(Translation for non-Aussies/Kiwis, click here)

In other words it's the blog post you're having when you're not having a blog post.

We haven't been washed away. For some reason or another I've actually been a bit busy. Can you believe it?! (No?... well, I guess some of it has been spent reading blogs, and half composing blogs, but never quite getting it all together.)

I have a draft post half completed, and a few others swishing around in my head. Meantime out in the real world, I did have my one hour swim squad on Monday, Zoe's school swimming carnival Tuesday, a bike ride for me yesterday (in which I got FOUR flats! and ended up calling Marc to come and get me and the bike), and today and tomorrow I have to head to town for various errands (including a lower back x-ray I should have had done before Christmas), visiting my daughter's friend's mum in hospital, and perhaps even buying some food for us all to eat. My favourite shorts ripped in the seat on Tuesday afternoon (hopefully all of the ripping happened at home, and I wasn't walking around the swimming carnival all day with a big hole in my pants!) - and so I wouldn't mind finally spending a clothes shop voucher I got for my birthday last August on some new clothes.

We had still more rain on Monday and Tuesday. (Yes, the swimming went ahead in the rain.) Everything is going mouldy. But I just hung washing out standing ankle deep in water; today, yes, hallelujah, there is blue sky.

Yesterday we actually saw the sun (hence the bike riding) but then had a tremendous thunderstorm around 4pm and a power blackout for nearly 3 hours. (Gah! What do you do between end of school and dinner with no computer, no TV - and very little light because it has come over so dark!?!! and it's bucketing down outside!)

I also have committed myself to some netball paperwork for rego on Saturday - which therefore needs to be done by.. hmmm.. tomorrow?!

Needless to day, serious blogging must wait.

I'll be baccck.

Labels: daily, misc

It has been threatening to storm all afternoon. I've had my ear on the ominous rumbles of thunder, and my eye on the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) radar. Rescued the washing off the line around 1pm, just as a few drops fell, but nothing much has happened since. Not here, anyway, but a bit later on today not all the after school commitments are right here.

So far Zoe's tennis lesson has been cancelled. 10km away they obviously got more wet than where we are. Caitlin has Touch scheduled a few kms north at 5.30, then she has to go back down south to town for netball at 7.30. The Touch people are a bit crazy - they'll play in the rain, unless it's "dangerous" (ie. lightning, hail...) or the fields are too soggy. Netball? Who knows. They'll try and play till the courts get too slippery.. sometimes meaning a wasted 50km round trip.

So I'm sitting here not quite sure whether I'll be out and about or not, and not quite sure what I want. We can always do with the rain. Noone in Australia wishes rain away anymore. But it's a shame to miss one's sport. I just wish I knew.

But there's one reason I would love it if it just pelted down.

It's bloody Halloween. Today. Apparently. Which, in these parts, ie. Australia, where we do not have a tradition of doing Halloween, means that some kids run around in pathetic excuses for costumes, focusing only on the collecting of "lollies" (as we call "candy") There is no spirit of dressing up - like it is properly done in North America.

Well, that's what they do around here, anyway.

And they do it from .. about... now. ie. 4pm. Can't do the porch light off trick - because it is still light. Daylight saving has just started, so can't do the porch light thing till after 7pm, and the local riff raff don't understand that protocol anyway.

It probably sounds as if I'm a bit over the top in my 'anti'-ness. Perhaps it has something to do with the way our door got egged in our first year in this house when we were caught unawares with the trick-or-treat phenomenon. Great trick kids. NOT.

In subsequent years the walls of our house have been egged as well as part of the unsupervised "Halloween" antics of stupid kids.

So needless to say, I'm very 'anti'. If others want to do the Halloween thing, that's fine. Just, please... don't involve me. My poor deprived children are not allowed to get involved in roaming the streets begging for lollies from strangers either.

So we have a 'no Halloween' note on the door now, but in the past that has been ignored. (These unsupervised kids ? Can't read I guess - in fact some teenage boys, only a couple paying lip-service to dressing up with a couple of rubbery masks, have just knocked on the door. "Can't you read? I asked. "Didn't go to school." Duh. It makes you worry for the future of the world. Really.)

What I think would quite satisfactorily do the 'trick' this afternoon would be if the heavens opened. Might put them off scavenging for free lollies. A bit of lightning for effect. And maybe even a strike close enough to anyone carting eggs, just to scare the bloody living daylights out of them. Halloween karma, that would be.

Wouldn't you know, though, the radar is showing the heavy falls totally skirting around us. Damn. Looks like I'm on the sport run after all.

******************************
Later: Overheard in town. 2 boys on bikes. "... and if I can't get eggs I'll bring toilet paper"

Labels: Halloween, misc

New shoes! I bought new shoes today! A bit of retail shoe therapy to boost the mood this week. But, no, it's not what you'd think, unless you've 'known' me for a while. We're talking shoe therapy Tracey Style...

