Beef stew!

Yep, it's that season of the year again. Don't know why I love beef stew so much, but I do. But only when I cook it mind.

The conference draws closer and the preparation ratchets up. This week saw me fall in a heap. One of the tasks assigned me didn't get completed. This was to source labels for tagging cables to avoid loss. Between procrastination from the supplier providing the first quote and myself taking too long to provide the exact information required for price comparison the deadline was missed and people were not happy. I was devastated because this is very much out of character for me. When it was decided on the second quote there wasn't enough time to have the labels printed. The solution was to obtain them from a stationery store and print them ourselves. I can't use the work credit card so I assumed they would be purchased by one who could after I gave them the price. It never occurred to me they weren't passed to me for printing. And they weren't purchased. And it was my fault for not completing the task on time despite being reminded. Of course.

It's been a long week. Any joy I've had previously helping to organise the conference has well and truly been washed away under the tide of ... criticism, hopelessness, and thanklessness.

Things have been quiet on the home front. MOTH can't decide if he's happy or not that he will have four days by himself. Usually he would come with me but this year we don't have a house sitter/pet feeder. He's going to use the time to begin prepping for our next house inspection at the beginning of June.

Elder informs us they finally have a house to rent. WHOO! I don't know who is more excited, them or me. There will be three of them there. The dogs are welcome but the realtor doesn't know about the cats. I believe. The rent is very expensive so they won't have any money to play with but I'm hoping it all works out well for them.

The Teen will be turning 21 soon and is hosting some do or another to celebrate this milestone. Seeing as she's our daughter and all we kind of feel obligated to travel to attend. You know how it goes. I'm not looking forward to the drive *it's 8 hours of tedium with no scenery to look at only endless rolling brown hills with occasional trees and cattle* but I am excited to be seeing both the girls. And their respective other halves. I wonder if I can get into "party mode" this time? No facebooking any incriminating evidence ladies! Also this will be a great way to make an impression on Harry's parents whom we have not yet met.

MOTH is excited about the trip because when we travel up, Sheldon and Penny will travel with us. We still aren't sure what we will do with Jerome. Maybe we should bring him too? But then again, he won't get to visit Teen unless she comes to visit us while we are there. That might be something to consider.

Winter is finally coming and the temps are beginning to fall. Minimums are dropping to less than 10C overnight. There are only a couple of things I like about winter. And that's flannette sheets, doonas, minkie blankets and beef stew with dumplings. *ok, so maybe more than a couple* MMMMM! First stew of the season this weekend. And it's not even winter yet. I have to be careful not to have it often of course. Don't want to get sick of it. And MOTH doesn't eat much of it. Piker.

Decided to treat myself this weekend. MOTH saved a voucher from the shopping with a DVD rental discount on it. I like those. The day was bright and I had every intention of walking up to the shops. But I did some washing. And I pegged it out, unpegging the stuff that was already there. I prepped the beef stew for dinner. I cleaned up after the cats. And by then, I decided I was too pooped to walk so I drove. I brought back The Hobbit. I brought back Resident Evil: Retribution. And I brought back Wreckit Ralph. I watched them all one after the other and I loved them all. I thought The Hobbit might have been drawn out a little but no, I actually enjoyed it more than the other trilogy; a little faster paced I think. I was also surprised to find that this is also part one of a trilogy.

Conference next week so I suppose I should start planning what I'm planning to take with me. Who knows, I'm pretty sure that in spite of all my planning I will forget something... *too much planning = brain burn*

I'm going on adventure!

Well, maybe not really. Just the conference rolls around again in another week. Doesn't time fly?

And with that, time is slipping away so quickly. It's been almost two weeks since I last updated and I'd not even realised.

I've been meaning to phone Ma to check on her, but I keep missing that too. I should phone her today since today is Mother's Day. I tried earlier but there was no answer, so perhaps she was out for the day. I hope so. It would be nice for her to get out and do some stuff, even if D'niece and D'nephew are with them.

