Snippets

On Friday I accidentally won another huge beef roast at The Local. I’m getting pretty good at making roast beef now, that’s for sure. Although I am getting a bit sick of roast beef sandwiches. This week’s roast was 2.5kg (5.5 pounds) and it was boneless so not any part of that weight was from a bone. Last week’s was even bigger. Luckily, I am not thinking of turning vegetarian any time soon.

The last 3 weeks have been rather boss-free at work, with him being on holidays. He’s back today. Something tells me I won’t be getting home early all week this week. Or coming in late. Gee the last 3 weeks were good though.

This financial year is the first year I am in charge of a budget at work. We are 1 month into the financial year and I have discovered already items that are regular charges that I did not budget for. This should be an interesting learning experience!

This is my little Ned. Ned likes to fall asleep while reading books. Ned was named after Ned Kelly the bushranger.

I booked a holiday in December. A cruise. It was a bargain price or I probably would have opted for something more exciting. I found out that someone from my work has booked the same cruise. Actually 2 people have – they both work at my work. I am friendly with them because I learned long ago to be nice to people at work, and they will remember that and help you out when you need it. If I didn’t have to be nice according to my rule I would say they are both wombats (waste of money, brains and time). Must spend next 4 months working out avoidance strategies and studying the layout of that ship.

Too Few and Too Many

The last two weekends have been a complete contrast. One was filled with nothing. The next was filled with people, some of whom I could have done without!

The weekend before last, The Boyfriend went to Melbourne for the weekend to watch an AFL game. I decided it was a good weekend to go and visit my girlfriend and her two kids. Unfortunately, I left my call until too late and when I called to arrange it, she already had plans. I made alternate plans to keep myself busy and they fell through as well. It was a pretty lonely weekend, and I was a bit at a loss for things to do and people to talk to. It was a long weekend, and it felt like a wasted one.

Last weekend, I went away for a few days with The Boyfriend. He brought a couple of mates with him, as the weekend was in celebration of The Boyfriend’s birthday. (It was a big one. I won’t give the number away, but it started with a 4 and ended with an 0. And no, he’s not 400 years old.) The contrast to our usual weekends away, with just the two of us, was remarkable.

One of the guys who came along for the trip loved the house (we stayed at my parent’s beach house) and he spent lots of time poking around, taking photos and exploring the nearby beach. Some of the poking around got a little hard to take, for example when he broke the garage roller door, but in general it was ok – in other words, he fixed it before we left. I’d take him away again, he was cheerful and pleasant to have around.

The other of Boyfriend’s friends? I actually would really like to slap him across the face. On the first day away, he went for a walk for an hour. 5 hours later we picked him up from a nearby pub after ringing to find out where he was. That night when we all went out for dinner at a nearby club, he didn’t eat, but walked away from the group to play pokies on his own. The next day, he was nowhere to be found when lunch was being served (he was later found sitting outside the front gate – what the?). Then after dinner that night, he just got up and went to bed – no goodnight. And in the two times I’ve seen him since the weekend? He’s insulted me and said I was rude on the weekend. That slap sounds pretty tough to resist. I can’t promise not to at least throw a drink on him if I run in to him over this next weekend.

Hunting’s Not Just for the Kids

Yesterday as The Boyfriend and I laid in bed, refusing to get up (which I am sure was in no way caused by an excess of alcohol consumption at the Hangi the night before), we talked about our plans for Easter. We’d already delayed the morning’s start by getting up earlier, making toasted sandwiches and coffee, and bringing them all back to bed on a tray while we watched a movie. (Revolutionary Road. Which if you ask me was depressing. Everyone ends up unhappy in the end.)

We’ve invited one of my best friends and her 2 kids to spend the Easter long weekend at our holiday house on the South Coast of NSW.  I rattled on for ageas about what fun things we’d be doing and how I’ve been madly buying little easter eggs and planning an Easter Egg Hunt for the 2 girls.

