My head feels like it is filled with this…
Fluffy Pink Stuff
Sickly sweet, headache inducing, sugary goo. Full of air and not much else.
For a day that I wasn’t actually going to work, it was a really long day.
I was in the office by 9 this morning and didn’t get home from work until nearly 8 this evening.
I am NOT going to go to work on Monday, I need a rest.
Good night!
Categories: just a day
Tagged: and they call this work
Many times over the past few days I have thought of awesomely interesting blog posts, well at least one interesting blog post but I have been too busy, lazy or distracted to actually blog. Then as I have the memory capacity of a door knob I promptly forgot what I was planning on blogging. That brings me to now with too much I want to say or comment upon, yet without the intellect to actually do so coherently so instead I go for the cop-out bullet post. Here we go again…
So there it is, how I have spent the last few days. I have been busy in other areas that are not so ‘exciting’, in fact they were downright draining but they are other people’s stories so I will leave it there. My dilemma now, clean up the mess, watch tv or read blogs? Perhaps I should try multi task and do an ordinary job of all three!
Categories: randomness
Tagged: all about me, and they call this work, domesticity
In less than 8 short hours I will be back at work. Logic says that knowing that I have to go in to work extra early would equate to going to bed at a reasonable hour, but like I mentioned, that would be logical. Me I sat around waiting for a late game of netball because everyone knows that there is nothing like playing sport instead of sleeping. Now that I am back from netball, I am sweaty and smelly and in need of a shower.
Damn, I have just realised that if I am going to start work at 6.30am, the time that I would normally be enjoying the peace and quiet of the pre-dawn day trying to run around the river. It is going to throw out my schedule completely. My dilemma, do I get up extra extra early to run tomorrow, try to run after work tomorrow or early Saturday morning before work? Do I just give myself a break and take a day off knowing that the plan for Week 5 Day 3 includes a 20 minute run WITHOUT STOPPING. I think that is scaring me more than anything but I don’t want to chicken out this far into the program.
In other news, I am picturing a few days of no internet and I don’t know what I will do. I struggle at work not having real internet access so having no access will be even more challenging. Actually I do know what I will do, I will be busy. After an extra long day at work tomorrow I am spending the evening with friends, decorating cupcakes, eating takeout because who really wants to cook after a long long week? Just for something new, I will be working briefly on Saturday before heading off for a weekend in the country. Man-child is going skydiving on Sunday morning so we decided to make a weekend of it and head bush to try and relax. Although with 2 kids who will want to explore everywhere, I don’t imagine that there will be too much time for relaxing. However there will be plenty of time to take photos!
At some stage I also have to finish off 3 puppy dog costumes for girl-child and her friends for their school performance next week. I have no idea when that will happen. I think that I will be forgoing sleep at some stage. Perhaps I should think about going to bed some time soon, or perhaps my macbook will decide for me and run out of batteries and force me to sleep instead of catching up in the online world.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: and they call this work, getting fit?
So it is mid afternoon and I have to say that the day has improved. Work was work-like but not too tragic, except for the notification that I need to start work at 6.30am on Friday morning. I had to leave early to take boy-child in to the hospital for a review of his bionic elbow. I preempted a long long sit at the hospital waiting. I was organised, we had a lunch box, a snack bag, kid books, a book for me and a fully charged phone. Surely that would cover us for the potentially huge wait. He was in and out for the xray and then it was time to go see the orthopedic surgical consultant. The appointments are scheduled for an hour apart but it seems that the times are arbitrary so we went straight upstairs. It is never a good sign when you arrive at the clinic to be confronted with a sign saying the clinic is closed for lunch and will re-open at 1.30pm and it was only 1pm. Out come the supplies and we settled in to wait. The waiting area filled quickly. Soon there were no seats left and still more people were arriving and I was happy to have my book.
