Those crazy lazy days of summer?

smell that?? it's the smell of summer, 1979

There are lots of people in Australia complaining today,It's the last official day of summer and most people feel we didn't have summer at all.If you listened to them you would think it had been like THIS for 3 months .

picture source

It has been mild...and wet. But for the most part,me personally, I've enjoyed it, I think I've only used the aircon 5 times in 3 months, 2 of those times may have actually been to warm the place up back in early December. It's been a pleasant relief to not be sticky and hot ALL the time , nor burn my hands on the steering wheel in the car... you'd have to pay me a lot of money to live in Queensland again I reckon.

I imagine if I was 17, young and chasing the sun and sand I'd be a bit miffed though.

I remember catching trains for an hour to get to Cronulla Beach to sunbake all day. A 2 km walk to the station to catch the railmotor.

picture source(old people must feel cold all the time?...oh..are that mans pants too short or is it just me?)

then change at Sutherland for the electric train to Cronulla, feet up on the seats ,one eye on the door for the conductor who would tell us to put them on the floor.The beach bag with the huge towel, Coppertone tanning lotion, reef coconut oil, packets of lifesavers,hairbrush lipgloss(vaseline) and hidden somewhere always the tampon, OMG..... if it rolled loose!!!

On arrival we would pick "the spot" this could take 10 minutes for maximum sun angle and view of any boys "talent" that looked promisingly "hunky",mind you we only watched them surf swim and play none of us were brazen enough to ever approach.

Roasting in coconut oil all day, the smell of the Coppertone, chips and potato scollaps in newspaper and thick milkshakes eaten on the beach, the slothlike feeling under the sun, such an effort to roll over or reapply the oil ,the argument over who was going to walk across the road to obtain the chips and shake and then everyone strolling across. Slipping on the hot thongs(flipflops) and the sand between your toes, an overall feeling of being like a cake randomly iced by a 3 year old with a spatula , sand and suncream.

Bananna or chocolate paddlepops all round while waiting for the train home, still feeling baked and gritty from the sand ,wondering if our "burn" will turn into "tan". Getting home to find blisters between your toes from the 2km walk back from the station with sand attached to the thong toe thingy had rubbed them raw. ahhh Bo Derek you have a lot to answer for !!

It was so much fun then, but today..I'd be too hot, the sand would bug me,I'd probably get a rash and the heat would make me dizzy...ahhh I'm such a whiner now .

Ha ,it's raining!!!

And they be .............

Here I am and there you Be

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We are in February....no way!! But there it is.

I seem to have hit the ground running in the New Year and kept going.

I am behind on all your blogs and will spend a day just reading and catching up on you all.

Thankyou for chasing me up, tis nice to be missed :)

I am ok.

Busy, freakin' tired, but ok.

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Danny was home for a month over Christmas/New Year. I say home loosely, as he did a couple of trips to Sydney and spent the month catching up with old friends.

Whoever said Army people are strictly disciplined and become obsessive compulsive... was WRONG. His room was as messy as ever by the end of a week! It did take him 2 days to stop looking at his watch, but the rest of the relaxing was instant. I imagine it was nice to not have to worry about how your uniform sits,where you are supposed to be or impending room inspections.

He has moved to another barracks for his language school for the next 6 months, starts training today actually.He expressed some concern over passing, but he will be fine, he puts full effort into everything he wants and makes it happen, I can't see this being any different.

While he was home he borrowed some money and bought a car. Army had already organised his trip home, so I got to drive down to Melbourne. Gemma had her fingers crossed that she could come as her last hurruh before babies, but she got big and uncomfortable quickly so the train trip home was out for her.Chloe volunteered to come along for the ride which was great as we could redo our earlier trip and this time have FUN.

Chloe and I orgainised ourselves into a small bag each and headed off in this :

It was a lot of fun to drive and surprisingly comfy, though Chloe found the seat too firm. She had a drive on the freeway, which seemed soo sloooow at 80km/ph after whizzing around on her motorbike , also taking up the whole lane was a little freaky for her, but she did well. Taking up the whole lane was freaky for me after my little car, surprised I parked it ok, but I did.

