Another Hump Day

I was abruptly woken this morning at 6.30am by the neighbours concretors slamming the ground in preparation for the cement truck.

The noise made the whole house vibrate and the slamming happened every 5 seconds. There was no respite for about 45 minutes.

It would have been nice for our neighbours to warn us because it was not a pleasant way to wake up.

Adoring Husband had errands to run in The Bay so he escaped the noise quite early.

Quite a while later, BGWLBH and I couldn’t listen to the foul language coming from those workers any longer and we decided a trip to The Bay was in our immediate future.

We enjoyed a few hours pottering around town like the pair of old women that we are, did some groceries, got some juice and were home before 2pm.

AH was on the phone with an operator attempting to install ‘outlook’ email on his new laptop - apparently he had been on the phone for almost two hours, but it was a successful call.

I enjoyed a roast pork sandwich for a late lunch.

AH cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner.

We all played trivia for an hour.

It’s now almost midnight and I need sleep.

Nite all.

Self-care Tuesday

It was tough getting out of bed this morning because it was 1am when I fell asleep and my alarm sounded at 6.30am.

By the time I found the motivation to move, I’d given myself a tight time frame to get ready and to leave.

Meditation had already started when I walked through the door.

Oopsy.

As always, it was a great class.

Hoop qi gong was also great.

It kind of amazes me how well I can follow The Gypsy and her hooping moves, while the others struggle with their co-ordination and confidence.

What is simple for me, is very difficult for others and after ten weeks, they are still not able to do the simplest move. Even if they “get it” one week, by the next week they’ve forgotten and then they are so hard on themselves, they have trouble “getting it” again.

It’s strange, but interesting to watch.

Hooping is not a big deal. There is no pressure. It’s about movement, fun and creating good energy. You don’t have to perform and you don’t have to compete. It’s just for you.

But these girls/women are self conscious, insecure and lacking in self confidence.

From the beginning, I didn’t care if I got it right or not. It’s not a big deal and while I would always attempt everything shown, it didn’t matter to me if I stuffed up. It’s not life or death. Just relax into it and have fun.

After classes, I had 90 minutes with The Gypsy and then rode to the supermarket where I grabbed some papaya, strawberries and watermelon as well as an Asian salad mix and some fresh sourdough bread. I also bought some junk food, which I now regret.

I got ham from the butcher so that I could make a fresh sourdough sandwich for lunch … which I did.

I had a short nap on the couch before Harley play and time in the kitchen making mini meatballs with a sweet spicy dipping sauce, Asian salad and pineapple, avocado, capsicum, pear, red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, goats cheese and garlic bread made with the sourdough.

I ate half a papaya and a slice of garlic bread.

Right now, I’m enjoying my guilty pleasure - Love Island - from my bed.

I’m also ready for sleep.

Nite all.

Start the Week

I’m very tired.

I woke very early, to the sound of Adoring Husband banging and crashing in the kitchen and 20 minutes later a text from BGWLBH came through, inviting me to accompany her to The Bay.

We were expecting a guy to arrive at 8am to quote replacing the insulated ducting for our air conditioner because, after 11 yrs, it’s all collapsing - especially after last summer when we had the air con working 24 hrs per day for about 3 months straight.

We girls didn’t want to be here for that.

It was decided to eat breakfast in town, so we chose Sea Breeze Restaurant on the esplanade.

Simple, inexpensive cuisine that tasted delicious, a lovely ambience, very friendly service, local art for sale on the walls and I felt very comfortable. I liked it a lot.

Before breakfast, we stopped at Stocklands. It was nice and early, so the carpark was almost empty and we were able to check our lotto, go the bank, grab a coffee while we waited for JBHIFI to open, run Adoring Husband’s errands (usb sticks and socks) and finally, stock up on balls from Petbarn for Harley.

More grocery shopping was on the to do list - it’s never ending 🫤

We were home by 2pm and Harley greeted us very loudly with his special ‘talk’. I think he was saying “Mum! Thank God you’re home! I missed you so much! Do you want to play now?”

I let AH unpack our shopping and I changed out of my good clothes so that I could play with Harley.

I ate my leftovers from last nights dinner, as did BGWLBH. AH had a couple of toasted sandwiches.

Somehow, it is now 12.30am and I need to sleep because it’s meditation day tomorrow!

Nite all.

Simple Sunday

I slept well and woke quite early for a Sunday.

Before I took Harley out to play, I packaged his chicken feet snacks and put them in the freezer and chopped a saucepan full of vegetables to make his meals for the next week.

While the vegetables were simmering, I took Harley out to play.

After play, I put on a load of washing and decided to make some cheesy pastries for a snack.

