Category: Stuff

Role reversals

/ Renae / Leave a comment

When it comes to most things, Hubs and I have a fairly typical boy/girl relationship. I don’t mean to stereotype, but Hubs looks after all the technical gadgets in our possession, he takes out the rubbish, and opens tight jar lids, whereas I do most of the cooking and washing etc. There are a couple of things, however, where we have taken on each other’s roles.

The first of which is watching sport.

I can’t get enough of it!! (“sport sport sport sport sport sport sport sport”) whereas Hubs can take or leave it. There is nothing more exciting to me (well, sometimes!) than sitting at home on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon to watch a game of AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union, cricket, hockey…. hell I’ll even watch golf!! (well, I would if we had a TV.) I love a good game of footy – a close match that’s battled out into the dying seconds, and as long as “my” team plays well, I don’t even mind if we lose.

Hubs is not like this. He does not have much inclination to sit down and watch a game of footy, and he finds it very stressful when “his” team is involved in a close game. He would much rather watch a game where he’s not particularly going for either team, or one that he already knows the result of. We’re just different like that, and I often exclaim that my love of all things sports is wasted on him! 🙂

The other role-reversal is when it comes to our sleeping habits. Many of my female friends complain about how their partner keeps them awake at night with their snoring, and how their men go to sleep straight away so there’s no chance of them getting to sleep once that chainsaw starts up. I’m sad to say that I’m the snorer in our relationship (though, I prefer to use the term “heavy breather”). I’ve even been known to wake myself up from a little afternoon nanna nap with my own snoring. Hee hee.

But that’s not the only thing that keeps Hubs up at night. I’m a restless sleeper – when I’m not snoring my little heart out, I’m tossing and turning and waking Hubs up a few times a night in the process. I know that Hubs always sleeps better when I’m not in bed with him – like if he’s away for uni – but I can’t sleep very well at all if he’s not there beside me. And unfortunately being pregnant has only made things worse. I’m not sure we’ll ever get a good night sleep again!!

The only saving grace is that Hubs is a fairly deep sleeper so I’m sure I don’t wake him up nearly as much as he’d wake me up if it was the other way around. Aaaaaaah. The things we do put up with for love 🙂

Favourite lines from songs

/ Renae / 2 Comments

I found this post that I originally wrote in September 2010! I have no idea why it didn’t get published, so here it is! I’m sure there are more recent songs I can add, but this is what I was loving almost 5 years ago – even before little Chanbe was born!

I have a lot of favourite songs that I’ve blogged about before, but I also have some favourite lines from songs that I will share with you…… now!

“She was one in a million. So there’s five more just in New South Wales.”
The Whitlams, Up Against the Wall.
Oh my gosh this is one of my favourites. I mean, it’s kind of sad as well, saying that she’s not as special as “one in a million” would, at first, suggest. I guess I find it amusing for that reason.

And an honourary mention from another Whitlams song called Melbourne:
“If I had three lives, I’d marry her in two.”
I love that sentiment. It’s like, he knows how amazing she was so he’d want to live that life with her all over again, but also would like to give something else a try. Honest and sweet.

“Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes, I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again .”
Say Goodbye to Hollywood by Billy Joel
I know I’ve mentioned this song before, but it really sticks with me.

“When you love someone but it goes to waste.”
Fix you by Coldplay
Another heartbreaker. I love this type of song – the type that starts small and intimate and ends with lots of drums and electric guitars and harmonies and other BIG STUFF. The Crowd is very much like that too.

 

Quite Interesting

/ Renae / 4 Comments

I’m about to go on one of my “you HAVE to do this thing which is so awesome” rants, in this case, watch a particular TV show, where most of you will be thinking “yeah Wifey, I’ve been watching that show since it aired in 2003 and have told you before to watch it, and now that you’ve discovered it, you need to give me some credit for already telling you about it.” Or something along those lines.

