SIA!
Clap clap clap.
SIA!
Clap clap clap.
SIA!
Clap clap clap.
What an incredible and talented performer and ensemble we were privileged to be in the company of tonight.
As if it isn’t enough that she has conquered the vocal world with her chords, what makes it all sweeter is that…
She is OURS.
Aussie gal through and through.
🙂
There is a whole other side to the sweet, loving and idyllic photos that people post so often on social media.
And that definitely includes MINE.
I generally do post more happy stuff… I used to sometimes rant about something that might annoy me, and only after reading other rants on facebook, did I realise it was really unnecessary, and negative-drawing. I didn’t really feel much better about myself, my life, or that person when I read such quotes, and it made me realise that stuff like that was not needed online.
Not to confuse a day-to-day ‘I’m so pissed at the traffic today’ rant with a serious issue that needs attention and addressing. No that is fine, pull ALL the support and help from ALL the social media outlets, and gather the troops around as much as you need with your furious words. We need your PASSION.
So, I do post occasionally about our day-to-day lives, more so when we are doing something fun – I mean, does anyone wanna see us sitting on the couch in our pjs eating breakfast and watching Shimmer and Shine? Yeah I thought not.
But the story behind the photo often runs so much deeper, it travels something like an episode of Mr. Bean, it can be that frustratingly hilarious and stupid.
Take TODAY. Perfect example.
It was hot, and we went to the beach. I posted a photo of Hubbie and baby girl… for certain reasons I will not repeat that photo here, but instead here is another:
You get my drift. Relaxation, fun in the sun, blue waters, chilling in the shade as I watch my family in the water…
Good times…
…
…
??? Or not?
Here is the REAL story. Because yes I am grateful we went to one of our favourite beaches today as a family on one of our few days off together, but seriously… we were ALL nearly crying at various stages.
Firstly, we got there late. 3:30pm, and this was after we stopped at Baker’s for some bread rolls, and Hubbie got a cheap knife from Woolies (more on that later) because he had forgotten to bring one from home, and then because he had a couple of beers for himself, he was ever so kind, through the 30+ degree heat of the day, to head over to the nearby Dan Murphy’s to get me some kind of mixed drink.
Hubbie and I hadn’t had lunch. Baby girl was the only fed one.
Arriving at the hottest time of the day with several bags, 3 beach chairs, a folded up tent, towels, and walking about in the hot sand when we were hungry and starving, is trying enough.
But we did it. We set up the tent, almost stuffing it up (but we made it!) and then I just launched into the water where baby girl was already playing, sitting down immediately it was that bloody beautifully warm.
So, all good. I headed back to the tent where Hubbie was getting some stuff ready, applying sunscreen for himself, etc etc… I went to get the drink Hubbie got for me.
Rekorderlig is not paying me but I won’t say no if they come knocking.Â
So I found this cider and I was like “yes!” as it’s been ages since I had one. I went to open it up, looking at him questioningly as I said “screw top?”
“Yeah,” he replied casually, at the same time looking over to the bottle in my hand and his face dropping. Because he just realised that it is in fact NOT a screw top, and it required a bottle opener.
Damn.
I sighed. I hadn’t eaten, Hubbie was getting crankier by the second, I could just feel the waves of irritation blowing off of him, and now we had no opener.
I wanted a bloody drink.
“We have one in the car,” he said, and I relaxed somewhat.
The way I am obsessed about tissue boxes being in every part of the house, scissors and nail clippers and nail filers being both upstairs and downstairs, he is a total fuss-pot and needs to have bottle openers scattered everywhere, house, car and probably his pants, because, IN CASE.
“Can you put some sunscreen on my back?” I asked him.
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that before or after you want me to get the bottle opener and make your lunch?”
I ignored him and smiled. “Yes now.” But we were already getting to that point.
So he went and got the bottle opener. I had a drink, and took the above photo. Fine. I joined him and baby girl in the shallow waters, and we splashed about. Also good. And then he went back to the tent to make my lunch.