While they were in the oven, I mixed up all the goodies for Harleys meals - 3kgs raw mince, 2 raw eggs, hemp oil, best mate powdered mix, another mix for joint strength and the veggies (sweet potato, celery, carrot, beans, asparagus, zucchini, broccoli). It made ten meals.

Adoring Husband was busy defrosting the little freezer at the end of the kitchen bench and we decided to dedicate it to Harley’s food.

I got a 2nd load of washing on and sat down to watch the movie “Pitch Perfect” which I’d seen before but still enjoyed very much.

After Harley’s afternoon play, I started dinner. Quarter chicken marinated in apricot sauce, with garlic green beans and asparagus and I made some grated potato pockets filled with carrot, capsicum, red onion, chopped bacon, half a cherry tomato and sprinkled with grated cheese.

I didn’t eat dinner but the others enjoyed it.

No trivia tonight because we watched The Voice finale. I was so happy that my favourite, Reuben, won! I was certain that Skye was the planned winner to keep the ‘woke’ community happy.

Anyway, after 4 hours in the kitchen, I’m ready to sleep now.

It seems Google is not allowing me to add pics to this post. Bugger.

Nite all.

Another Coupla Days

There’s not been much happening in our world.

Adoring Husband fell backwards in the shed yesterday (Friday) and I had to drag out a box and a lawn mower to reach him to help him up. Had a bit of skin off his back and his arm and he was all full of drama, but he survived.

There’s always something right!?

Today was voting day.

AH left early to vote before heading into town and purchasing a new computer for his birthday. The old one was so old that it couldn’t be updated anymore and he needs it for work and invoicing etc.

He got a great bargain. The price was originally $700+ and he got it for $300+. Very happy with that. Just a basic laptop.

BGWLBH and I drove into The Bay, did some food shopping, went to the butcher, Choice and Su Jus before heading home and voting on the way. We were lucky to walk straight in - no queue!

It was “fend for yourself” night so I had my dinner at 2pm when we arrived home. The others made shishkabobs on the barbecue.

I watched “The Bodyguard” “Promised Land” and another one that I can’t remember the name of on SBS. All pretty good movies, although the last one was a bit strange.

Now I’m in bed ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Xmas Gifts

I did a little Christmas shopping today!

You would think, by now, that I would be on a first name basis with the butcher, baker, newsagent, green grocer and the ‘too few’ checkout operators at Coles.

I AM on a first name basis with Tinkerbell’s, Su Jus Cafe and Farm Gate.

I cooked fish and chips for dinner and asked BGWLBH to make a salad.

We played trivia.

Adoring Husband played golf today!

It’s been a good number of years since he played, but since the DBS surgery, he has better strength and energy and better control of his body so he thought he’d give it a go.

He enjoyed it and got to meet lots of new people but was pretty tired tonight and headed to bed early.

We enjoyed some stormy weather this evening. Lightning, thunder, wind and rain. It wasn’t as bad as forecast but some nice heavy rain is just what we needed.

Time for sleep now.

Nite all.

I Like Quiet Days

Tuesday was a much calmer and more agreeable day than Monday.

Adoring Husband was suffering from a case of vertigo so I had to ride my trike to meditation. It was a great class, as was hoop qi gong. AH quickly recovered from his vertigo.

I had a two hour session with The Gypsy before riding home.

I was starving hungry so I stuffed my face full of leftover crumbed snapper and sat with AH to watch our quiz shows before playing with Harley.

I made curry puffs for dinner and accompanied them with green beans, snow peas, asparagus, pine nuts, goats cheese and balsamic fig dressing. My housemates both went back for seconds! 

Today was a lazy, relaxing day, the majority of which I spent in bed watching tv and colouring in.

I watched a movie called “Woman of the Hour” with Anna Kendrick. It was a bit dark and intense but worth watching.

AH bought Indian food home for dinner, but BGWLBH doesn’t eat this particular Indian, so he still prepared lamb chops and baked vegetables for her. He also had a plate of vegetables.

We played trivia before watching 1% Club.

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Nite all.

Birthday Boy

Today was Adoring Husband’s 67th birthday.

🎈🎈🎈

The day started out like any other … I showered and washed my hair, gave AH his birthday cards, made a cup of tea, then took Harley out to play.

After about 40 minutes, I gave Harley his treats (liver treats, salmon cookies and a pigs trotter) and came inside.

AH suggested that we go to Arkarra Tea Gardens for lunch for his birthday. Just as he was about to invite BGWLBH, she walked out of her room all dressed up … she had other plans.

We had a couple of hours to kill so we watched an interesting documentary until it was time to get ready.

It took us 30 minutes to look presentable and off we drove.

It only takes 20 minutes from here and a couple of comments from me about the speed he was driving - he didn’t care that I felt uncomfortable and continued on his merry way.

Ugh!

At the Arkarra carpark, there was confusion as one car was attempting to park, while another was attempting to leave all within a small space and which required us to reverse quite a way to avoid an insurance claim and possible carpark rage!

