Come on let it rain. Let it rain down on me ...

Beautiful Blossom poised on Terry Pratchett book Wintersmith.
Main character near frozen to death in drifts of snow whilst i swelter in over 30 degree heat under ceiling fan on highest setting.  Not so bad that i have had to yet take the emergency bag of ice out of the freezer.

A new year ...

I am feeling unreasonably sad.

Can only put it down to the stress of so much family time.
I am used to a lot more alone time than I am getting.

Bad thoughts tend to drift through my mind when I am scootering at the best of times, but have been crying by the time I've reached work every day this week.

Probably a good thing it was a short week for me, hey?

Was nearly starting to feel human again with the new medication and forced healthy living (not supposed to drink on methotrexate) but my willpower has erroded over the month in the face of daily offers of drinks, even though I  asked them not to.  I can only say no so many times, before it changes to 'just the one', to 'Hell YES! Liqour me up'.  Do you think they'll  stop offering me drinks when i turn yellow with liver/kidney failure? No it would be my fault for not saying no.

It will be very good when the parent goes and I only see my family for an hour or so or less once a week, sigh.

Good news is there is a definate date now.
8 January.

Concerned 2017 is going to be as 'not good' as 2016 and 2015.
What if mother going home is the highlight of the year?

No.
I vow to do/have/experience something better than just the absence of my mother this year!

I will plant at least one garden bed- if it ever rains and takes us off level 3 (soon to be level 4) water restrictions, damnit.

I will look for a new job!

I will tidy up and organise my home so that it is actually comfortable and not just spend all my spare time in bed feeling a bit crap.

Of course, if I win lotto this week it would make all this a great deal easier and I wouldn't  have to look for work at all, which would be very nice, at least for a while.

Cheers *clinks wine glass*


Edit: taint all doom and gloom. Beat my stepfather at backgammon four times in a row today with some crazy multiple throws of doubles. Five in a row!

Breakfast adventures ...

The first Xmas controversy has occurred.

Met mother for breakfast at cafe.

I never go to anywhere I like with her because she is invariably rude unless she has found the place herself and is showing it to us.

The owner of the place I used to go to in Cleveland once came out to ask me to speak to my mother about her behaviour to the waitresses.  she'd made them cry last time she was there when there was a mistake on her order.

She was in one of her moods and being disparaging of her grand children.

Cafe said couldn't swap spinach for tomato as garnish. Would have to buy as side.

Step father forgot to get senior discount at time and they said couldn't do after fact.

Mother couldn't let go being denied her garnish of choice and was loudly declaring would complain to franchise.

Mother than decided her coffee was served cold.

Mother then was rude to waitress bring food.

Loudly complained she had not been given gluten free bread and declared "that's disgusting! Disgusting!" And to take it away.

I haven't had much sleep and don't cope with her behaviour in cafes at best of times.   So I left.

Have retreated home, like the coward I am, but stopped and gave my sister the headsup first.

The thing is ... The complaints were fair enough. There is no reason they shouldn't be able to swap some spinach for a tomato, and I think they should have given the senior discount afterwards.

I wonder if she decided to leave and made a scene demanding her money back?
I wonder if she ended up being asked to leave?
They are both possibilities.
Or it may have just fizzled out into weeping.

It's too early to start drinking isn't it?

Cold in Nth Qld?

It is 4 am, 26 degrees, 77% humidity and I am cold and shivering.

Came on suddenly at about 7 o'clock.

I had a second Glass of wine that did not agree with my medication, but I can't see how that would leave me shivering all night. I thought I was over my cold, but ... Argh.  This feels so weird.

My cats have been lovely and snuggly and Blossom has been keeping my hip warm for me.

Cats are Kool.

Stressed ...

The frogs are trying to kill themselves again.
Have rescued teenage amphibians two nights in a row.

Was the Scream I heard a moment before that of the frog I fished from the toilet not ten minutes ago?

Nearly a nasty accident there.
I was in a terrible rush at the time and had to purse my cheeks savagely and flail about for something to catch it with. It was an Olympian of frogs.
Lept about all over the place.
Fending cats off with one hand.
Trying to get the frog to jump into a bag.
Welding my knees together and chanting "I am the Master of my own sphincter" to myself.

D'oh ...

