Walking the pooches

I took my dogs for a walk today. I don't do it as often as I should, but I do try.

I assume it's rather amusing to watch me walk my dogs. They are like two little rockets, powering along the street, dragging me in thier wake. Until we get two hundred metres down the road, and then, they go at thier own pace. They make the rules.

This is Molly. She's a Corgi X Jack Russel and she thinks she's the biggest scariest dog on the block. She thinks that our walks are a Bark-at-other-dogs-tour-of-Stoneville especially for her. Whenever we walk past a house that has a dog, she barks and growls and tugs at her lead until I have to yank her backwards and remind her to behave. If we pass another dog, I have one hell of a time trying to keep her from eating it, while I try and fend off nasty looks from the owner (who is also trying like hell to keep hold of the lead)

This is Tessa. She's our pure bred Jack Russell and she thinks our walks are Smell-every-bush-and-clump-of-grass-in-Stoneville-tour especially for her. I am constantly being pulled to a complete halt as she stops and sniffs, then leaves her scent then kicks dirt over it. It's rather frustrating at times.

But as much as they shit me, I do love my puppies very much. I mean, how can you not love puppies that are this cute!

Australia Day

On the 26th of January, 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet landed at Camp Cove, Port Jackson. "Rightio lads," Phillip said, "this looks much better than Botany Bay. Let's set up camp!"
And so Australia was colonised.

Each year on January the 26th, Aussies come together to celebrate the founding of our nation and the fact that we get a day off work to sit around the barbie, drinking and playing back yard cricket.

Perth holds the biggest Australia Day celebrations in the nation. People gather in the tens of thousands on the banks of the Swan for a day long festivity including concerts, air shows, entertainers and drinking, accumulating in a huge fireworks display.

This is to be avoided at all costs.

I gathered with my family on the shore of Lake Leschenaultia in Chidlow for a picnic lunch, as far away as humanly possibe from the fiasco in the city. We had a great time, the kids went swimming, Mum and I walked around the lake and I took a few pics that I'm going to attempt to share with you.

This is my two neices playing in the lake

This is the view of the lake from our picnic area

I took Darcie and Chiara (my neices) for a walk and we came across the bobtail sunning himself on the path. The girls were very excited to have met him!

This is a pic I took from the other side of the lake

This is what the bushland around where I live looks like. Pretty huh?

This is an absolutely awful photo of me but since I haven't posted one yet, I thought I should

Anyway, so there you have it. I had a great time, fun was had by all and we avoided the havoc of a big public celebration.

The things women do

I thoroughly annoyed Christian tonight by painting my toe nails as we watched the cricket.
He can't understand why I do it. The smell alone, he tells me, should be reason enough to cease the activity.
To this I replied 'Women are born immune to the fumes of nailpolish!'

This led me to wonder about those small differences between men and women, especially when it comes to what I'll loosly brand as 'personal products'.

For example, when I shower I use the following products: shower gel, a shower puff for applying the gel, shampoo, conditioner, face wash and (every second night) face scrub. Then when I have gotten out of the shower I use moisturiser on my face and legs, toner when I can be bothered and then various creams for the skin problems I get from my allergies. This is not including when I will give myself a facial (and might I add that I don't particularly think of myself as a girlie girl - I don't wear makeup for example)

Christian, when showering uses: shampoo.

That's it. He'll only use soap when he's been working on the car or playing sport as he thinks a good scrub with water alone will get him clean, and he'll only use a moisturiser when he's gotten sunburnt.

I just don't get it. It seems I put in a lot of effort and get very little to show for it but if I only went to the effort that Christian puts in, I would resemble Madam Trashheap from the Fraggles.

I don't know. I'm sure it's one of those 'mysteries of the universe' that will never be solved, but I still think it's a tad unfair.

