Some days you don’t have much.
Or what you do have, leaves little to be desired.
That’s when the sunset comes in.
It’s size and beauty reminds that there’s more to life than us, our problems, and the lives we touch.
Mother nature puts things in perspective.
Takes us away, temporarily.
And helps us to start all over again.
I feel sorry for any neighbours around us who don’t have kids.
Because come 5pm onwards, the kids around our house start mimicking some serious bird life.
You know birds… they make the most racquet twice a day… early morning, and late evening.
Well the last few days, baby girl and the neighbours have been making a racquet like some right old parrots.
Squawking. Shrieking. Flapping their legs and arms around as they propel themselves high into the air, as far as their little legs will send them.
3 trampolines sit back to back on our strip. 3.
Ours is one of them.
And the kids head outside, yelling to each other over the fence trying to get the others’ attention, chattering loud for all to hear, playing crazy games, and peering over fences until dinnertime.
I love it.
It reminds me of my own childhood, only we were less forgiving as kids, and more intrusive…
‘Knock knock knock,’ we’d go on the door.
ALL THE TIME.
The kids are helicoptered more nowadays, but their insane antics stay the same.
Today I caught baby girl and the neighbour passing something over the fence…
Can you guess what it was?
Pegs. They were trading clothesline pegs. 🤦♀️
As long as I can still hang my clothes up… I don’t care.
Whatever keeps them happy. Whatever keeps them being kids.
(Whatever keeps them out of my hair!)
Baby girl has been hanging to be student leader since day 1.
What does the student leader do? Well they work in pairs. One girl, one boy. One pair, per week.
Then it changes.
You know, buggered if I know what they do. She mentioned emptying the compost, getting the lunch orders, I think they organise chairs, and stuff like that in class… 🤔
You know, it doesn’t REALLY sound like fun, but the fact is it gives them responsibility, and makes them feel special.
I’m surprised she didn’t remember ’til like 2 hours after school finished today, but she came to me wide-eyed, all smiley, and said –
“Mama, you might jump out of your chair.”
I held my breath, wondering if HER dreams had come true.
“You know how the student leaders are one girl, and one boy…”
“Are you the student leader?” I burst out. I was soooo happy for her. She was sad every time she mentioned missing out on the prestigious cleaning-up-after-everyone gong, and so I really wanted her to get it, just so she didn’t feel left out.
Just so she would be happy. 😄
I just want her happy.
I still don’t get what makes it so cool, but if it makes her happy, I am happy that she is happy.
And she is HAPPY. 😁😁
The record buying continues.
You know, Hubbie and I made a vow to each other a long time ago…
And no, I don’t mean the church ones. No, in these ones we said –
“We will fill our homes with books and music. We will never feel bad for buying that creativity that makes us so happy.”
🎵📚💖
Yet another record sale yesterday morning, and I picked up 8 buys for a very good price…
I guess it all depends on if you like the music, on whether you think the $75 is good or not?
Our style absolutely VARIES.
Stuff for me, stuff for Hubbie, stuff for US.
The spectrum of taste goes from one pendulum swinging wildly all the way to the other side. Pop, rock, 70s, 80s, French, even a daggy CD soundtrack, all feature in the assortment I bagged.
I have been hoping to score an Edith Piaf album, and although it’s not in her native French, I can now listen to her sing La Vie En Rose in English…
Hubbie got lucky with Dragon and Goanna, both records he has been hanging to get…
And I couldn’t say no to the singer of Gloria, Laura Branigan, for the steal price of $2…
$2! A loaf of bread is dearer.
And nostalgia called, so much so that when I saw the ‘Grease 2’ soundtrack, the sound of Michelle Pfeiffer singing Cool Rider started floating through my head, and I HAD TO…
So much varying music has been floating through our house this weekend, and I have a certain soft spot for Creedence Clearwater Revival at the moment. Their style encompasses blues/swamp/country rock, and if you listen to their songs, you’ll be sure to exclaim “did they write that?” or “Ohhh, I know that song!”
Loving to discover it all. 💖
Hubbie and I haven’t been out somewhere, the two of us, AT NIGHT, for, ohhhh…
Maybe over 3 years? The last time I can remember, it was The Weeknd concert, and that had followed the Sia concert the week before, so we had scored two ‘us time’ weekends out in a row…
But then a massive 3 YEAR GAP.
We had a birthday tonight, and it was so great to catch up with great friends, reminisce, talk about the future, and have a couple of drinks.
A couple. Specifically, 2.
There was a bit of a yellow glow to it all… due to the yellow lamps hanging everywhere…
Or, maybe it was us.
GLOWING in excitement at being out. 😁😁
As long as we have a view, I will keep taking these photos:
I mean, who knows where we might be 10 years from now… still in this home, or maybe another? I don’t know. I have no plans to move, but often in life things happen that we never would have expected.
