOTH is at home on his lonesome today. With no opposing grip in his right hand. I had to help him dress this morning - he couldn't dry himself properly after his shower, couldn't hold his trousers and button them up, couldn't thread the belt.

You don't realise just how much you use your hands till you find your range of movement limited!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

I forgot to mention...

That one of our trips out was to check out a new butcher. Yes, I DO lead an EXCITING FULFILLED life.

We've been to wholesale butchers before. Our biggest stumbling block is lack of freezer space. And we've always thought it too expensive to do the whole buying in bulk thing. Well, initial outlay anyway. But prices in the supermarkets are climbing and if I wasn't menu planning, the meat bill would be around $100 or more a fortnight anyway.

Bestie and her MOTH recommended this butcher. Good stuff and sometimes you get good bargains. They ended up buying two whole fillets and somehow scored another three. Five fillets for the price of two. Or something like that.

We thought we'd give it a shot.

It's located down the coast so the drive would be nice if nothing else. I had an address and an exit number. We decided to wing it without Karen. The GPS. Daring! *told you. exciting and fulfilled*

The drive was pleasant and the exit loomed before we knew it. Once off the exit, things got a little hazy. We knew the street name but no idea where it was. We picked an exit off the roundabout. Computer Road it said. Why not. Good a start as anywhere else. We laughed at some of the road names - the inner geek was happy. And there it was. The street we needed. We came to a T junction. Uh oh. No indication if the road we needed terminated here or continued around the corner. MOTH pulled over ready to do a U turn. He had to wait for a car. Oooh, let's follow that one. They look like they know where they are going.

So we did. And followed them right into the driveway of where we needed to be. *hi five*

The car park was full of inch deep water. And cars. It was busy, and most were family affairs. I managed to cross a puddle and only got one thong wet. *good going!* That's the part where you put your feet right. One foot stayed dry, the other did not.

Maybe I was distracted by a car driving over painted yellow lines. Only to discover they were painted yellow to alert to the fact that there was a drop of several inches on the other side!

On entering, you're directed down a narrow corridor by padded partitions. Just in front of the door at the end are large polar fleece jackets. I grabbed one. Cause I had forgotten the warning about needing a jumper. *kicks self* Through the plastic door and into the warehouse.

It was cold. Not positively freezing, but cold. The warehouse is huge. The meat stock is huge. Whole fillets. Whole rumps. Big hams. One I peeked at was around $100. It would have fed a family of 4 for a week. At a guess. Roast lamb legs for $24. Must have been on special. MOTH's fave pork spare ribs for cheap. Packs of 4 T bones for $23. The staff were all running around, greeting customers and looking like they were having a good time.

We bought a whole black angus grassfed rib fillet for around $70. We had it sliced for free at about 3/4 inch thick. It worked out around 5 or 6 meals of varying sizes. While wandering around, we managed to score a free 2 litre bottle of milk, and 1kg of bacon on special for $6.

I'm not sure how that compared to supermarket prices, but it was a fun way to spend the morning. We're considering doing it again for next shop.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Back to the grind!

Holiday week. It's flown by considering it's been spent on the couch in front of the telly. Now it's back to the grind of getting up early every day and off to the routine morning jaunt.

Today I left home at around 06:10 for the bus stop. I was in the city at 07:04. What happened there?! No traffic, that's what. And on campus at 07:30. Oh my good goodness. How will I cope?

Alas, while the Teen has been away, her phone has been out of action and now I have no way to contact her. Which is a little scary I admit. Makes me wonder how we coped before mobiles became a part of every day life. I keep wanting to know when she will be home, but that could be due to the fact that she's uncontactable.

The house is big and empty now. There are only MOTH and I at home.

So the week was spent on the couch and occasionally surfing the web. I gave in to my inner geek and dowloaded a trial version of World of Warcraft. A 10 day trial, and I've played it almost every day since. I haven't figured out many things about how to work it yet, like the chatting that everyone seems to get so involved in, the duelling and the NOT GETTING KILLED! Argh! I can see how people become addicted. Alas, work will now get in my way and I don't think I will continue once the trial concludes.

New Year was a quiet one. I decided I would rebel and watch McAliffe's Rave program instead of the insipid fireworks stuff. *at the same time i was playing wow. whoo! multiskilling!* Somewhere around 11.30 I gave up and followed MOTH to bed. Our street was quiet. Not a peep. Not even a random group of teens wandering past talking at the tops of their voices. I could hear a party going on some distance away. I don't know where they were, but I think they were in the Estate across the road. It wasn't loud enough to keep me awake though I did manage to stay awake chatting long enough to see 0:00.....

On Saturday I talked MOTH into going over to Chermside to windowshop in Westfield. It's been some considerable time since I was last there and even longer for him. We set out and drove where the car took us. So the aim was to miss the traffic, and that we did. But not with much clue as to where we actually were going I'm sure. Certainly not the most direct route! We arrived there eventually and wandered around until lunch time.

Then back home and a nap on the couch. Been doing a bit of that lately!

Sunday was spent again doing not much. The interweb has slowed to slower than snail pace as we've hit our limit. I have hardly even bothered to log on. I get so IMPATIENT! MOTH struggles on though. He's been a little stressed lately. Despite repeated warnings from those of us who are cynics *read the teen and i* he seems to have picked up a stalker. w00t! And now he has had to tell her to back off. I'm not certain she's aware of what she's doing, but she is a little too .... enthusiastic. And being the kind hearted soul he is, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. *heh. loves his sentimental side*

Then today is back to business as usual. Urgh *my get up and go got up and went*