New bike shoes, of course. You didn't really think I'd be talking strappy, sexy sandals with heels did you? - Can't walk in that sort. Can't put orthotics in that sort. (Look crap in that sort anyway) These are much more useful!

Looking for a link has dampened my mood somewhat. The US price and Australian price, given the decent exchange rate at the moment, are just so far from equivalent it's not funny, even given freighting them across the Pacific. The current exchange rate should make them about AUD95, and I don't want to even think about what I paid for them at the local shop. (I need to get me an agent in the US .. I could cover postage, pay a sizeable commission and still be ahead!)

Of course, the point is that I have them right now, ready to go. It's only the knee situation that is preventing me from road testing them - hopefully I'll be able to ride tomorrow.

[I had a massage today, and, ooh-ahh, how wonderful it felt on my tight-as calf muscles. It made an immediate difference to walking down stairs, so here's hoping...]

I at least had a reason to buy new shoes. Caitlin has claimed my old ones. Marc came with me to the shop this morning, and somehow we walked out with two shoe boxes. His and Hers, pretty much.

Who said it was only women who did the retail shoe therapy thing?

Labels: bike riding, misc

Oh I wish I felt mellow. But, anyway, yellow is the colour of the day:



Pretty, huh? Wish I could say they hurt as spectacularly as they look, but they don't. The knee is the thing. It's recovering veerrrry slowly. There is an improvement, but only just. Today I can walk down stairs vewwy vewwy carefully. (Bet Rootie wishes she could walk down stairs full stop at the moment.)

I've also got the build up - physical and emotional - to the dreaded 'monthlies'.. and they're late... I have hints of cramping about to start, yet I can't use Endorphin Power (as worked last month) because I can't go ride a bike any crazy distance, or swim for an hour. (Tried swimming on Monday and that was a bust as well!)

Trying to keep a lid on it all. Must.. think... mellow.... yellow....

Labels: misc

The only sign that it is really only Spring despite the insanely warm temperatures is bird behaviour. "Bad" bird behaviour, even if they are only doing what comes naturally. In Australia there are a couple of bird species which get rather protective during their spring nesting time. They take their job of protecting their eggs, and then their bubs, very seriously, and it's the one part of Spring that you tend to dread.

Magpies are the worst - and they particularly don't like bikes, although they also go for walkers. Marc and I were swooped on the tandem just as we reached our seaside village destination on our ride last Thursday. Freak out! You suddenly hear that swoosh, swoosh of wings, and you realise you're being dive bombed by a manic bird. The fact that you're wearing a bike helmet doesn't really make you feel any better about it. While they might not draw blood if they make contact, you don't really want a chunk taken out of your helmet, and you don't really know just how good their aim is. We must have been a sight - me on the back of the tandem, swivelled round trying to both stare at the magpie (because some reckon that if you're looking at it it won't attack) and fend it off with one waving hand, while Marc was trying to control the bike. They swoop again and again until you manage to get far enough from their territory for their liking. Some of the official advice suggests you get off your bike and walk (so you don't have an accident I guess), but I'm more an advocate of 'get the hell away from there as quick as possible'.

There is an area the girls know to avoid a couple of streets away from us, so they try to remember to take an alternative route to their friends' place.

As if the maggies weren't enough, this year a couple of plovers (aka "masked lapwings") have taken over the park area between the houses and the beach, so for now you have to take a bit of detour to get to the beach. We haven't been swooped by them yet - some kids warned us as we headed to the beach yesterday afternoon, and we could see them patrolling, so decided not to stir them up. It is quite amusing that a pair of birds can change the behaviour of so many humans.

I don't like the heat, but I'm just a bit 'bring on summer and the end of the swooping season...'

Labels: misc

Excuse me, but what the hell happened to Spring? It was only just winter.. and suddenly now I'm in summer - sleeveless shirts, sunscreen and a bike nix tan already. We seem to have missed a couple of months of 'in between' weather there. I really do like the whole concept of easing from cold to hot over a couple of months, and given that I don't handle the heat that well I really need the chance to get used to it gradually each year.

Today topped out at 31 degrees here (almost 90 F) and tomorrow is forecast to be hotter and windier. (Which will make it worse inland - thank heavens for the sea breeze with a predicted NNE wind here.) There are bushfires springing up all over the state, fanned by hot dusty winds (and started by asshole arsonists, but that's a whole other story...)

But for the lack of christmas decorations (and associated christmas induced stress) I'd swear blind it was the summer school holidays, instead of the October/Spring between term vacation.