Funnies

Not much to write about, so I thought I'd share with you some quotes from a calander I got for Chrissy. They're from various comedians and I have a quote for every day (however as I don't use desk calander things, I read them all at once)

"Batteries are packaged as though the manufacturers never want you to get to them. What could possibly happen to batteries that they need to be packaged like that? On the other hand, lightbulbs are packaged in thin, thin, thin cardboard that's open on both ends. What are those packagers thinking? Oh, the lightbulbs? They'll be fine."
Ellen DeGeneres

"Martha Stewart reportedly spent her first week in prison playing scrabble and charming her fellow prisoners. And tunneling. Furiously tunneling."
Amy Poehler

"True Fact : A radio commercial says that a certain diet pill works three times faster than starvation. Question: Are they guessing, or do they really run those tests?"
George Carlin

"Research shows that men usually sleep on the right side of the bed. Even in their sleep they have to be right"
Rita Rudner

"They never make movies about long-term couples, and for good reason: our lives are boring...("look, they're opening their electricity bill!")"
David Sedaris

"The San Francisco Health Dept has a new service that lets you send an Internet greeting card to someone you may have infected with an STD. 'Roses are red, orchids are grey, congratulations, you have Hepatitis A'."
Bill Maher

"Plato did not originally want to call the Athenian form of citizen-government 'democracy', but rather 'Plato 'n' friends'."
Jon Stewart

And that's about all from me tonight folks.

Oh God, the pain

What would you say is the most painful thing in the world?
I know this will vary, depending on your personal viewpoint, but I think I'd have to come damn close.

Pinching your eyeball with your nails as you try and remove your contact lenses.

I mention this now as I have just taken out my contacts, and low and behold, I now have an extremely blood shot and watering eye. Also, I have no one at home at the moment to whinge too, and thought I'd impose upon yourselves.

Good day to you.

Oh God, it's 2006 already!

It's almost one in the morning, on this first day of the new year, and I'm at my sister's house. The kids are asleep and so is Barb, and the boys are playing some crazy board game one of them brought back from Switzerland (or somewhere over there).
Tonight was going well, up until the point some ten minutes ago when I received an sms from Petrina, a work friend from my last job. I kind of stay in contact with this chick but I don't put in a lot of effort. She's quiet a few years younger than me and it wasn't until I didn't see her everyday that I realised just how damn childish she is.
The other day I got a message from her asking how old a guy who works in the store next to my old work is. How the fuck should I know? But she pushes the issue and eventually tells me that he's asked her on a date. Now, I'd spoken many times to him about his wife, and so has my sister who has been with me on several of these occassions. So I warned her that he may still be married and I thought that was the end of it.
Not so. I just received a message from her saying (and I quote) "Hey little miss I make up stories. Adam was never ever married".
Now this pissed me off just a bit so I replied (and again I quote) "Happy fucking new year to you too. Barb was with me when he said it, so I didn't just make it up thankyou very much".
God she irks me so much. Why on earth would I have a reason to make this stuff up? Grown ups don't do things like that, but apparently when you're nineteen, you believe that they do. So, now I'm going to do what I should have done long go and just blow her off. I really don't need her crap anymore.

*deep breath*

And now I shall apologise profusely to you all, as I feel I whinge just a tad too much on here. I'm just one of these people who have a lot of friends that only get in touch when they want something, or need to unload some major problems. I'm just so sick and tired of being used and then treated like shit.
I just can't wait until May when I get to meet my real friends for real.

I think I need a hug. Anyone available?

A Jolly Good Start to the Long Weekend

It's currently a little after mid day on Christmas Eve. I've only had two hours sleep and I'm absolutley knackered. I should probably have a nap so I don't zonk out tonight, but there's just so much to do before the Big Day tomorrow. I'll just take a short break so I can finish this post.

