Category: Stuff

Wifey’s last night in town

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It’s just after midnight, we are leaving Brisbane in a matter of hours, everyone else is in bed, and I’m watching the Australian Open Men’s final. It’s amazing. I can’t go to bed!

I may also be trying to delay our saying goodbye as long as possible. It’s been such an amazing 2 months being around family – it’s hard to imagine having to do everything with only the 3 of us. It has certainly made trying to decide where to go for Hubs’ internship next year very tricky.

We leave after lunch and we’re aiming to be home sometime Thursday. There is so much packing still to do, but still seemingly a lot of tennis to watch! (go Nadal!) Oh, and this is my first blog written and posted on my new Galaxy SII. I hippie to work out all the quirks soon for future posting!

Face off

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Hubs and I were enjoying a lovely JJJ Hottest 100/Australia Day Party with our friend who always hosts a JJJ Hottest 100/Australia Day Party. We were gathered around, enjoying conversations about what will be number 1 on the countdown, sailing trips, and our friend’s upcoming overseas move.

And then we started talking about facebook. I don’t normally buy in to discussions about the pros and cons of facebook, as I know I have my reasons for not wanting to be a member, and although I’m happy to explain those reasons, I don’t like to be made to feel like I “should” be a member. But a friend asked me to explain why I didn’t partake and so I did. (see here) He wasn’t convinced and tried to give reasons why my reasons weren’t valid. So I explained further, but he still wasn’t satisfied. I got a bit fired up and made my point with a couple of swear words (probably would have made the point better without them, but you get that) and he said he understood where I was coming from and that was the end of it.

On our way home, it got me thinking and I said to Hubs “It makes me really sad that I feel like I can’t be involved in something that could be really amazing.”

Hubs’ response? “You are involved in something amazing. It’s called life.”

He started saying more but I stopped him and said I wanted to bask in the words he had just said. It. Felt. Gooooood. I have had a lot of people in my life tell me how they think it’s so great that Hubs and I really make the most of things; how we’re always doing exciting stuff and wonder what adventures we will begin in the year to come. And I love that. I LOVE that we have such a transient lifestyle, as we really do make an effort to make the most out of the time we have in each place. (Of course it does drive me crazy sometimes, but there’s always more good than frustrating!)

So I will continue to live my life without facebook, and although I will miss out on things from time to time, I feel like I will be using that time to live my life.




(I certainly don’t wish to ostracize those who are pro-facebook, it’s just not for me.)

A mammoth task

/ Renae / 1 Comment

We had Grandpa’s funeral and wake yesterday. I said to Hubs on our way to Nanny and Grandpa’s place, where the wake was held, that it feels much more final. When Nanny passed away, we still had Grandpa with us, but now that they’re both gone, I feel like “that’s it.” It’s a strange, not-nice feeling.

And the next job? Clearing out the house. The contents of the house was left to me in the will, so it’s up to me to determine what happens to what. I don’t really want that responsibility, but it’s mine and I will do my best to honour their wishes. This will also mean we’ll be spending a lot of time out there, and not so much time at our beachside holiday house 🙂 But that’s okay. It’s a job that has to be done.

We just have to work out where to start…

Amanda Huggenkiss

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Greetings. They can be tricky.

If 2 guys are meeting for the first time, it’s a handshake. If you’re seeing a male friend, again, it’s a handshake. If you’re really good male friends or family, you might throw in a hug (being careful to give 3 pats on the back to exert your manliness.)

If a girl is meeting someone for the first time, either male or female, a handshake is quite acceptable. But upon meeting that person again, a handshake can seem really awkward or impersonal. So do you go in for the hug? Or a little kiss on the cheek? (i.e. in the air next to the cheek) or do you keep your distance and give a little wave? Or do you pretend you have your hands full with your baby/toddler and avoid any kind of contact? (No, I would never do that. Maybe…)

It can just be so awkward sometimes. Someone goes in for the hug and/or kiss and the other person isn’t expecting it, or they go to both kiss on the same side or there’s the one-arm hug which is pretty half-hearted but good enough for some.

And what happens if you haven’t seen a friend for a while and you go in for the hug, and then you see them the next day and then a few days after that. Do you keep going in for the hug or is it kind of done?

The Europeans have got the right idea. Hug and kiss (2 or three times!) every time. Male or female, old or young, every situation is covered because it’s always the same. This takes the guesswork out of it and I’m sure makes greetings go much more smoothly.