Now, I didn’t tell him to make my lunch. We had previously decided on grabbing some of those spinach and cheese/pizza rolls at Baker’s as it was a quick and easy bite especially when we were at the beach. I would have made a pasta salad and brought it with us if our stove was connected – our house and kitchen area is still a mess. So this is what I was thinking, this is what we even said out loud to each other… but then this dude of mine, somehow decided that it would be easier, to buy plain rolls at Baker’s, and then fill them… himself…
You know what he brought with him? Tuna, feta, and tomato. On a 34 degree day amidst SAND.
MORE on that debacle later.
Meanwhile, baby girl and I were in the water. It was amazing, and we were having a ball. I kept asking her, “do you have to go pee?” because I was just getting this vibe off her, I know her so well. She was saying no, so I would let the topic go, but then she’d pipe up “I don’t have to go pee.”
When she says she doesn’t have to go pee, I KNOW she HAS to go and pee.
I finally convinced her to go and pee before coming back. “I promise honey, we are coming back, I wouldn’t lie to you.” She took my hand and off we went.
Now, this is a purely female thing, and I say this because I told Hubbie and he had no idea… but after being in the water for a bit, when us chicks have to pee later, sometimes the urine comes out warm. I know, I’m sorry, using words like URINE and all, bad enough I’m saying PEE. I think it has something to do with our nether-regions being all cold, and our urine isn’t actually warm, it’s our parts that our cold, therefore our urine feels warm.
Enough explanation, if anyone actually knows, please advise in the comments below.
I sat baby girl on the toilet seat, and waited. She immediately yelled “ouch!” and started to whinge/cry. I ascertained that it was her pee, as she has reacted a bit like that before, but not so strongly. I was telling her, comforting her and saying “it’s just a bit warm, everything is ok, it’s not that bad,” but then she suddenly wasn’t peeing – she was holding on – and I was getting worried/upset. Worried because it is not good to hold in your pee (being a Mum shit like this scares you as kids can easily develop infections) but also upset because it is NOT THAT BAD AND SHE IS BEING A DRAMA QUEEN.
For at least 5 minutes I stayed with her in the loo as she got upset at not peeing/holding it in. I tried to console her, then I played bad cop and was like “we’ll go home if you don’t go toilet, you have to go!” But she was STILL upset and said “go home.”
Go home? This girl LOVES the water! Something must not have been right if she was happy to go home.
I got her out of there, REALLY mad. I stomped/limped across the hot sand, baby girl limping too behind me, as we got to Hubbie…
slaving away in the tent.
“I am not happy!” I told him, proceeding to go on about how she wouldn’t ‘go,’ but she had to ‘go,’ but she was holding it in. I told him that we were going home. You know… reverse psychology?
And he went “yeah let’s go… it’s been a shit day.”
?!?!
He continued. “I’m never doing this again!” He had his newly-bought $3 knife, wrappers, a plastic bag as a rubbish bin, food and tins and all kinds of crumbs all around him, and he was SWEATING. “I’m here making YOUR sandwich, it’s a mess, I’m hot, it’s at least 10 degrees hotter in this tent…”
Meanwhile, I was trying SO damn hard to keep my cool. I ended up convincing baby girl to try and pee in the grass behind the beach boxes, as maybe the novelty would help her relax.
Nope. Instead I ended up with something that resembled a small leech on my leg that wouldn’t come off until I scratched it off, and off we went back to the tent, MORE MAD/SAD.
I pretty much ordered her to stay in there, and not move until she went to the loo first. She resigned herself to this, and I sat down to eat this God-damn roll Hubbie had prepared for me, as he sooked and moaned. He pushed the side of the tent away from him as a sudden strong breeze blew the tent wall against him, swearing loudly, and a nearby girl looked over at us as she heard it.
We are European-descendants people. We don’t swear/argue in public. How EMBARRASSMENT. I unleashed.
“Can you fix your f*&king attitude? Honestly all day today, can you just look at yourself? Did I ask you to make me a bloody sandwich, NO, I don’t know what is wrong with you, who brings tuna and feta and a tomato they have to cut at the beach?! There is sand everywhere!”
Like, what the actual fuck.