Suddenly we have the easterly, ocean breeze-facing french doors flung open on all floors. The boogie boards are out, and the younger two hassled me to go down to the beach this morning... Given the temperature, I was more than up for it. The water was probably cooler than the average summer temp (though some summers you can get a cold current through that makes the water colder than today was!)

Just yesterday I raised the dreaded topic of what we should do at Christmas time. (And given the way time is toying with us, it will be here before I can blink.) With all the immediate relatives living many kilometres away, we have spent more Christmases away than home, and the whole thing is wearing a bit thin. On top of the frantic packing hassles (and carting loads of christmas presents up and down the highway), you really need your head read to leave a beachside house at this time of year and head for either the city, the mountains, or even another far more crowded beach.

Our beach at christmas doesn't get a lot more crowded than this.

Where would you choose?!!

Labels: Christmas, misc

The first gift I ever gave Marc was a t-shirt with Maxwell Smart on it. Must have been a good choice to give the boyfriend of about 2 months ('can't be something too mushy or you'll scare them off - so pick something he's mildly obsessed about' reasoning - ) 22 years later he's still a fan, and has managed to show the girls an episode or two, and to use (and explain) a few of the catchphrases.


On the weekend he tells us that he has been given dvds of nearly every episode. "Ah, he says", nostalgically, "... that was the best show on television."

Quick as a flash, Ms 8 says: "Don't you mean the second best show on television.?!"

Labels: kids, misc

Link back. (to I can haz cheezburger.com)

[And I only ended up there again tonight because Magic Bellybutton had a bad day. I hope the lolcats cheered you up Magic!]

Labels: misc

Oh yes, we are fans of the new Dr Who. 'We' being particularly eldest daughter and me. And the other two. Somehow the Daddy hasn't really picked up on the series at all, but that's ok. I can ..um... appreciate... David Tennant in peace. David Tennant. *sighs* - He's 9 years younger than me.



Am I bovvered?



NO!
(I have nothing against younger men... I married one!)

I have no problem with that Scottish accent either!

*sighs*

[*cue 14 yr old daughter rolling her eyes...* She doesn't quite yet appreciate him in the same way I do!! Plus "ewwww" , you are my mother!!]

Labels: Dr Who, misc

The good thing about having to buy three different types of milk to accommodate the range of milk preferences in the household ?

It's easier to identify who left it out on the bench.
(And you can rule yourself out when it's not the 'no-fat'!!)

Labels: misc

Well, actually a 'favor', seeing this is one we are in need of specifically from one of my US blog mates, so I had better spell it the US way!!!

You might say this would also be a matter of Trust from my end!!!

You know, of course, about our passion for cycling - and tandems in particular. And that I have often commented that tandems are BIG in the US, but not so in Australia. So often when my tandem geek husband finds tandem specific bike parts (or indeed tandems!) for sale either on eBay, or in US online bike shops -stuff he can't get in Australia - he is getting increasingly frustrated and disappointed that some of them just won't ship out of the US. He has looked into US postal rates to Australia (and they aren't that bad!), but some just don't want to go to the post office and fill out a small form.

He has also successfully bought our road tandem from the US on eBay, and organised to have it freighted over here, so we know how it can be done.

So for a while now he's asked me "Do you know anyone in the States who might be prepared to occasionally take receipt of parcels, and then send them off to us - we'd send over the money of course, either via paypal, or international money order, or whatever." (This is the 21st Century after all!)

I was nearly going to send out an SOS in respect of buying a particular bike hub (or whole wheel... or was it just the cluster?) from somewhere in the US, but we solved that problem by finding another alternative (switching wheels between tandems etc etc!!!)

In the meantime we've been talking for a while about upgrading the tandem that I ride with our eldest daughter. At the moment Marc captains the mean machine - the Co-motion Triplet. Excellent quality tandem. (US made.) Whilst the one I ride is a few hundred years old (ok, exaggerating...) and generally not so beautiful. To upgrade to a real nice tandem (which is the equivalent quality of the triplet) there just isn't much available in Australia.... Yes.. sounds extremely elitist doesn't it... but this is our passion, ok!

So today he sends me a link.. he's found me a new tandem! Beautiful isn't she? (Classic name for it too!) Right size for me and daughter... *sighs*

Only problem is, it's in the States, and seller will only ship to continental US.

Here comes the favor part.

IF we decide to bid for it, and IF he wins the auction (which he is good at doing!), would any of my wonderful US blogging associates that I know I could Trust (with a capital T!!) be prepared to take receipt of payment from me..*gulp* - send on the payment to the seller in required format... *gulp*... then take delivery of two big packages ... and THEN have them collected to be sent on to us in Australia.??

We bought our road tandem from the US, so we know from that experience that all the arrangements for that can be made at our end... so all you'd have to do is take delivery of the packages, and then keep them safe till they are collected.

