Time flies when you’re having fun

 

Remember how I asked that time not fly past so quickly? Well, I have been ignored.

Ten days have been lived since I last sat down to write a blog post. Ten. And I must say, that I have most definitely lived every one of those ten days. If I haven’t been at work, I have been out somewhere.

Last weekend was a blur.

I keep trying to remind myself that I am far too old to be crawling into bed at 4am, but I am ignoring myself as decidedly as time is ignoring my plea to slow down. After all, the only way to do a ‘White Night’ event is to be there till the end. My friends and I saw the sun rise on the morning that concluded White Night Melbourne. Fortunately for us, White Night Ballarat was over at 2am, but I still had the drive home to my friend’s house to contend with. Then, in our infinite wisdom, we traipsed around IKEA for the entire afternoon of the Sunday.

Another weekend GONE!!!!!

But you know what? I wouldn’t have traded those experiences for any wealth you could offer me. So I am a little bit tired. So I am a teeny bit behind with the washing. So I have lost track of what day it is…….

I have been out in the world with my dear friends and we have been living life to the full.

I’ll rest when I’m dead.

Grass is good

I never thought that I could get so excited by grass. But when said grass is the new back lawn of your besties new home………  You arrive there with your 105mm f2.8 macro lens to capture the magnificence of these tender spikes of green.

I was there when the seeds were thrown with hopeful abandon on the newly delivered and raked soil. I helped give these seeds their first soaking of water. I waited patiently for 3 days before sending the “Is there any green yet?” text. (The green tinge of new growth was not visible till the end of day 4)

We need this grass to grow and grow quickly. There’s a birthday/housewarming event coming soon.

Now if her cats would not use this new soil as their litter box……….

Beware naughty felines. There is a boyfriend who will cause you pain if you make a mess of this new lawn.

The tap

One of my nearest and dearest is achieving a lifelong dream. She has always wanted to own her own home and she is finally on the road to seeing that dream come to fruition. The best thing is, she is building her home. Getting to choose bricks, tiles, windows, flooring, cabinets, fittings, lights, garage door colours…………everything.

It has been an insanely slow process getting the land titled and the building actually started, but it has begun and it is going full steam ahead.

I’m going to try to get up to the block every week and take photos of the progress and try to be a little creative in the process. She is going to have THE best and most creative record of her house being built. No phone snaps here ladies and gentlemen. An artist is at work.

 

It just wouldn’t be Xmas if I didn’t bake my shortbread.

 

As much as I am complacent about the whole idea of Xmas this year, I know that I would be the victim of a lynching if I did not produce my shortbread biscuits. I have been baking this particular recipe for approximately 18 years and giving them out as Xmas gifts for, possibly, 14 years.

Every year it’s the same. I find myself standing in the kitchen over the course of two or three evenings baking away. More often than not the temperature in the house is not terribly conducive to the idea of baking, but bake away I must.

Fortunately tonight the conditions were excellent for baking a biscuit made with an awful lot of delicious butter. Two batches done. Two more to go.

Someone I work with, who shall remain nameless but she’ll know who she is when she reads this, suggested to me today that I could just go out and buy shortbread. *GASP* The thought of buying shortbread simply never crosses my mind.

The thought that DID cross my mind was, quite simply, not baking any shortbread at all this year.

Can you just imagine the disappointment??!!!! Can you visualise the looks of excited anticipation being wiped away in seconds as the horrible realisation that they were not getting their Xmas shortbread registered in their brains?

As blasé as I am about this ‘festive season’, I can’t bring myself to be a total Grinch.

 

What? Again????!!!!!!

Is that lipstick on your cheek, birthday boy?????

My calendar had nothing in it for this weekend. It was a blank. No events, no dinners, no excursions…………..nothing. I was a little bit disheartened by this, especially as we are a week out from Xmas and it looked like everyone else I knew was booked up with wonderful plans, but I merely figured that this was the universe telling me to take a breather.

And yet, here I am at 1:50am on a Sunday morning sitting at my computer because I have only just returned home from another unexpected evening out. Unlike last night, tonight I was not flying on a solo adventure. Today (actually, yesterday because today is now Sunday) was the birthday of a photography friend and he invited me to join himself, his daughter and another lovely friend of his out to dinner.

Dinner in Lalor, became dinner followed by dessert at Brunetti’s in Carlton. We were having so much fun there that we lost all track of time and had to  be kicked out by the staff at closing time.

