#959 Planting tulips

How do you move on from a massive team loss and Saturday night downer?

Why, you inject some colour.

You grow some inspiration.

You plant some seeds of Hope… in the form, of Tulips.

I was super excited to get this going today. Because they are the tulips I bought from the Tesselaar Tulip Festival from late last week, and I have been hanging to repot them and give them a stable and hopefully, very LONG-TERM home.

We found a pot on the side of the house that did not have any practical use, other than housing about 7 saucers. We bought some more potting mix, added in the fertiliser, baby girl gave it a good water…

… and Voila! Those three flowers have provided so much colour to our front porch, it is seriously blinding us with happiness and good vibes.

:):):)

Honestly, next time you are bored? Head down to your local plant place and buy yourself a pop of colour in a pot. Even if you just leave it in there… watch your mood and the atmosphere around you change. I DARE YOU… to be happy 🙂

#958 Family comfort in team loss

Well, THAT didn’t go as expected.

It is terribly, horribly hard to watch your team lose.

The lead up, the anxiety, the anticipation and nerves and hoping and wishing and praying… it ALL comes to a head when the siren goes off.

To then watch a game where your team is winning for almost the entire time, and then lose by a measly 5 points in the end… IT IS HARD.

We went from screaming in happiness from the first 10 minutes in the game, to walking out of the room and the atmosphere going silent, bar some choice expletives aimed at the biased umpires, in the final 90 seconds.

It is HARD. Soooo hard. But what makes it somewhat easier, is the unity.

The strength in numbers. Because family gives you strength through bad times, and knowing that your pain is also their shared pain, makes it somewhat easier to bare.

We are black and white through and through. We will barrack for them when they are winning, AND when they are losing… and for us and all the other fans, it just didn’t happen today.

It is shit. But we will still take our doughnut, and eat it. Because we are the Magpie Army, and we will rise again.

#957 Working Friday

Well that’s a headline you thought you’d never see. Why the hell am I working on a Friday, AND grateful about it???

Insert, the black and white.

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

The Magpie army. Comprised of those essential game-changers behind the scenes, the passionate and vocal fans that support the club, and the all-important players on the field themselves.

I was meant to be working tomorrow… but instead I pulled in some work favours, and am working tonight, so that I can watch my team, hopefully, paint their opponents into a corner tomorrow afternoon.

Good ol’ Collingwood 😉

#956 Coming up Tulips at Tesselaar

All week. Baby girl has known these last few days that if all was good, we would be heading to a ‘flower show’ today. In fact she told her Dad repeatedly last night when I was at work, that today was going to be the ‘grand day.’

Well, today began… and so it was that ALL WAS GOOD.

I have wanted to visit Silvan for the last few years since learning of the flower festival. As it occurs smack-bang in the middle of the September school holidays, there were plenty of activities around for the kiddies, which made the visit both a joy for me AND baby girl.

Rows upon rows of startlingly beautiful tulips, the sun shining, green fields as far as the eye could see… it was a perfect day to stop and smell the… tulips ♥

#955 Photos when I’m at work

Those pyjamas, under the throw.

That familiar couch.

Her adorable, resting hands…

and that one, peeking toe.

Ahh. My love. When I get photos like this at work, my night is made so much better… even while I am still away ♥

#954 Park Days no. 6

It’s been a pretty ordinary start to the school holidays, to say the least. I had all these plans and had even written out a to-do list of all the exciting and fun places I could take baby girl… but then, LIFE happened.

As it does, like ALL THE TIME. Plus it has been dreary and grey.

But today… RESPITE.

We went to catch up with one of our usual school holiday friends that we try make a point of seeing every end of term. The sun was peeking through the clouds, and I relished the feel of the biting cold air on my skin as we ran up the hill towards the playground.

It’s really nice to have someone who I get along with, but with who we can watch our kiddos play and have fun together, swinging and jumping and climbing and running about. The phrase of a ‘2-way street’ applies strongly here. It is no fun when only one party is making the plans. Also it is lovely to be wanted, to be included, to be remembered.

Something others fail to do.

And like the cold slap of wind against my face, I really needed that acknowledgement, that realisation… I accepted it. I embraced it.

#953 The best part of Google

‘Google is greash.’ I actually have that tag floating around on this blog, and I use it often.

And yes, I am dedicating today’s gratitude to it. When you get to the bottom, you will understand why.