The reason I'm so buggered, is that last night I went out with Christian and a bunch of people from his work. They had their Christmas bash yesterday (a yacht trip out to Rotto for the day - not too shabby if you ask me) and they decided to follow it up with a night out. One of the guys Nas, was flown over from Melbourne for the weekend as he is the man on the ground over there, and he was not yet aquainted with the exciting bustling night life of Perth (I'm sorry, did my sarcasm hit too hard?).

Anyway, the night's entertainment was an absolute disaster. We had gone to a club one of the guys recommended as a band he liked were playing. Little did we know, it was a Goth club and every freak under the sun was there (I will take a moment to digress here and clarify that I don't persoanlly have anything against Goths in general - just the ones who where at this club last night). For instance, I would have thought a grown woman walking around with a plastic baby with large jaggard cuts all over it's head, would be a one way ticket to a mental institution. But nooooo, it's considered the new 'in' thing.

So we left there shortly after midnight and wandered through Northbridge, playing 'spot the R33' and when we had bored Nas to tears, we took a run up to King's Park and climbed Jacob's Tower (a DNA like structure that gives a wonderful view of our quaint little city). We chatted for a bit and the guys got absolutely pissed before we dropped everyone back home.

I had an absolutely fantastic time. Why? I hear you ask. Good question. It all comes back to the flirt in me. I had just spent an evening with 5 of the sexiest guys in all of Perth. I had trouble keeping the drool off my chin all night. It was extremely fun, especially when you're the only chick in the group. I always have lots of fun with one of the guys in particular because we spend the whole night baiting each other and giving the other as much shit as we can.

Anyway, Christian and I got home about 5ish in the morning and by the time we finally got to bed and then to sleep, it was almost time to wake up.

I'll give you a trip I learned today. When you don't really want to wake up after only a few hours sleep, go and get your legs waxed. I tell you, when the beauty therapist yanked that first strip off, I was as wide awake as I'm ever gonna be.

Enough of my rambling (I do apologise for the disjointed style). Take care guys and once again, have a wonderful Chrissy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm assuming that over the next few days we won't succeed much in getting the whole gang together at once, so I'm just wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas now.

*Warning - soppy stuff ahead*

I never imagined that I would ever meet such a fun, friendly, intelligent, hilarious, affectionate, all-round wonderful bunch of people and I am looking forward to meeting you all so very much.
Thanks for keeping my entertained this last year. I feel very honoured to be part of our little fraternity!

*soppy part over*

So remember to be good children or else Santa won't visit you!
Boo, enjoy the pressie I sent you.
Mort, don't get so drunk that you sleep with everyone, be selective!
Chary, let your hair down and have fun.
Acci and Smerk, try to enjoy the day, you may not be together in the flesh, but I'm sure you'll be together in spirit.
Iri, don't be disappointed when Santa doesn't bring you a scantily clad Boo for Christmas!

Have a fun day filled with laughter guys.
*hugs and kisses*

Late night chats

Last night Boo and I had another proper chat on the phone. Actually, it was late last night for me and early afternoon for her, but I digress.

We met up on MoH forum and then got onto msn where we proceeded to attempt an audio chat via there. Unfortuantely, Boo either doesn't have a sound card or her pc doesn't recognise it, so we couldn't actually chat through msn, but I did get video from her web cam. I phoned then, as it's just easier chatting on the phone than typing and we had a nice long conversation.

Just over four hours.

I worry that everyone else at the sleepover won't be able to get a word in with us about! But we had loads of fun again and it really hammered it home that we get along like a house on fire. I finally found my own web cam and when Christian got home, he installed the software again and so we eventually had live video footage of us both sitting in front of our computers with our phones glued to our ears.

We talked about many, many things but I must say, not too much about May. I thought that that would be all we'd talk about but we broadened our horizons quite a bit. Maybe it was easier to talk of everyday issues because we could actually see each other and had a better understanding of each other, or maybe we are just getting to know each other better and better.

We both got glimses of 'The Hubbies' but as both are quiet and shy, they didn't really emerge from the background much, but we did shout hello to Matt and Christian.

