Boring week...Absolutely NOTHING of note happened. That's been my life the past couple of weeks.
Monday and Tuesday of last week was work as usual. Just same old, same old...
Wednesday I was off work sick...had a really sore throat and thought I was about to come down with the flu but it miraculaously disappeared by Thursday which was just as well as I had Board meetings all day Thursday and even though I was still feeling a bit tired and flat, I was okay through it all even though the Board Meeting was boring as hell and because the Directors all kept jabbering away in all different directions, my Minutes look like crap and it's going to take me the rest of the week to make heads or tails of it! Our Board Meeting are ALWAYS confusing lately and my boss and I always leave them thinking "What the hell just happened in there??" Ah well it makes my month rather interesting lol.
Friday was bludge day in the office...I guess because we all knew it was going to be a long weekend and we just decided to make it a good one by not doing much work! Friday night I had a bit of a vent as my Facebook friends will know by my status that night about the rude young things at the train station on my train ride home. Waiting at Roma Street for my train home and I catch this train because it is a fresh empty train and at 5:00pm in the afternoon I can at least get a seat. Anyway a middle aged couple is standing on the platform and at this point in time they are the only ones there. I join them, standing beside them to wait. As we wait, more and more people join us so by the time the train arrives the rows of people is about 3 deep. From the back we can these 2 loud chicks (around 19/20ish years of age). One loud chick looks at all the people and says "Wow this train is gonna be full...wonder if we will get a seat" to which her loud chick friend replies "Yeah we will. I ALWAYS get a seat. Watch me".
Train pulls in and door stops right in front of me. I push the button to open the door and let the middle aged couple beside me in first as they were there before me and the train is empty so no problems getting a seat. From the back of the queue we hear loud chick 2 saying at the top of her voice "Coming through!" and she barges her way past all of us and jumps on ahead of myself and the middle aged couple. She then plonks her self on the "prized" seat and beckons her friend to "hurry up! Just push through!" Now I have to add that every person on that platform got a seat with plenty left over. Loud chicks spent the next couple of minutes crowing over their "win". The middle aged gent made reference to her extremely bad manners at which both loud chicks just giggled and laughed at him. They thought they were so hilarious. I am glad though they were not the norm. I have seen many youngsters get up out of their seats to offer them to older people so it's good to know that not ALL bad manners have died but these two took the cake. I'm sure their parents must be proud of them!
Saturday was a quiet day. I spent the day chatting with my dad's cousins in America. He has a Facebook account now so I spend most of time on there just chatting with him. He loves being able to catch up on news so quickly and both of us are researching our family tree so we swap stories...me about my dad and him about his dad. Our fathers were first cousins but they never knew about each other until I found them during my research. Sadly the cousin passed away before Dad got to know him. He never even knew he had a cousin in the States but we now keep in touch with his children and they are soooo excited to have Aussie relatives and to know they are not alone in the world!
Sunday I spent the day at mum's. We had intended to attend the Dawn Service but we ended up not going but I did go to mum's and we spent time talking about Dad and my niece Miss 16 wanted to know more about her grandad so we got out Dad's army photos and medals and told her what we knew which is not much really as he never talked much about it! But she was happy and it was a nice day. She has decided to paint a portrait of dad as she loves art and she wasn't aware how proud dad was of her artwork. Dad had told me that before he died and so I told her that and she was like "He said that?" I said he did indeed and suggested she paint him a portrait and that he would see it and know she did it. So she is now so excited about this new project. She gave up her artwork after dad died because dad was an artist before he lost his hand and she said he always gave her feedback on her work. With dad gone she lost interest but now I think she has her mojo back!
Monday was a slack day. We were lazy. I did some housework then my brother came over for the day so we just drank lots of coffee, pigged out on cake and left over anzac day biscuits and just chatted. We all went to Macca's for lunch, watched some of the TV shows MM downloads for our viewing then my brother left around 9:30pm that night. We went to bed early as I had work next day and quite frankly I was beat!
I got onto Facebook that night and chatted with MM's ex-sister-in-law. Their family was heading off on another cruise the next day and she was having trouble getting her 5 kids to sleep as they were all excited to be going! By this stage I was having holiday envy and wishing it was me! This is their second cruise in 12 months but this one was more special as just after Christmas MM's ex-inlaws separated and were heading for divorce but they ended up in counselling and the good news is they are back together! The cruise is I guess a way of bringing the family back together. They have 5 kids aged 15 to 5 so their life is busy! MM and I have decided we will go on a cruise. If I ever get my liver biopsy done that is!