I don’t try to assume to know, or plan for too much anymore. Because LIFE.
I captured this sky tonight, and I just loved the beams of sun rays bursting through the clouds, creating a beautiful glistening outline from each puff of white up there.
Just beautiful. I can’t get enough.
What makes me happy…
Sunshine?
Coffee?
Cats?
Sleeping in?
My family?
Simple things?
All of the above…
Yes, the last one is true. But a really small thing also makes me happy, like teeny, weeny, tiny, and I’ve seen it twice in two days now.
Hubbie sent me a photo today from work. Something had travelled in with him to work, from home…
Can you see what it is? Look closer. Closer again.
ZOOM in.
Yes, it’s a ladybird! It was resting on a towel in his car, and he picked it up on his hand, where it proceeded to fly away from once he was out of the car…
But he remembered what I always say.
He made a wish. ✨
You HAVE to make a wish. That is like, the thing you do when a ladybird is on your hand.
We saw one yesterday too, outside baby girl’s car side window after we had picked her up from school…
I don’t see these little guys often, but they make me so happy. They feel special, like their presence is so random, they are so little, so hard to be seen, and then –
Why, hello there!
Yes. I did say, little things.
But as I always say, (again)…
Sometimes the little things, are the big things.
💖🐞
So, I love coffee, right?
But sometimes, I drink it, even though I don’t really feel like it… I do it out of habit.
I think, that might be called what we say, an addiction?
🤣🤣
Yeah, FINE. I have a coffee addiction. Oh well. 🤷♀️
But this morning while out to have our Wednesday morning ‘us time’ coffee, Hubbie and I actually had, an AMAY-ZING coffee.
It just hit the spot. Completely. I had a scone on the side too, and just the combination, with the strong yet smooth coffee was…
Mmmm hmmmm.
Hubbie was even mumbling in agreement as he drank his coffee and ate his doughnut, doing the 👌 sign and EVERYTHING!
Ahh. Good times. Coffee times. 💖☕
The rain started, right before the end of school bell rang.
I was already there with my umbrella, and baby girl’s. God forbid I forgot the purple unicorn umbrella with ears, oh oh oh.
I watched the rain come in fast, like sheets on an angle, getting in and behind people running through it, and even reaching people like me who thought they were safe with a nylon canopy covering their heads.
Baby girl, and the rest of the school kids emerged from their classes, bolting, and SCREAMING. They weren’t worried about the rain. They just wanted to have a good time and let everyone know it too.
Baby girl ran over to me at the low fence, throwing her bag over and doing the tricky manoeuvre she does so well and so often, as she swung her legs over it, cheating the kids who were passing normally through the school gate 50 metres away…
But only this time, she didn’t do it so well.
As she came down on the other side, she hit the unseen part of her chin against the fence.
“Ow!”
I could tell it was a decent hit, not by looking at it, but simply by the look in her eye.
But, it was raining. We were walking fast to the car with our umbrellas, and only when we were almost there did I ask her to tilt her head up so I could see the damage.
Ouch. Blood. And a good mark.
But, I shouldn’t have told her that. 🤦♀️
There were tears. She was wiping at the cut constantly, blood always blotting onto the paper. At home I told her she must put Dettol on it… it was a wire fence after all… and she screamed, and cried, and screamed, and cried.
And I screamed, and pleaded, and screamed, and pleaded.
She touched it with her bare hands, all grotty still from school.
“No! Don’t do that! Use the Dettol!”
This went on for so long. My ears were ringing from our feverish cries. I was desperate for her to listen to me, so I could help her, while still trying to calm her nerves and assure her all would be well…
But then all of a sudden, I just broke.
I broke. I started to sob, and these felt like actual gasps of sadness escaping from my heavy heart, so terribly upset and desperate, so so desperate I was to help her, but she wouldn’t accept my help.
My heart cried, and the tears fell.
And it got her attention. Her breathing slowed, and her tears stopped falling for a moment as she looked at me, telling me it was alright.
And then she wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
And just like that, the roles were reversed.
I don’t know why that moment has stayed with me today. To be honest the rest of the day I’ve been pretty flat and cranky.
Even though she let me dab the sore two times quickly with Dettol…
Even though I begged her to put on a band-aid, and she reluctantly agreed…
Even though it seems to be healing, and she’s now sleeping sans band-aid…
I’ve still felt heavily low and flat, and I think it has to do with my emotional outburst. Our screaming match actually traumatised me, and only a good sleep will be able to reset me, us, fully.
But that tear moment… something about it.
It almost brings another tear to my eye. 💖😪
Today I tried out my new top.
I have to say… it suits me to a T.
(Tee hee hee).
To say that this top was meant for me, given my blog topics… well I couldn’t have picked a better one if I had gone out shopping with purpose.
But no. Like with all things, I just stumbled upon it.
And it is perfect. 💖💖
carcrashgratitude 