Eventually the reception area re-opened. Boy-child showed very assertive skills, surely not inherited from me, and was able to gain his rightful place in line to go through to the clinic. Still, I wasn’t sure if appointment times would be adhered to, so I kept my book out and boy child was happy to keep playing on my phone. Let’s say that I was pleasantly surprised when we were called through to see our doctor right on the scheduled appointment time. The doctor is lovely and is very pleased with the way that boy-child’s arm has healed. He has regained about 90% of his extension and full flexion. He almost has full rotation and no pain, even when you press on the screw that is now visible since the swelling has finally reduced. In fact he is so pleased with the progress that he has started the progress of booking him in for surgery – at this stage in late September, during the school holidays.
We were in and out in plenty of time. I didn’t even have to worry about getting a parking ticket. (Of course I am too tight to pay for parking at the hospital, instead we park around the corner where it is free for 2 hours and then a ginormous ticket after that!) We even had time to do a grocery shop before heading back to collect girl-child from school. Despite spending an hour trying to arrange a contingency plan for girl-child to be collected from school should the need arise, I was glad to be back in time to collect her myself. (Thanks for being there to help out again E.)
By the time we all made it home, I was starving. Just because I was clever enough to have packed a snack bag doesn’t mean I was smart enough to eat any of it. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat so I convinced girl-child to bake a cake so that I could eat the batter. We both ate way too much batter, bringing on a sugar rush head spin but it was worth it, it was totally delicious.
The cake is cooked but looks like half a cake, I think we ate far too much. I will include girl-child in the blame game for this although she ate very little batter and instead ate cheese. Perhaps we should have used a smaller tin but I figure that the larger the surface area of the cake the more frosting it requires and now that the cake is cooked it is all about the frosting!
I am sure that by the time I finish (I need to start first) putting the shopping away the cake will be cool enough to frost and I will be ready for another sugar rush. That sugar rush will pass and then it will be time for take-out, cake and bubbles to celebrate a friends birthday. First things first, shopping away, feed the kids and settle them in bed and let the relaxation begin.
Categories: just a day
Tagged: all about me, and they call this work, fantastic food, kids cook
I had planned on posting last night. I wasn’t planning on much but I thought the awesomeness of the day needed to be mentioned. Dare I say it but work rocked. The day I had planned was off-site and going to be frantically busy but by some miraculous alignment of the planets everything fell into place and was better, much better than I could have anticipated.
After picking up the kids from school I realised that I had a few things to do in the office so we all jumped in the car. Now generally the kids don’t really enjoy being dragged along to work with me but they hadn’t seen my new office so were interested to come along. When I arrived a colleague had the same idea, she needed to tie up a few loose ends so she dragged her kids into the office also. Amazingly all 4 kids played together the entire time we were in the office and there were no ‘can we go yet?’ comments at all. In fact they were all mildly disappointed when we declared it was home time.
We walked outside and all of the kids ran off together. We looked up just to see them walking into the local library. We were mildly concerned that they would just go into the library, or any unfamiliar building, without us but soon discovered that they were lured inside by the balloon giveaway they were having. Each kid left the library not with books but with helium balloons, 3 each.
Finally we made it home with just enough time to get dinner ready. Normally a rushed dinner isn’t very appreciated but both kids went back for more, in fact they both ate more dinner than I did and it was healthy – bonus! There were no arguments when I declared that it was real bath time as opposed to time for a hot tub and book selection was a breeze. The kids settled on reading a chapter book that has been sitting on the shelf, unread for some time. The book Fast Food and No Play Makes Jack a Fat Boy is a look at the eating and exercise of our children. The book probably isn’t aimed at kidsbut the way it is written allowed us to actually read a chapter, discuss what Jack was doing tha might be unhealth and what he could do that would be more healthy and then looked at the actions listed to assist Jack become healthier. Now not only did the kids get the subtleties of the branding in the book, they understood why the fast food and sedentary lifestyle made Jack overweight and unhealthy. Not only was that impressive but we already do most of the actions listed. Yay us!