It's been put off again until May now and I really am getting sick of being jacked around. I want it done and over with. My specialist wants me to have a mammogram done too as I have never done one so he thinks it is important to get it done so I will book that in as well. June I have more blood tests to be done and another specialist visit and he wants me to do the blood tests a week before I go in to him. So I am planning my holiday for Sept/Oct. MM has suggested we get our passports done now so that way we have no excuses not to go. We want to do the Pacific Islands cruise (Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu) but any of the cruises on the Pacific Jewel which is the newest ship would be nice. It leaves from Sydney though so we will spend a couple of days with friends there first then go on the cruise. Fingers crossed! Then I need to get my hair and nails done and the clothes shopping etc lol. MM just rolls his eyes...he owns about 3 T-shirts, 3 shorts and a pair of thongs and thinks thats all he needs lol. I told him he also has to wear underwear but he complains he shouldn't have to if he is on holiday! MEN!! Will be nice for us to finally have a REAL holiday...just the two of us...our first without the kids ever in the 12 years we have been together! Ahhhh....
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
An End of an Era...
The week past seemed to pass in a blur. Monday I took the day off as I was feeling unwell and also feeling a little upset about my Aunty Joan having passed. I'm not sure why it has upset me so much but my MM thinks it is because I still haven't properly grieved for my dad yet which is probably true. I mean I have cried heaps but I still haven't had the gut wrenching cry that gets it all out of the system. There's just been no time. Some days I feel I am on the verge of it but then I pull myself together because I have to go to work or the family wants something or whatever. My friend from work has told me I need to take a day out and just have a sit and maybe even "talk" to dad and just let it all go. And I guess I will do that some day.
Friday was the funeral and I took that day off work as well because Mum really wanted to go and no-one else could get the time off and I wanted to go anyway. Dad would have wanted us there so in a sense we represented him as well. He loved his sister and I know she absolutely idolised her big brother. Everyone at the funeral kept coming up to us and saying how distraught my Aunt was when he passed which made us feel sadder still. She went downhill fast once he passed and she died 10 months to the day from the time my dad passed. Although she had a daughter and grandchildren and great grandchildren, she felt alone with dad gone as they often called each other and just talked about the old days and old friends who she had caught up with who wanted to pass on their regards to dad.
My aunt never left Ipswich which is where they all grew up and even the funeral director told stories of growing up as a lad and knowing my dad and sisters and their parents. Almost everyone at the funeral knew of the family so there were many stories. My aunt's 2 grandchildren are now all grown up and they tried to read the eulogy. I felt for them as I also know how damned hard it is. Poor Tahnee took 5 minutes on the podium to compose herself. She cried for the first 5 minutes trying to take a breath and read about her nan. Her brother Rahlee was beside her and he too cried when it came his turn. By this stage everyone was howling! The service was wonderful. The grandkids placed photos of their kids on her coffin, then my aunt's daughter placed a ball of yarn and a crochet hook on the coffin (my aunt never had idle hands and all of us have her crocheted rugs and doilies and face washers etc!) There was a beautiful photo of my aunts and dad back in the war years. It's always been a favourite picture of mine and so nice to see it there. Family was always so important to my aunt.
There was no wake as the immediate family were going to Mt Thomson to have a private ceremony to inter her ashes there. The rest of us mingled and talked and my biggest surprise was when an elderly gent approached me and my aunts daughter while we were talking wanting to know why "Freddie" (my dad) didn't make it. We had to tell him that my dad had passed back in June. The poor man's face fell then he told me that he was "Maxie" an old old school mate of my fathers. Now I did know about Max as dad ALWAYS talked about him and Max as kids and how they were inseparable as kids and got into so much mischief and they only parted when dad went to war. Max had signed up too but was turned down as he was too short! He is still a tiny little thing whereas my dad was so tall so people used to think it was funny to see the 2 of them together one so tall and one so short! Anyway Max and I talked a bit and I was so sad that dad couldn't have been there to see his old mate. Right up till the day he died he talked about Max and we all assumed he had already passed away. We had no idea he didn't know dad had passed as he had kept in touch with dad's sisters so we figured he would have known. Poor Max was so disappointed and I'm sure he would have gone home to have a few drinks on dad just like he did in the old days. The last thing Max said to me was that "Freddie never walked away from a fight and there was no war he wouldn't have fought in". He was very proud of my dad I think!
