Wednesday, February 24, 2010

We are moving to a lighthouse you & I.... I'll just hold you tight & we'll not let those @#$$ers in.....

I'd best get another blog in before the month's end, eh?

The usual everything yet nothing has been going on in my life. Maybe point form might be the way to address the past few weeks:
  • We've bought a "new" car. It's a lovely little diesel ford Focus. It's very "un-thirsty" and very suited to the large numbers of miles that we drive up here. Very schmick, shiny and silver, it is. One day, I will draw up a timeline of my life according to the cars that we have owned: it's a direct reflection, I assure you.
  • We saw the Newcastle Women's roller derby league demonstration day in Newcastle on Valentine's Day. It was great fun and very tactical. Beloved & I were amazed at the number of people there. And a few tattoo artists may have been afforded an overseas holiday based upon the amount and level of inkage on display. We're looking forward to GG's debut as "fresh meat"... seriously, that's what newbies are called.........
  • Last Tuesday, we attended a "send-off" for my cousin, Ian. Ian passed away at the tender age of 47, from a heart attack following 4 previous attacks in 8 months. He also had Graves Disease and Type II diabetes. He has a large and loving family and friends that will miss him dreadfully. Ian had married his high school sweetheart 14yrs ago after they met at a school reunion. Both had gone through messy marriages/divorces. Happiness turned his life around. Beloved reckons that it was one of the saddest funerals he's ever been to: I thought that Kiss & Metallica were never more appropriate, and how wonderful it was that "Boong" made so many wonderful memories for those left behind.
  • We then had 3 very busy days at work, and on Saturday, our little world was shifted on it's axis a little....... Beloved went to work to do a simple job. Except that it didn't end up being a simple job. I can't go into details for legal reasons, but Beloved and another work colleague were involved in an incident that saw the other driver choppered off to hospital. A phone called from a rather shaky Beloved for a clean shirt resulted in my not actually going to work. I was almost ready to go to work when he called: I turned up at the worksite as he was going into a bit of very-expected shock, so a phone call to work later, that was the end of that. Fortunately, work wasn't busy, and could do without me. On Sunday, they called me to see if I wanted the day off as maternity (where I was rostered to work) was closed, and the hospital was very quiet. Thank goodness. Poor Beloved ended up at work until midnight as investigations took place. Then back again on Sunday to sort things out. After yet another gruelling day of "sorting" on Monday, Beloved is now having time off until his soul has recovered a bit from the shock of it all. Fortunately, the "other guy" has had surgery and is home recovering. He should be physically ok in the next week or so. But Beloved is beleaguered with the fact that the other guy was driving the smaller machine that is usually Beloved's. The only reason Beloved wasn't in the driver's seat was because someone had phoned in sick, so Beloved had to drive the larger machine as the replacement guy wasn't licenced to drive the larger one. So he has the mindset of "it should have been me" compounded with the thought that the actions performed on the job may have had a truly dreadful outcome. He is full of anger, guilt & self-doubt at the moment. It's so hard to watch him feel like this. He is running on very little sleep, and is exhausted, which just makes it all worse.
  • Last night, we went to Lizottes in the old King's Theatre in Lambton to watch the one & only Josh Pyke perform. It was just him and his guitar: no band, bells or whistles. AND HE WAS AWESOME!!!!!! This man needs no engineering: his voice is rich, mellow and so multi-hued... it soars..... his guitar playing is superb.... and he has a sense of humour and fun. As the man himself said: "you likey Pykey?".... Yes we do. Absolutely. I wish we could see him again....If you haven't heard him, do yourself a favour and have a listen. But be prepared: his stories are bare and raw...... and he can fit more words into one breath than anyone I ever known..... The venue is great, and the service phenomenal. I've not had such complete service in a long time. The best ever, I'd reckon. Except for the old dears at the The Staff House at Newcastle Uni a generation ago.......
  • Then today we had our annual check up with the Skin Cancer Clinic. Beloved's ears need work: we have been prescribed some cream with the preceeding question; "are you in a health fund?".... It must be expensive...... Evidently, I have very good skin. Wrinkling, mature and (very tactfully) with some blemishes that occur after 30 that can be frozen if I want. I have chosen "not" for the time being.....
  • Then we saw "Shutter Island" at Charlestown with our free movie passes..... I'm not a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, but Beloved & I both liked this one. I'm not telling you about it.... It was a good diversion for a couple of hours. I caught the train home as Beloved has to get a towbar fitted to the Focus tomorrow and it was half the price at ISP compared to the price we were quoted up here. It was shame that they booked us in on the wrong date. It was supposed to be done while we were in Newcastle today. He's staying with his mum again tonight. I would prefer that we weren't apart at the moment, but there's not much we can do about it. I have an evening shift tomorrow. It's the first of 6 days. I was called today to see if I could fit any extra shifts in. I don't think that I can. 40hours this week will be enough, especially with everything that's going on........ I have 4 nightshifts and 2 dayshifts booked next week.... 56hrs..... It sounds like I'll be rolling in money..... huh!
It's a bit later than I hoped...... I'd best get off to bed. Goodnight.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Here I come: Here I go.......