The trip was uneventful , thanks to Danny having a GPS in the car. Having said that, I still went past the motel TWICE. But in my defense the gps didn't recognise the actual address of the motel!

me after 7 hr drive lol

Hadn't got the key in the door when Danny rang to see where we were, rode his bike over, threw said bike in the back and took off. He came back at 7 to take us out for dinner at the club which was really nice. Next morning we all caught a train into the city to see HUGO. Great movie, I want to see it again.Danny probably does too, I have a sneaking suspicion he may have slept through it as he had a BIG night with mates for Australia Day.

After we left Danny to catch the train back Chloe and I investigated the inner city. Lots of good shopping if you have dollars, but it was nice to look.I did ONE touristy thing. I love how the old and new are blended.

St Francis Church, not fancy on the outside ...but look :

It really is stunning.

Since the trip I just haven't seemed to have a whole day home..till today !

I started babysitting early in the new year , so have had a few nights a week and sometimes days but the kids have moved out of town now :( which sucks as I really enjoy them and their mum is great company.

I've advertised locally for some more work, hopefully I will get some regular days not just weddings etc. though when the twins get here, I may not have the time.

The bride is growing like a pumkin! this is an old photo at 15weeks, she is 20 now.

my grandbabies are in there :)

Gemma has finally been referred to an Obstetrician but he will share care with the Fetal Medicine Unit in Canberra. This last couple of weeks has been a bit of a whirlwind of appointments for her and me as I'm the driver. We traveled to Canberra for an expecting twins mums meeting, which she got a lot out of, and this week we've been to Ob/gyn, midwife and a twin mum morning tea.

It appears she will be having the babies in Canberra, our local hospitals don't deliver twins unless they have no choice, so she is booked in locally,just so they know who she is, just in case. It's going to mean a lot of logistical organising, especially if she has to go in early for bedrest etc.

I was surprised the midwife told her she would be having a ceasarian!!! Aparantly Dr's avoid being sued at all costs so don't take any chances??? But is she really missing out on anything? Apart from the fact that I can say ..I did it .. is she?

When I was working in maternity there were so many girls disappointed because they didn't have everything happen according their "Birth Plan" , to me this is the shortcut to PND. I've told Gemma to lower expectations.......to..........healthy babies. It doesn't matter how they get here and honestly in even 5 years time it has faded , who remembers the music that played when their first born was delivered??? writing it down doesn't count!!!

Next week is the ultrasound in Canberra where they are hoping to find out the sex of the babies. I don't know if they want them to tell me, but then if they decide to tell everyone then I'll have to find out ,it would be weird otherwise....

Valentines day on Tuesday. We forgot our anniversary! He rememberd the week before and I rememberd the week after...obviously neither of us had any plans! next year is the bit 30 I think we'll remember ! So I thought I better do something for Valentines, I've run out of dollars, so its a card and some choccies .

On the arthritis front, the Rhumey thinks we have to use prednisone too often to get the ESR down for new Humira scripts,so obviously is not working as well as it should, so he's changing me to Enbrel which is a weekly injection, so fingers crossed it works more efficiently.

the thing plaguing me most though is a damn plantar wart...now that is going to kill me to get it out, sooo painful I believe. If anyones got rid of a big one without the freezing or surgery please let me know. I'm a big chicken.

Well that's me for now

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

new years resolutions?

1 .lose the lard..I am feeling like a sloth and looking like one too

2.. move more.. this might help move the lard

3 blog at least weekly and get my readership to 100.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas the last one before the twins :)

Christmas eve was spent at a chinese restaurant in Canberra with Chloe & Jess and Jess's family. A fun night ,we were all wearing xmas lights and hats , good food ,great company .

We always do a xmas display ,our home has a small frontage of only 5om,wide and is almost on the footpath, so it looks a lot. Our street had the most lights again this year so we retain the street sign that says Santa St, in red .


Chloe has finally written a post on her blog which I found really interesting and wanted to share Stereotypes

I started to write her a reply that was turning into a blog post so I thought I would shadow her post here.