He went quiet, as I went quiet, chomping on this odd combo of tuna/feta/tomato that somehow worked in a seriously strange way which I would NEVER TELL HIM, picking out the chilli piece in the tuna that he FORGOT TO REMOVE.
Baby girl chomped on a bread roll, Hubbie just sat, and in a few minutes I was back in the water, trying to make her all jelly that she wasn’t allowed to go in. Mean parental tactics maybe, but I was trying to prevent an infection damn it!
In the end, this stubborn girl (wonder where she gets that from?) won. Hubbie ‘let’ her come down to the water, and though I contested it at first, I let it go.
Just like Elsa. LET IT GO.
Which leads me to this next pic.
Don’t they look serene? Isn’t the water just so sparkling and magical? Oh the joy to go to the beach with your family? Oh, WHAT LOVE! ♥♥
?!?!
You see? You see the shit we had to go through? Hubbie swearing against the tent, the beach, the weather, the sand, about ALL MANNER OF SHIT, baby girl refusing to take a shit or anything else for that matter, and then me, trying to hold the insanity together, and trying so damn hard to ‘think positive.’
:):):)
Not f*&king easy! :):):)
Yes, we did end up having a really great day, eventually… we were kind of like an overseas commercial at one stage, the one promoting the family having an awesome time on a beach getaway as they all go crazy splashing each other and laughing like mad. We were so Hawaii. But don’t get too jelly, because when we got home, we were tired and cranky, ate dinner late, Hubbie was a yo-yo as his mood swung from relieved to cranky to funny to shitty, and I was there like
“WTF?”
Both my babes are sleeping now so I love them sooo much. But before.
Before…
Just a reminder that not all things are as they appear in the photos. I still love Mills Beach. I loved our day together. But I think I could have done without the Mr. Bean dramas…
And closure for those keeping score. I realised once we were much happier later on in the afternoon that there is an opening at the back of the tent that can be zipped open, allowing cool air to waft through, keeping it at the same temp as outside. Hear that Hubbie?
And baby girl held her pee in until she got home… and then went normally.
So I actually don’t know what was wrong earlier, or what in fact happened. Much like ALL OF MOTHERHOOD.
We headed over to Kirks tonight. It’s been a while, but we love it there. The food is great, the atmosphere more so, and the staff are lovely.
The food $ is on the up-side… because you are paying for the view across the road too.
Which is…
Yep. Stunning ain’t it?
We knew we were going to head on over after our meal and walk about a bit, taking in the mild Spring air, and just being.
Also, I am totally a proper local now, I came prepared with thongs!
And then by the water, we just stood, and stared. And baby girl splashed.
I don’t even have to say it out loud. The photos say it all.
We often don’t have a lot of time at the end of the night. It is always go go go, from 5:30 ’til about 10pm.
Meal prep. Dinnertime. Feeding time – parents will get this…
Bath. Showers. Washing dishes. Getting the house in some kind of ‘respectable’ order.
And then bed – which involves settling, reading, talking… OMG. And yet it all goes by too fast… only to start again the next night, at 5:30pm.
But somehow, in the warmer months, things are different.
Nights are longer; Sunset is later. The atmosphere is warmer. There is less care and emphasis on getting shit done, and more on getting outside and enjoying life.
Which is just what we did tonight. We grabbed some ice cream from the freezer, chased each other around the yard, played a bit of hide and seek, and then leapt for the emerging stars…
The best things in life are free. Except for ice cream of course. That we will happily pay for 🙂
I was shitty.
The day was not going to plan. It was probably self-inflicted. After all, we had been eating carbs at 1am the night before, fell asleep sometime after 3:45am, and then after a late start, the things we had planned for so strategically, just didn’t happen.
Late lunch, no coffee, a headache, and tired. Soooo cranky and tired.
I was sitting in the passenger seat as Hubbie drove, thinking of just how pissed off I was. Baby girl was behind me, her eyelashes and long brown hair whipping about in the 80km winds as her head poked partly through her open window.
Wild child.
And there I was, staring out the window with an annoyed look on my face, until my eyes came to rest on the side view mirror.
There I was. Seriously pissed off. In that small view I saw some other things though…
My hair looked good. I observed the colour, my blow-waved hair, and made a mental note to tell the hairdresser that we should maybe keep it as is for the next appointment.