Saturday was quiet. Mum had her Open House and had 2 potential buyers come through the house. The first lot seemed very interested so now just have to wait to hear from the real estate people.
Sunday another very quiet day. I cleaned a little, veged out a lot and because I was still feeling very down MM went and bought me a load of choclate so we pigged out on that and watched movies together. My MM is not big on words but he knows how to comfort me and knows that sometimes saying nothing is all I want. Just having him with me and feeding me choclate is all the comfort I need! And he thinks I only want him for his body! Hah! Any man who can comfort a woman with choclate is king in my books lol. He is definately not a romantic man my MM but he knows what pushes a woman's buttons!
Friday was the funeral and I took that day off work as well because Mum really wanted to go and no-one else could get the time off and I wanted to go anyway. Dad would have wanted us there so in a sense we represented him as well. He loved his sister and I know she absolutely idolised her big brother. Everyone at the funeral kept coming up to us and saying how distraught my Aunt was when he passed which made us feel sadder still. She went downhill fast once he passed and she died 10 months to the day from the time my dad passed. Although she had a daughter and grandchildren and great grandchildren, she felt alone with dad gone as they often called each other and just talked about the old days and old friends who she had caught up with who wanted to pass on their regards to dad.
My aunt never left Ipswich which is where they all grew up and even the funeral director told stories of growing up as a lad and knowing my dad and sisters and their parents. Almost everyone at the funeral knew of the family so there were many stories. My aunt's 2 grandchildren are now all grown up and they tried to read the eulogy. I felt for them as I also know how damned hard it is. Poor Tahnee took 5 minutes on the podium to compose herself. She cried for the first 5 minutes trying to take a breath and read about her nan. Her brother Rahlee was beside her and he too cried when it came his turn. By this stage everyone was howling! The service was wonderful. The grandkids placed photos of their kids on her coffin, then my aunt's daughter placed a ball of yarn and a crochet hook on the coffin (my aunt never had idle hands and all of us have her crocheted rugs and doilies and face washers etc!) There was a beautiful photo of my aunts and dad back in the war years. It's always been a favourite picture of mine and so nice to see it there. Family was always so important to my aunt.
There was no wake as the immediate family were going to Mt Thomson to have a private ceremony to inter her ashes there. The rest of us mingled and talked and my biggest surprise was when an elderly gent approached me and my aunts daughter while we were talking wanting to know why "Freddie" (my dad) didn't make it. We had to tell him that my dad had passed back in June. The poor man's face fell then he told me that he was "Maxie" an old old school mate of my fathers. Now I did know about Max as dad ALWAYS talked about him and Max as kids and how they were inseparable as kids and got into so much mischief and they only parted when dad went to war. Max had signed up too but was turned down as he was too short! He is still a tiny little thing whereas my dad was so tall so people used to think it was funny to see the 2 of them together one so tall and one so short! Anyway Max and I talked a bit and I was so sad that dad couldn't have been there to see his old mate. Right up till the day he died he talked about Max and we all assumed he had already passed away. We had no idea he didn't know dad had passed as he had kept in touch with dad's sisters so we figured he would have known. Poor Max was so disappointed and I'm sure he would have gone home to have a few drinks on dad just like he did in the old days. The last thing Max said to me was that "Freddie never walked away from a fight and there was no war he wouldn't have fought in". He was very proud of my dad I think!
Saturday was quiet. Mum had her Open House and had 2 potential buyers come through the house. The first lot seemed very interested so now just have to wait to hear from the real estate people.
Sunday another very quiet day. I cleaned a little, veged out a lot and because I was still feeling very down MM went and bought me a load of choclate so we pigged out on that and watched movies together. My MM is not big on words but he knows how to comfort me and knows that sometimes saying nothing is all I want. Just having him with me and feeding me choclate is all the comfort I need! And he thinks I only want him for his body! Hah! Any man who can comfort a woman with choclate is king in my books lol. He is definately not a romantic man my MM but he knows what pushes a woman's buttons!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
This one will be...