Ugh!

We walked to the service area and waited ten minutes for the lady in front of us to make her demands - she wanted her bottle of wine with an ice bucket right now to take with her to the table. She wanted a serve of falafel salad with an extra plate and please be fast because her husband had an appointment to attend.

Ugh!

We told the lady behind the counter that we had a reservation for 11.30am (it was now 11.45am) and we were advised that somebody had taken our table and were still there.

Ugh!

They led us to another table that was covered in dirt and a nice big fresh sloppy ibis bird poop right in the middle.

Ugh!

We selected our meals and drinks from the menu and when AH ordered our meals, he requested that somebody come clean our table.

While he was gone, I overheard the waitress say that the chef hadn’t turned up today and this was her FIRST day on the job. So there were only two people working the restaurant and I counted 6 tables each with at least two people sitting at them.

Ugh!

Fifteen minutes later, nobody had come to clean our very smelly table, so we called out to the waitress as she walked by and asked her if she could bring a cloth to clean the table.

She returned with our drinks and with a small wet cloth barely big enough to clean the table, let alone the big sloppy poop!

AH realised that she had brought him a mid strength beer, when he had ordered a light beer, but got no satisfaction when he returned it - it was the lightest beer that they had.

Ugh!

While we waited for our food, we enjoyed the natural sound of screeching bats that were hanging high in the trees. We were lucky enough to have the breeze blowing from that direction too, so the sweet aroma of bat ‘everything’ wafted past our nostrils.

Ugh!

Our meals arrived much sooner than I expected and our grilled barramundi with chips and salad were delicious. Even though we had to fight off the ibis and brush turkeys, we enjoyed our meals.

No pics but yum!

It was almost 1pm when we left and we took our crockery, cutlery and glassware to the counter - we figured that they needed all the help they could get.

We arrived home to find BGWLBH had also arrived.

My plan for the afternoon was to bake a birthday cake, roast a whole chicken with baked vegetables including a big batch of cherry tomatoes.

My plan for baking a double decker butter cake was thwarted when I realised that AH had used the spare cake mix in the pantry and had not replaced it.

Ugh!

Before I started to cook, I needed to use the bathroom - to discover, when it was too late, that there was no toilet paper.

Ugh!

It took me a while to decide how I would handle this issue and to work through the anger I felt for my house mates - one of whom had cleaned the toilet yesterday and should have refilled the holder as part of that job.

Ugh!

In the end I screamed at the birthday boy and demanded that he bring me TP. He dumped the entire 12 pack of double length TP at the door - which required me fully opening the toilet door while my pants were around my ankles to get the TP where I needed it.

Ugh!

While I was experiencing this dilemma, I had butter melting on the stove for the cake. By the time I got to it, it had burnt black.

Ugh!

I started preparing the cake mix when I discovered the electric beaters were covered in dried chocolate cake mix from the last cake that AH had cooked.

Ugh!

I eventually got the cake into the oven with enough time for it to cook before I needed to put the chicken and vegetables in.

This was my opportunity to take Harley out to play.

I then prepped the vegetables and discovered the baking tray had one corner filled with charred chicken marinade from Friday nights dinner.

Ugh!

My housemates don’t put their glasses on when emptying the dishwasher, so there are many times I have to wash dirty dishes and pans that have been put away from the dishwasher before I can use them.

Ugh!

I went to prep the berries for the cake and discovered that somebody had eaten half of them.

Ugh!

I served dinner and received a complaint that there were no beans.

Ugh!

We lit the candles, sang happy birthday, cut and served the cake with freshly whipped cream and berries.

Yum!

It was AH’s turn to cook, but I gave him the night off, I also cleaned the kitchen afterwards.

Ugh!

Needless to say, by the time I sat down to watch MKR, I was buggered. I lay down on the couch to rest my eyes and was woken some time later by AH saying good night as he was off to bed.

Ugh!

At 8.30pm as I was edging my way towards my bed, I realised that I hadn’t packed Harleys food into ziplock bags for freezing, so I spent 30 minutes doing that.

Ugh!

I emptied the dishwasher so that I could refill it with the Harley food making mess.

Ugh!

I took Harley out to pee before bed and finally lay down on my comfy bed to rest my weary bones. It was such a comforting relief to take a load off.

I picked up my phone to discover a text message from BGWLBH. She had sent me a text 45 minutes earlier telling me to check the glass sliding doors because she couldn’t remember if she’d locked them this afternoon when she came home.

You’ve gotta be f#*$ing kidding me.

So I got up and checked the doors which were both unlocked.

Ugh!

There are no words.

I am now going to meditate before sleep. I’m going to hand over this day and prepare for a fresh new day tomorrow that will only bring joy and happiness.

Nite all.