I think part of the trick is confidence. If you’re going to go in for the hug and/or kiss, go in with confidence and make it obvious that that’s what’s about to happen. And just hope that the person who is about to receive the physical contact is ready for it 🙂

(The day before our engagement party, August 2007. There was nothing awkward about our intentions :-))

A numbers game

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(See here and here for previous numbers games)

in 2011…
20 (ish) – the number of full nights sleep I had
3 – the number of places we have lived
5 – the number of times we visited Brisbane
??? – the number of kms we’ve clocked up
1 – the number of candles on Chanbe’s birthday cake
2 – the number of Grandparents I lost
192 – the number of blog posts I published
8 – the number of awesome Mums I met who enrich my life

in 2012…
2 – the number of times we will move house
20 – the number of boxes of stuff I’d like to donate to Vinnies
4 – the number of tables/bench spaces I will strive to keep clear
2 – the number of semesters Hubs has left of medicine
1 – the number of PhDs Hubs will receive
1 – the number of blogs I’d like to beautify

Keeping up with the Joneses

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I’ve been wanting revamp my blog for some time now, but there are just too many options out there to choose from – so many formats, fonts, colours etc.

I’ve also been wanting to finish unpacking our place in Mt Beauty – I’m still looking for my jewellery.

I’ve also been wanting to send very belated birthday cards from as far back as July.

Oh! And I’ve been wanting to “organise” our house so I can actually find things when I want them, not 2 weeks later after I’ve bought a replacement.

You see, I’m having trouble keeping up with life at the moment. How do people do it? Especially with more than 1 child? I “joke” about having 5, but in all seriousness, I would love to have 5 children. I just don’t know how I would keep up with them all.

I feel like this is all I’ve been talking about on my blog lately – blah blah blah I can’t keep up – but that’s what my life consists of at the moment. This is what I’m living in, and I don’t know when I’ll find a way out. Every time I walk into our house, I feel like it’s a holiday home – like it’s not our home.

And being in Brisbane has just confused me even more. I seriously have to think to myself sometimes “where am I??” Thankfully, since we have had some sort of normalcy the last 2 weeks, Chance is actually sleeping through and even though I’m still pretty tired all the time from the 5am wake ups, I’m so glad he’s sleeping better. I don’t know how I feel about next year, knowing we’ll be moving twice, but I just have to go with it. Embrace the chaos and know that no matter what, we’ll get through it.

2012, here we come.

Wifey’s repertoire

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I love singing. I may not be very good at it, but I love belting out my favourite tunes. Here’s a couple of photos of me at my hen’s night partaking it a wee bit of karaoke. (Do my bridesmaids know me, or do they know me?)

I really got in to this one:

I love cruising around in our car singing along to CDs or the radio. I love putting my iPod on and going for a walk and singing in my head (or sometimes out loud). I used to sing along to whatever song was playing in shops and it embarrassed my friends. A lot. Which made me do it more. (I was kind of an annoying teenager.)

And most recently, I’ve been singing Chanbe to sleep and loving that special time we have together. I start off with Melanie Safka‘s Alexander Beetle, I then move on to Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones, (Melanie also did a cover of this song) and depending on what sort of night Chanbe is having, that might be enough. Otherwise I move on to The Rose by Bette Midler (don’t judge) and Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper. I might then hum a few tunes and just sing the choruses of other songs, and I’ve even been singing/humming the odd Christmas carol.

It’s such a lovely time we have together and I hope he remembers these songs as he gets older.

Merry Christmas

/ Renae / 1 Comment

Or, as our friend (you know who you are!) would say “Compliments of the season” (and then we pay him out.)

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones and tinsel, and that the new year brings lots of exciting new adventures. We have another big year coming up with a move in July (back to Wang) and another one in December (only God knows where we’ll be going), and as much as I’m looking forward to all the fun times, I’m also looking forward to the end of it, as that will bring some stability to our lives (hopefully!!)

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Wifey

Survivor, eat your heart out…

/ Renae / 1 Comment

…cos Wifey has the best immunity on the island.

I’m surrounded by sickness at the moment, yet I don’t recall having been sick since before Chanbe was born. Hubs is currently rugged up in bed, recovering from a virus that has been going around the family. Lucky bugger. Not about the virus obviously – a nasty fever and lethargy – about being rugged up in bed!

Let’s hope this lucky spell continues!

A room with a view

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Here I am, blogging with a seabreeze tickling my… ummm…. fancy? And enjoying what I see:

And when I’m at home blogging, this is what I get to look at:

 

So I’ve just informed Hubs, that no matter where we end up, I need a view. I need to feel like I’m part of the world, and not just part of the block we live on. It might have be something we work towards, but it’s definitely on my “to have in life” list.