So, we are both getting ridiculously excited about meeting each other and you will probably find us almost unbearable over the next couple of months, but that's just your tough luck ;-)

I'm sure we'll have many more long phone chats, but I must say, I just hope Christian is in a loving mood when he gets the phone bill!

Domestic Goddess

Today has been spent getting most of my Christmas baking out of the way.
This year, instead of buying ridiculously expensive presents for my friends, I'm going to make them all individual hampers, as we are saving for a house deposit and every dollar counts (I'm not being a grinch, honest). Also, I'm making icecream for dessert on Christmas day, so I'm right into the baking at the moment (I just hope my hips don't enjoy it as much...).
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my recipes with you all, since I'm sure you're all very interested in them (at least you can pretend to be interested...)

1. Cookie and Cream icecream

600ml cream
1 cup condensed milk
vanilla
I packet chocolate biscuits

Whip cream, condensed milk and vanilla for approx 10 minutes with electric beater, or until thick and creamy. Mix in roughly chopped biscuits and transfer to a suitable container (an old plastic icecream container is good). Freeze overnight.

Note - before serving, allow to soften for five minutes as I broke a spoon the first time I made this. It gets very hard.

2. Chocolate balls ( I know what you're thinking Boo, but please try and keep your mind out of the gutter)

1 packet plain biscuits (I used Nice biscuits but non-aussies won't know what they are)
I can condensed milk
3 tablespoons of coccoa
1/2 cup descicated coconut
extra coconut for rolling

Mix dry ingredients together. Add condensed milk and mix. Form into small balls, roll in coconut and chill in fridge or freezer.

3. Almond Biscotti

3 and 3/4 cups self raising (all purpose) flour
2 cups sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
4 large eggs
1 t vanilla
1/4 t almond extract
1 and 2/3 whole blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Mix dry ingredients. Whisk eggs, vanilla and almond extracts and add to dry indredients, forming into a dough (you may need to add a T of milk to mix properly). Add almonds and knead several times. Divide into forths and form into logs. Place on greased and floured trays and bake for 35 minutes at 180C. Cut into segments and bake 7mins either side or until slightly brown. Cool and store in an sirtight container.

I would give you the recipe for my Nana's famous German Shortbread biscuits, but then she would come back from the grave to kill me. So, I won't risk it.

Public Toilet Enemies

My sisters took me out today as my car was in for a service and apart from running me to my chiropractor, we also braved a major shopping centre.

Now, a little backstory here, just to bring you all up to speed. I used to be a very polite person. Even if someone was horrendously rude to me, I wouldn't say anything. That all changed however when I became an aunty. You see, as an aunty, I began to frequent baby change rooms while we were out, at shopping centres and restaurants. Now, if there is one thing that shits me more than anything else, it's people who use the toilets in baby changes when they don't have kids. I have many a time stood outside a locked toilet door, pram next to me loaded with baby, shopping and a stuffed nappy bag, older neice in hand as she hops from one foot to the other, trying not to pee her pants. Eventually the door opens, and out steps an adult woman, who is incapable of following the clearly marked signs to the ladies room.
*grrrrrrrr*
The nerve of some people! Do they think that if we could fit a pram into any other cubicle, that we would not do it??? There is a kiddie toilet for a reason!

Anyway, I got so fed up with this practise, that I've started commenting, loudly. It's usually along the lines of "Gee, don't you hate it when inconsiderate people use the kiddie toilet when they don't have kids?"

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this occurred today and I had a shouting match with a lady who happened to work at the centre. She justified using the kiddie toilet because apparently there was a queue at the other ones and she had to get back to work. In the end she walked out before I could threaten to throw urine soaked knickers at her as my neice is still toilet training.

Anyway, there's no real point to this. I just wanted to gripe.