When it was time for bed I was thinking that the day had gone far too well, that it was time something went wrong. Fortunately I was wrong, the kids bombed out pretty quickly. I had grand plans to go for a nanna nap but was sidetracked attempting to clean my study again/still. Even wading through mess wasn’t enough to dampen my mood – my day was awesome.
That brings me to today. There is no way the planets could stay aligned for me (or anyone else) to experience two awesome days. Again I was wrong. I had an early start to go to a training course. Now the last time I had to catch a train in to the city during peak hour I stood on the platform and watched 3 trains pass by, too full to fit another passenger on without a few dozen Japanese train boarding assistants. Last time, after an hour of waiting for a train I gave up and cancelled my training day. Today the first train that arrived had enough room for me to board. It may not have been comfortable but it wasn’t quite like a sardine tin.
I arrived at the training centre extra early and had time to do a little work before the day began. The course itself was actually really interesting, well presented and most importantly it ‘cut to the chase’. We didn’t waste time learning about irrelevancies we focused on what we actually needed to know and would use – a totally foreign concept for many of the training courses I have attended. Since the presentations were so concise I was actually able to get back in to the office to finish of a few final reports enabling me to take tomorrow off – hooray!
The after school madness included dancing for both kids, girl-child has finally decided that she wants to dance again. She joined a great class at the same school that boy-child attends and their class times are only 15 minutes apart in start and finish time. Just to make the afternoon even more surprising was meeting some of the other parents, shock horror but they were actually nice, normal even. I was almost in a state of shock. It is great to be at a dance school that keeps both kids happy but when the parents are user friendly and not catty it is a bonus.
That brings me to the evening. Man-child was home in time to bbq some meat for us for dinner so I quickly whipped up a salad to go with it and again the kids ate all their dinner and asked for more. We continued to read the same chapter book and again I was pleased to see that we already do most of the recommended actions. Bed time arrived and the kids jumped into bed with no hassles and didn’t complain when I turned off the main light.
Although they were later to bed than usual because of dance, they were still settled by 7.45pm giving me time to get ready for netball. Still thinking that everything was going to well, I am time for something controversial we played netball and won. Again I don’t know how our team is competitive but I wasn’t complaining it is actually nice to win for a change!
I returned home from the game, suitably hot and sweaty to a lovely quiet house with a bottle of chilled bubbles waiting, knowing that my favourite TV show Rush was available for streaming. I settled in for a long relaxing evening.
So how is that for an awesome couple of days? I am still in disbelief that I could have such a good few day at work and at home, to be followed up with a day off to catch up with Lil Sis and then it is the weekend and dinner out with friends. Totally freaking awesome. The only thing that has marred this evening is boy-child waking complaining of a sore throat and aching knees. Fortunately a quick cuddle and head pat seemed to soothe him and he drifted back off to sleep and I was able to get back to my awesome relaxing and enjoying.
Fingers crossed that the awesomeness will continue and also that you have some awesome in your lives too. Good night.
Categories: all about me · and they call this work
Tagged: and they call this work, bragging rights
I feel like I am at school all over again, and I am the new kid, the stranger, the unknown. I walk through a building full of people who are chatting away and enjoying themselves. As I approach I feel the conversation die down, whether real or imagined, only to recommence as I walk by. I wonder if I have food stuck in my teeth, if my pants are zipped up, if I am wearing the ‘wrong clothes’. I feel alienated and it isn’t much fun.
I really should rewind a little so that this makes sense. You see I am a part of a small team, me and three others, but until now we have worked in two different buildings. Finally we have had an opportunity to all move in to an office together, to actually be able to work together as a team. The moving process has been slow and painful with many delays along the way. Today is the big day; I officially live in an new office. Many many boxes of random work-related ’stuff’ were transported over here at the end of the last week but nothing has been organised or set up. That was to be the job for today. It should be an enjoyable task, perhaps even cathartic, out with the old and in with the new. It isn’t. I am sitting here alone, wondering where to start.