...short and sweet today. A short week it seemed and because of stuff that happened this week I can't remember most of what happened.
Mum rang me on Saturday to say my Aunty Joan (Dad's youngest and remaining sibling) had passed away. That opened up a few wounds but we knew she had been ill for years and honestly we thought she would have passed years ago. She went downhill very fast after Dad's funeral. She had always begged him not to die before her as she didn't want to be alone. But she is now the last of that generation and its an end of an era. Dad was the eldest and had two sisters. The middle sister, Edna, passed away 5 years ago from a brain tumour. She had suffered really bad headaches for years but wouldn't do anything about it. Finally her daughter forced her to go to the doctors and she had tests done and they said "you have a tumour". Two weeks later she was dead. And she was the healthiest of all three of them. So sad and so quick.
Now Aunty Joan is gone. She had only the one daughter as well and she is exhausted as they put Joan in a nursing straight after dad's funeral. She had dementia towards the end and that is the most crushing of disabilities to have...no memory of your family or even how to do the basics. It is kinder that she is gone but that doesn't make it any easier. Plus she was a diabetic and was forever falling into diabetic comas and spent so much time in hospital and she had been on dialysis 3 times a week for the past 10 years as well. Dialysis makes you very ill so by the time she recovered from one round it was time for another so her quality of life in the past few years wasn't much but she and dad rang each other constantly. She lived in Ipswich and Dad was here in Brisbane. They could have and should have visited each other more but both became too ill in the end.
So the funeral is on Friday and I will be going with mum and whoever else here is going. Very private ceremony at Mt Thompson Crematorium at Ipswich which is where her parents, sister, brother-in-law and husband are interred. We are thinking we might get dad's ashes interred in the War Section there. Mum still has his ashes at home and undecided if she should keep them at home or inter them. I think he should be with his family but she thinks it is too far away to visit which it is but I keep telling her it doesn't matter where his earthly remains are...he is still with us here at home in our hearts and in our memories and I think she is starting to think that too. Dad always said he didn't care...he was happy to be shoved in a brown box, burnt on the BBQ and spread the ashes where they fell lol. So we will see...we are thinking of doing that on 6 June which will be the first anniversary of his passing...I think that would be nice.
As you will see also I started another blog on my family history research. I thought it would be easier than boring you guys on here that way if you wanted something else to read you could! One of my US cousins found me again after 6 years via Facebook (we both had old emailed addresses so when we tried emailing each other our emails kept bouncing back so we lost touch!) She figured she would try Facebook as a last resort and *voila* here we are again! She has no information at all and rather than having to repeat myself to the 3 sets of cousins I managed to track down in the US I figured it was easier to document it in a blog that they could and maybe share information with me! I have had a sabbatical of a few years but this year decided to pick it up again as I have left my name on several family history sites and have received emails from "cousins" all over the world...some with info and some without. The Montara name seems to be bigger than I once thought! Anyway...read the blog if you are interested and I will try to update it a bit. I have a heap of info still to go up and to explain all the ins and outs of the family "secrets"!
Mum rang me on Saturday to say my Aunty Joan (Dad's youngest and remaining sibling) had passed away. That opened up a few wounds but we knew she had been ill for years and honestly we thought she would have passed years ago. She went downhill very fast after Dad's funeral. She had always begged him not to die before her as she didn't want to be alone. But she is now the last of that generation and its an end of an era. Dad was the eldest and had two sisters. The middle sister, Edna, passed away 5 years ago from a brain tumour. She had suffered really bad headaches for years but wouldn't do anything about it. Finally her daughter forced her to go to the doctors and she had tests done and they said "you have a tumour". Two weeks later she was dead. And she was the healthiest of all three of them. So sad and so quick.
Now Aunty Joan is gone. She had only the one daughter as well and she is exhausted as they put Joan in a nursing straight after dad's funeral. She had dementia towards the end and that is the most crushing of disabilities to have...no memory of your family or even how to do the basics. It is kinder that she is gone but that doesn't make it any easier. Plus she was a diabetic and was forever falling into diabetic comas and spent so much time in hospital and she had been on dialysis 3 times a week for the past 10 years as well. Dialysis makes you very ill so by the time she recovered from one round it was time for another so her quality of life in the past few years wasn't much but she and dad rang each other constantly. She lived in Ipswich and Dad was here in Brisbane. They could have and should have visited each other more but both became too ill in the end.
