The wrong weekend to think about giving up drinking, anyway. I swear I did have some good intentions that way. Must-lose-weight/alcohol-is-empty-calories kind of intentions... but the moon, stars and planets have to be in perfect alignment for me to carry off such a feat of willpower; the slightest hitch, and I'm all " Oh god, I need a drink."

The new washing machine installation went off with only a tiny hitch. The cold water inlet tap/cock (probably not turned in 9 years) started leaking once I tried to do the first load (one stuffed washer..) Purhase of new washing machine cocks and a handy husband sorted that one out on the Friday, but it warranted a glass of something on Thursday night, especially after the drama of getting the damn thing delivered in the first place.

Friday morning things started to go more awry. The 'lemon delicious' cakes I was making for Zoe's birthday (to share with her class - she has a couple of friends who LOVE our lemon delicious cake) stuck to the pans BIG TIME. Both pans. With the cake delivery deadline being before 11.00 (recess), as I had an appointment in town at 11.15, I had no option other than to ring the school and get them to deliver the message that 'Mum has had a cake cooking disaster, and she'd have to make more for Monday.' With Saturday being her birthday, I figured I could get away with it, though I could have done without the spousal support: "What are you doing? Ringing the school? What are you going to say? Why didn't you make them last night? Well you left yourself no room for error." Thanks. And shut up. And why do you have to be hanging around at home instead of being at work?

Apparently she was upset, but her Wonderful Teacher told her that Mum would likely be more upset, so she should give me a great big understanding hug when she got home. So she did. And was able to giggle at just how stuffed the cakes were. They still tasted good, but they couldn't have been cut up into slices for classmates! Despite the rest of the day going ok, I felt justified in washing down the day's frustrations with a beer.

On Saturday things got a bit worse. I fell off the bike - the tandem I was riding with Cait - and I've wrenched my knee.

We were on the community ride, and I clipped the back wheel of someone in front when they braked suddenly. Cait, on the back, kept upright and held onto the bike, but I went tumbling off to the left, landing, luckily, on some grass at the side of the bike track. Good look that - NOT. We all know to be careful riding in a bunch, but I stuffed up. My left knee felt jarred but I got back on and it was ok riding. So I rode another 50km before and after a bacon and eggs breakfast at a cafe (in honour of Zoe's birthday). Strangely enough I seized up once we stopped riding, and by evening (despite icing it) I was hobbling - effecting an ungainly gait in order to favour said stuffed knee, and consequently putting stress on other parts of the old bod, so I'm a bit sore everywhere now. I have some impressive bruises to show for it, front and back of my thigh (and one bruise over on the right thigh!)


[Photo1 = bruise on front of thigh day 1.
Photo 2 = bruise on thigh day 2
Photo 3 = bruise on back of thigh]

So no riding for me on Sunday. The rest of the family rode the next day with another family, while I played support crew.

Caitlin rode my road bike, wore my bike shoes, and my bike glasses, a baptism by fire of 50km for her first time on a road bike and with cleats. (She did well too.) She'd like to keep all three, but she's starting with the shoes. (Meaning I need to buy myself another pair. That's cool, I can cope with that!) I just hope I'll be ok for the Gong ride in two weeks - and for some training rides this weekend.

So meantime, I need at least one drink a night to ... um ... soothe the frustrations?

I'll stay off the glue!

Labels: bike riding, doh

Yesterday afternoon I was making a saucepan of spaghetti bol so that we'd have a quick-to-prepare meal ready for when we all got home late from Touch Training (Marc + Cait with the other two in tow) and a BUG meeting (me).

I like to put red wine in my spag bol - it gives it this certain je ne sais quoi. [In other words I think it tastes better...] I gave up on cask reds for cooking a long time ago because I actually don't cook that many meals that require red wine. I figure you may as well use something that you can actually drink, and I like to think that the food tastes better with good wine in it!!

My motto is "I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food." So.. my usual M.O. is to have a bottle of red hanging around - I'll slosh some in the bolognaise, and then have a glass over dinner (except that lately I've been avoiding the reds because I tend to wake up the next day with a headache.)

I glance around the kitchen and find no opened bottles on the go, so I go to the bottom of the bookshelf where we've been keeping the reds. Only one left. Oooh, a cork instead of screw top. This isn't Marc's good wine is it? Nah.. wasn't that 'living' over on the buffet hutch underneath all the other 'stuff'...

Fast forward to 7.45 pm, and Marc is putting the spaghetti on to cook. I hear a gasp from the kitchen:

"You... opened... the....good... red.... ...."

"... the one you gave me for my 40th. (3 years ago.)

"The one I was saving for a special occasion."

Oh. Shit.

"You don't put this quality wine in cooking!"

(OMG, and it's the only wine we've ever 'cellared' as such too.)

In the range of stupid things I've done, this rates reasonably highly, especially since I gave it to him in the first place.

I suppose we all make mistakes.

So there we sat, slurping my old faithful spag bol, each with a glass of 6 year old, upmarket Penfolds Bin 389.

Bloody nice it was too.

And I didn't wake up with a headache either... I suppose that makes it pretty special....

Labels: doh

Yes, today I am walking around in a bit of a fog. I'm much much much better than I was. But I feel a bit dizzy, so I guess I haven't quite kicked this flu-virus-whatever thingy I had...have... I had started to (optimistically) think of it in the past tense, but I'm now I'm coughing a bit - presumably just so that I can say I've had a taste of the whole range of symptoms. It's just an annoying nasal-drip induced one that is only serving to make my throat a bit sore. And I'm stuffed up in the nose. And my head feels weird. And every now and then, like yesterday, I'm still getting the occasional slight hot flush, which I can only assume is viral rather than hormonal - even if the monthly hormonal thing is still happening in a very, and literally, draining kind of way. I don't think it is because it is a sensational 'hasta-la-vista winter' day, and I am overdressed here because the inside of the house still feels cool.