I’m talking about QI, or Quite Interesting; a British panel comedy that Hubs and I have fallen head over heals in love with. (Here’s the Wiki link that gives a great run-down on the show.) We’ve been watching it on IView (something ELSE a friend told me about AGES ago that we’ve only just tapped into) the last month or 2 and it really has become one of my favourite shows. I think we’ll have to look at acquiring the earlier seasons as well. We get great belly laughs and Mutley gasps every episode, and no matter what mood I’m in before I watch it, I’m always in a better mood after.

So if you haven’t already checked it out, I can highly recommend it. If you’ve been watching it for years, tell me if the novelty ever wears off!

Back to Woolies for Wifey

/ Renae / 1 Comment

It’s not my fault. It just kinda happened. It doesn’t mean that I’m not still annoyed at Woolies for what they did to me, but the thing is… well… The Coles at Wang is rubbish. It kind of just crept up on me how rubbish it actually is. In the mean time, Hubs and I decided to give the Commonwealth Bank the flick and have changed all our banking to ING. And lo and behold, Woolies accepts our ING Direct Debit as you can choose the “savings” option. Go figure.

Do I lack commitment to “the cause”. Yes. Should I continue to shop at Coles for the principle? Perhaps. Am I going to? Probably not. The Woolies down here is just SO much better and nicer and has the products that I want and is right next door to work and church so I can swing by on my way home if needed, or do my “big shop” after church on a Sunday.

I know, I know, I’m justifying myself to make myself feel better. But hey. What are you going to do?

To Do

/ Renae / 1 Comment

Hubs is away on a retreat this weekend for med so it’s my opportunity to “get organised”. I’ve written myself a TO DO list (one of my favourite things “to do”! ha ha ha ha…) and blogging isn’t on that list, but boring things like vacuuming and washing and cleaning are, so it’s no surprise to find me here. I’ve prepared myself for doing lots of the things on my list – I have 8 hours of music lined up (currently listening to The Panel Live), I have a belly full of breakfast, and I have a speck of motivation which will hopefully be enough to at least get me started.

I’ll be good and keep it short (for now… I’ll probably be back later) and share with you a belly shot in a skirt that our good friend Mel made me. The photo doesn’t quite do it justice, so let me tell you how comfy and cute it is, just in case you can’t tell!

A new rule… with Peanuts on the side

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No more post-apocalyptic movies just before bed-time. We watched The Road last night and to be honest, it was rather a disappointment. It reminded me a lot of Castaway which I also didn’t much care for – just lots of scenes and not much of a story line, but rather, just a story. Does that make sense? There was no purpose (in either movie) other than to “stay alive” which is probably a good purpose I suppose.

This apathetic view of the movie didn’t stop me from having some ridiculous dreams though. A bit scary, but mostly annoying.

Do you find it annoying when people tell you about their dreams? If I’m going to tell anyone about my dreams (specifically), I’ll tell Hubs and he’ll tune out as I’m doing so. If I dream particular things about particular people, I’ll mention it in passing to them, but would rather not bother them with the details.

It reminds me of a very funny Peanuts comic strip I read the other night. If you don’t want to go to the link, here’s the general gist: It’s from the 27th of February 1952. Violet (an old character who didn’t stick around) is telling Charlie Brown, in great detail, about a dream she had, and Charlie Brown is getting increasingly annoyed and is making his feelings known. In the final frame, Violet says “Do you suppose all that means anything Charlie Brown?” to which he replies “Absolutely! It means you were asleep!”

I laughed and laughed, and reading it again I’m laughing now. It’s so true! What do dreams mean? It means you’re asleep. Brilliant. Classic Schultz. I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying reading his comics.

Check out another one of my favourites so far, here.

Sorry Jodi, it’s over

/ Renae / 5 Comments

I’ve read a few of Jodi Piccoult‘s novels in the last 12 months, but I’m afraid I won’t be coming back for any more. I’ve given her a few chances, and I’m afraid she just doesn’t deliver. I gave her a go with Nineteen Minutes and she disappointed me with her inability to get me to relate to the characters. Then I picked up Vanishing Acts in South Africa for ZAR30 and I ended up skipping parts of it that were so boring, but I had to find out what happened in the end. A complete disappointment – I have to say, one of the least appealing books I’ve ever read.