FYI……I did manage to get some order into the war zone that is my home. Now I’m not quite so terrified of the prospect of visitors arriving unexpectedly.  🙂 But I have no idea when I’m going to get time to edit the photos I’ve taken over the last week.

 

 

Another Cup Day done and dusted.

A friend of mine commented on Facebook today “Happy 3 minute race public holiday”. I must have been having a blonde moment because it took me a second or two to realise that he was commenting on the Melbourne Cup. But it is correct. My marvellous Melbourne has a public holiday dedicated to a horse race that is run and won in just over three minutes.

And the worst of it is, that this holiday is on a Tuesday.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against a nice public holiday, especially now that I am no longer working in retail and my workplace actually closes for the day, but why do we have a public holiday for a horse race? And why do they run the race on a Tuesday?

It has reached the stage where they call it the ‘Cup Day long weekend’. I’m sorry…….it’s NOT a long weekend. The Monday is a work day for an awful lot of us. Not everyone can decide to have their RDO on the Monday before Cup Day or get permission for a day of annual leave. How silly to have the race on a Tuesday!! It mucks up the whole week.

Despite the inconvenience of the timing of this annual race, the first Tuesday in November, I participated in the tradition of the Cup Day BBQ at Evie’s house. We ran our race sweeps and watched the race. Don’t ask me who won because I really don’t care.

It was too chilly to frock up properly but I still wore a skirt and a hat, probably ate too much and am now exhausted from a day of doing nothing.

Melbourne Cup Day 2016…………… done and dusted.

Don’t mess with me, H. :-)

My best friend in the whole wide world asked me to take some family photos today. (Sorry Evie, don’t be cross, I know your shots are still on the ‘to do’ list.)

Hubby wants an updated family portrait. She wants to hide under a rock until the world ends because she doesn’t want to be seen in any photos.

Well, dearest Helen, I have taken the photos and they look great. YOU look great.

…………..except for that one where you were pulling a face because I was attempting to photograph you while you were relaxed.

Actually, in that particular shot you look brilliant! Isn’t it a good thing that the old wives’ tale of the wind changing and you being stuck forever with the face you are pulling being just that……… a tale. Because I don’t think you would be happy being stuck with that particular face forever.

You’ve been so worried about this family portrait. Declaring that it is to be printed small and that it was going to live in the bedroom where only the immediate family would see it. Insisting that I ‘work my magic’ to make you look half decent.

My dearest friend, you are more than decent. You are beautiful……….. inside and out. Those of us who know you and love you will tell you this truth any day of the week.

So while you have been worried about people seeing the stunning family portrait, perhaps you should have been more concerned about the brilliant out-take from today???

Love you Helen. xoxoxoxo

It is my birth anniversary

Thank you for the awesome photo Kathryn. xoxo

 

Birth anniversary. I like it. The anniversary of my birth. So much more formal and grand sounding than ‘my birthday’. Thank you to Cecilia for giving me a new name for the day. 🙂

Today is the 49th anniversary of my birth. The day a daughter was born to Reg and Lorraine West. Their first child. (Their best child I might add.)

It is Friday and because I don’t work on Fridays I have been able to sleep in, eat a leisurely breakfast, take calls from friends and family, relax, read and reply to the birthday messages on Facebook and think about the dinner I will be enjoying later on this evening.

And I have been set a challenge.

I have a friend who has demanded that I email her one massive challenge that I want to accomplish. She wants it to be something that will make me squirm. And I must complete this challenge by my next birthday. She thinks it sounds like fun. Just wait till I make her do the same. Then we’ll see how much fun she thinks it is.

Of course, my next birthday is considered a big one. It has a zero on the end. Sounds ominous and somewhat daunting. I’ve toyed with the idea of running away on my own and marking the milestone somewhere exotic. I’ve considered ignoring the day. I’ve thought about whether I even like the idea of being the age that I will be, while totally ignoring the fact that I’m now 49.

How the hell did I get to be 49???? I can’t possibly be 49! Let’s just ignore the little fact that I am the mother of a 20 year old son……….Surely I’m still in my early 30’s and I only left high school a decade or so ago??

What has happened to those years between HSC 1985 and now?

Now I have a friend challenging me…….daring me………..to push myself out of my comfort zone and do that ‘thing’ that I’ve wanted to do but have not yet achieved.

As soon as I read the text message the (most likely) idea came to my brain.

The idea will satisfy everyone. I will be squirming uncomfortably. My  parents will be happy. My friends will be happy. It won’t matter who is involved because there will be a common theme.

The question now is…………Do I make my thoughts public??