As I peered at myself in the mirror earlier, I thought "hmm, I need a haircut... actually... don't I have one tomorrow?" Fortunately by the time I'd come back down two flights of stairs, I actually remembered to check the calendar, and oh! goodness! I do have a haircut appointment. At 11.30 today. Very handy, but lucky I checked, because I'm well and truly off with the pixies.

At 11.30 I rocked up to the house of my hairdresser friend, only to find she had me down for 11.00! Doh! Fortunately she squeezed me in while her next client had to wait for some colour stuff to 'sit' or 'take' or whatever the terminology is. I don't know, I only do the quick, wash 'n wear/no goop kind of haircuts.

I've also realised I left my mobile phone in the car Marc's taken to work. Very smart.

All in all, not bad for half-a-day's work. Can I go back to bed now?

I didn't sleep well last night. The cough had started yesterday evening, and I dosed up with a cough suppressant, and was quite anxious about the possibility of coughing all night. I had fallen asleep though, because I know that I woke with a start as Marc suddenly lurched up, ripping the blankets off me, and then he jumped up and headed for the bathroom. I didn't get much of a response to my query - 'Are you all right... but what the hell?' Seems he had a nightmare and woke up in a sweat, but he then dropped straight back off to sleep. For some reason (probably something along the lines of several days of no exercise - and the fact that my heart was pounding from the sudden awakening) I couldn't get to sleep easily again. Every position felt uncomfortable, and I got up twice to go to the bathroom simply for a distraction. I noticed 2.30 on the clock, so of course then I felt more stressed about how much I wasn't sleeping. I must have dropped off at some point, because I dreamt about having to kick a door in (!! - must be watching too many cop shows - I was one of the goodies of course) - and as I kicked, I woke myself up violently kicking the blankets off with one leg delivering a great big heave.

So no wonder I'm off with the fairies today. Lack of sleep. A cocktail of various medications over the past few days? Who knows. Thrilling stuff this - the soap opera of my life. And not a bicycle in sight.

Labels: daily, doh, sick

Here's another quick mix cake recipe, as promised.

Passionfruit Butter Cake (quick mix)

125g butter, chopped
¾ cup (165g) castor sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (300g) SR flour
½ cup (125 ml) milk
¼ cup passionfruit pulp

Combine butter, sugar, eggs, flour and milk in medium bowl of electric mixer, beat on low speed until ingredients are combined. Then beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour. Stir in passionfruit. Spread into greased baba/bundt pan. Bake in moderate oven about 45 minutes. Turn onto wire rack to cool.

~~~~~~~

Note that it's only quick if you don't "accidentally" put 250g butter in it. Which is twice the amount of butter it says in the recipe. Which happens if you buy a double sized pack of butter (because it's cheaper) but don't *think* and just cut the big one in half to 'get' 125g, like you do an ordinary size pack... Very clever. Not.

[These brain snaps are a disturbing trend.]

So, hmmm, I don't think it's turned out. Funny that. (The concept that cake recipes have a certain balance of ingredients to make the cake turn out just right.) It tastes a bit.. buttery.. and it's falling apart a bit.

So, ... I've had to make another cake tonight.

Actually... I'd already started grating lemon rind to make another Lemon Delicious cake, because the one Alison made for Marc's birthday last night has kind of nearly disappeared, what with the girls taking a slice each to school, then having another slice when they got home from school, and he got home tonight and exclaimed "What's happened to my cake?!!" And he also said 'How come I didn't get a cake to take to work?' So being the lovely wife that I am, I started making him another one, just after I put the passionfruit one in the oven.

And then as I'm unwrapping the rest of the butter for that cake, it suddenly dawns on me the mistake I've made with the passionfruit one. Doh!

Seeings as they are so quick to make and all, I was quite prepared to make Yet Another Passionfruit cake as well - to use up the passionfruit the neighbour keeps giving us. While I'm in cake-making mode. BUT. I've run out of SR flour!

So it looks like I'll have to take this Lemon cake to tennis, the kids and he can pick at the buttery, falling aparty Passionfruit cake (and clog their arteries), and after I've restocked the pantry tomorrow, I can make him another lemon cake to make up for the kids eating all his birthday cake, and I can make another passionfruit cake to use up the passionfruit.

And I'll yield to more temptation and eat the damn stuff.
Next time we have a home game at tennis, I'm offering to take fruit.

~~~
And now the lemon delicious one has stuck to the pan (like they normally DON'T), and perhaps I should just give up making cakes, quick-mix or otherwise.

Arrrrghhhh!

Labels: aarrrgghhh, daily, doh, recipes

So I had an appointment card from the Dentist - with three appointments - one for each child. I very "efficiently" transcribed the times onto my calendar, and then threw the card out. [A valiant but misguided attempt at dejunking my life...]

As this week progresses I check the calendar and make strategic arrangements to fit the appointments around the usual afternoon activities. Monday morning's one goes off without a hitch. Take kid to 9.00 appointment; drop her late at school. [And hope like hell the hygienist's analogy of badly cleaned and unflossed teeth smelling like the bottom of a garbage bin makes some impact on the 14 year old who often "forgets" to clean her teeth.]