So the funeral is on Friday and I will be going with mum and whoever else here is going. Very private ceremony at Mt Thompson Crematorium at Ipswich which is where her parents, sister, brother-in-law and husband are interred. We are thinking we might get dad's ashes interred in the War Section there. Mum still has his ashes at home and undecided if she should keep them at home or inter them. I think he should be with his family but she thinks it is too far away to visit which it is but I keep telling her it doesn't matter where his earthly remains are...he is still with us here at home in our hearts and in our memories and I think she is starting to think that too. Dad always said he didn't care...he was happy to be shoved in a brown box, burnt on the BBQ and spread the ashes where they fell lol. So we will see...we are thinking of doing that on 6 June which will be the first anniversary of his passing...I think that would be nice.
As you will see also I started another blog on my family history research. I thought it would be easier than boring you guys on here that way if you wanted something else to read you could! One of my US cousins found me again after 6 years via Facebook (we both had old emailed addresses so when we tried emailing each other our emails kept bouncing back so we lost touch!) She figured she would try Facebook as a last resort and *voila* here we are again! She has no information at all and rather than having to repeat myself to the 3 sets of cousins I managed to track down in the US I figured it was easier to document it in a blog that they could and maybe share information with me! I have had a sabbatical of a few years but this year decided to pick it up again as I have left my name on several family history sites and have received emails from "cousins" all over the world...some with info and some without. The Montara name seems to be bigger than I once thought! Anyway...read the blog if you are interested and I will try to update it a bit. I have a heap of info still to go up and to explain all the ins and outs of the family "secrets"!
My "Other" Blog
Sorry guys...I never even thought about the set up for the second blog...I had comments set for authorised users only and some of my friends aren't members just readers so that is now changed :) Wasn't meaning to lock anyone out :) So feel free to comment away. I'd be interested in hearing any tips or advice.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Frangelico Cheesecake...By Request!
For my friend Shaz who asked for the recipe!!
Serves 10
Base:
Serves 10
Base:
- 250g choclate biscuits
- 125g butter
Filling:
- 125ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
- 1 tablespoon gelatin
- 180g (6oz) sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 250g (8oz) cream cheese
- 300ml (1 1/2 cups) cream
- 180ml (3/4 cup) Frangelico
- 1 x 30g (1oz) flakey choclate bar
To make base:
Crush biscuits into very fine pieces. Melt butter and add to crushed biscuits, mix well and press into a springform cheesecake tin, packing mixture tightly to form a crust. Refrigerate to set.
To make filling:
Sprinkle the gelatin over the boiling water, stir until dissolved and leave to cool.
Place sugar and lemon juice in a blender and mix lightly. Add room temperature cream cheese and continue to blend. Add cooled gelatin mix, cream and Frangelico and blend until smooth and mixed well.
Crumble half the choclate bar into mixture and stir through lightly, pour over base. Crumble remaining choclate bar evenly over top of cheesecake. Refrigerate to set.
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Sounds great huh? Let me know how it goes as I haven't tried this recipe yet but I really want to try it soon!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
A New Project? Maybe....
www.flylady.netA friend of mine was telling me about this site called flylady.net. Apparently it's goal is to help us declutter our lives and homes and my friend lives by this site. She suggested I try as I am always complaining about not having enough "me" time as I have become a slave to my house and family and blah blah blah... which I guess is true as I do stress about the state of the house but as a full time worker during the week I have very little time to catch up on housework and try and fit in all the things I want to do which is going out on weekends to catch up with friends and family and work on the many craft projects I have started but never finished. This site "guarantees" that you CAN do it all and have minimal stress. Uh huh...