But I was saving the best for last: My Sister’s Keeper. That was supposed to be her best so I had it transferred from the Ballarat Library, and borrowed it from the Wangaratta Library a couple of weeks ago. Now, to give you a bit of background, I actually went to see the movie when it came out last year, and spent around 2 hours being manipulated by Hollywood, and basically blubbering like an idiot. But I quite enjoyed the story, and I could really get in to the plot and characters. Unfortunately on my way out of said movie, I overheard a fellow movie-goer exclaim “in the book, it finishes this way ____________ blah blah blah.” Thanks lady. No really, that was a great piece of information to share. (I’m not going to be a jerk and spoil it for the rest of you.) But as we all know, the book is ALWAYS better than the movie.

Or so I thought.

I finished it up last night, and by that, I mean I forced myself to read the final 80 pages in one go, just so I could get rid of it. And I’m a slow reader, so that took me about 2 hours. Of course it made me cry in the end (damn manipulative writing) but I had no sense of peace or justice. It’s like she drew this story out for over 400 pages and then got bored and thought “I’m just going to wrap this up right here and now.”

BAM. It’s over.

And there is no WAY I’m going to be looking out for her books any more. I understand that there are quite a few JP fans out there, and you’re entitled. I’m not trying to make enemies here. My main criticisms of her books that I have read are as follows:

  • She researches certain topics and just seems to show off with a bunch of information that really isn’t necessary to the story. It’s just distracting and a little obnoxious.
  • She writes in short bursts – paragraphs that you could have taken out of, or could put in to any book. It’s like she comes up with this really powerful paragraph, writes it on a big sticky note and puts in near her computer, waiting to fit it in somewhere.
  • The endings to her books are abrupt and unfulfilling. Everything gets wrapped up in the last chapter and I never feel any sense of resolution.

Good on her for making a great career out of writing – I think it would be a very hard road. I’m just not a fan.

Next on my “to read” list is The Other Boleyn Girl. Let’s hope it’s much more rewarding.

The Book of Eli

/ Renae / 6 Comments

Warning: Spoiler alert (and potty-mouth) in the comments 🙂

I wrote this post over a month ago but seem to have forgotten to finish it or publish it. I thought I would share the first part of the post here, and might complete it some day…

Hubs has been wanting to watch The Book of Eli for a while now, but he sold it to me all wrong.

Hubs: “Can we watch The Book of Eli?”
Wifey: “What’s it about?”
Hubs: “It’s a post-apocalyptic mov….”
Wifey: “No thanks.”

And now I admit, I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss it. I think it has instantly become one of my favourite movies now and I want to watch it again. I would really recommend it to… anyone!

Life is a rollercoaster….

/ Renae / 1 Comment

….just gotta ride it.

Yeah, I don’t really like that song either, but it just sums up my feelings at the moment, so I’m going with it.

I really don’t think my hormones have been crazy since I got pregnant. Hubs may disagree entirely, but I think I’ve been fairly balanced. Well, I was. I seem to be unhinging slowly. Like on Friday night I was reading The Chronicle on the train on the way to Melbourne, and was checking out the death notices to get ideas for names. (What? It was Hubs’ aunty’s idea!!) And then I started reading the tributes attached to those names and started crying a little bit. And they didn’t even have any comics to cheer me up again!

And then there was this morning. On my way to work I somehow got the song “Butterfly Kisses” in my head. I know most of the song, and I lost it when I got to the following verse. And the worst thing was, my brain wouldn’t stop singing it!! I was actually crying (mascara-smudging-crying) as I walked across the pedestrian railway bridge tears of joy and sentimentality:

“She’ll change her name today.
She’ll make a promise and I’ll give her away.
Standing in the brideroom, just staring at her.
She asks me what I’m thinking
And I say I’m not sure.
I just feel like I’m losing my baaaaby girl.
And she leans over.
And gives me butterfly kisses, with her mama there
Putting little white flowers all up in her hair.
Walk me down the aisle Daddy, it’s just about time.
Does my wedding gown look pretty Daddy?
Daddy don’t cry
Oh with all that I’ve done wrong, I must have done something riiiiiiight…..”

And I’m off again. Excuse me a moment…..