By Tuesday I'm thinking ahead to the next day, and I'm eyeing off the Wednesday afternoon madness, which includes a 4.40 dentist appointment for Zoe. I turn to a friend and we come up with a complicated car pooling arrangement, whereby my eldest gets a lift with her to town for netball, and in return I arrange to pick up one of her kids from a local activity and bring her home with me until the husband gets home.

During Wednesday I get a courtesy call from the Dentist to remind me of the 4.40 appointment on Thursday afternoon. Duh! Got that wrong didn't I. But Wednesday afternoon suddenly gets easier, and I make a mental note for Thursday. (The term 'mental' here, in retrospect, is apt.)

Thursday I have tennis, and then I stop by the shops on my way home. I am chuffed with myself for being assertive with the jewellers when I go to return the watch I bought Alison for her birthday. "We only exchange or give store credit." Me [firmly, and 3 times to separate assistants going up the scale in seniority]: "No... I was told I could get a refund if my daughter didn't like it. I WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE OTHERWISE." They finally gave me the refund.

At home I spend some time counselling middle child about how to deal with the fact that the friend who spent time here the previous evening blundered in and 'had a go' on the friendship bracelets Ali was making for her rep teammates, making mistakes and making more work for Alison.

We realise the time and race off to her netball training, and I get chatting instead of coming home. Then I get a call from eldest daughter at home. The dentist's have rung, and I've missed the 4.40 appointment! DOH! They must get so frustrated with people who do that, particularly when they give the courtesy call reminder the day before.

Damn this memory failure thing. Was I was too flushed with my own rare display of determined, yet polite assertiveness in the shop? Or the fact that I was filling my mind with an unnecessary amount of 'chuffedness' re the fact that I actually played quite well at tennis thankyouverymuch!

Am I on the slippery slope to early onset Alzheimers, or is this normal for mothers? (Of my age?)

Can I get a memory upgrade?

Or do I just now and for the rest of my life need a system where I record things in 10 different places as memory prompts?

So this morning I've phoned the dentists and done my apologies. And rescheduled. And written up the other appointment scheduled for Monday afternoon on my odds and ends reminder whiteboard - heaven help me, I don't want to forget that one.

Labels: daily, doh, losing my mind

Marc informs the office manager at his work that he is ducking out to the doctors to see about the infection he has just under his eye.

"Ah, yes, I noticed that... so is it a pig sty?"

********

No, he wasn't joking. Just one more "W****-ism" as they now refer to them as in the office. Like

"Could you write a bit of a spool on that topic."

and

"Could you be more pacific."

Kath and Kim eat your heart out.

And, no, it's not a stye. It isn't quite up on the eyelid, but the dr said it could be a staph infection like impetigo. Or shingles. And the results from the swab won't be back till about Wednesday, so he has to treat for both. $50 worth of medication, thankyouverymuch. But, really that's neither here nor there. I have fingers crossed it's the bacterial infection and not shingles. Shingles would be bad news at any time, but especially so just a week out from the Big Ride.

But while we're on the topic of pig sties, I've managed in the past 2 days to get a bit on top of the kitchen. Not much else, but I feel slightly more in control. Of my benches at least. Exhibit A - missing one day of posting on here! Must have been doing something!

I got one 'monkey' off my back, by getting our tax info collated and to the accountant. Only about 4 months late, but because you can do that when you use an accountant, you fall into a very bad habit of putting it off and off until an apparent deadline of around mid-March. (That particular monkey had been clinging there since about October!)

I have taken over the ongoing updating of a website for the BUG (Bicycle User Group) that we joined, and promptly ran into problems with it. Of course. The web designer told me how to fix an anomaly between versions, but then, somehow I stuffed something else up. At least I figured it out myself in the end. Pat on the back. I'm also setting up a Blog for the BUG (and naturally calling it a BUG Blog, what else?).. so that has consumed some time as well.

I have a netball handbook to finish, and have to wait on people promising information and logos, and not being forthcoming with them. It has to be finished in time to be printed and collated during the week. It will be one other 'monkey' I'll be glad to have ditched before the 17th.

We should be riding this weekend as our last ditch training before The Ride starting next weekend, but we have a lot of kids' netball commitments. Grrrr. Maybe we'll squeeze in a short ride somewhere, and we'll just have to hope we've done enough. "More than last year", as Cait keeps saying. Let's hope there aren't too many more hills than last year! I haven't been on a bike since Sunday, but I kind of felt like a break. I've done two swimming fitness squads, a one-hour weight training session with the trainer, and a brisk 3/4 hour walk up the beach and back. Hope it's enough.

And that's about it. We're not getting up for the early community ride. Thank heavens. I'll have enough 5am wake ups on the Ride to last me for quite a while methinks. If you knew how much of a morning person I am. NOT. you would shake your head and laugh.

Avagoodweekend, all.

Labels: bike riding, daily, doh

You'd think with, currently, 3 cars* in our household this would be an unlikely scenario, but as I went to race out to my trainer class just before 10am, I realised that Marc had accidentally gone to work with 'my' car key to one of the cars in his pocket. That car is parked in front of the remaining car (which I do have keys to), so I can't get out!

[* - our 'third' car is one we need to sell, a little Ford Laser hatchback, but it has a leak, and after constantly getting puddles in the front floor well after it rains, the carpet has been pulled out of it awaiting Marc finding the time to diagnose the source of the leak and fix it before we can sell it. Funnily enough, between bike riding and all his work trips, there hasn't been the time to attend to that, so we are embarrassingly, at the moment, a 3 car family, with only 2 drivers.]