The Boyfriend nodded and agreed with everything I planned. Then he asked “So when the kids have finished, are they going to do an adult Easter hunt for us?” He went on to add, “Can you imagine how cool it would be to hunt through the back yard, suddenly screaming out, “YAY! I found a scotch and coke behind this tree!”

If it wasn’t such a brilliant idea I’d have laughed at him. Instead I’ve been trying to work out how to have an adult Easter Hunt without scarring the kids for life.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:

What a fantastic trip to Adelaide, even if it was over 41C (106F) yesterday. It’s all good, the boyfriend’s sister has a pool. We started our trip with a few days hanging out with The Boyfriend’s sister and her family. Their little 7 year old girl was particularly taken with me. Although it did seem a little like the spanish inquisition when I was asked in the space of a few minutes about whether I had been married before, why I wasn’t now, was I going to marry her Uncle and how many children we thought we might have. Yikes. Then she followed me to the bathroom, waiting outside the door until I’d done what I went there to do. That’s about when I knew I had a new fan.

The Barossa trip we had on Sunday was lots of fun. We left the kids in a box in the garage (of course we didn’t really, we farmed them out for the day) and hit the wineries. By the end of the day my sides hurt from laughing and the best tasting drink of the day was the cold beer at the end to wash away the winey taste.

Boyfriend and I headed off to McLaren Vale on Monday morning. We found ourselves to be all wined out, so we spent the afternoon sitting in a big double spa at the very luxurious B&B we were staying in for the night. The bed was THE most comfortable I have ever slept in. It was so good that I took a picture of the label, so I can go and buy one of those matteresses myself. If you’re ever after a nice place to stay in McLaren Vale? Head over here. The spa suite rocks.

The Bad:

An email in my inbox on my return to work this morning from my ex. Sending me the link to his latest favourite song. (The ex and I split in Feb last year, we don’t have any bad words to say to or about each other, he still lives in my house and I pay all his bills which does annoy me somewhat, but as we had not had an intimate relationship for 6 years I sadly said goodbye and have since moved on, very unexpectedly happy at last. Still, feelings of guilt make me feel bad on the odd occasion because I am so happy now and he… well, he isn’t, yet.) So that’s why I was listening earlier today to Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – The Love I Lost. I read the lyrics for a minute or two before quickly shutting the browser window, since tears at my desk at work are not so cool. I’m sure it’s understandable why – these lyrics are a real kick in the guts!

I can remember planning
Building my whole world around you
And I can remember hoping
That you and I could make it on through
But something went wrong
We loved each other
We just couldn’t get along
Take a good look at me
I’m in misery, can’t you see

The love I lost (the love, the love I lost)
Was a sweet love (it was a sweet love)
The love I lost (the love, the love I lost)
Was complete love (it was complete love)
The love I lost (the love I lost)
I will never (never) no no never
(Never) love again ooh

I can’t remember nothing, no no
But the good times we used to share
I’m so sad and lonely
Without you my life is so dead
I’m sorry to say
You go your way and I’ll go my way
It hurts deep inside
The day we said goodbye, but

The love I lost (the love, the love I lost)
Was a sweet love (it was a sweet love)
The love I lost (the love, the love I lost)
Was complete love (it was complete love)
The love I lost ooh ooh
I will never (never) no no never
(Never) love again (I’ll never love again)
I will never (never) no no never
(Never) love again ooh ooh ooh ooh
I will never (never) no no never
(Never) love again

The love, the love I lost, ooh
The love, the love I lost

The Ugly:

Can’t think of any ugly. That’s I suppose another thing that should be listed as The Good.

On Leave

In 10 minutes I’m on holidays. I’ll be back mid next week with tales of the very strange city of Adelaide. The state of South Australia seems to be mainly famous for serial killers, mass murderers, and generally being a place of weirdos. On a positive note, the Barossa Valley right nearby is one of the best wine regions in the world…

Merry Christmas

Me? I’m  looking forward to the shenanigans being over. Roll on, Friday.