68 posts tagged “life”

Son has just driven off to his univeristy exam. I am more nervous than when I go to exams myself. I guess that a parent always wants the best for their child and even if they are 24 and a big hairy man! I kept a low profile until Son left so that my nervousness wouldn't freak him out.

Daughter2 ran a 5.2km marathon after work last night. It was a twilight marathon. This is the same girl who climbed two of the Glass House Mts last weekend. [When we say mountain in Australia, take it with a little grain of salt. Our Mountains are sometimes more a description than an actuality]. This is the same girl who spent her 15th year horizontal in her bed, with severe chronic fatigue. She is 28 years old now and doing things we never dared hope for her. This weekend she is buying a bike so she can go riding with Daughter1 and The Boy. I can't believe these are my daughters.  It has been a long road for her, but damn, nothing is going to stop her. I am in awe!

Mr FD is on the road in his new car. He keeps phoning me and singing me "I'm driving in my car". Springsteen has nothing to worry about. I would still be his in a blink. I am happy that Mr FD is enjoying the thrill of a new car ...before they repossess it at least! Hopefully he is doing more than just drinving in his car, but making some money as well!

I am feeling a strong desire to start baking again. My nesting instinct is coming back. Damn. First I have to rediscover my house under the filth and dust of the past 12 months. I was going to take before and after photos to show on my blog to motivate me into action, but I fear you would all tell me to change my name to Pig in Mud instead of Flamingo Dancer! You will just have to be content with my written crowing about my domestic superiority instead.

Daytime television viewing is really bad. Well the advertising is really bad. I think I missed out on the Snuggies as it is now summer, but I can still get in on the shamwow offer. I can't help wondering how one washes a shamwow if they absorb all the water? I can also buy life insurance before my medical results come back from the doctor to make my husband happy, and buy funeral insurance so that my children don't have to worry about throwing me in a hole. Then I can lemon detox and shed a dress size [and my health] in two days. After that I can buy Nude cosmetics and hide all the ugly bits - does it come in a drum?  I won't mention the range of sports equipment that I can have delivered to my door either. It is a full regime being made dissatisfied with myself and fearful of life in general.

The crow has left his post. I started lying on my bed with a pile of pillows blocking its view of my face. I did hear a noise at the bathroom window early last night, like a bird clawing against the screen, but I didn't investigate. I am starting to feel like I am in a remake of The Birds!  Between magpie season and being told to walk around with an ice cream container with eyes drawn on the back of it, on my head to avoid a pecking attack and now the Crow Stalker , I feel like I am an endangered species.

Isn't Al Gore looking good these days? Lost weight, better haircut. Does he have a girlfriend?

My mother phones to say that her sister, my aunt, is to have chemo after her bowel cancer surgery. At least that is what I think she said. She told me "you know those tablets you have after you have an operation". Chemo, Mum? "I don't know, I don't ask questions!" Then she proceeds to make all sorts of wild claims and predictions based on no information and no fact. I guess it should be no surprise to anyone that I have a mother who is rampant, but it still surprises me. Was she like this when we were growing up? Surely not. Yeah, probably. Explains a lot doesn't it?

I have spoken to my sister 3 times by phone this week. I love my sister. She doesn't understand me at all, but she loves me. What more can you ask from a big sister? I on the other hand understand her too well, but I still love her. That is what younger sisters are for.

Another niece engaged. Two family weddings planned for next year. We are expecting at least one more yet - wedding that is. The changing of the guard generation wise. We are becoming the elder statesmen/women. It is a nice thing. I am ready to hand over and be dotty and allow them to take the pressure.

I think I will lie here in bed a little longer and think about house cleaning and baking. It is a life and someone has to live it. I sacrifice myself for you!

• The star jasmine is flowering over the arbour outside our patio door. It looks like a huge white bridal bouquet and smells like heaven.

• Daughter 1 has her wedding dress. It took her 20 minutes to select off the rack. Daughter 2 had her bridesmaid dress. It took her 15 minutes to choose off the rack. The Boy has his groom's suit. It took him 90 minutes to choose off the rack...

• Grandma Flamingo fell asleep during the funeral on Friday. I looked at her and she was dozing on the pew. I told her to snap to, or she was in danger of being wheeled out to the hearse. She was ram rod straight for the rest of the service!