So we've been 'playing' musical cars over the past few weeks, and this is how it has panned out:

He usually drives the Laser to work - and he left it there while he was overseas. Twice in that time I have had to take our Commodore station wagon (which is the car we use to carry our tandems on specially designed roof racks) into town to get the air conditioning fixed - and on Thursday last week I left the Commodore at the workshop, walked to his office, and drove home in the Laser. He always leaves his Laser key near his desk in case anyone in the office needs to move it. I didn't think ahead, though, and just used mine, which resides all the time on my key ring. I like to carry all my keys all the time.. something he harasses me about, but I find it more convenient that way. Hmmm. Till today. (I can feel some more hassling coming on.. though I will forever defend my right to my 'clump' - which is a whole other storyline!!)

Anyway!!

He got home on Friday, and picked the Commodore up and drove it home.

He drove the Commodore into work on Monday because he took the triplet into the bike shop to have something fixed on it.

Yesterday he drove the Laser, but because I'd not picked up his key, he took the key off my keyring. However he went to the airport for a one-day work return trip to Sydney, so didn't get to retrieve his key from the office.

This morning he started putting his gear in the laser to go to the office, but then decided he should take the commodore in case he needed to bring the triplet home. So he transferred his stuff back into the commodore. And took off. With, as it turns out, the laser key in his pocket.

Doh!

So, despite having a key to the third car - the Landcruiser - I can't get out because the Laser is blocking it. A fact I realised 10 minutes before my trainer session was due to start.

"On yer bike!" I hear you say. Yes, I would, if it only took me 10 minutes to ride the distance I was going to drive, never mind the fact that the dirt back road would be mud after the bucketloads of rain we've had in the past 24 hours. I've rescheduled my training session to another day - so I really should do something physical now. Like ride my bike somewhere? Although rain is still threatening.

Marc will have to drive home with the key because I have to take Cait to Touch this afternoon. Of course, if he does so, it will most likely rain and touch will be cancelled.. fate and karma are like that, are they not? Besides which, don't you think he should take some time off today after having to get up at 4.50 am!! yesterday to catch a 6.30am flight... and getting home around 9pm.! That's a stupidly long working day in anyone's language... and the poor guy doesn't really need to throw in an unnecessary 40km!! Says me.

[Ed. later: Says me? *snorts*. He drove home at around 3.30, gave me the key, and drove back into work - because ... "I've promised stuff to clients!". See, he is taking tomorrow off to take Ms 11 to a swimming carnival.. so, ohmigod, couldn't take more hours off just before that. Nup. Never mind the fact that we just went about 20 days straight without seeing him at all. (I would also put money on him taking work calls during the carnival... and taking his bloody laptop to try and get some other 'urgent' stuff done in between races!)

He left with me making very pointed remarks like "Work-life balance, darling.... work-life balance..."]

Labels: aarrrgghhh, doh

The old "where are my sunglasses? - duh - they're on your head" trick - with a twist:

After a 5 am start on Saturday morning to do the community bike ride, noone was particularly enthusiastic about getting up to ride some more on Sunday morning for more "training" - least of all Ms Likes To Sleep In. We had to literally drag her out of bed (and so she lay on the floor and went back to sleep.) So we had to keep going back upstairs to make sure she was up. And she then tried to tell us she didn't know we were getting up to do it, when we know we had said we would because she had made the comment on Saturday that it was 'too late now to make arrangements to do something with her friend on Sunday afternoon.' *shrugs*. It wasn't fun. It's hard enough dealing with your own inner demons.

We were riding to meet up with a Sunday morning BUG ride, so needed to leave about 8.15 to meet up with them before the 9.00 start. Finally we are about to walk out of the house, and Marc can't find his sunglasses. Both of us are going demented looking for them... going over when he last had them (when he took the kids down for a swim the previous afternoon.) Him going up the two flights of stairs to our bedroom. I even check whether the ones I have perched on my head are mine. After about 10 mins I find an old pair for him to use, and then go out to put my helmet on. Hang on. One pair of sunnies on my head. One pair of sunnies with the arm tucked down the front of my shirt. OOPS. (Or rather... 'Oh shit.. you're... going... to.... kill.... me.....')

The old "We won't be out in the sun for long" trick:

We broke off from the BUG ride (something we had planned to do) and rode on further with some other riders who also wanted to get some more kilometres down in training for the Big Ride. [Think we might have broken away anyway - the ride leader went overboard in an attempt to ride at a 'beginners' pace for all the newbie bike riders -this was designated an Easy Breakfast Ride - to the point that we were all struggling to ride that slowly - especially on tandems! And bunched up in a group, riding slowly, would actually be harder on the novice riders... but anyway...that's another story...]

We took swimmers and a couple of towels in the panniers.. but decided 'we won't be in the water for long - just a dip' and didn't take rashies. And didn't plaster on the sunscreen. OOPS. How to feel like an irresponsible parent.

The 'do what I say, not what I do' trick:

Our destination was this place - a tidal creek just near the ocean. This photo was actually taken when we were there late afternoon a few weeks ago. Yesterday the tide was running out, so you could jump in upstream, and float down, and then make sure you get yourself over so you can get out near the steps...

...amongst some rocks.. some of which have oyster shells on them. So I ... 'duh' .. realise as I touch one. "Don't touch the rocks, they're sharp!" I say to Alison. OOPS -too late for me... with a sharp cut to the pad of my right index finger. (And both of us managed to get little nicks on our toes too....)

