We are young, but getting old before our time....get into the car & drive....

It's been a funny couple of weeks. Lots of time spent on the road. And it's been hot. So hot. But a southerly has come through in the last hour. Every door & window is now open to let out the stuffy air & encourage the coolness in.

Sboy flew back up to the Gold Coast last Sunday & will be riding at a show at Penrith on Australia Day. Then maybe he will be home on Tuesday (hopefully) for a week or so in preparation for his 18th birthday on the 30th. There is a job in Sydney Feb 7 & 8, so hopefully he'll stay at home with us in between. Then he leaves us again, probably until after Easter.

On Wednesday, GG was accepted back into Newcastle Uni to study for her BA in (I think) in Anthropology, Social Science & Drama. She will be attending part-time, but will remain working up here until at least April, whilst looking for work in Newcastle after that. She's very excited at the prospect, but her world is blissfully revolving around her part-time move into a house at Wickham with friends that she is VERY keen to make full-time. So keen is she, that she is going to pay them a weekly rent to secure her room full time even though she will only be in residence 2 to 3 nights a week until she moves down there...... I suppose it's only fair: she has virtually lived on their floor off & on over the last 18 months rent-free..... Her hair is no longer vibrant fuschia: it's white-blonde with pale silver-mauve streaking....... So tomorrow is spent moving GG & some gear down to No 25, as well as picking up stuff from Pop's to take there too. The house is a semi-detatched terrace, & she has the top rear bedroom. God I hate stairs.... & moving up furniture up stairs...... At least she will be there for a while.

And tomorrow, we will look at a car for GG at Medowie on the way down. Sboy will need his back at some point, & GG needs one that is comfortable & reliable with all the travelling that she will be doing. And easy on the fuel. Hopefully, this one will fit the bill. Vboy will probably need a new car before the year is out, too. Hopefully, he has heeded our warnings about saving his money to contribute to the purchase ........... It's hard when they are so young & living away.... you really have no idea about what is going on in their lives: only what they choose for you to know.

Vboy has had probably the best school holidays ever, but I think that he forgets that he is only 14 sometimes, & just expects to be able to do whatever he wants to do. Here in our little village, he & his mates can pretty much ride their bikes anywhere & everywhere, swim in the river & hang around without getting into too much trouble. It's much the same in Muswellbrook (in the daylight anyway). He is expecting us to let him catch a train to Newie with his mates on Australia Day (of course they're all allowed to go....). He just doesn't get that the city is a different ball-game, & not necessarily safe. These kids have little or no street-smarts.... He's cranky with us at the moment, & revolting at the prospect of coming to Newie tomorrow.....

Poor Beloved went to an old friend's funeral last Tuesday........ There's been too many of these .... And I see way too many young people (that's under 70yrs, folks) struggling to stay alive in my line of work. But I never fail to be amazed by the sheer tenacity of the human spirit.......

I've been a bit out-of-sorts. My shifts have been all over the place; 4 days on last week starting Sunday, then a day off with Beloved to attend a skin clinic appointment, worked the next day, then Sat, Sun & Mon off. I turned up for work this Tuesday in the morning, only to realise that I was on an evening...... I ingratiated myself with my workmates by doing a morning tea run to Maccas & spent most of the morning helping out..... which was just as well as I was mixed up on Thursday. I thought that I worked in the evening, but I was phoned at 7.10am to find out where I was.... lounging in bed of course, after working the previous 2 evenings..... Friday was Mum's birthday, so Friday was never going to be full of promise..... but it was ok in the end. I wasn't even late for work. And the money came through to buy GG a car......

I go back to work on Monday evening (1.30pm). People at work have checked to roster with me a few times (with a sly smirk, but more often, a wide smile.. ;0) ). It's my last week up on Afloor at Muswellbrook, then it's downstairs into the Aged Care Facility. I just don't think that I've learned enough, nor am I good enough for the assessments that need to be done. I think that I will need to organise some of my own time for more practise & assessments. *sigh*.

April 21, the end-date for my contract is so close. And my assessment book has to be completed & in by mid-March.....

I'm off to shower & bed. Tomorrow will be busy. Oh: I forgot about the load of washing to hang
out ....

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

And I wonder why?

Morning.

It's just after 8am, & I am hot already.

I'm glad that I don't have to go to Charlestown Square (AKA "The Faecal Palace: the largest choice of numbers 2's in town..."). If you think I've lots my marbles here, then you need to check out Renata's blog. Or maybe you shouldn't. I think she's still getting over her experience.

Everyone is in bed.