So I have decided I would firstly start on my "craft room" which is actually my laundry and which MM had built into a nice little room for me as well. It started off so well...I have my washer and dryer in there and because it was a little too big for a laundry I got MM to help me turn it into a craft room as well which worked beautifully for a while then suddenly, bit by bit it became a "storage" room for all the crap we have around the house that has no real home. So every time we did a clean out we'd come across some random item and the call would be "where are we going to put this?"...to which the reply always is "Put it in the laundry for now until we figure out what to do with it". So as a result my laundry cum craftroom now houses a dumb bell set (whose I have no idea!), assorted tools of MM's, random parts off Mr 20's car, along with laundry, all my craft gear plus things donated to me by my mother and mother-in-law...you know the kind of stuff...things they think you would really like but you secretly think you wouldn't even donate that kind of stuff to the Salvos but you can't say no because they are so pleased to be able to give you something and because they think you too really love it, it makes them even happier so you take said item vowing to hoik it at the first opportunity but within a set amount of time just in case some day they randomly ask how you are enjoying that item and then you don't have to lie! Whew! So for the moment I am stuck with an old Japanese fan...the type that opens right up and everyone in the 70's had one hanging on the walls. I have old tapestries that my mother-in-law did years ago when she was first starting out (she does beautiful stuff now) and mum has given me bits of old furniture and old books and knick knacks and stuff she thought I should have. I have decided to start a kind of "glory box" for the kids just so I can stick in all their boxes and they can present it to their wives/husbands one day and then it can be their problems! *snicker*
Anyway I have taken before photos of my craft room and I'll show you before and afters when I am done. I'm thinking I may start this weekend and work my way through the house. The aim apparently is you are supposed to every day find 5 things and you have to either put it in its rightful place, donate it or bin it. They say if you do this every day for a month that's a lot of crap you have gotten rid of. We'll see...I am known by MM as the hoarder from hell although I have gotten better over the years and have been quite brutal with some things. For example I have boxes of stuff that have not seen the light of day since the day I moved here 12 years ago. When I lived at mum's I packed everything in boxes and moved into the house only unpacking the stuff I needed. So I still have 12 year old unpacked boxes and I sent one whole box went to the Salvos. I have no idea what was in it but obviously it wasn't stuff I cared about since it was never unpacked (and no there wouldn't have been $100,000 in there!) and nothing has been missed. If I needed something I went out and bought it. Funnily enough I have only now just unboxed some things I got as 21st birthday gifts some 20 odd years ago! Mum had a beautiful cabinet she was going to ditch and she brought it over for me before Easter so it now houses all my good glassware and crystal decanters etc all gifted to me at 21st birthday and engagement party all still in the original boxes. Now they are all housed nicely and I have my nice little collection of alcoholic beverages sitting on top so it now looks like a little bar area lol. MM commented the other day that all the bottles were still full and I have had them a few years. There's a bottle of gin (never opened and left behind by a previous party guest years ago), a bottle of Johnny Walker which son and his mate bought at one time and they both decided they didn't like the taste so donated it to me, a bottle of Wild Turkey (my favourite but I hate to drink alone so it only gets touched if I have people over) and a really nice Jaffa flavoured liquor which has never been opened because the bottle is so cute and it seems a shame to waste it! That was a birthday gift last year from a friend. We were always going to get into it one day but still haven't! Mm doesn't drink either so chances are the alcohol will remain untouched until the next party although I do need to buy some Frangelico to make a really nice cheesecake I have a recipe for.
Anyway I'll let you know how I go. Will be nice to have at least one room looking nice! MM went to so much trouble to make it a craft room for me putting in a big work bench and making me a special shelf that holds all my rows of ribbons etc for my scrapbooking stuff. Will be nice to get back into again. I also have my sewing machine in there and I want to get back into my bag making and a bit of dress making again. My craft keeps me sane!!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Quiet Week...read on if you dare....
So the rest of my week was rather quiet and non-eventful. Could NOT wait for the 4-day weekend. I really seemed to need and I decided to not make any plans and just roll with the flow. Which worked out well. Decided to just have a really lazy 4-day break and if the housework didn't get done or attention paid to the men folk in the house then that was just too bad...it was my holiday and I was gonna live it! MM is always sweet in that respect. he hates me to spend my weekends doing housework. He always says "Housework be damned - you worked all week...just relax!" Hard to do when there's a week's worth of washing to do (which between 3 of us really isn't that much thankfully!), grocery shopping to be done and other little things around the house that need attention but tend to get missed anyway. So yes the Easter break was exactly that...a break.