... was doing okay today until just after lunch when my brain suddenly fused and I came over all tired.

Left work at three.

In my head I indicated left to pullout and put the car into drive. In reality, I indicated right (back to the kerb) and put the car into reverse.

Luckily the hand break was still on.

W00t!

Scooter not going to be as expensive as expected, yay!
Can be fixed before mother gets here, yay!
Crazy making medication from last week appears to be wearing off. Have only burst into tears once today, yay!

Started methotrexate Monday afternoon. They mention 'methotrexate fog' day after. Only thing I noticed was stuck working how to spell found for a minute or so yesterday. Knew it started with a 'fff' sound, but couldn't work out what letter that was. Knew it wasn't an s, but it just wouldn't come.
And I wrote 'mend' instead of 'send'.

So far still having trouble concentrating if interrupted and complex decisions, but think that is improving. And that could be a consequence of so many things going wrong in such a short space of time.

Hard to sort out what is because of arthritis flare, medication side effects and life stress.

Plus I am always mental before a rental inspection and mothers imminent arrival.

Six stressful things in a short space would cause anyone to wobble.

I feel special ...

My dead scooter from last year is still in the workshop.
They have parked my new scooter next to it, lol.
I have my own section.

Booggled ...

I've managed to kill a scooter in under a year.

Not under warranty cause I missed a service, sigh.

(When I'd hurt my back, but turned out to be a kidney cyst, or a combination of the two and was having difficulties moving about in the morning. Got to and from work and that was about it.  Then the cat was sick.)

One thing at a time though, right?

Tomorrow go explain to Centrelink that I don't owe them $700 from September 2010.

Then pop over to the scooter place to see how much an engine rebuild will cost.

Then decide if there is a chance in heck of getting something sorted before mother arrives so that hopefully she never finds out about it.

I have ten days.

Maybe I can hire a scooter that looks exactly like mine?

And I can't drink cause I started methotrexate today, damnit!  Cheezels just aren't the same.

December curse has kicked in early ...

Rheumatologist visit lovely and will start methotrexate Monday.

Came home to bill from Centrelink from 2010, as they are auditing database s and the group certificate for that job appears to be based on dates payslips processed rather than dates worked however, finally got back into old email and still have the payslips so just need to get in and appeal the decision. Unsure how long or easy that will be.

Newish scooter wot turns one year old January has suddenly ceased to function half way home.

Rental inspection two weeks away and I am working six days a week in lead up too when I would usually take time off.

Left hand is swollen and don't work so good and new medication will take a month or so to kick in.

Mother is arriving early this year and will be here 2nd December.

I am having a very last large drink and battling the urge to just kick the sh*t out of the scooter and set it on fire.

Burn Baby, burn ... like my Christmas.

Thursday

Rheumatologist appointment Tuesday.

Blossom has bought me a dying sparrow, just for a change.
Bastard!

Stinking hot and humid.

Finally bought new mattress to go with bedframe.

New medication continuing to make me space cadet.

Reading Miss Peregrine's peculiar children.
Good, but don't love it.
Not uplifting or joyous.
More kind of Lemony Snicketish.
Very creepy photographs.

Will be working six days a week for next few weeks.
Rental inspection due 30th.
Meltdown imminent.
Except medication has me feeling like I am half drunk all the time. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Let nervous nurse training to do pap smears experiment on me as her first practical attempt. Unfortunately, first attempt failure and notified need to repeat in three months. However, first hurdle over and successfully up to fifteenth procedure today. I feel like I have contributed to others future health.

I bet it's still 30 something stoopid degrees!  Darn summer!

Shafted with doing admin work of manager whilst he is on holidays for two weeks.  Means I will also get all the yelly people fobbed off onto me by my fellow workers.  Tried to advise not mentally at my best at present with new medication, but could see the whole idea waft past their ears like a nearly visible hallucination.

Funnily enough, hallucinations are one of the side effects to watch out for, lol.

It looks like I have dead cats strewn across the end of my bed, but they are only sleeping.

The unknowable ...

... inscrutable mind of the feline.

What is Blossom thinking when gifting his daily present of plant matter?

So ...

.. went and saw a doctor last Friday, as I have been having issues with my arthritis.  My left hand is turning into an uncooperative claw because it is the hand I use to hold the tablet and my Achilles tendons have been niggling for the last month or two.