Because it is not a frivolous or materialistic thing. Sure you can find things online, buy them and have them delivered to your door… but that is not what I am grateful for.

Sure you can search for the lyrics to your latest fave song, and be singing along to it within minutes of finding it… but that is not what I am grateful for.

Sure you can turn to it in times of wordly need, and search for the synonyms of breakable, just as you can look for the antonym of exhilaration… but that is not what I am grateful for.

Sure you can look up your city’s weather in 2 weeks time, and try to determine if you will need to re-think picnic plans for that weekend… but that is not what I am grateful for.

Sure you can search for the most uncommon, weirdest and rarest object (try the image of the cat in water saying “I’ll F&*k you right up,” a round rug no bigger than 2 metres diameter in various shades of blue, and silver 1970s Pontiac wheel trims  – that one is on Hubbie), and it will still give you some kind of info, even including where to get it…

But that is not what I am grateful for.

Instead I am grateful for this: I am grateful to Google, because as much as you can find the most obscenely tedious and trivial things on it, so too can it help you mend your heart.

You can find online forums and support groups of people who are going through the same thing you are.

You can speak anonymously, when in real life you can’t speak up at all.

You can feel comforted by the fact that you are not alone, and there are in fact hundreds if not thousands of others like you that have gone through, and are going through the very same thing.

You can feel a little less lonely, a little more connected, and happy in the fact that there are others who can help.

In this regard, Google excels.

So today, Google… I thank you. ♥

 

 

 

#952 What she said no. 8

Me: “I love you so much.”

Baby girl: “I love you so much.”

Me: “You are perfect.”

Baby girl: “You are perfect.”

Me: “You are MORE perfect.”

PAUSE…

Baby girl: “Thank you.”

🙂

♥♥♥

#951 The Rosemary Tradition

See a couple of rosemary bushes out the front of a house? Don’t be surprised if there are Croats living there.

It comes with the territory. Having rosemary in your garden is synonymous with being Croatian, just as making their own tomato sauce is common amongst Italians, and the Spanish are known for their post-lunch siestas.

So the fact that the fellow elderly couple two doors down who reign from Balkan Adriatic seas have half a dozen LARGE rosemary bushes adorning their front yard, and I DON’T, doesn’t sit right with me.

It was perfect then, that my parents gifted me with some sprigs of rosemary while at their house yesterday, all ready to go. Perfect for 2 reasons:

1. It comes at the perfect time of year. I am getting into gardening more and turning my attention there as Spring makes things all pretty and bright again, and let’s face it, it’s a much cheaper hobby than renovating your kitchen (thank God that is pretty much over with).
2. I can be a proper Croatian Euro now God-damn it, with my own pot of rosemary. That hails from my parents garden no less… what can be better than that?

I planted them today, and I have to say… they have the best roots 😉

 

 

#950 The 5-minute parental break

I wonder if my peers out there who have their parents look after their kids, realise how lucky they are.

I mean, it is a GOLD deal. You have the people that raised you, who love you and care for you and who are your number one supporters, caring for your child. You might be at working, getting your hair done, or even lucky enough to get a night out with your partner while your parents put your kiddies to sleep at night.

I was lucky for a short time anyway, where my parents co-assisted in watching baby girl when I first went back to work after maternity leave. Although it was only part-time, there was the greatest security and comfort in leaving my daughter with them, knowing she was being looked after, let’s face it, with MORE care than they had ever looked after me!

It lasted just under 2 years, until health issues and a major move impacted the schedule, and nowadays, they aren’t involved.. in that way.

But when I go to their place, I love, that I will always know the care, love, and babysitting duties are always there and on offer 😉

My parents said today: “Go and lie down. We’ll take her outside.” I was feeling tired after ALL THAT FOOD (i.e. Mum going overboard as usual) and was just feeling a little heavy, so I took the advice they had so adamantly laid out for me.

I lay in my old room, looking at the picture that has been on my wall for at least two decades.

I can safely say with 95% confidence that it was given to me on my 12th birthday, and I can even tell you with assurance who gave it to me. I find there are many things from my childhood that are cemented into me, whereas ask me about my early 20s and I am all “HUH?”

But I lay there for all of 5 minutes, enjoying the calm, listening to my breath, my body, and the happy cries of baby girl yelling excitedly from the yard.

So when I got up, I naturally spied on them from the kitchen window and saw them playing.

I could have gone back to lie down. But I decided it was better to join them. 🙂