The sunnies. My old faves. I still liked them after all these years
I had pink nails. I barely get time to paint my nails, and then when I do, I consider it the greatest luxury in the world – like, if you have time to stop and paint all 10 of your fingernails, and then you have the ADDED time to wait for them to dry… you clearly are not that busy. That is my take on nails. Which is why I am so bloody pleased when they are painted a bright colour. I am sooo winning at life when that happens.
There was my engagement ring, still shining and sparkling bright. I love that ring. I love it today and with the same zest, if not more, as when it was first placed on my finger 9 years ago by my love.
And I also had on a fave summery dress of mine, the kind of dress you love so much that if it were available in 3 other colours, you would buy them ALL.
And then suddenly I realised, I was kind of pleased. Distractedly pleased. Because what I saw I was happy with. It was all material things that made me happy, but it was the recognition that I was who I had wanted to be, say, 5-10 years ago. And although it was purely materialistic, it was enough to steer my mind to something other than being a full cranky-pants for the entire day.
But then, the clincher. There baby girl was, behind me, her face out the window, smiling as she looked at me into the side view mirror.
And that was the best thing I saw in the mirror.
All of a sudden, I wasn’t so angry. I was supremely grateful.
Grateful in seeing my life differently, yet so clearly, through a side mirror.
Let me start by saying, please people, let spontaneity into your life.
Go out on a whim.
Do first what pops into your mind.Â
Follow through with something unplanned.Â
Throw the rule book out the window.
I am not saying to be careless, reckless or stupid. I am saying to let yourself go where the wind takes you.
Where the fun takes you.
Or as was our case tonight, where the pancakes take you.
Now let me also say people, be mindful of intention. Your thoughts create and make your world. So when you are speaking to your partner and saying things like “I feel like pancakes,” from as far back as weeks and weeks ago, be prepared for ‘said pancakes’ to come very suddenly, unexpectedly and surprisingly into your life.
Do not reject the pancakes because you didn’t plan their arrival properly. Run with the pancakes, frolic with the pancakes, and even do a Usain Bolt with the pancakes.
Just go with it.
Tonight we had a function on the other side of town. We left at 11pm, and even though it was late, and baby girl would inevitably end up asleep on the car drive home, at that moment when the thought came into my head, she and Hubbie were laughing up a storm and mucking about to no end.
“What if we go to Pancake Parlour?” I said to him, testing.
“Yeah, I could go some pancakes,” was his easy response.
SOLD. 25 minutes later, still on our way home, we detoured in Doncaster to a 24-hour pancake operation, where the premises were FULL at midnight.
And here we were strolling in all dressed up with our 4 year-old like
“SHOW ME THE PANCAKES!”
My pancake craving and midnight sweet tooth was satisfied by the Pancake medley which contained 4 mini stacks of different pancake combinations, while baby girl ate all the ice cream off her stack, before mixing jam into every possible pancake combination of ours.
And just like that, a kind of ordinary day, turned into a fun and extraordinary night.
Midnight.
Pancakes at midnight.
P.S to my girls… let this be our next catch up. It’s been a while since our last ‘Hot Balls.’
The End 🙂
Today, our insanely fabulous cooker was wheeled into place in our W.I.P kitchen.
The electrician: “It’s bloody heavy to carry, for an oven. So heavy! But it’s a fancy one.”
Yes electrician. Remind me again. And again and again.
I definitely need a reminder. It was a year ago that we bought our new kitchen appliances for our future kitchen, not knowing then that they would be gathering dust in the corner of our garage until the following Spring.
But today. Ohhh, today. Today the electrician told me several times how cool it was, and each time, I internally clapped my hands with glee.
(!!!)
I haven’t even used it, and I am super-duper excited. Oh, just imagine all the trays of food I can fit into those 900mms of expansiveness… oh, imagine the crisp pastries and tarts, creamy casseroles, indulgent desserts, and succulent roasts I can whip up in that beast of kitchen machinery.
That’s right. Sunday. I think I will attempt a roast this Sunday evening, as an official christening of the oven.