Back to the garden

This weekend I had planned to spend in my garden. Christian had abandoned me in favour of a nerd gathering (LAN) and I was going to be by myself Friday night and all day Saturday. Perfect for getting stuff done that I've been putting off for a couple of weeks.

So I got home from work on Friday and went over to visit my mum. My sister and her kids were staying there for the night as her hubby was also attending the nerd gathering. We had a lot of fun, the kids are always a laugh. My cousin and his wife called in briefly as they were leaving for Thailand Saturday morning to pick up their new baby boy! (adoption was finally approved) so all in all it was a nice family evening.

Saturday morning and I attack my backyard. I won't bore you with the details but let's just say I discovered some paving that hadn't seen daylight in several years. Christian got home very late and I went to bed early as I was absolutely buggered.

I woke up ridiculously early this morning and went down the hill to Bunnings to get some plants. I returned home with three roses and a couple of pots of potted colour. I dug some nice big holes for my new roses and was just soaking them when I felt it. The twinge in my back. Oh, it's nothing I thought. Wrong! How could I be so stupid as to ignore it and keep going? I had just finished planting the potted colours and had to stop. Several minutes later I could hardly walk. So I ended up in bed praying that tomorrow I'll get in to see my chiro.

Sigh. So now I'm in immense pain and I have three roses sitting outside waiting to be planted. I can almost hear their mournful sighs upon the wind...

Dilemmas, dilemmas

I have a friend at the moment who has split up with his wife in the last couple of months.

Problem is, I'm not really supposed to know about it. This guy (who I won't name because there's a chance people who know him may read this, I'll call him Bill) is a really good friend of my husband and I. Christian has known him since the beginning of high school and I met him through Christian.

Bill and his wife have been together for years (almost as long as Christian and I have been) and no one really had any idea what was going on. Unfortunately due to distances between where we live, we don't see him very often so we mainly catch up on the internet or via sms. A while ago Christian started to get a bit worried as Bill wasn't rerurning calls or texting back. Another friend (well call him Fred) went to see Bill and was told all about the breakup. Bill was in a really bad state and Fred was really worried, so he went to Christian for advice.

Now, we can debate over the moral issues of Fred telling Christian this for hours, but Fred was really worried and he really thought this was in Bill's best interests so I'm not going to discuss it any further.

Christian and Fred took Bill out for the day to cheer him up but it didn't really work and he seems to be getting really bad. We had a phonecall from Fred last night and he was saying that Bill had called him, really drunk and saying he wanted to just end it all and he couldn't live without his wife.

Now, I am really worried too and I wanted Christian to call Bill and make sure he's ok, but Christian says that he can't, because officially he doesn't know about it. I sent Bill an sms asking him to come over for Christmas but haven't heard anything back yet.

I just don't know what to do. Should we respect Bill's privacy and his wish for no one to know, or should I go bang down his door and make sure he's ok. I just don't want him doing anything silly and I also want him to know that there are people who love him and are thinking about him.

*sigh*

I know I'll end up respecting his wishes and will stay quiet, but I don't know if that's the right thing to do. I don't want to look back in hindsight after something terrible has happened and think 'Maybe I could have made a difference'.

Phone calls, comedies and Christmas shopping.

Last night, just after 10pm, I phoned Boo for the very fisrt time. We were so excited that we were actually going to be talking properly, I had been looking forward to it all day.

The first thing she said to me was 'God, you're Australian!' and I thought she sounded so sophisticated and grown up with her Scottish accent. It was rather weird to finally be talking instead of typing, but we had so much fun. We both thought we were exactly like we were on the MoH forum and just know that we're going to have an absoulte blast when we meet next May.

We spoke for about two and a half hours but it seemed to fly by. We have so much in common, from how fast we read books, opinions and ideas for the trip, to the intelligence and stubborness of our husbands. I really feel like I've known Boo for years.

When we finally stopped chatting (I think she's come to realise just how much I actually talk), I went to bed, nursing sore ears from holding the phone for so long.