The teenagers in this house think that it's ok to be on the computer on MSN all night. Obviously a lot of other teenagers think the same thing. Then a tired teenager sleeps until midday, and repeats the process.

They also keep their mobile phones on their pillow, & other teenagers send them messages in the small hours of the morning when everyone who is normal or not at work should be asleep. For parents who haven't yet encountered this phenomoenon or have children too young to have their own phones, it would be a good idea to set a curfew on phone calls, and "put phones to bed" at night.

I wish that I had done this: actually, I DID set a curfew, but it has been ignored. Remember the good old days when it was bad manners to phone someone after 9pm? People had down time, & didn't have to be available 24/7.... I mentioned to my kids that the number of sms & constant demand provided them with validation, & they laughed at me, but I believe it's true. They can't wait to continally check their MySpace & facebook pages to see if someone has "commented" them. It's often a fight to see who can get to the computer & the request of "lurk me, then" is frequent when someone else is on first. When they DO finally struggle out of bed near lunchtime, the computer is the 1st place they sit (food & drink come later... at the computer, of course ...excuse me, but NO food or drink at the computer!!!!), & the computer is the 1st point of call everytime they walk in from outside the house. School bags live next to the computer: they rarely make it into the bedroom: are books ever taken out for homework? I really don't think so. Sometimes. it's difficult for them to take 2 steps away from the computer to sit at the table for tea, & then it's bolted down fast so that they can return to the computer.

Yet, with all this communication at their fingertips, they rarely talk to anybody on their phones, & have a vast circle of "friends" that they have never met. Does this compromise their social skills? I think it does. They have trouble organising activities as they wait for "OllieB to comment them back.." . Actually talking on the phone, which allows quick transfer of information, is just not done. And hopelessly inadequate to me in this "right here, right now" world that we live in. Mind you, I have to say that my kids are improving in this, largely because I have insisted upon using the phone as ... OMG... a communication device....... After all, it costs me a fortune for them to make a gazillion sms to a gazillion different people for them to say;

"sup?"

"ntmch. U?"

"same"

"lol"

"Seen (enter name here) l8ly?"

"nah. you?"

"nah. She probs hang wif (enter name here)"

"kk. She was on msn last night. gtg. cya."

"k. bye"

Fabulous command of the English language....... I wonder how much of this nightmare gibberish is making its way into their school books. I have heard it creeping into their conversation. My pet hate? Saying "lol" instead of actually laughing......

They are very adept at multi-tasking though: They can cruise the web, hold about 20 MSN conversations, check out MySpace & place useless bulletins, all the while whilst answering SMS on their phones........ They have endurance, as well: they can do this for hours......

They just can't seem to manage to put the milk/cereal away, empty/fill the dishwasher, put their clothes in the washing basket, or hang up their wet towels, though..... "lol". Even one job at a time.

And they ALWAYS leave their empty glasses, packets and plates next to the computer..... NO FOOD & DRINKS AT THE COMPUTER, GUYS!!!!!!!!

Ho hum.... They'll never read this anyway.

Remember when the telephone was THE desired method of communication? The desperation of waiting for "someone" to call? It used to be fun. And you generally had a person's undivided attention when you were talking.... I'm so old, that for years, we were only only house in about 4 in our street to have a phone, & we were the message centre for the neighbourhood.

The telephone has been an important & formative part of our culture: songs have been written with the phone as it's focus. Take Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone" as an example:

I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall
If you don't answer, I'll just ring it off the wall
I know he's there but I just had to call

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone
Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

I heard your mother now she's going out the door
Did she go to work or just go to the store?
All those things she said I told you to ignore

Oh why can't we talk again?
Oh why can't we talk again?
Oh why can't we talk again?

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone
Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

It's good to hear your voice, you know it's been so long
If I don't get your calls then everything goes wrong
I want to tell you something you've known all along

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

I had to interrupt and stop this conversation
Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation
I'd like to talk when I can show you my affection

Oh I can't control myself
Oh I can't control myself
Oh I can't control myself

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone
Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

Hang up and run to me
Whoah, hang up and run to me
Whoah, hang up and run to me
Whoah, hang up and run to me
Whoah oh oh oh run to me...............

Well, that's probably enough of my rambling.... Is that the phone I can hear????? WHY WON'T IT LET ME TURN OFF THE ITALICS???????

k. bye.

Have a good day!

This ain't a scene; it's a goddam arms race (lyrics that are in Sboy's head right now....)

WOO HOO!

SBOY IS HOME!!!!