I had a good book that I was finding hard to put down so I started reading that on Thursday night. Then I got a text message from Miss 16 complaining that she was going to a party on Friday night with her BFF from across the road and her BFF's mum had decided she couldn't pick them up from the party after all. It was supposed to be a sleep over anyway but the BFF had to work on Saturday morning so wanted to be home on Friday night and she wanted Miss 16 to come home as well. Mum didn't want to go out late at night to pick them up as her eyesight is not the best at night time and I would prefer she didn't go out on her own at night time anyway. So I offered to pick her up as the party wasn't far from my house. Problem solved! Mum was happy with the plan and Miss 16 was ecstatic as it meant she could now go to the party and all was well with the Teen world again.
While we were organising these plans mum received a phone call from the daughter of Dad's youngest sister to say that her mum was very ill and is now in a nursing home and didn't think she was going to last much longer. This was really sad news for us as the last time we saw her was at Dad's funeral and she did look very frail then. We suspected even then that she wasn't long for this world. The middle sister had already passed away about 6 or 7 years ago from a brain tumour so my aunt is the only one left of dad's family apart from all the cousins etc. She idolised my dad as he was the big brother and they used to hang out a lot together in their younger days and give their other sister merry hell, much like my little brother and I do to our middle sister. She always used to beg Dad to not die before she did as she didn't want to be alone. She apparently now has demntia as well and doesn't recognise anyone and because she has to be on dialysis regularly the doctors want to stop it so she can let nature run its course but now she keeps saying she doesn't want to die and her only daughter is at her wits end and hoping for a quick passing for her poor mum. So I guess it is only a matter of time.
Friday was just a lazy day for me. My brother came over for the day so we jusr sat around chatting then went to Macca's for lunch with me and MM so it was a really nice day. My brother was still at our house when it came time to pick up Miss 16 from her party so we went together and watched her outside with her "boyfriend" who she hugged goodbye to. They looked very familiar to us but she insists that Liam is "only a friend". Obviously a VERY close friend. So we dropped Miss 16 and her best friend off home then back to my house again for a couple more hours before my brother decided to make his way home again.
Saturday was another bludge day for me. Did some scrapbooking, cleaned my craft room a little, read some more, watched a couple of movies and just veged out pretty much. Rang mum that night to make arrangements to go to the Farmer's Market on the next day (Easter Sunday) and were going to be leaving really early - like around 5:15am!
Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) came and at 4:17am on the dot MM woke me up to get ready to go to the markets. I am NEVER up at this time so it was a challenge to wake up, shower, take my medication and be on the way to mum's. I did it with heaps of time to spare so by 5:00am mum and I were in the car and on the way to Mitchelton to visit the markets. It was the first time we had been to this one and if you are a foodie you will love it! So much food to sample and buy. Mum bought some fresh sunflowers to put in the house as the real estate is coming next week to take photos of the house to advertise. I bought loads of fruit and vege most of which is already eaten! The fruit was beautiful. We sampled fruit, BBQ'd sausages and other meats, pastries from Hungary and Denmark and Sweden, plus lots of different cheeses and wines and even liquorice! It was a real multicultural haven of foods with aromas to whet the taste buds. By the time we had done the rounds of all the produce stalls etc we were full up! It was quite a breakfast! After that we had a coffee at one of the coffee places that was opened for that day so it was nice to sit afterward and just reflect. We were home by 8:00am just as Miss 16 was getting up out of bed then mum gave her easter eggs and choccies etc. The only choclate I get at easter is the choccie mum gives us or else I have to buy it myself. Oh yeah at the markets there was a cute little shop that does doggy treats...little cupcakes and cute biscuits and melting moments for puppies. So mum bought 2 little cupcakes and 2 lollie pops which was just a biscuit on the end of a pork skin stick so the dogs could eat the whole thing. That was their easter gift lol. We gave them the cupcakes when they got home which they sat and daintily chewed on. They are such little ladies. The rest of the day I chilled out again. I had bought some cheese stick bread from the market so I went home and MM and I had that for lunch along with a choclate croissant that also came from the market. Then we ate a bunch of fruit and sat and watched more movies.
Monday was the same. More fruit eaten, movies watched and I caught up on some housework. All in all a boring, quiet weekend. One of these weekends we will go away but for the moment we are content to sit and home and just enjoy what we have now.