• Mr FD is flying to Adelaide tomorrow. Peace in our time! I won't say for whom! He has orders to bring back jumbo Haigh's chocolate frogs. They are HUGE and YUMMY and last about 32 seconds in the Flamingo Dancer household! He has been told not to come home if he fails in his mission.

• God daughter turned 1 last week. She is soooo cute. I played with her on Friday afternoon. We unwrapped her birthday present together. She was very serious about it, with a little frown across her brow until she achieved opening the present and had time to inspect and then the smiles came. A woman not easily won...Flamingo Dancer to the core!

• I understand why Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. Didn't you breath a sigh of relief when he said the USA wouldn't go ahead with its Stars Wars project and putting bases in Poland etc facing Russia? I felt as though we had taken a giant step back from another catastrophe. I feel it is recognition that the rest of the world is happy dancing that USA is coming into the 21st century and seeking peace, not conflict. Give him another if it helps!

• My brother in law turned 68 on Friday. I have a BIL who is 68! We did not put candles on the cake.

• Son has learnt a new way to get extra money from me. He says he needs cash to get a hair cut and of course no mother is going to refuse that, so I hand over the cash. He somehow forgets to get the haircut and three weeks later asks me for cash for a haircut. Of course he needs it more urgently now and so no mother is going to refuse and so he gets the money. Now when he requests hair cut money, I ask if this is for the pretend haircut or the real haircut. He still gets the money. 

• You know that I am doing this just to waste time away from my studies don't you?

• For those of you who have seen the black face routine on Hey Hey It's Saturday, please don't think that is representative of contemporary Australian humour. Darryl Sommers has been the sad butt of jokes for the past few years and the only way he could cling to celebrity was to revisit a show concept that had its time 20 years ago. I was horrified to hear that they were bringing the stupid show back in the first place - it was always pathetic. A sad example of a television network who thought returning to the past would get ratings. One point though - few people picked up on the fact that the man with the white Michael Jackson face was in fact an Indian. Not that it made the skit any more palatable. Still the hoohah doesn't stop the children dying of starvation and malaria in Africa does it?

• Now that my daughters live away from home, it takes half a day of phone calls to catch up on my family each week - Mother Flamingo Dancer, Sister Flamingo Dancer, Daughter1 and Daughter 2...whew. Mr FD gets his mother and usually his sister, though there are times when we fight over answering the phone when we suspect it is her and I get the short straw and have to speak with her...

• It is raining tiny tiny rain drops. The first rain we have had in over 2 months. I am pretending I don't hear it, in case I scare it away. The lawn is crispy dry under my feet when I walk out to the clothes line...Mr FD just called out that it is raining. I told him to shut up. He apologised automatically as he is trained to do. I can smell the dust settling. Heaven.

• BIL asked me if I went to communion during the funeral mass. We both said at the same time "because that is the only way people know you are there!" I love my BIL - he understands my evilosity.

• It is raining harder now. Obviously the rain doesn't read blogs. Yet.

• I can't avoid the study any longer can I? Can I?

Mr FD has noticed that we have fewer chickens in the nest - there is less food and clutter in the fridge. Daughter 2 is dairy free and wheat free so her special needs are no longer our problem. Daughter1 had to take a school lunch [as teachers do!] everyday so we had fiddly bits in the fridge for her and other items meeting her diet needs. Son only drinks milk and coke from the fridge and anything I hand him.  So this morning Mr FD went looking for something and he found it first go. No standing at the door flailing his arms going help me, help me. First go he zoomed in on the bottle straight away. Who is a good boy, then!

However it is balanced off by the amount of difficulty that now comes from arranging a joint activity. Daughter 2 and I want to go to the American Impressionists Exhibition at the art gallery this weekend. So first there were calls and texts - was she busy with work or dating, what day, what time etc. Got that sorted out. Then Daughter1 woke me from my slumber to ask if The Boy could go into the exhibition with us as she had seen it with a friend earlier. So more calls and texts to ascertain yes no and all that. And yes The poor Boy is in my clutches now too. Then the time didn't suit Daughter1 and so I said call Daughter2 but she didn't want to as she thought that D2 might think she was muscling in on D2's Mummy time....oh my popularity knows no bounds - and so I had to call and yes later was fine and then back to D1 to say yes later is fine etc etc. I am so exhausted I am not sure I even want to go anymore.

Once I was MUMMY and I orgainsed everything and they all heeled. Now I have to be understanding and considerate, which is painful at the best of times, but I can't frigthen The Boy too much yet either as we need to slide him into the web a little more - get him comfortable before the trap springs shut. It is exhausting having children all over the place - well I guess they are all in one city - maybe that is the problem, If they were on different continents and time zones it might be easier. Though Son is on a different time zone as he is nocturnal.