Is there such a thing as being too girly or having too much pink? acress Jayne Mansfield apparently thought not...she had her house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne.She also built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. google her house, but have bucket handy hahaha

Seriously though , I do see what Chloe is getting at.You don't have to be uber feminine and over emphasise the feminine to be femnine, there is a lot in between.

I also see what she means about the dressing "16" there are a LOT of women out there dressing the same, trans or not. It's a style ,one Chloe or you or I might not like but hey life is short and if their life is caught short, they are hit by a bus whilst scantily clad in a micro denim mini, and corset top, they may not mind at all!!!

And truly to me that is what being trans is about...being able to be who you are, wether that girl is conservative in sensible shoes and lace collar,trendy,goth or uber-pink princess or cougar skanky.

It comes back to that problem in her first paragraph where she talks about being judged more harshly as a trans girl.....therein lies the problem..it's really not the pink or the hat.

Women judge other women harshly, there is a pecking order which seems to do with body weight, age, ethnicity and then transwomen last , and then there is the same judgements again somehow judged against the top tier of the outcome of the first judgments,so effectively transwomen are judged against Miss Universe!!!

And so we come to femininity..

Just after writing this I came across this add for Libra Tampons and a campaign to remove the ad. I agree it needed changing or removing. The Libra page has been swamped with arguing for and against and a whole lot of transphobia. I shouldn't be shocked but I am.

Libra tampon ad

I don't like the ad for various reasons

1 "Libra gets girls" only real women bleed? ahh beg to differ, I have a cousin born without ovaries , I myself have had a hyster and of course Chloe has no uterus..

2. Both those girls wanted to "win" at being the better girl and the bio girl resorted to nastiness, as that is what that was ,nasty. In the playground that behaviour would be called for what it is, bullying, usually on show in front of other girls to get a laugh.As a parent that sort of behaviour should be punished, not put on TV for a cheap laugh. Imagine a strong blonde girl in the playground and the freckled red head, and a bunch of other girls.......which girl ends up leaving the group and eating alone? Exactly the same thing.

3. The stereotyping idea that both those girls worth is in the mirror, lipstick, breast size etc,the competitiveness and bitchiness.do we all want to be represented like that?

I have read a lot of comments from people who can't see the problem with the add as its funny. Yes it is funny, if you are a drag queen, not if you are transgender, the problem is the public don't know the difference and think they are one and the same. In fact one drag queen has been nasty about it on the libra facebook site today, and I was shocked by the vitriol and nastiness that came out of her keyboard!!! Again with the judgement, telling a transgender girl that she didn't pass and would never be a whole woman...Where the hell does that come from?

Even arguments about why a drag queen was in the bathroom with the woman and that is why the public assume the girl is transgender .aAaaargh when is the worrying about what is under the skirt going to end??? What difference does it make to you? honestly? does it matter if you know or not?

I have just heard that the ad has been pulled in New Zealand and from facebook,so presumably will not hit Australian TV screens .

is it offensive? killerdee has a good read here and makes sense better than I can .

A win !!

More Meads

Sorry about that !

I'd been hanging out to share the news,but had to wait till the newlyweds did first of course.I was just about to go to sleep when my facebook wall popped up with their announcement.YES! Cats out of the bag now!!!Mind you I did let slip to a few people that didn't actually know Gemma or weren't in contact with other of her friends and family, me and secrets...not good.

Gemma is 11 weeks now, she found out at 4 weeks ,so it is going very slowly.

Its really been a whirlwind few months for them..and us. Stress mostly goes over my head these days, I still worry a little, but I've learned it's not going to change the outcome, but the young ones haven't so it's hard for them.

only 8 weeks ago :

A few weeks after the wedding Gemma came over later than I expected her and looked frazzeled,I asked what was up, she said "I don't know, but It took me ages to find my keys and I burst into tears". Hmmmmmmm....I told her the tears reminded me of when I was pregnant and didn't know yet. Later that evening ,she arrived back with Aaron a big big smile each and this:

A few days later ,morning sickness...... all day,hit with a vengeance and for Aarons 21st dinner, poor girl looked so pale:

FF another week, ultrasound :

DA TWINS :)

and just last week she is already showing.......