Of course, I didn't sleep in this morning, being a day off and not having to get up for any reason in particular. So I spent the morning cleaning and doing washing (oh hurrah hurrah, the fun never stops around here!) and then went out with Christian this arvo so he could buy another game for the DS I gave to him as an early Christmas present.

We went out to a shopping centre called Carousel. It's in Cannington, which is about 40 plus km's from our house and we were regretting it from right about the time we entered the carpark. I've finished all my Christmas shopping and so was a little naive of the fact that every single person in Perth would be descending upon this one centre, this particular afternoon to do their own Christmas shopping. It took us half an hour to find a parking spot and it was that far away from the entrance that it took us about half an hour to walk there.

Christian traded some of his PS2 games for a new DS game and I finally got around to buying a copy of Love Actually. We watched it when we got home and I laughed and bawled my eyes out throughout the whole movie. I love that film. I must admit I have a bit of a soft spot for romantic comedies. Most of the movies I watch are sci-fi's or fantasy, or martial arts movies, but I don't mind a bit of Hugh Grant once in a while.

And that's been my Saturday so far.

Restaurant brawls

I would like to get your opinion on something that happened last night when my sister's and I went out to dinner.

For this story to make sense you will need to know that a. Jo is my older sister and she has a daughter who is almost 6 b. Barb is my younger sister, Mike is her husband and they have three kids, a 3 yr old, 18 months and 8 weeks c. for those of you who don't know, Christian is my husband.

Right, so I got home last night after work and Barb phones and asks if we want to go out to dinner with them to a place called Sizzler. It's an all you can eat salad bar place where you can get steak and seafood as well. We say yes and shortly afterwards we leave (as we live the furtherest away).

Christian and I arrive and the other's aren't there yet. Now, at Sizzler, you can't book a table but have to wait in line. They ask that you wait until all of your dining companions are there before you line up so we wait outside. Jo and her daughter turn up and still we waiBart outside. Finally Barb and Mike turn up and line up. The baby's nappy needs to be changed, so instead of pushing through the line of people to use the babychange in the restaurant, Barb and Mike go out to the car to change the bub. Meanwhile a group of people turn up and line up behind us.

Following so far? Good.

Barb and Mike finishing changing the baby and come back inside. A woman in the group behind us have a whinge that Barb and Mike shouldn't be allowed to join our group as they will be cutting in the line. Instead of arguing, they agree, reasoning that they did leave the line so it's only fair (when we got to the till to order, they would have been asked to come forward anyway as your whole table has to order at once). Ten minutes pass (it was a long line in front of us) and two people turn up, push past the long line behind us and join the loud mouthed woman's group. So they had just done what they had been whinging about.

Well, Barb and Mike thought 'Bugger them, they just had people cut in so we're joining the rest of our group'. Mrs Loudmouth chucks the biggest stink and starts yelling "NO! How dare you, that's pushing in!" To which Barb replies "You just had people push in front of us, I don't see how that's different." Loudmouth then shouts (and I mean shout for the whole place to hear) "They have been waiting outside having a smoke, they've been here the whole time!". At this point my older sister steps in "How is it different? My sister was changing her son's nappy, in the car, but she's been here the whole time too." Anyway, they argue back and forth some more and finally they drop it.

Then Loudmouth pushed past us and goes to speak to the manager. Well, to make a long story short, her group gets jumped in front of the six groups who have been waiting longer, immediately get a table and get their meals for free.

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THAT THE BIGGEST INJUSTICE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EATING OUT???

I was soooo mad! The only difference between us was, as Christian points out, one was us and the other was them. To them, they felt injusticed, where I believe we were in the right! Grrr, I'm seething just thinking about it now.

Anyway, I'd like to know if you guys agree with me or not. Maybe I'm over- reacting or maybe I'm just right!

Thunderstorms and early mornings

It's very early on Sunday morning here.

