Libra Wisdom

Warning - some frankness concerning 'secret women's business' ahead. Men may wish to hum a merry tune and pretend to have better things to do.

I started buying a new brand of pads a while back (or 'sanitary napkins' as some may know them) and I discovered that these pads are different to all the others.

I believe the clever marketing people at Libra must think that women get extremely bored whilst menstruating, that we have nothing better to do than twiddle our thumbs while perched upon the throne. And so, they have taken steps to alleviate said boredom.

Hence, the introduction of the 'odd spot'.

The 'odd spot' is a list of trivia and little known facts (some of which I am still querying the validity of but I digress) that is printed upon the bit of paper that covers the sticky bit (for lack of a technical term).

I have been saving these up for a slow blog day but feel that now is the time to share a sample with you. And please, keep in mind that I think half of them are absloute bullshit.

Odd Spot #85: Starfish do not have brains

Odd Spot #51: Cats have better memories than dogs

Odd Spot #76: The largest number of children born to one woman was 69 in Russia

Odd Spot #73: The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissable in an American court.

Odd Spot #38: On average, 13 people die every year from vending machines falling on them

Odd Spot #151: A crocodile can't stick out it's tongue

Odd Spot #53: Turtles and honeybees are both deaf

Odd Spot# 101: If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to supress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

Odd Spot #90: The catfish has more than 27000 taste buds

That's about it for now (I was not going to unwrap every pad I have just to find more interesting Odd Spots) but I'll keep you updated once 'that time of the month' comes round if you want!

Dust bunnies, jarmies and battle scars

My mum dropped off to me yesterday some Stephen King books she had been given. I am a fan of Stephen King, however I'd say that I haven't even read half of his books. When I was younger I read a lot of the horror ones but I haven't even picked up one of his fantasy novels (The Dark Tower? Or am I confused?)

Anyhoo, I started reading Dolores Claiborne after she left, and in intermittent stages throughout the day, plus a midnight marathon, I finished it early this morning (bout two thirty I think). I liked the book, although I was expecting something more sinister. There wasn't anything supernatural at all, no monsters or demons, it wasn't really like the other books of his I'd read (Dark Half, Pet Semetary, Carrie, Firestarter to name a few).

However, having said that, there was one moment in the book when I felt a bit creeped out. The hand reaching up and grabbing Dolores' ankle didn't do it, nor did the hatchet scene, or the fact that Joe molests his daughter.

It was the dust bunnies.

The dust bunnies that Vera is terrified off, made me just a bit spooked too. Don't ask me why, but I'll never view vacuuming the same way again.

Moving on. Boo and I had another one of our chatathons on Friday night, which didn't last quiet as long as our previous one, but it was still three and a half hours long. During this time we got super excited, made more plans for May, had a couple of pee breaks, I told Matt he was pussey whipped and Boo's jarmies arrived. Hurrah!

So now we both have hot pink jarmies with lady bugs, hearts and flowers on them. Mort and Tru may need to wear protective eyewear when they stay at Boo's in fear of damaging their sight, because when I say hot pink, I mean hot pink!

And lastly, I have yet another scar to add to my left arm. While playing with Molly, she was doing her usual Jack Russel whip-around-the-house-at-a-hundred-miles-an-hour-and-see-how-much-I-can-knock-over thing and she ran over my hand and scratched the shite out of my knuckles. I'm still bleeding and it happened about four hours ago.

The thing is, it's always my left arm. Not my right arm, or my leg, but the left arm. At the moment I have a scar from a friends dog accidentally scratching me (yet again our playing got out of hand), a couple of scars from my lovely rose bushes, a burn from the time I thought it would be a good idea to pick up the tray I'd just taken out of the oven, without wearing oven mitts and now this.

*sigh*

Pool party

My friend Tash came round yesterday as she broke up with her loser boyfriend a couple of weeks back and wanted to have a fun weekend.