Mood swings abound +++. Surviving this, they will survive anything I reckon! Makes me a little teary to see them bicker though as it's only a few weeks ago they were in the bliss bubble.

I believe a lot of it on Gemma's part is twofold, feeling constantly nauseous and exhausted plus fear. Fear of losing them, doing the wrong thing and losing them, doing the right things and losing them,then the fear of not being able to cope with a twin pregnancy, of not being able to cope with twins when they arrive, the list is endless in her head I imagine, and this swirls around in her head as a constant distraction, and then Aaron taps her on the shoulder for some reason and ROAR....Aaron...DUCK...quick !!!I remember well the feel of the red fog and sound of white noise during pregnancy, it ends thank goodness and I hope that next week being her 2nd trimester beginning,that it will be the beginning of the enjoyable part of pregnancy.I do remember enjoying being pregnant for most of it.In the meantime Poor St Aaron as I have dubbed him, continues to smile and ignore until his real wife returns and gives him THAT smile again and not the "you did this to me " smile.

Me: Gem I think you might be aneamic, I saw you stand still for a sec when you got up, were you dizzy?

Gemma: No, I probably forgot what I got up for.......

ohhhhh there are so MANY but I best not print...........or I may be dubbed Poor Saint Bernadette

surprise sunday

In June I will be

Motherhood- a whine from 1992

I thought as I had entered the Aussie mums blogging comp, I 'd write a bit about mothering, when I was in the thick of it.

I recently found my old journal from when the kids were little,in this entry, Danny was 2 days until his 1st birthday,Gemma was 21 months, and Chloe 4 and a half.

18th June 1992

Here's a snippet :)

I was horrible to the kids all day today.

Have the flu, feel rotten, but I guess all the kids could feel was I wanted them away from me.The two bigger kids especially kept hanging around bugging me and wouldn't do ANYTHING I asked.

I think I set a record for screaming to day..amount and decibel level.We don't have many day's like today thank goodness. or I'd be in the nuthouse, the white van would be in my driveway....motor running.

Les didn't help any , grrr, if he's crook he just lays on the lounge ask's Gemma to get him a pillow, Chloe for a blanket and me for a cuppa in that simpery I'm dying voice....and stay's there for 2 days.

The day went like this:

6.30 am kids up, watch some TV

7.15 brekky ,then played and watched cartoons, me up and down for drinks ,food and the baby

10am Baby asleep

10.30 urgh Baby awake...cmon... normally I get 2 hours :(

10.45 may as well stay up,showered..great... scalding then cold, Les hosing garden fiddling with spray pressure.Looks like he is going to mow lawns..

Kids would not play outside,

didn't want to watch a movie ,

didn't want to play in room,

didn't want to do anything.

I yelled a lot till they went outside.I vacuumed, sorted out the washing and put away.Washed up from dinner last night and breakfast.Now...guess what...

12md...time for lunch...all back inside, fed and ...they stay inside.

1.30 a break to rest and breastfeed Danny for his nap , other two fighting and jumping around.

2.30 finally a rest of sorts while baby sleeps and kids finally happy to watch a movie.

3.30 went up the street to buy nappies

3.45.get dinner on.

5pm Chloe and Gemma in bath Les and I eat dinner.Danny in bath other two out.Trimmed Gemmas hair.

7pm Put bigger kids to be half an hour early.Funnily enough they seemed happy to go down.Probably sick of the yelling.

7.15 B'fed Danny, he crashed quickly.

7.30 AAAAH on my own. Made Les and I a cuppa.

7.35.Phone rings..Work,can I work night shift tonight? ....NO

8.30Gemma wet the bed ALREADY,I'm sure I took her to the loo before bed, have to get rid of that bottle. Changed her and put her back.

8.45 sit and watch some TV, write this journal up.Was going to go to bed, but Les tiling ensuite,so will stay up have a cuppa, watch Vizard & Midnight Caller then AAAHHH SLEEP

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY. Hope the kids don't remember this one.

The kids don't remember it, though they do remember my yelling in general ....