Category: A Whine

Pardon my French…

/ Renae / 2 Comments

…but this week has been all shades of shite.

Well that’s not entirely true. We had Kris and Kate up for a few days over the weekend to celebrate my brother’s 40th birthday and had a lovely gathering here on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately our adventurous little Julius wanted to see how the hot water urn worked, and got burns down his hand and arm. After some time in ED on Sunday, we were referred to the burns clinic at Lady Cilento on Tuesday. He was such a trooper.

Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready for our train ride into the hospital. I felt my back twinge a bit but that’s not so unusual so off we went. By the time we arrived at the hospital I knew it wasn’t just a twinge. Again, Julius was a superstar (the drugs helped with the dressing change) and we made another appointment for Friday.

I was so grateful having Vicky, my friend and nanny and nurse with me to help pick Jules up and help me as well. By Tuesday afternoon and evening my back just kept getting worse and when I woke up yesterday, back spasms kept me in bed all morning. Every time I tried to get up, it was agony.

The pain killers I was on just weren’t cutting it and I ended up at the hospital. Unfortunately I have a feeling they thought I was just after more drugs (I do look pretty dodgy I guess) and basically just said

“yeah back pain is no good. Keep moving as much as you can but also rest. Have a nice day.”

I mean, I’ve had back pain before, but these spasms are truly something else. I have to take Jules in for his bandage change tomorrow morning, I have a physio appointment tomorrow afternoon and I’m supposed to be going to the P!NK concert tomorrow night. I don’t know that the concert will be happening ? But I haven’t ruled it out yet!!

I just have to make sure I’m better, or at least mobile, for my plane trip to Townsville next Thursday. I’m supposed to be away (child free) for five days to do a very good friend’s wedding.

Seriously, 2018? Enough already!!

When mix-masters go bad

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Frith bought me a Kenwood Mix-master for my first mothers day. As I’m sure you can imagine, I have given it quite a workout in the last seven years. Lots of birthday cakes and yummy desserts and even the odd savoury treat.

Last year, it started to lose some mojo. It just wasn’t beating as fast as it should have been on the highest speed, so Frith and our neighbour had a look at it and tried to fix it. It was also slightly off centre so it didn’t pick up all the mixture on each rotation. They did their best but it didn’t really improve on performance.

It still worked fairly well, so I just put it on the list of “once it breaks I’ll get a new one.” And since my Mum has had hers for decades I wasn’t expecting anything to change any time soon.

Things changed on Friday when I was mixing the batter for Julius’ birthday cake. It’s one of those really runny cakes (and literally the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made) and it was on the very lowest setting while I was pouring in the hot water at the end. All of a sudden, it found the mojo it had been missing, and sped up out of nowhere, spraying me and the kitchen with cake batter.

I screamed and Dad came down to see if I was okay. I honestly nearly cried, but then decided it would be best to take photos instead.

It’s what bloggers do I guess 🙂 And you know, it does mean I get to put “new stand mixer” on my wish list! I’m lusting after a KitchenAid of course, but that might have to wait a wee while. In the mean time, I always have my trusty hand mixers to keep those cakes rolling out.

What a weekend!

/ Renae / 4 Comments

How was your weekend?

Mine? Glad you asked! Saturday morning was awesome while we celebrated Julius’ birthday!

I made another Lego cake which was delicious and slightly dodgy, but did I mention delicious!?

And today Chance rode his bike and was amazing!!! I got video footage that isn’t loading for me, but gosh I was proud. He resisted it for weeks but literally got on and rode off like a pro and can’t wait to go for another ride tomorrow. Yay!

And this arvo I got to see a dear friend who studied med with Frith and have remained close with ever since. Nearly 10 years Amy!!

And while I was driving Amy to the train station this evening, I was pulled over by a  friendly police officer.

Him: “Is there a reason you are driving an unregistered vehicle?”

Me: “Aaaaaaaaaah”

Him” Your registration ran out in March this year.”

Me: “Aaaaaaaaah yeah. My husband died at the start of the year and I moved down from Rocky and I mustn’t have received the renewal notice.”

He goes back to his car for 10 minutes and comes back.

Him: “Here is a temporary registration to get you home. You have to be home by 6pm tonight blah blah blah…”

Me: “Thank you for that, yes I will.” Phew, I thought!…

Him: “And now for the ugly part. Here is a $403 fine for driving an unregistered vehicle. And here is a $504 fine for driving an uninsured vehicle, since the insurance is attached to the registration.”

Me: “Aaaaaaaaaaaaah….”

Him: “Do you have any questions?”

Me: In my head: Do you have a soul? Out loud: “No.”

So yeah that was my evening! I know he was doing his job blah blah blah. And the way this year is going, I’m just not even surprised. I don’t know how the renewal notice didn’t make it to me with my mail re-direction, but I guess sh*t happens.

And boy does it happen!

Nearly there

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The last 2 weeks have been haaaaaard woooorrrrk. Since last Monday, Hubs has been working all day and all evenings every day except the weekend which he only worked all day. The reason for this? Our new kitchen. The real reason? We didn’t budget this year. I’m so cranky at us for not planning better for this renovation work. I really thought that solo parenting for 2 full weeks wouldn’t be much harder than what I already do, but I wad so wrong. It is SO much harder.

It’s relentless. There is no promise of Hubs being home soon to help with dinner/bath/bedtime. And as if that’s not enough, I’m currently living without a kitchen. It’s kind of shit and even though I’m trying to just keep my head down and get on with it, when I come up for air I’m just exhausted. And cranky. The poor kids. I’m so tired of myself yelling at them. It sucks big time.