For some reason, my brain, acting completely independantly from the rest of my body, decided to wake up this morning at 5:30. I fought this and I fought it hard. I managed to stay in bed for another hour (it is Sunday for Christsake!). I lost the war however and here I am. I've showered, had breakfast, wrapped several Christmas presents and started a blog entry all before 7:30.

I always find that on my days off, I can never sleep in, no matter how hard I try. When I have to get up and go to work however, I could easily stay in bed until 10am. *sigh* The universe can be cruel.

Anyway, last night we had a truly delightful thunderstorm. All day it had been extremely windy, enough to bring down several trees in the neighbourhood. It was supposed to be hot but here in the hills, it was pleasantly cool. I was told that down the hill (as us hillbillies refer to suburbia down on the flats) it was rather humid and uncomfortable.

About 6ish, Christian and I went to visit my sister who lives in the foothills. We were all watching a movie when the storm started with loud bangs of thunder and lightning that really did make night turn into day for a split second. My neice (my other sister's daughter who was staying the night with Barb's kids) is terrified of thunder so she was huddled up on the couch with my brother-in-law so tight that she could have been sitting under him. Barb and I decided to go outside and watch the storm from the verandah as we both love thunderstorms. Well, you should have seen us jump a mile in the air and both pissbolt inside after the loudest clap of thunder you could possibly imagine. It must have been right overhead and it sent vibrations through my chest, as if I was standing next to a speaker at a rock concert. When we got inside my neice was howling, the dog was shaking in a corner, the baby looked shell shocked and Barb and I were pissing ourselves laughing.

The storm continued for quite a while and Christian and I had quite a show as we were driving home. We went the back way home up Red Hill and the view was amazing. There was lightning all around us almost constantly but directly above us was a huge hole in the clouds which allowed the brightest stars to twinkle away. It was like there was a big dounut in the sky iced with lightning strikes!

The storm has passed now, leaving the sun shining and a warm day ahead of us (around 30C or so) which should give us a beautiful day for a bbq down by the river.

P.S. While I was writing this, I had an msn chat with my brother-in-law as he has been up with the kids since 5am. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one awake so early on a Sunday morning!

Memorable quotes

One of the things I love to do is watch movies and certain tv shows. I get hooked on something and I go nuts about it. For instance, I'll start watching a certain show (usually we've downloaded the whole series) and I will just spend a week or two watching it from beginning to end. Firefly, Jeremiah, Stargate, Rescue Me, are all exmples. Or, well go and see the same movie three times in the one day. Each boxing day, for three years running, was spent watching LOTR. We're nerds - whatcha gonna do?

Now, as if that's not bad enough, my husband and I and most of our friends will regularly use quotes from certain movies and shows during everyday conversation. Pretty sad huh?

Anyway, withour further ado, this is a list of some of my favorite, and more commonly used quotes.

'Shut up, that's why!' Simpsons

'I am already in my pyjamas' Futurama

'But I'm hungry Tony!' Father Ted

'Where you going? Fucking nowhere!' Boondock Saints

'No Neo, I am not your Mother' Computer Boy

'Milk goes off you know, unless it's UHT milk, but ther's no demand for that because it's shite' Father Ted

'Hail to the king baby' Army of Darkness

'Oh, my God. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing? Oh, right, that would be me. Back to work.' Firefly

'I hope you diplomatically told him where to shove it' Stargate SG1

'You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.' Stargate SG1

There's so many more but I don't want you to get bored and run away, so I'll leave it at that.

High School Reunion

Hmmm, I've had an email forwarded to me from Christian's cousin that included a link to a friends reunited site. A girl I went to high school with is trying to organise a reunion for next year (the big 10 year event).

My first thought was, wow, I really want to go. But then I think back on my final year in high school and wonder if I really want to go back. In some regards, it was one of the worst years of my life.

*lights fade, everything gets blury and we enter a hollywood flashback*

Year 12 was a year when several major things happened in my life.