Anyway, I forget what I was going to say, but parenting doesn't get easier as they age. One still has to be mindful of how big a piece of the Mummy pie they each get and still treat them like the adults they think they are. Which reminds me, I have to go phone my mother and treat her like the adult she still thinks she is.

The only thing that I am going to say about Michael Jackson is that it makes one think about one's own mortality. Sure, I don't have a dependence on drugs (well not that I am admitting anyway!), but Michael and I were both born in 1958.... As I have mentioned previously, MJ, Prince, Madonna, Sharon Stone and I are all 1958 babies - it was a great year for fabulous people, dahling! So, when someone dies who is the same age as you it makes you realise that you need to make the most of what you have, while you have it. [And yes Snowy I can make anything about me!]

Oh and one more thing - how long do you think before all the sordid Michael Jackson biographies and tell alls hit the bookstores? I would say 2 weeks. Maybe 3. [Ubi Caritas waiting for you to report on that one!]

Mr FD is still suffering and hence so am I. The ultimate in care to Mr FD is a hot lemon and honey drink, so I just made one for him. I can hear him mewing in the other room now. I am playing with his mind again, just when he gets used to me being nice to him, I will slam him with a "you expect what? Excuse me!" It works everytime. He lets his guard down and I whammy a zinger in - it is what I live for... well that and chocolate.

Daughter2 and The Boy were over this afternoon. She is selectively packing up her belongings and has a removalist booked for Tuesday to come and empty our house....well, it will be empty when all her stuff goes. When I say selectively, no doubt you know what I mean - good stuff to go with her, crap and crud to stay at Mum and Dad's. I can't complain, I did the same to my parents - it is like the revenge of the generations.

I am back to Uni on Tuesday - wow wasn't that a great 4 days of holiday. I should be working on assignments already, but still feel so wretched that I have no motivation. It gets to early afternoon and I am so weary that I have to go and have a nap. My lungs still wont expand enough to take in the oxygen I need without a major coughing spasm, so I am putting the lack of oxygen down as the reason for my brain feeling as though it is loose from its moorings. I have a first aid course to attend on Friday, at this rate I may be the body!

This afternoon I was on the phone talking with my Mum when Son did something to our home network and disconnected us. Poor old Mum got quite confused as one minute she was talking to me and then she got a click and was busy saying "hello, hello" when next thing her sister replied. It seems that sister just happened to phone at the moment my call dropped out. Poor old Mum thought the angels were speaking to her for a moment I think - it was all too much for an 82 year old.

I think I need to go out and buy a large bottle of motivation and maybe a new attitude, in the large economy size. I seem to have lost the dance in Flamingo Dancer. Maybe it is in that pile of boxes Daughter2 has piled near the door - must have a peek and see what I can do. 

Yes, it was me. I was the woman sucking the chupa chup and singing as she drove home yesterday. It was Friday and the start of a long weekend. It was a watermelon flavoured chupa chup, not my favourite flavour, but that is what the teacher gave me. I had been very good all day.

Oh and yes, it was me walking like an Egyptian at the back of the gym when we were superiving exams yesterday. What else is a teacher to do when they have to walk around a gym for two hours watching 140 girls do examinations? I may have also joined a couple of other teachers who did a little cancan dance as well. We were down the back and behind all the girls - hey we were bored. We took turns standing up the front looking stern, and making sure no one cheated, but hell, when we got down the back and behind the girls, damn it, we cut loose. Quietly of course!

Which brings me to a more serious point. Mothers please make sure that your daughters know to go to the bathroom before they go to an exam. Apparently it is a physical impossibility for a 16 year old to go more than an hour without a toilet break. Luckily the gym had toilets - the main doors were all pegged back so no real cheating could occur. The individual cubicle door shut, but the main doors were open. One could time and listen!!!!!!!

Mothers, your daughters also need a packet of kleenex. I grew so exhausted going to the front of the gym to get tissues for girls - and hey it took time away from my dancing - that in the end I just walked around with a box in my hand and the girls could grab one as I passed on my rounds. It is a distinct possibility that the students mutated the swine flu during that exam.