The old "Maybe you should do as HE suggests" trick:

After a very ordinary take-away lunch of hamburger and chips (that took 45 mins, and where they burnt the hamburger buns, and the chips were undercooked), we all had a go of swimming across the current to the sandflats, walking upstream and floating down again. We had to deal with our Ms Cautious (Zoe) having a freak-out about swimming across the flow to the sandbank (wouldn't put her head down to swim - because it was salt water and she didn't have goggles and she needs to see where she is going, don't you know! ).. and then freaking out some more about floating back down in the current. [Zoe is like this.. if we hadn't actively encouraged her in a lot of things, all she would do all day is sit on the lounge reading a book.. and she always surprises herself when she realises how capable she is once she faces down her inner demons.]

So I am dealing with her panic, and don't stop at the first set of steps that Mr Sensible recommends, but float on down to the next set, with the oyster rocks.. and.. realise then that there's actually a line of people fishing. All bar one have pulled their lines in because of us coming down. Except one kid. And I can't manoevre me AND Zoe away, so I end up hooking myself in his line. Fortunately when I pointed my toes, it slid off. "Sorry...!!"... But he was undoubtedly cursing me. OOPS. (I really should do what I'm told in future.)

So any more OOPSES?

The triplet got a puncture as we were heading down the highway. More a 'bugger!' than an OOPS.

We started, as I said, with the Community Ride on Saturday morning. I decided Cait and I should ride 'up' in B group, as I could ride at the head of C group on my MTB. We had to ride hard at the back, but were keeping up. Till I decided to be a hero and get Cait to jump off and pick up something that fluttered out of the pocket of someone in front. After we'd committed to that, we realise she's coming back for it anyway. We exchange 'thankyou' and 'no worries', and then we look up, and the rest of the group has disappeared! Just before a fork in the road too. We keep going straight ahead instead of taking the right turn (oops). Fortunately I know where we are headed (ie. back to town)... so we lead this other girl - it turns out that this is her first time coming to the ride.

We reach the start of the bike path that heads back to Coffs. We ride through C group who are stopped. They say B group has gone through. We see a group ahead. But, wait.. they are slow... that's D group. Did C group think we said D not B? I pass the mobile phone to Cait, who calls through to Marc, and the call is taken by his Stoker Secretary, Alison. Yes, they are ahead, just passing the uni. We charge our way through D group. "Coming through!!".

Cait christens the rest of B-group as "Bloody Pirates", and extends the PoTC analogy. "It's the Pirates code" she snorts. "Whoever falls behind gets left behind." We are a bit miffed, because when we ride C group we are forever stopping to wait for the slower riders in the group. Seems once you hit B, then the 'community' part of the ride falls apart. We do catch them in the end, by not taking a small detour off the cycle path that they normally do.. Oh well, at least we rode hard! Marc reckoned we were silly for stopping; it is easier to stop and start a single bike. Guess I am just overly helpful sometimes. "And just as well we did" I say. "She didn't know which way to go." "Yes, but you could have just ridden slowly, and been the link between the group and her.." OOPS. Yes, rightio.. but gee it must be great being so damned logical all the time!

The rest of Saturday was more netball for both the older two. Ali had 'selections' and made the Woopi rep team. (Get the chequebook ready, Mum and Dad.) And in the afternoon, it was another trip into Coffs for Cait to play a club grading game in there.

And after 57km on the bike yesterday, at around 30 degrees C, (and possibly riding too hard in the afternoon to make up for the excruciatingly slow pace first up) I was bloody exhausted when we got home. It was hot. Damned hot. We all stood under the garden shower in our bike gear. Then flopped. It took extreme will to make myself follow the rest of them down to the surf for a late afternoon dip. The ocean at the moment is really cold!! (funny how it can vary so much).. but I will never again need convincing that cold/ice water therapy is good for sore muscles. Couldn't believe how much better I felt.

We made it to bed by about 10.30.. but I would have welcomed more sleep, and I am wondering if my legs will have anything in them at swimming this arvo. And to think we are planning to do this sort of riding 9 days in a row. Just call me Crazy. Trace.

Labels: bike riding, doh

Heh. What is it with teenagers, and tweenagers for that matter? Lying!! Why do they try to get away with the un-get-awayable? Do they think we're stupid or what?

The background: Thursday night when I pick up pizzas, I buy a bottle of lemonade. We have a tradition in our family that the kids get fizzy primarily for 'special' occasions. It doesn't reside in the fridge for daily consumption. Parties, celebrations, (and when they have ridden many kilometres on a bike.) Whenever anyone in the family has 'done good', we celebrate, and they can have fizzy. So, Thursday, Alison's haul at the swimming carnival was certainly meritorious. (And Zoe swam well too) So, yes, I bought a bottle of lemonade.

Arrive home with the pizzas - nothing has been done in preparation. Mum gets the poops, and they don't get lemonade, and it sits unopened in the fridge.

Fast forward to last night. Alison asks if they can have the lemonade. Guess they didn't do much to earn it yesterday, but maybe I did on their behalf - (40 km of mountain bike riding.) Or maybe I was just too stuffed to say no.

"Yeah, ok", I relent. Ali gets it out of the fridge, and hmmm.. interesting... it has been opened and about a glass worth has been consumed.

"Rightio, who opened the lemonade?"

"Not I" said Alison. "Not I" said Zoe. "Not I" said the teenager who had arrived home at least an hour earlier than the rest of us.

"You're kidding aren't you!" I say. "One house, currently 4 occupants, and you expect me to believe that not one of you opened it!!" We all look at the obvious culprit.

"Ah, duh... yeah... well, I only took a little bit."

"Well, none for you for dinner then."

"But it was only a little bit!!!"