Work has been keeping me very busy. The project I have been working on is coming along quite well and I'm hoping that continues. Of course, having said that, there is every chance I've just jinxed myself! I guess we wait and see. I confess to some surprise that so far, I've been left to manage it on my own. Beyond the whole having to reevaluate thing of course.

There seems to be a thing that the only time I have interesting things to write about during my trips to work is when I'm on the bus. Maybe it's just the bus. Following one to work I had to laugh when it had to suddenly slow down to allow a scrub turkey to run across the road. Neck extended the turkey jogged quickly in front of the bus and up the bank on the other side.

The conference is drawing near. There's so much I've not been involved in this year and I'm not necessarily thinking I will enjoy it. Even Admin2 isn't interested this year. We didn't even get to choose the furniture for the booth. We don't get to attend the Sunday event - now moved to Tuesday - that we used to. We don't even get to attend the conference until Tuesday. We used to arrive Saturday for early morning Sunday set up, right through to the following Friday evening. Not anymore.

There's a little cash left and I'm dying to see the new Star Trek movie. MOTH wants to see it too. We head to the shops for a cup of coffee, spend a little time with John as most of the Club are busy this morning, then head off to the cinema. I'm hoping they will let us in at Pensioner prices. I ask for two to the 10:30am screening and put the membership card and the pension card on the counter. I'm charged $19. As I walk away I think that sounds a little steep. OH. Maybe he's charged two adult prices? Whatever, it's still less than $10 each. We head up to the 'candy bar' and purchase a large raspberry frozen coke, a packet of Starburst snakes *YUM* and a small packet of twisties. There's about $7 change from that and I'm pleased. I loved the movie. Of course, it may help that I'm a bit of a Trekkie but I really did enjoy it. Riveting from the beginning. Action, good dialogue that had some of us chuckling and Bennedict Cumberpatch doesn't disappoint either. Though I confess I would have been surprised if he had.

OH MY GOD I'M SUCH A BAD MOTHER! It's gone 8:30pm and I've just realised that I forgot to feed the kittehs! Penny jumped on the desk with me and I suddenly thought, wait, did I give them dinner? Oh my.

It's Mother's Day today. I tried to phone my mum but she isn't home. I thought I'll phone after dinner around 7pm when the kids are about to go to bed. And I just realised it is 8:15pm and now too late to call. My memory is really shot today!

MOTH cooked a lovely dinner for me tonight. Roast beef with baked vegetables. He also bought me a present without any prompting as well. A big tin of Darrel Lea chocolates. It's amazing. The tin is lovely and I can use it for other things later.

My doctor is still pressing me to go back to the sleep clinic to be fitted for a machine. I can't bring myself to do this. Supposedly my sleep apnea is moderate so I would really like to investigate other options. I don't know anyone who likes their machine. MOTH cannot get used to his. I simply cannot afford to purchase a machine for me and not use it. I don't like the thought of putting the mask on my face. I don't like things touching my face and get really panicky if I can't breathe. If MOTH kisses me and I can't breathe the feeling is the same. Bestie's hubby has been trying a new contraption for his, a mouth guard. It costs about $70, it can be heated and custom fitted and is supposed to change the shape of the throat and jaw. She tells me he no longer snores and she loves it. I'm saving up to try this. MOTH is interested too. The device has a life of about 18 months but at only $70, that can't be bad, right?

As part of this investigation into other causes, I've recently had a CT scan. It shows only minimal thickening of the sinus linings and a slight septum deviation to the right. Still doesn't give me a clue as to why I have constant sinus pressure and a blocked nose though. Sigh. On the other side, I'm still feeling tired but some days are good and some are not. My iron intake has been doubled and we'll see how that goes.

I think I need to get active. But I've got no energy to actually do it. Vicious circle.

Whoo! One of the shows I watch on Foxtel is Grimm. Next week is Zombies! Bring it!