I know it’s temporary. The kitchen will be in in 2 weeks time and we go to Melbourne next week so there is something to look forward to. Until then, here it is!

Parenting 2-year-olds is not my forte

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Oh man today feels like it’s NEVER going to end. And it’s only 1:30pm. I feel like the afternoon is going to stretch out forever. It’s mostly my own fault – I didn’t plan an activity for the morning, so we just hung out at home after getting back from the gym. By 10am the kids were bored and even though I was trying to do puzzles with them and read them stories, they were underwhelmed and looking for something “fun” to do. I just didn’t have the energy for a playground outing, and the weather was rubbish so outside play wasn’t an option.

Parenting a 2-year-old is just an exercise in diversion tactics and redirection; constantly steering them away from breakable things, and finding out how durable (or not) other things are. And even though my darling Jules is letting me sleep through the night, I’m still being woken up by my darling 2-year-old at least once, mostly twice a night for various things so the exhaustion is still there.

Darby really is such a delight, and I have to remind myself that he won’t be like this forever. Chance was the same at his age, and look at him now! So big! They say the days are long, and this one so far has been going on for a week. Thankfully it’s playgroup tomorrow morning which the kids love, and it helps tire them out! I really need to look into a regular Monday morning activity! Any suggestions!?

How dare you

/ Renae / 1 Comment

To the bastards who tried to steal stuff from under our house last night,

How dare you. How dare you come into our home and help yourself to what isn’t yours.

How dare you fill me with fear and dread in my own home.

How dare you ruin the wonderful night out we had just been on to kick off Hubs’ birthday week.

Every noise I hear, my heart skips a beat and I want to run to the kids room to check on them.

How dare you make me worry about my kids even more than I already do, every second of every day.

How dare you make me feel like I need to lock my windows and deadbolt the doors.

How dare you make me feel like I want to move out of my own house.

Just how dare you.

Wifey

Them’s fightin words

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Have you ever just been in the mood for a fight? Been so pissed off by something that you are just ready to give the offending person a serve about it? Look I’m not going to lie. I’m a little frazzled, generally, at the moment, and certainly not as tolerant of people’s bullshit as I usually am. And I’m a pretty placid person generally, and if it actually came down to it, I could never throw a punch. (Ha ha. This is getting serious!) And even if I want to have a verbal altercation with someone, I’m not particularly articulate when I’m fired up, so my argument usually ends up less than well constructed and more teary and gibberish.

Today though, I was so ready to give someone a piece of my mind. I went to the servo to put diesel in the cruiser, and there were only 2 pumps of diesel, both being used. I pulled into the one that I needed, and watched the person, who was facing the wrong way, so looking straight at me (this is an important piece of info) finish up. He went inside to pay at the same time as the other diesel-user. The other guy came out first (the one that would be on the wrong side of my car) and drove off, and I sat and waited. And waited. And waited.

There was no one else at the servo so there would have been no wait to pay. After another 5 or so minutes I was fuming and ended up reversing around to the other bowser. I filled up the car (over 100L) and the guy STILL hadn’t come out. I got Darby out of the car and went inside to pay. By this time I had rehearsed my speech about being inconsiderate and so on and was ready to unleash.

I spotted the guy. Sitting down in the cafe bit. Eating hot chips and and Ice Break.

Holy crap was I mad. Why the hell couldn’t he have moved his truck before getting his cholesterol-filled lunch????? But I was so mad that I couldn’t string a sentence together. I went up to pay (I wasn’t about to go over and confront him) and instead took it out on the poor person who served me. “Inconsiderate! Unbelievable!” were just a couple of the words I used.

Who the hell are these people??? Gosh I wanted to give it to him, but I decided just to leave in a huff instead and hope that he got the picture. I’m sure he didn’t. Some people just don’t give a shit.

Have you ever?

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… felt like you have a 10 pound bowling ball sitting in your pelvis when you walk around?

… had to stop mid-stride to cross your legs when you sneeze?

… picked a fight with your husband because you’re so tired you can’t even think straight and then gone back to him crying five minutes later to apologise and tell him you love him?

… been really lovely during story time with the kids and then turned into a snappy monster as soon as they don’t go to sleep immediately?

… been unable to roll over in bed in less than a minute and without huffing and puffing and cursing like a sailor?

… wondered how the hell you’re going to get through two weeks of school holidays after just one day?

Welcome to my life people. It’s not pretty, it’s not quiet, it’s messy and it sure as hell ain’t for the faint at heart. But somehow I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s not over yet

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I believe we are feeling the after effects of cyclone Debbie and boy is it crazy. I mean it’s not Marcia crazy, but being in our own house makes it a bit more nerve wracking. I’m just grateful for our new roof and windows! This is what we are currently experiencing.

Again, I’m very grateful that we didn’t cop the brunt of it (poor Airlie Beach!) but this rain is relentless! It’s been pretty much pouring on and off since Monday with more on the way tomorrow.

And don’t even get me started on the mozzies. Ugh. When it clears up on Friday we’ll know about it! In the mean time I promise I will try to enjoy the sound of the rain on our roof as I go to sleep, be thankful for the lush green grass, and try not to curse too much when it pours at school pick up time.

2 months down

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Tomorrow it will be March. Crazy right?

The weather is cooling down somewhat THANK GOODNESS!

I almost forgot to blog today, but here I am.

I’m crazy itchy and even though I’m sure it’s not serious, I am going to get some blood tests done on Thursday because oh my gosh this itch is torture.

Kids in Dadda’s boots. It never gets old, right?

It’s bed time.

I’m so freaking itchy.