"Um, Caitlin. You might just have got away with it, despite it not really being the right thing to do (especially as the celebration was not, that day, on your behalf.).. But you lied about it!! What possessed you to lie?"

"Um, it was just an automatic reaction."

Terrific.

Automatic reaction. Deny, deny, lie... ??

I can't figure it. Does she really think I'm that stupid? Unless.. (recalling my university psychology lectures), there has been a variable schedule of reinforcement occuring. Translation: Is she actually getting away with it more than I realise, so that it has actually become a Pavlovian response to lie as an automatic response.

In which case, maybe I'm not as on the ball as I thought I was.

Guess we are all only human... and we all make errors. And some are far dumber than not picking up your teenager's propensity to lie!

I'll leave you with these for a chuckle:

Labels: doh, parenting, teenagers

It's just gone 11pm. Last of the three has been nagged off to bed more than half an hour ago. Suddenly I'm aware of this thumping noise from upstairs.

I yell up "WHOEVER THAT IS, GET TO BLOODY BED!".

Still the thumping continues. Sheesh. I leave my skype conversation with Marc and tippy toe upstairs...

Light on in Ms 13's room. As I appear in her doorway I see her in the middle of her bedroom floor just as she spins around and sees me. She is clutching her mp3 player, with the headphones on.

'What on earth are you doing?'

'Um... dancing... .... I... ah... suppose I must have been making a noise?"

Sheesh.



Earlier, after chasing Ms 11 to bed, I hear sobbing that sounds like it's Ms 8, who has been in bed for at least half an hour.

I bolt up. What's the matter?

Seems Ms 11 was so annoyed (to the point of crying!) that her little sister had failed, yet again, to remove her brush from the electric toothbrush base that they share, that she had to go and "TICKLE" her... Never mind the fact that she was just about asleep (or should have been.)

I threaten Ms 11 with going up and tickling, or jabbing, her whenever I discover, after bedtime, something that she has failed to do that annoys me. She realised pretty damn quickly that that would mean a hell of a lot of harrasment after she was quite possibly asleep. One suitably chastened child there... but sometimes you wonder don't you...