Beloved & kids went to Sydney to pick him up yesterday. He is a happy, but thinner little camper. Unbelievably, he has stripped 6kg off his already lean frame: he's now 59kg! He bought back gifts for us all. I have a lovely Balinese dragon. He remains un-named thus far. Poor Sboy was concerned as he managed to break 2 of the wooden dragon's toes in transit. As Beloved pointed out, he just matches my other rather battle-scarred ones.......

This morning I take SBoy back to Sydney so that he can be picked up to go to Mulwala (near the NSW/Vic border) to ride at the show this weekend. Then he's going up straight up to the Gold Coast until the end of the month, he thinks.

I have Saturday off, then back to work on Sunday.

*sigh*

As the sand flows through the hourglass, these are the days of my life......

Smiley........

Good Morning Bloggers!

Sunday morning @ 8.09am and here I am.

Not too much earlier, Beloved had risen for work, & before I had even opened my eyes, there was a familiar thud, stab, twist, thud at the back of my head. I should have gotten up & taken some pills then, but I thought no, no, I'll just lie here in bed, & it will go away.

Wrong response. (Can't you just hear that buzzer from "Sale of the Century"; noll-noll...)

As I pondered my approach to the day in that half-awake, half asleep state, with a good bit of painful indecision inside my head, the phone started to ring..... at the farthest point away from me in the house. In my haste to answer it, I caught my dressing gown on the pedestal fan and it would not let go. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, it let go so I could run to the phone, with my gown flapping about me (not a pretty picture to paint, so I'll leave out the details...) I picked it up just after "the man" had informed the caller with his nasal, annoyingly whiny twang that; "No-one is available to take your call at the moment. Please leave...".. well yes they are, they are just trying to avoid answering the phone infragrant delecto...... bloody phone, telling me who I can & can't talk to... organising my life.......
A surprised "Hello Bub: I was just going to leave you a message....." greeted me on the other end of the line. Dad. "Happy Birthday"....... Thanks Dad. Small talk ensued while I filled up & turned on the kettle.... "God I need a cup of tea.." Very small talk, really, as I had only spoken to him yesterday afternoon. He enquired after GG, asked what shifts I was on this week, I asked him how he was going to spend his day..... he's not too well in the tummy & has a cough, & can't sleep lying down (this may be related to his medication, I feel). Neither are new complaints, but both wear him down. He is very tired. If he's not on the move, he falls asleep in the chair.......
He asked how I was going to spend my day. Well, Beloved's octagenarian aunty, who is very pleasantly demented, is having a surprise birthday party at Bolwarra: Surprise: the kids & I are going down for it...... At 40kilos, Aunty Del is diminishing, & may well disappear on us before another birthday comes around. She has always been the size of as wren, but has lost the strong edge about her of late. Her frailty was more apparent at Beloved's dying father's bedside & funeral. She loves to tell stories, as is typical of someone with her generalised dementia. She couldn't tell anyone what she ate for breakfast, but the newsreels of her life from over 60yrs ago in her mind are fresh & bright.

The conversation wound up as I made my cup of tea & decided that a celebratory bowl of "Rice Pops" was in order. I had to coat my stomach with something before I assaulted it with ibuprofen, codiene & pantoprazole (no brand names here; I refuse to advertise or use product placement).
I then fired up the computer in anticipation of this tome, sat down, and my mother-in-law phoned; "Did she tell me Melbourne or Westbourne Street last night....". A short converstion later, I managed to actually ingest the afore-mentioned drugs...... Hurry up & work already!!! Nanny Val is slowly re-building her life without Poppy Don. She has a big day today. She & PoppyD moved into an over 55's community a couple of years ago. Actually, they are all way over 55 & most of them are widows, so she's got plenty of company, & they've all flocked around her. This morning, they're all getting together in the community centre for breakfast, then NannyV is driving herself up to Bolwarra. I'm pretty sure that it is her first trip outside the city. She hasn't driven anywhere much at all over the past few years as PoppyD was usually the driver when they were together, & they really didn't go anywhere separately often. Just turning up on her own at a family function is a new thing for her. That's why we're going. I plan to be there before she is so that she doesn't have to walk through the door on her own.

It's now 9.30. There's been more phone calls, another cup of tea. I rarely sit down & compose a post un-interrupted or in its entirety. I will have to get VBoy out of bed soon if we are to leave on time.

But before I go..........

Happiness.