My gosh.

It's been over a month since my last post. I'm not sure where it went. I was working, I guess.

Anything big happened? Not really.

Beloved took some holidays to spend with his mum. He loved having the time with her. I think (and hope) that it will happen again. He also met up with Sboy in Newie and together they travelled to Canberra to pick up "Rumdawgs" so thay could go to Mulwala (NSW-Vic border) for the boys to perform at the annual waterski festival. Well, they would have if the big black F-truck hadn't died 2 hours out of Albury. Lucky for the boys, Beloved, who had been roped into driving them as neither of the two are licenced to drive towing a big trailer, was with them so that they were able to rent transport. The boys wouldn't have been able due their red P Plate status. And lucky that a couple of kind-hearted truckies offerred half their day to drive the boys & tow their trailer to the ski park. And lucky that they broke down outside a hotel that sold good food and were extremely hospitable, even if they didn't have any beds. The truck has been on a slow downhill slide over the past few months: they were very, very lucky that it didn't happen sooner. But in the end, everything worked out well. Beloved and I are waiting for some re-imbursement of our investment to get the boys home........ Given the fact that the truck is going to cost around $10,000 to repair, I think we'll be waiting a while.......

Sboy's boss arrived home from 2 months overseas on Saturday: we will see them next weekend as they have to travel here to pick up the trailer then drive it back up to Glen Innes for 3 days of shows next weekend. My big Sboy has turned 19 as well: his last year as a teenager!

Vboy's been having lots of fun over the school holidays. It doesn't seem to have finished, even though school's back. He's in for an interesting year. He's been moved up for Science, History & Geography. I worked very hard with him on his assessment tasks last year, and it seems to have paid off. Mind you, his final exam marks weren't all that flash...... Beloved and I will be moving heaven & earth to get him a maths tutor. I have been lobbying his teacher for quite some time now in regard to this subject, but she insisted that he was "holding his own" in class... I'm not sure exactly what of "his own" he was holding when I found out that his Final Yr 9 maths exam mark was 38%....... if he's doing ok, what about the rest of his class?????? I tried for most of the second half of last year to secure a tutor, but had no joy. Maybe since it's the beginning of the school year, it will be a little easier.

GG had a big day out at the "Big Day Out". She's been gritting her teeth since the beginning of December when Beloved & I bought her car home for repairs. It's rego ran out on Friday: we took the hard line with her & did not offer to renew the rego for her this year..... after 12 months, she hasn't come up with the money, so here it remains...... She tells me she will have the money this week. As soon as it's registered, I will return it..... when I can fit in the drive (and the train trip home). Maybe next weekend. Her newest passion is The Newcastle Roller Derby. We might catch that too next weekend.

Beloved & I went out in Hamilton then back to a friend's house in Wallsend last Saturday to help him celebrate his 50th birthday: it was great fun, but was in between work shifts for both of us. This weekend has been good for me, as I haven't worked, or set foot out of my little village all weekend. Bliss! Beloved & I have had some lovely quiet time together as Vboy was with friends. We like to watch movies together.

I finally finished the assessment tasks and workplace observations for the Aged Care Course that I was doing. Woo Hoo! I am doing a palliative care course next month. Hopefully it won't be too taxing on my shrinking brain. That might just about do me for my learning in 2010.......

My house is clean. The cars are vacuumed. The washing up as well the washing is up to date. Even the kids rooms are habitable. But.... (there's always a but).... before you get all high-fivey and congratulate me, just let me share with you that my spongemop has perished from lack of use. It left bits of interesting yellow stuff all over my clean floors. And ... ummmm..... that .. my... oven... hasn't been cleaned at all this year.... not since December 2008, in fact.....

It's interesting though, don't you think, that the only thing that will remove those ridiculosly large "Water Usage" star stickers on bathroom appliances is copious amounts of water and elbow grease?.... such an irony.

Ah well..... see how mundane my life is? Maybe that's why I have been such a pathetically unmotivated blogger... it saves you from hari-kari as a result of the boredom of reading if I had posted anything........

Goodnight!