May I ask who in their right mind, decided to send me, a History and English teacher to supervise maths and chemistry examinations. Smart thinking. One girl put her hand up and told me her TWO calculators were giving her two different anwers...I didn't know whether to laugh out loud, or pretend thaat I understood. In the end I put my hand up and called over another teacher. There were 6 teachers in the gym and so one of them ran out and found a maths teacher to answer some of the queries...that is right, 6 teachers and not one of us in the area that was being examined. Tuesday I supervise the students that need extra time - those with physical and intellectual or learning issues...as I always require extra care I thik I can handle that one!

Oh and yes, I went over to the dark side. I thought that I should start reading some "youth" literature and so borrowed the Twilight book by Stephanie Meyer from the school library. I thought I would have to suffer through it at some stage, so better sooner than later. By page 52 I was hooked. Mills and Boon with vampires and I couldn't put it down.!!!! I read it in a night! Then just  as further research as a possible teaching resource, I hired the DVD  - not as good as the book, but better than I expected...you know what is coming next, don't you - I will borrow the next book on Tuesday. I think I will be over it by then.

Two more weeks of prac. then one week of holidays, then four weeks of uni and then...another 8 weeks of prac and a bit more uni. I am going to make it or die in the attempt!

Today the sky was so clear and blue, not a cloud to be seen. I looked up and there were hot air balloons crossing the sky - it was another picture perfect day in Brisbane. Winter is just so wonderful here. The morning was crisp and a little foggy, but the day was jusr so lovely I think it got to 22 or 23C. I love winter. In Brisbane, it is the winter yu have when your don't really have a winter!

P.S. I managed to dress myself and wear matching shoes all week. I thiink we could call that a successful week, dont, you?

meeting and greeting

Thank you very much, yes I did have a lovely Mother's Day. I rang my Mum first up and wished her a Happy Day and promised to visit next weekend. Then Daughter 2 and I went to buy groceries - which may have actually turned into half a new wardrobe for her, and a couple of new clothing items for me....a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!

Then we met Daughter1 and her future mother in law for afternoon tea (and a glass of wine!) We had not met before so it was the coming together of the mothers. I think we both enjoyed each other's company. We were alone at the end and so did the "your son is lovely", "your daughter is wonderful", we are so happy,  that parents should do....and luckily it was honestly meant on both sides. We are all so happy that this young couple are coming together - it just seems so right.

Now it is evening and I have to transform into the student again (one with new clothes to wear tomorrow though!) Hard to get my head around all these different hats I am wearing these days. So happy Mr FD visited his parents, armed with cakes and present, and I didn't have to stretch further.

Daughter2 was actually home with us all week as she has been very ill with a Campylobacter bacteria. Nothing like home when you are ill. She is 75% improved and so went back to her place tonight. It is quiet without her. It was nice having all three children home again all at once. Another month and Daughter1 moves into her own home and things will be different forever...it is nice, but  a little sad at the same time. I know it is the cycle of life, but our little family is changed and one stage of life over... We step with happy memories, confidence and joy into the next phase. 

I am no longer an almost catatonic catalytic converter, I am now "the best a man can get". Been in my head for two days now. I guess it is the old jingle from the gillette razor ads, I don't know. I mentioned it to Mr FD that the phrase the best a man can get was rattling around in my head on a regular basis. He just look at me strangely, akin to pity (possibly for himself) and left the room. We just don't seem to communicate quite the same way anymore...

and of course it is true!

The first impression that something was wrong was when I mistook the banister for the stairs and walked off and over the side. Luckily there was a tiered garden edge and I was able to cling to it, as the boys who had been standing there, watching to ensure no one did this very thing, came to my rescue. They pulled me back over and a girl told me not to worry as many people made the same mistake.

I thanked them and hurried back through town to my house. I carried a blouse on a hanger in each hand. I didn’t know which to wear and I had a lecture in a little over an hour and I had almost an hour’s drive to get there. I got to our apartment building and arrived at our floor. Well I thought it was our floor but the candy store near the elevator made me realise it wasn’t.

However, I thought, damn it, I will make it our floor, so I turned and ran the whole length, and then started to climb the rusting steel staircase. A girl came out of the trap door and told me to hurry up or I would be late – they were waiting.

I climbed through the trap door and got sucked into a candy floss machine. I was spun in white candy floss. It spat me out the top – and I landed at the North Pole dressed as Santa Claus.

My last thoughts were My first Christmas dream of the season...

There’s a Christmas dream season?

[For the dazed and confused this is the dream I had early this morning. And NO there were no white rabbits - I think]