I had a good book that I was finding hard to put down so I started reading that on Thursday night. Then I got a text message from Miss 16 complaining that she was going to a party on Friday night with her BFF from across the road and her BFF's mum had decided she couldn't pick them up from the party after all. It was supposed to be a sleep over anyway but the BFF had to work on Saturday morning so wanted to be home on Friday night and she wanted Miss 16 to come home as well. Mum didn't want to go out late at night to pick them up as her eyesight is not the best at night time and I would prefer she didn't go out on her own at night time anyway. So I offered to pick her up as the party wasn't far from my house. Problem solved! Mum was happy with the plan and Miss 16 was ecstatic as it meant she could now go to the party and all was well with the Teen world again.
While we were organising these plans mum received a phone call from the daughter of Dad's youngest sister to say that her mum was very ill and is now in a nursing home and didn't think she was going to last much longer. This was really sad news for us as the last time we saw her was at Dad's funeral and she did look very frail then. We suspected even then that she wasn't long for this world. The middle sister had already passed away about 6 or 7 years ago from a brain tumour so my aunt is the only one left of dad's family apart from all the cousins etc. She idolised my dad as he was the big brother and they used to hang out a lot together in their younger days and give their other sister merry hell, much like my little brother and I do to our middle sister. She always used to beg Dad to not die before she did as she didn't want to be alone. She apparently now has demntia as well and doesn't recognise anyone and because she has to be on dialysis regularly the doctors want to stop it so she can let nature run its course but now she keeps saying she doesn't want to die and her only daughter is at her wits end and hoping for a quick passing for her poor mum. So I guess it is only a matter of time.
Friday was just a lazy day for me. My brother came over for the day so we jusr sat around chatting then went to Macca's for lunch with me and MM so it was a really nice day. My brother was still at our house when it came time to pick up Miss 16 from her party so we went together and watched her outside with her "boyfriend" who she hugged goodbye to. They looked very familiar to us but she insists that Liam is "only a friend". Obviously a VERY close friend. So we dropped Miss 16 and her best friend off home then back to my house again for a couple more hours before my brother decided to make his way home again.
Saturday was another bludge day for me. Did some scrapbooking, cleaned my craft room a little, read some more, watched a couple of movies and just veged out pretty much. Rang mum that night to make arrangements to go to the Farmer's Market on the next day (Easter Sunday) and were going to be leaving really early - like around 5:15am!
Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) came and at 4:17am on the dot MM woke me up to get ready to go to the markets. I am NEVER up at this time so it was a challenge to wake up, shower, take my medication and be on the way to mum's. I did it with heaps of time to spare so by 5:00am mum and I were in the car and on the way to Mitchelton to visit the markets. It was the first time we had been to this one and if you are a foodie you will love it! So much food to sample and buy. Mum bought some fresh sunflowers to put in the house as the real estate is coming next week to take photos of the house to advertise. I bought loads of fruit and vege most of which is already eaten! The fruit was beautiful. We sampled fruit, BBQ'd sausages and other meats, pastries from Hungary and Denmark and Sweden, plus lots of different cheeses and wines and even liquorice! It was a real multicultural haven of foods with aromas to whet the taste buds. By the time we had done the rounds of all the produce stalls etc we were full up! It was quite a breakfast! After that we had a coffee at one of the coffee places that was opened for that day so it was nice to sit afterward and just reflect. We were home by 8:00am just as Miss 16 was getting up out of bed then mum gave her easter eggs and choccies etc. The only choclate I get at easter is the choccie mum gives us or else I have to buy it myself. Oh yeah at the markets there was a cute little shop that does doggy treats...little cupcakes and cute biscuits and melting moments for puppies. So mum bought 2 little cupcakes and 2 lollie pops which was just a biscuit on the end of a pork skin stick so the dogs could eat the whole thing. That was their easter gift lol. We gave them the cupcakes when they got home which they sat and daintily chewed on. They are such little ladies. The rest of the day I chilled out again. I had bought some cheese stick bread from the market so I went home and MM and I had that for lunch along with a choclate croissant that also came from the market. Then we ate a bunch of fruit and sat and watched more movies.
Monday was the same. More fruit eaten, movies watched and I caught up on some housework. All in all a boring, quiet weekend. One of these weekends we will go away but for the moment we are content to sit and home and just enjoy what we have now.
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