First of all, we had a new girl start at our school, we'll call her 'Bek'. Bek and I were in the same tute so I befriended her on her first day (as I have a habit of doing). I hung out with quite a large group of people but had two principle friends, lets call them 'Vanessa' and 'Ngaire'. So, everything was going along smoothly for a while, until one night I had a party at my house.

This is where the best thing in the world happened to me. I met Christian (have I mentioned we were high school sweethearts?). Christian was my first boyfriend and I his first girlfriend. He's quite the hottie, and several girls were after him. But it was me who snagged him *yay!.
Anyway, one of the girls who was after him was none other than Bek, who had, in such a short time, already developed a reputation as a trollop. Need I say more? I'm sure you can all see where this is going.

So, I won't bother you with all the details of this teen drama. All you need to know is that on a school camp, I was asked by almost everyone there, "When did Chrsitian and Bek get together? We thought you were going out with him?". I was devestated, and we almost broke up over the whole saga.
I will clear up one point though, Christian was an innocent victim in all of this, and when I say innocent, I mean innocent. Bek was flirting outrageously with him, but Christian couldn't see it. All he was doing was being friendly back. It just didn't look that way to everyone else.

Ok, so, Chrsitian and I are on rocky ground but we manage to keep it all together. I've severed ties with Bek. But then there's a twist in the story that I didn't see coming. My two best friends, Vanessa and Ngaire, decide that they agree with Bek and want nothing to do with me.

I had a revelation that day. Females are bitches. And so, from then on, it was just me and the boys. Ever since then, I've had almost exclusively male friends (apart from my sisters, but as family, they don't count). And I'm much happier for it.

*teeny boppy music starts to play as Christian and I walk into the sunset. The credits roll, the lights come up and you leave the cinema*

So, where was I? That's right. School reunion.

Ok, do I really want to have a gathering with the very people who treated me like such dirt? I don't know. I know that Christian refuses to go. Do I want to go alone? I could go with my Brother-in-law, Christian's best friend from high school who conveniently married my sister? I think I'll just wait and see if the reunion even goes ahead.

Right, so thats that. I would like to point out that I do have some female friends now. I didn't for many years but I've since discovered that although all women can be bitchy, they're not all bitches. And most of the chicks I know are also 'one of the boys', so we have lots in common.
Also, half of the people I talk to on an almost daily basis at MoH are chicks and we all get along like a house on fire. So, I have changed my tune a little since high school.

Some days

Can anyone else feel when the day's atmosphere changes?

I don't mean as in atmospheric pressure or anything like that, but the feeling of the day. Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? Or are you all shrugging and giving me weird looks like my husband does.

Sometimes, something will happen and the day will just feel different. For instance, Christian and I were shopping at a hardware store a while back and we walked outside to the garden section and were looking at plants. Some clouds passed in front of the sun and it went a little bit cold and then the sun started shining again and day felt different, almost uncomfortable.

I just can't explain it, how I know it feels.

Ok, I'll try it this way. Do you ever associate certain feelings with certain songs or memories? When we we kids, I remember getting an odd feeling about some Sundays. It always happened on a Sunday, Mum would be cooking corned silverside, it would be quite a warm day and Dad would be watching the AFL. I would wander around the house with an almost nauseus feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's much the same feeling.

Or there are some songs, usually songs from the eighties, that make me feel like that too. Like the Dire Straits song, Money for Nothing. The beginning of that makes me feel a bit depressed and a bit sick.

Anyway, it's probably just me. As I've said before, I'm a bit odd.

Ouch :-(

Some things in life, we take for granted.

For instance, I took for granted the fact that my sunscreen would not have expired since the last time I used it. Alas, this was not the case.

And so, I am now officially a lobster (in colour and texture, but I probably don't taste like one...although don't they say that women taste a bit fishy...ok, I'm going to shut up now.)