The team of 4 is no longer. The stabilising member of the team, the one who is rational, logical and fun to be around has left our team, of course his workload has remained! Another member of the team is on leave for the next two weeks and the final member is part time and today isn’t a work day for her. And here I am, in limbo. Not quite belonging.
I had to go back to my old office earlier today. It was nothing but a cold empty shell with a few extra boxes of belongings that needed collecting. Of course the other staff that work there were still there, but I didn’t have a place to call my own. I used to moan about the dingy office that I worked in but now I know that that dingy little office felt like home. It was my space, it was familiar. I know that working here in this new office will be a fantastic opportunity but for now I’m not really enjoying it. It has only been one day, one very very long lonely day, it will get better.
Categories: just a day
Tagged: and they call this work
Yesterday was awesome, hiking down and back up Mt Macedon, enjoying the views but as a result I am sore, really sore.
Mt Macedon
It is noon and I am in my jammies and monster slippers, shuffling around the house trying to clean up and everything hurts. I really really want to sit and write about the awesomeness that was my day but unfortunately the house doesn’t clean itself. I will try to use my want to blog as a reward for a clean house. Perhaps I will be back later…
Categories: and they call this work
Tagged: and they call this work, getting fit?, happy days
As the clock ticks over to 7.30pm, I sit on the couch in a quiet house. The kids are tucked up in bed and even man-child has gone to bed for a nanna nap. Instead of going to bed when everyone else did – before 7pm, I decided to sit and reflect on my day.
Let’s just say the day began in a rather spectacularly awkward fashion, me slipping down the stairs – literally. Let me fill you in on how that could possibly happen. You see the evil cat has taken to going for an early morning stroll around the house, usually between 5.30 and 6am. I don’t hear or notice her leaving, but I notice her on her way back to bed as she walks over my head and can’t decide if she should curl up on my pillow, where my head is or if she should nuzzle at the covers until she can squeeze in under them. She isn’t loud at all, but she does wake me enough to make me realise that I need to run to the loo. Usually I lay there in the semi darkness contemplating the benefits of getting up to pee compared with staying snug in bed for another few minutes. I never actually look at the clock as that will only remind me how soon it is until the day begins. Of late, the lay in bed and hope not to pee wins out, I figure it will only be a few minutes until the alarm sounds. Even if it is a few more minutes, it is still minutes spent warm and snug under the doona.
When the alarm sounds, I grab my phone and my jumper and slide my feet into my fuzzy monster feet slippers and sneak off downstairs as quietly as possible. It is around this time the boy-child is stirring and is often found wandering to the toilet. (Did I mention that we are alike in many, many ways?) I try to sneak by his room without him noticing me, so I can attempt to Shred in relative peace and quiet. This morning I managed to time my run for when he was actually in the bathroom. I could hear the tinkles as I snuck down the stairs. The stairs creak and I was trying to go as quietly as possible, yet quickly so that he wouldn’t see me. I noticed the tinkles had stopped when I was half way down. I hurried a little faster. I heard footsteps moving in my direction. I continued to hurry whilst turning around to see if I had been sprung sneaking downstairs, only to totally lose co-ordination and my footing. Somehow I completely missed the fifth step from the bottom, my foot slipped down to the fourth step, landing awkwardly and hurting both my knee and ankle before bouncing the remainder of the way down the stairs on my bum. Bravo – what a spectacular start to the day!
Now boy-child hadn’t seen me, nor had he heard me sneak by, well not until I crashed down the stairs that is. It was only a matter of minutes before he joined me in the lounge. When he arrived, he questioned why I was sitting on the couch and not exercising like I should? He reminded me that I would never get to Level 3 if I didn’t keep practicing Level 2. Dagnabbit, the boy had a point. I dutifully put the dvd on and began to Shred. The commentary throughout was along the lines of why I was still doing the easy exercises and not the really hard ones? I found it increasingly difficult to explain whilst contemplating the pain of the Shred. Fortunately by the end of the workout my entire body hurt to match my knee and ankle!