I never thought I would love an oven soooo much. But I do. And I haven’t even used it yet. That can be another post, for another day.
And can I just say, our bareless cupboard-ed kitchen has nothing in it, and yet if you look again at the above picture, you can see we have our priorities totally in check…
Yep, that’s right.
BEANS.
I have so much going on right now, that driving into work on a Thursday evening whilst on annual leave was not exactly on my list of priority to-dos.
Battling stupid Monash freeway traffic on the way didn’t help either.
But when I got there, I felt a bit better. I lightened up.
Because it’s not every day you reach a 10 year milestone at your place of employment.
I never, ever thought I would have been there this long. But somehow, here I am. And more so, I enjoy it. I enjoy going in to work, I enjoy the job, the environment, the people, and let’s not forget the perks…
Moreover, they seem to like me. Respect me, and acknowledge me…
What more could you want from a workplace?
(Why am I writing again? Oh that’s right, PASSION).
Maybe most important, is that bolded word in brackets above – because it’s due to my job, and the fact that I am getting paid in one avenue of life, that’s allowed me to pursue another avenue of life where currently (key word) I am not getting compensated.
Tonight I am in a happy place of reminiscing, feeling accomplished, and curious, though content, about the next phase of my life… wherever that may be.
As long as it includes water. That seems to be a recurring theme for me… 😉
I am so excited about many things that happened today, so like the inability to pick your favourite child, I must be grateful for them ALL.
We had a brilliant day shopping at Chadstone. I am on leave from work, so it was Hubbie, baby girl and I all together, all day.
Our visit was punctuated by several coffee breaks
and then surprisingly successful shopping, with an overall fantastic mood from all of us topping it off.
Not only did we get more Christmas presents to tick off the list (it is still November so this is brilliant), but we bought Christmas presents that we didn’t plan to or expect to get, because of the difficulty of getting the right one for the receiver…
Winning!
And a successful shopping day just isn’t complete without presents for yourself:
I was ecstatic to get the advent candle from kikki.K that I somehow missed out on last year as it sold out way too early, and along with that got our family calendar for next year, the one I can never live without, which I have written about multiple times, and here.
Secondly, I gave Hubbie a generous heads up and ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card when I told him he could buy me almost anything from kikki.K for Christmas and I would love it.
5 minutes later and he was asking me to kindly leave the store because he had seen some things he could get me…
Be with a guy for 17 years and he still needs prompts on what to buy you. Sigh.
But still…
Winning :):):)
And then of course we got the SIA Christmas CD, because I would play Christmas songs in October if Hubbie didn’t hang crap on me for it, and also, it’s further prep for her concert next week…
Lastly the book I found for myself, which I think is fabulous, as even though I don’t have instagram, I plan on creating an account for my writing profile, and there are beneficial tips in the book that are relevant for ALL social media users trying to get heard.
As if all that wasn’t enough joy and happiness (let’s not forget the Hokkaidos I took home with me!), then we came home at the end of our long day, after handing over the keys to the kitchen guys at the beginning of the day in what was kitchen demolition/removal day, and we found this:
!!! It is only a W.I.P pic and so may not look like much to many, BUT LET ME TELL YOU, this blank white empty shell of a kitchen canvas looks better than the brown 80s outdated kitchen we had before it! When I eventually post before and afters, you will see what I mean.
The excitement Hubbie and I had in discovering our kitchen like this, being re-born…
I can’t deal. Too much gratitude for one day.
No not really. Give me more 🙂
What could be better than spending some time by the pool, OR taking a dip in the beach?
Why, spending some time by the pool AND taking a dip in the beach, in the same day.
We were lucky enough to have the time to do this today… after visiting my sister and the luxury of being able to jump into her pool with seriously bath temperature water, later on in the evening we were able to get Hubbie in on the fun, as we travelled down the road with some takeaway, to just, RELAX.
The evening was still, with barely a breeze about, and all of the recent hot days has meant the water is steadily coming to a warmer temperature… there were only a handful of locals around despite the pristine conditions, and we just breathed it all in, as baby girl squealed in the distance.
Just bliss.
carcrashgratitude 