Marc is all "LMAO" about the first one. But then he's over THERE, and I am HERE, chasing malingering teenagers (and tweenagers) to bed every bloody night.

~~~

Hah.. other than that I have had a fairly good day.

This morning I had to go to a special School assembly to see Ms 11 inducted onto the Student Council. Nice 'tear to the eye and proud of her' moment, and one where you feel all warm and glowing about the positives the school has offered your kids .. let me see.. *counting*.. this is the tenth year now. (Plenty of things I get annoyed about, but today was a positive day. Pretty much.)

I came home, and went back up there an hour later to have a chat with her class teacher about making sure she is able to 'share' her Big Ride experience with the class. And other stuff about how she is doing.

And I took up that box of books, and the librarian loved them. Took them all, so I judged pretty well. And I gave a pile of kids music CDs to one of the kindy teachers, which were also appreciated.

I went to my personal trainer class, and she worked me a bit harder. Felt pretty good about it all, except when she upped the weights on the 'fly'? - on back, hold dumbell in each hand, hold out to side, bring up and meet in the middle. That one. My arm muscles are pathetic. And even though she was supporting my arms, I was scared I would drop them on myself, because there is no way in hell I could have held them up myself. Oh me of little faith in my own ability. (I felt almost the same when she upped the weights on that the last time, so I can only presume she knows what she is doing.)

She also tried me doing a bike workout to work on my hill climbing... with this pretty cool, urgent sounding music to pedal to. But the bike sizing/set up was such that I felt like I was straining something untoward in my left buttock. Freak out time! .. don't want that to happen! So I stopped. Just have to accept that I am VERY paranoid... to the extent that I may err on the side of caution. (Particularly 3 weeks out from the Big Ride.)

I also went out this evening and found myself some more voluntary work! Pfft, as if I needed it!! But I have offered to do the website for the Bicycle User Group that we recently joined. I have enough knowledge, that with some guidance, I can do it, rather than them pay the web designer who set up the site for them in the first place. It is a bit of a selfish move as well... I want to learn more, and maybe open some doors for myself. We'll see.

Labels: daily, doh

Last night I had one of those 'duh!' moments over the cause of this back aggravation. (My back is better than it was yesterday, but still not conducive to doing much in the way of energetic movement.. which kind of rules out housework again today. What a shame.)

But, you know.. DUH! - it wasn't starting the mower at all! It was raking up these orange.. berries (I suppose you call them) that are currently dropping from the palm tree that some idiot of a previous owner of this house planted out on the footpath. Raking them up into a pile, then shovelling them into a bucket to go in the green waste bin. (Even though they are orange.) Shovelling! That'll do it to me. Every time. Lucky I don't live where it snows and you have to get out there and shovel your way out to the street. I'd be an invalid. Digging or shovelling are things I usually avoid in the garden for good reason. Necessity dictated doing it, and I'm paying for it.

This is what has dropped on the ground since Tuesday afternoon. Imagine how many were there since... well.. since they started ripening and dropping. Last year we hacked off the big bunches (one on each tree).. and the dead palm fronds (which are inconveniently getting higher and higher each year as the wretched tree grows.) We haven't got round to doing it this year. Really, this is so not the sort of tree we need. We need low to no maintenance trees! For heaven's sakes! One day, we'll cut the damn things down. It's just not something we need on The List.

Speaking of Lists.. well I was thinking about Lists.. because Jeanie over in Paradise had me cracking up with her M.O. for list writing. (Among other things!) I am quite enamoured of her tactic of having 'Write List' as the first item on the list, so that, once you've printed out your list, you can immediately tick one thing off and feel like you're already getting somewhere. I like her style.

I do try to write lists as a way of trying to get myself DOING THE THINGS I SHOULD BE DOING WOMAN!! I am ridiculously erratic with them though.. (which is hardly surprising, given that chaos theory was most likely coined with me in mind) and I have a tendency to lose them. My latest attempt at gaining some control is with this flexible magnetic whiteboard I have put on the fridge (where I am likely to see it.)

It's working, at least, for phone messages that the kids take. (And providing an endless source of entertainment for them as they add stuff like "Buy 3 packets of Mars Bars and one chocolate cake.") And rather than ticking, or crossing out (my usual MO), I am getting some sort of sense of satisfaction using the felt tip on the pen to erase the list item once it is achieved.

Mind you, as soon as I decided to take a photo, I thought of a million and one other things that really should be on it, but I'd need a very big whiteboard for everything that needs to be done round here.

But let's not go on a 'woe is me' expedition right now. Sometimes, actually, all you need in a day to cheer you up is to see someone who makes you feel like you might actually have your shit together. (Or rather, someone to warn you to get your shit together, and keep it together.) Go over to Rockstar Mommy's blog and check out the video. I've just linked to it, because she does an introduction to this "pre-wedding" video better than I could!

Oh YouTube.. what brave new world have you wrought? There's a moral in there. Beware the "friend" with a video camera next time you're about to drop your bundle and behave like a three year old. Otherwise Worldwide Humiliation could be yours.

But, hey.. I'm feeling pretty ok about myself now.

Labels: doh, huh

Labels: doh, eating

There's this kids' song:

'When Mr Clickety Came..
he plays a silly game..
and all the kids in the street ..
they like to do the same
Wash your face with orange juice...Wash your face with orange juice
Clean your teeth with bubble gum...Clean your teeth with bubble gum
Fix a fence with sticky tape... Fix a fence with sticky tape
Brush your hair with a toothbrush .. Brush your hair with a toothbrush
Clean your teeth with bubblegum... Clean your teeth with bubblegum...
Belly flop on a pizza... Belly flop on a pizza?!


So anyway I've been singing 'Fix a line with sticky tape' in my head all day.. Because I fixed the clothes line... again.. with duct tape. (It broke over a year ago when a kid at Zoe's birthday party swung on it.) One day I suppose we will have to fix it properly...

Just seemed like a bit of a metaphor for the way the day started. And the way I feel about the rest of the week. Hand me the sticky tape, please.

Labels: daily, doh

I may be going slowly insane, but at least my legs are no longer hairy. I've been waxing them myself at home for over a year now ... (ever since I gave the beauty salon the flick because of what they did to my eyebrow.) I prided myself that I was saving money too. I've come to realise I have really been just redistributing my payments. An hour of contortionism each time (and not a particularly good job either..) and I've actually been contributing to the chiropractor's superannuation fund instead.

So a couple of days ago I walked by a local salon.. only $12 for a half leg wax (as opposed to the $17 or more I used to pay.) What the heck, it's Christmas, I thought. I booked in.. went yesterday. Ten minutes and it was done.

I wonder why I've been bothering myself all this time. Even if the woman wasn't particularly friendly or talkative. 10 minutes!!

Waxing my legs is one of the few girlie things I still bother with. (I shave under my arms, and shave the worst of the bikini line.. and that's all. I'm such a dag.) I usually feel MUCH better when my legs are smooth.. it usually gives me a boost. It just didn't really work yesterday (and it's not really working today).. probably all those worms I was eating...

And all the coughing.

And all the christmas shopping doing my head in.

At least THIS made me laugh. (See, there's a good reason why I don't colour my hair!!)

And yesterday I got THIS for my nephews. To share. At half the price it is going for there. Progress.


But, anyway, this is how crazy I am:

I loathe all the overdone Christmas stuff.. right?

But, I make those cards... and do up a webpage.. and a spiel. And it takes hours. Because I fuss around with it all.

Then the girls start bringing home sixty million cheap cards from friends which have just 'To X from Y' written on them. And they go 'Bloody cards.. what a waste of trees ... what is the point of them?' (I wonder where they got THAT idea from?) And so.. what are they going to do instead? Make treats - little xmas shaped biscuits/cookies/chocolate truffles. For all their friends.

Do I need a kitchen mess all weekend? No. So why oh why?

It's true.. I am crazy.

This morning I was all set to go to a Master Class presentation at Cait's school. 9.30 the invitation said, to see the 'best of' powerpoint research presentations the class had done. I dressed up in decent clothes... Thinking.. a couple of hours there.. then I'm back home and into the domestics. Hey yeah.

I also felt good that I had this to go to at the high school, because the primary school and high school end of year presentations clash next Monday morning. Both are at 9.30 am! Doh! Cait is getting something (the usual walk up and across stage, collect certificate, shake hands, walk straight off and sit back down in audience. But at least one of the other two will get something also (got a letter from school - just don't know who it's for!).. Alison is playing flute in the band... and is also in the running to be elected to the SRC, which will be announced.

So I will go to the primary one... and Cait is cool with that.

This morning when she reminds me about the Master Class presentation, she says 'I'm on last... it possibly won't be till after lunch.' AFTER LUNCH?!!! Like I have the time to sit there for 4 hours?! Hell, no, I have all this pre-christmas panic stuff to do! Plus mow the lawn. "Text me around recess and let me know how it's going." (It's 11.00 and I haven't heard...)

And I've been such a busy bee. Not. I have been sitting on the computer for 2 hours. Some of it is really important stuff.. like the christmas letter spiel. Riiight. And to do any domestics I need to change out of my decent clothes. And I'm still in them. (And it's raining so I can't mow.)

I'm just, basically... insane. But at least my legs are smooth.

** UPDATE. 1.15 pm : I took a punt on the timing.. went up to the school.. the teacher slotted her presentation in before lunch, so I was out of there in less than half an hour. Happy days.. now I have time to do some domestics.

Labels: Christmas, daily, doh

Might have had something to do with our circuit problem, don't you think...

This was an external power point.. under cover in the carport.. and it had been hidden, unused, behind a big board leaning against the wall above it. As soon as we'd cleared the 'runway', and moved the board, there was our answer. Black soot on the outside of the plate, and scorch marks on the back of the board. It was actually full of an ants nest.. (it all fell out as soon as Marc pulled it apart). Salt air, damp... and finally ... zappo.

So we're back and plugged in and cookin' with gas electricity.

(A bit cheaper than getting the electrician to sort it too... )

Labels: daily, doh

I think I got 'got'. Twice. In one day. *Ouch*

So I gloated about our lovely weather.. over at Northern Girl's place.. and at Fracas'. Jinx. Noone likes a smartypants, really. Even if they did mention Australia and I just jumped in and went all 'yoo hoo! yes, Australia!, it's lovely here this time of year, come on over'.

So we suffered. 40 degree heat here yesterday. (That's around 110 Farenheit I think.)
God it was hot. Would have traded for some snow and ice in an instant. The poor kids had Touch after school, and we had to turn up because Cait was meeting us there. Alison wasn't keen on going, and I only made her because it was a team sport. I dunked their shirts in water and they put them on wet. And the Landcruiser has kick-arse airconditioning. The Kids Touch (for Zoe) was cancelled, but they went ahead with the Junior games, just as a gusty southerly (ahead of a storm front) blew in. That was insane in itself, with wind gusts of up to 85 kph nearly blowing us off our feet (I'm using the Bureau of Meteorology stats here) but at least the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees in 5 minutes.

I also spruiked about a breakthrough I had with Her Highness over an issue two nights ago. Where I handled something right for a change and she didn't stomp off to bed yelling at me. I was all smugly 'Eureka, I've got it!' I'd made the breakthrough and so now all I had to do was just apply that strategy next time and every time and .. voilà .. instant mother-daughter harmony. Barely 12 hours later we had the arguing and stomping and threats that "You are lucky I even told you I wanted to do that, I could have just gone and done it and you wouldn't have known" over something I decided wasn't necessary or appropriate for her to do today. (In other words I said "No" to something she wanted to do.) You're right Northern Girl. "Slushy". Some days it flows like a river of chocolate. Some days it's ice and snow and blizzard conditions.