Lovely Lisa brought the topic up the other day. How we search & search, & try so hard to be happy. I think I saw a definition or version of happiness the other day. It certainly put a smile on my face.
On my drive to work, I pass through a lot of rural landscapes. A number of things make me smile on this drive, even at 6am or on the way home (it's not just the fact that work is over for the day...) The sunrise, the mist, birds, foals, lambs, calves all cavorting in the paddocks, the moonlight over the landscape: they all make me smile & go "oohh". The big one this week was a cattle dog who had obviously finished his work for the day. The farmer had an irrigator going in a paddock by the roadside, one of the big ones that puts out a continous stream of water, that has a repetitive break in the stream so that it goes "Ch, ch, ch," very rhythmically & the stream of water is broken & goes further. It wasn't turned on very fast, and here was this cattle dog, having the time of his life jumping up 6 feet in the air and biting the stream of water & getting wet & cool in the process, over & over again. I laughed out loud in the airconditioned confines of my car at the sight of this happy dog. The next afternoon, the irrigator had been moved to a different spot in the paddock, and was turned up full pelt.
And there was the dog, doing the same thing, except this time, in order to reach the spray, he had to run, jump up onto the legs, then arm of the irrigator & launch himself into the stream, performing a 180 degree turn before hitting the ground running to do it all over again. He must have been reaching over 12 feet in the air........

He was definitely working for his happiness.
But what he did to get it was simple, & his goals attainable. When the goalpost was shifted, he changed his approach & the way he achieved it.
And he kept on trying.
And when he got his reward, he enjoyed it.
And repeated it & took time to really enjoy it, unlike we humans who tend to think that we can't remain happy for long & have to look for something else.

I was laughing out loud again at the simplistic fun that the dog was having. And amazed at his actions as well.

A ramble, yes?

We should all be able to feel the incredible lightness of being that happiness brings.

Unfortunately, we are way to complex to find it in a sprinkler. Mind you, we did as children.......

Dogs are good at being happy, aren't they? Clover takes herself off for a run around & around (& around) the house like a real loon sometimes, with real purpose, and when she's finished, she pounces onto the verandah with a triumphant air of accomplishment, absolutely brimming with viviacity, with a smile that starts above her ears....

The incredible lightness of happiness.

Bring it on.

Only problem is .......where is there a sprinkler.......?

Have a good day, everyone.

With love from the Blogmuggle ;0)

Celebrate good times... c'mon......

Welcome to 2009, young & old.

I had been planning to write a reflective post about my year in '08, followed by my hopes & aspirations for '09, but I'm not going to. I'm over it now. I've been a bit too busy to put reflective, hopeful fingers to keyboard. Instead, I'm just going to get on with living '09, & we'll see how it pans out, shall we?

I finish my "Medical" rotation at Scone tomorrow. It hasn't been any different to the other rotations that I've spent there, but it's been busy for me, and I've reinforced the skills that I already have. I won't be back there until April as my traineeship starts to come to a head. I'm at Muswellbrook Hospital for the month of January to attend my "Surgical" rotation, which is handy: the operating theatres are closed until Feb 5, with only emergency cases being considered. Oh well; I'm sure something will turn up.... I like working at Muswellbrook. The staff are friendly (not that Scone staff aren't), the set-up is different to Scone, & it's closer to home.
I think that I've just about driven the RN's mad with my "Would you please sign this off in my book?" requests....... but it HAS to be done.....

I should tell you, I suppose, that Christmas was celebrated well, and quietly, which is just what the doctor ordered. It was certainly different. The kids are all growing up: GG worked both Christmas & Boxing Day, & Sboy celebrated Christmas Night in a restaurant in Dufan with JackF & Yana after they finished their shows for the day. We didn't have Christmas lunch: I baked an evening meal instead. My Dad was with us, which was good. He's not all that comfortable out of his own environment: he never has been. He is so used to just going off & doing his own thing, so at someone else's house, he's at a bit of a loose end.

Ewwww. I just went to the bathroom & discovered the back end of a mouse on the floor, which leaves me to ponder: where is the front end? Hopefully, it has been ingested by the gifter, Lulu.....

I want to try to put some recent photos of the kids on here: lets see if it works........

2 of GG 'cos her hair warrants the attention. Yes, it's real... her own hair. Happy 21st birthday, Prince Rhyslet...

GG: the girl with the pink hair & party attitude to match.....

A reflective (and nutty) Vboy.... that's Bryson's hand holding the chip....

A Christmas Sboy....

A festive Sboy... he captioned this one "sorry mum". I hate to think.......


Ah good times, good times.

Oh, that's sad. I seem to be living my life vicariously through my children....

That's all for now folks.

I hope the new year holds many good times for you all.

Love,

Blogmuggle xoxoxoxo