Girl-child woke as I was finishing and the preparations for the day to began in earnest. In fact we had so much time that it was almost pleasant, no rushing, no arguing and no mess. We even made it to school with enough time to spare that the kids could have a play first. Perhaps the day was going to be alright after all.
I thought too soon. I had promised that I would stay for assembly, more as a deterrent for getting to work on time. That was before I remembered that it was a ’special assembly’ to celebrate Education Week. By special, I really mean ‘extra long’. As boy-child was running into his class line to go into the hall, he gave me one last cuddle kiss. In his exuberance he managed to accidentally dig a surprisingly sharp fingernail into my lip, gouging out a hole and drawing blood. I sat through the ’special assembly’ with the delightful taste of blood in my mouth.
Eventually it was time to bid farewell to the kids and head for work. I was off to a great start, by this time I was almost an hour late! I logged on to find that there were no less than 500 emails eagerly awaiting my attention. I knew it was going to be a long day.
I snuck out during my lunch break to help a friend move a bed from Lil Sis’s third floor apartment to her townhouse, using her Jeep. After much giggling and tripping over holes in the lawn (stupid ankle) we managed to squeeze everything in, so we did have to fold the mattress in half, but surely it will spring back to some sort of usefulness. No one actually said the mattress had to be comfortable, it was going in to the spare room!
I was late getting back from lunch, but I don’t know why I bothered – there was no on in the office at all. I could have stayed out all day long and it wouldn’t have mattered but I was to conscientious, either that or I knew I still had hundreds of emails to sift through. By the end of the working day, the email count was down to 90 something, with dozens marked for further follow up, but they could wait, my out-of-office was still on and no-one external actually knew I was back!
There were no major, or minor injuries to report for the remainder of the day, however I did receive messages from two separate people about creepy crawlies and vermin that must die, referring of course to nits. This of course coincides with the only time in the entire school year, twice last week,that girl-child has worn her hair to school not tied back or braided. I am just waiting for her head to itch, in fact my head is itching just thinking about it. I really should have checked her hair tonight but I just didn’t have the energy, besides she was tired and she wanted to go to bed and who am I to argue with that?
So that brings me up to date and I now face another dilemma. Do I just go to bed like the rest of the family or do I sit up and actually enjoy the peace and quiet in an almost tidy house?
Categories: just a day
Tagged: and they call this work, domesticity, getting fit?, the monsters
Dear Google Reader,
What have you done? You have recently changed your format again and I haven’t particularly enjoyed this latest change. I have found it more cumbersome to use and harder to organise but I have made do. Until now that is.
I have just realised, albeit in a very delayed fashion, that my reader no longer has some of my favourite subscriptions still floating around within it. Here I am thinking that people in the blogworld were like me, working too hard to blog as frequently. I wish that were the case but NO – they have been blogging I just haven’t been following. Damn you Google Reader. You had made my life so much easier, lulled me into a wonderful but apparently false sense of security and now my Reader is in disarray. I am behind in all things important and don’t know if or when I will ever catch back up.
So to all wonderful people whom I follow regularly, and blogs that I comment on – I am sorry. I haven’t been deliberately ignoring you. In fact I have missed you. Now I will have to use my blogroll to try and find out who I have lost and try catch up.
On the positive side, it looks like I am in for a long day of reading!
Del
Categories: the world of blog
Tagged: and they call this work, blogging, irked
As I predicted last night, today was a much better day. I had to work, but it was actually a fun day as well as being a little productive. I even made time to have my hand henna-ed.
A beautiful woman from the Horn of Africa painted my henna ‘glove’ for me. I love henna. I don’t have the guts to get a real tattoo, but this will last a week or so.
Now it is almost time to go to the neighbours for dinner – slow baked lamb that is to die for and a viewing of So You Think You Can Dance. It should be great.
Categories: and they call this work
Tagged: and they call this work, family & friends everywhere
I’ve Twittered!
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