~~~~
Did I mention here we have decided to do the NSW Big Ride again next year? Yep, most people we know think that we're craaaazzzy... but before you start casting nasturtiums (*wink*), check out these guys who are riding around America and Mexico with their twin 8 year old sons on a triplet and a single bike. (Warning: if you are hooked enough to start reading their entries, they are up to #148, so you might whittle away a few hours on a vicarious adventure. Don't forget what else it was you were going to do right now!)

Anyway, back to our measly "little" Big Ride, then. Marc decided to pull out of the Touch tournament in NZ so as to spend the time doing family stuff. It may not be long before #1 is not interested in doing stuff like that with us. He is also conscious of how much time he spends away with work. I am proud of him .. it was a shit of a decision to have to make.

(Did I mention that I missed him when he worked away?)

Did I also mention that it was hot yesterday?!! Hot enough to melt! Love this entry in the Sculptures by the Sea exhibition in Sydney in early November.
(I nicked this pic, and cropped it, from Graces' Blog. I didn't think they'd mind!)

Labels: bike riding, daily, doh, karma, teenagers

What a crazy day yesterday. Yes, I found the swimmers.

Marc and I have this theory about finding things you have lost or misplaced. A good 90% of the time they are always 'in the first place you looked'. You just never look properly the first time. (Or even the sixth time in my case yesterday.) It's amazing how many times this holds true.

So they were in the car. The first place I looked. Behind one of the folded up seats in the very back. I looked behind the one on the right hand side (where I thought I'd draped the swimmers.) I didn't look behind the one on the left hand side. I don't know why.

So I missed my swimming for no reason. I cried.

And I did a number of other very vague things in the afternoon, as we headed into town for an appointment and then the shops, to the extent that Cait and Ali were shaking their heads and saying "You're seriously losing it Mum!!!" Just before they convinced me to get takeaway KFC for dinner.

I went to bed a bit earlier last night. (Though I had to get up to take some cough medicine around 3.30 am.)

And I took myself for a walk this morning before it got too hot.. (Exercise endorphins are supposed to help,right?.) After a stint in the primary school library- at around 35 degrees outside, and no airconditioning - I would have cheerfully jumped into an ice bath.. (or teleported myself to Northern Girl's place) but I have cooled down now. Thank heavens for our house and the sea breeze we get.

And, thank heavens for little gems that you find on the internet:

This guy started out putting up little videos of him "dancing" when he was travelling overseas.. as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends. A chewing gum company saw them, and approached him (!!!) and funded more travel for more dancing! He put together this video - I guarantee it'll put a smile on your face and make everything seem right with the world for a short time at least.




His name is Matt Harding and his website is called Where the hell is Matt?

And I just found his "Where the hell WAS Matt" on YouTube. Same music, different places. Still funny, but the other one is more polished.

Labels: classic, daily, doh