So the main issue I guess is losing your anonymity with me, because I would have to send you lots of money! *gulps again*... and then there's the inconvenience of converting that to a USPS money order to send to the seller. We'd cover, of course, any extra transaction fees involved (even if it meant sending more money later)... and of course we'd show our Aussie appreciation in other ways!!

I have a very obvious Canadian friend who I am pretty sure would do it in a flash, but in this particular case they don't even ship over the border!

Anyways, I guess I know who I want to ask, but I'd rather throw it open without putting anyone on the spot.

My email addy is crazytrace(at)gmail(dot)com

Labels: misc

"They say" that Chocolate is better than kissing! "Chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz." These were conclusions of lab experiments done in the UK with volunteers in their twenties.

I don't know about you, but I don't think that the environment of a lab would get me in the right mood for a passionate snog, not that I'm that much into romantic settings and all the rest. I suppose I'm getting old, being in my forties and all that, but I think it would be hard to get into any sort of passionate kissing if I was all wired up with electrodes, knowing that people were watching me! (Maybe back in my starry eyed youth I could have ignored all that.)

It's certainly an interesting result though, and given that I'm partial to my chocolate, I think there is definitely some worth in some anecdotal testing of this result 'in the field'. For the sake of science of course.

Labels: misc, Trivial and lovin' it

Believe it or not I've never had a proper, paid-for - 'remedial' - massage before. With the combination of all my back stuff, and stiff muscles from the bike riding, and the weights.. and even the swimming... and with our manic 500k bike ride looming, I decided it might be worth seeing if a massage really could help with some of the constant stiffness I've been feeling. Yep, hard to believe this 44 year old crock of a body could be protesting just a bit at all I've been expecting it to do, with barely a thankyou or much in the way of any TLC whatsoever, other than some frantic stretches to alleviate the various back aches and twinges that I routinely get.)

The last few days I've woken up feeling really.. creaky. And sore. I'd had the card of someone that had been recommended to me. So I bit the self-indulgence bullet, and took the 9am appointment she offered me for this morning. It turned out she was barely 200m from my house. And she was relatively cheap - as massages go. ($35 for 1 1/2 hours.)

What can I say? The jury is still out on it for the moment. Seems my muscles are so tight, she couldn't do as much (in the one and a half hours) that she might normally do (consequently I'm not experiencing any earth shattering 'oh my god I feel wonderful' epiphany over it. She was working pretty lightly (according to her) yet it pretty much bloody hurt in a lot of places - places that she could feel were tight. (And there were a lot of them!) You know, that feeling when you rub a sore muscle, and you do the ooh.. ah... ohh.. owww... yessss, that bit THERE...yeoowww ... that then subsides a bit (apparently the muscle does relax a bit once you press on that sore bit for several seconds)- until you start massaging again and find it again...

Yes, well, I suppose the last twenty odd years of various kinds and degrees of stress loading are just not going to disappear in 90 minutes. No miracles here.

Aside from that, ironically, lying on my stomach for that long wasn't too kind to my lower back... (though towards the end we stuck a pillow underneath my tummy, and that helped.)

And, boy, I felt pretty woozy when I got up.. and half staggered home (glad she was only round the corner and I didn't have to drive actually!)

And then, (ironically again), the rest of the day I was feeling like I shouldn't be doing anything to 'jeopardise' what good she might have done! (Now that's silly, but somehow this vague nausea (apparently a deep massage gets toxins moving...).. and my general apathy seeing it was the worst day of the month anyway (my official sooking day).. meant that I didn't test myself on anything more strenuous than hanging out some washing. (Bad girl, no bike ride... *grovels to the bike riding coach possibly reading this from KL...*)

Yes, so... Supposedly a massage can help you sleep better. So maybe I'll see whether I feel just bloody fantastic in the morning. I do believe, tonight, that I feel vaguely less uptight, physically. Maybe.

Oh yeah.. and when she started - down on the back of my calves - she says 'oh.. so you have some varicose veins here', and I said 'What? Do I really?'... Like I need more proof that my body is really starting to crack up on me...

Geez, growing old is a bit of a crock, isn't it... And for me to continue on doing what I like doing, maybe there has to now be room for a bit of self indulgence by way of a guilt-free massage every now and then.

Labels: misc

To my two net friends who have just recently started going to the gym in a bid to lose some weight and get fitter.(The two Elizabeths! - in different continents too I might add...and I don't think they will be offended if I add that they are more mature aged than me, so I think what they are doing is terrific!)

I've seen this quite a bit - on other blogs, and, courtesy of having children who record video hits, on the telly - so apologies to those who are probably quite bored with it by now.

I'm just posting it as inspiration. To give Libby and E. something to aim for with the gym, and use of all that equipment!!

Labels: classic, misc