So Christian, Tash and I sat around, trying to figure out what we could do to entertain ourselves for the evening.
Movie? Nup, not social enough.
Casino? No, too crowded on a Saturday night and pretty boring when none of us really gamble.
Bowling? Probably not as Tash has a problem with her thumbs getting caught in the balls.
Northbridge? God no, none of us like that scene.
Playing pool? Tash and I are absolutely crap at it and will in all likelihood make huge fools of ourselves...sounds like a plan!

So I persuaded Christian is invite some of his friends along (yep, you guessed it - I think they're damn hot!) and we all headed out to play pool.

Now, I've only ever really played pool once or twice and I've never gotten the hang of it. So I sat out most of the games and watched but when I did play, I found out that I was really good at sinking the white ball.

The theme of the evening appeared to be that no team won by skill. It was always a default as someone always managed to sink the black, followed immediately behind by the white. And the git at the next table who wore his jeans a foot below underwear level really distracted us. I had to suppress the urge to give him a wedgie on numerous occasions.

But fun was had by all and by midnight we decided to head somewhere else, so we headed back to one of the Mike's place (I know about six Mikes and two of them were out with us last night) and we played some game, which I forget the name of (it's that old fashioned game where you spin the guys around on the table and try and hit the ball towards your goals - Squishy Ball or something odd like that, that has no apparent relation to the game at all).

Tash and I teamed up and we were soon forced into cheating when the Mikes started playing dirty. We soon became experts at cheating and soon Mike (not the one who's place we were at) had a tantie and gave in and quit (yay for us!!!)

About two thirty we headed home, Tash crashing in my loungeroom. We had a heap of fun, and we learnt a valuable lesson.

Never team up with me in a game of pool, if you want to win.

These boots were made for walking

I've been rather busy lately. I go to work, go to the gym (usually...there have been a few days I've not been) and then I've been getting home and going for a walk with my Mum.

I must say it makes it so much easier when I have someone else so help with the dogs. I only get dragged around by one of them, not both.

Unfortunately walking after work doesn't leave me much time for watering the garden, cooking dinner and chatting to my MoH buddies. So, I haven't been on the forum much lately, which is quite sad, but hopefully I'll get organised soon and will be able to fit much more of my beloved activity in.

Also in the news today, is the possibilty that I might be going full time at work. Currently I'm only doing a cushy four days a week but we've had one of the other tellers leave, so I might pick up an extra day. There are pros and cons for this idea, but I think the pros will win out. I'll keep you all posted.

And that's about it for today.

Catch you all on the flipside.

One for the girls

I came across some pics of aforementioned Jonathan Brandis the other day and I thought I'd share them with the ladies, as I think he's just gorgeous.

*sigh*

What a waste.

However, I might add that one of my friends looks scarily like him. Needless to say, I enjoy the view when we're out with him!

Enjoy girls!

A moment of silence please

I've been feeling rather down lately.

The day after my wedding, actor Jonathan Brandis committed suicide, the reason is still unknown.

Now, this was several years ago, but it still pains me. I was a huge fan when I was younger, not just because of his drooly good looks, but I thought he was a wonderful actor and his love of writing mirrored my own.

I found out about his death a couple of months after the event, and I was rather shocked. It just seemed so out of the blue.

Anyhow, I've been watching SeaQuest DSV lately (I'm ignoring whatever comments you may make Chary) and it's really wierd. It's really hard to come to terms with the fact that the person I'm watching is now dead. I just can't get my head around it. And I've always had this problem with death. For the longest time after someone dies, it feels like they've gone on holiday or something. I just can't accept that they're gone forever.

I think that perhaps this is because I've never actually seen a dead body before. I've never been to a viewing, never come across a car accident, never been with anyone as they peacefully pass away in their hospital bed. My mother tells me that you just know when someone leaves their body, you can actaully sense that they have departed from this world and left an empty shell behind. Perhaps this is why I have trouble accepting the loss of a loved one - because I've never seen what they leave behind.

Anyway, I don't know if I'm a bit odd or not, having the death of someone I've never met affect me so. Maybe I can just analyse my feeling better when it's not so personal?

So, here's to the memory of Jonathan Brandis. May you finally find where you are now, that which you could not find here.

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.