I attended a medical practice other than the one I work at.

First time in my life have been referred to a specialist without having to ask.

He gently took my hand and examined the swelling and said "you must be in a lot of pain".

It has been heaps worse then this.
I have struggled to walk for extended periods - months.
I nearly burst into tears.
He was so nice.

I had to decline his suggestion of some time off work.

Am now on some medication I've never had before and am wandering about in a slightly dazed state until I get the hang of it.  I feel ever so slightly like a am drunk.

I think I maybe giggling a bit more than usual.

Melbourne Cup tomorrow and am planning to place a small wager on Big Orange, cause it's such a silly name

Hum ... Interesting ...

... apparently ambulance people seem to think it is perfectly okay to drop people off at medical centres, whom they do not think require hospitalisation, without making sure they have some way of getting home.

Surely they should also issue said individual with a taxi voucher or wait for them to see a doctor, and then take them home, instead of dropping them off miles away with no way of getting home and no money, and didn't want an ambulance in the first place.

Not a nice night at work.

Sins came home to roost ...

... though I don't really think not having regular sex is a sin.

A couple of the nurses at work are learning to do pap smears.  They are required to perform fifteen under supervision over a period of time.

I agreed to be one of the lovely ladies First attempts.

However, my lack of indulgence in a certain activity required a change in implement, after which all was sweet.

I have been very bad and this was my first pap smear in nigh on 16/ 20 maybe years.

Mammogram is next.
They reckon I should have had two by now.

Things people say to a receptionist...

P: Hi, how are you? I' d like to book an appointment.

R: Sure 😀 What's your name?

P: Sharon.

R: What's your last name?

P: Jones.

R: When do you want to see a doctor?

P: Oh it's not for me.

R: Who us it for?

P: My partner!

R: What us your partners name?

P: Peter.

R: What's your partners surname?

P: Chan.

R: When does your partner want to see a doctor?

P: 'yells to background, hey Peter when do you want to see a doctor?'. 'peters 'yells back when can I?'

P: What's available?

R: Who does he want to see?

P: 'yells to Peter off line, who do you want to see? Peter yells back, my f**king doctor.'

P: Whose he normally see?

Receptionist shoots self.
The end.

NB:. This post has been savagedly edited and shortened and cut off a quarter of the way through to protect your sanity.

Things people say to receptionists ...

P:  I need an appointment as soon as possible with Dr "A"!

R:. (on a Saturday) Sooo, Monday 11 am?

p: Oh no. I work till 5 pm. It has to be after 5:30.

R:. So Wednesday 6 pm!

P: Oh yes, that's fine.

I am sooo very tired.

Received a foreboding letter from Centrelink about declared income from four or five years ago saying I had till Twentieth to defend.

Figured I must have done something wrong and was expecting a fine, but instead they sent me a cheque.

Feels very odd.

Newish lady at work has mental health issues, I think. Has not been in of late. Only one person is allowed to have leave at any one time as we do not have the staff to cover shifts. I am really tired.

I really want a couple of days off.

Will be covering some of the admin\managers work over November.  I thought I had done a bad enough job last time not to be landed with it again, but sadly not.

Sigh.

My beautiful Blossom cat is bringing me plants every morning with much fanfare and declaration, in stead of mice.

He us such a cutie.
He knows what his owner likes 😁

He is stealing it from the neighbours garden beds.

387?

You have got to be shitting me France. 396?
is just silly.

What could I possibly be posting that would come up under the URL of exciting pain?

I haven't even mentioned buying the latest Laurell K Hamilton book.

Edit:. It's taken her acouple of chapters too just get into the showers after an unexplained metaphysical event. Just have a damn shower woman, for fuxks sake!

Very sad

My beloved Samsung tablet has bitten the dust.  Have bought a little Lenovo tablet, but when I am in blogger I can't see the screen for the keyboard unless I turn it length way and then everything is very very small and hard to see.

This is a picture drawn by one of the nurses at work and my manager of what they picture Sam-Land would be like. They thought South park should do an episode there.

Puzzled

How on earth can I possibly have 146 views from France today?
Odd.
Perhaps they are all Kate Bush fans?

I did not paint anything, but have seen some cheap calenders of reef/ocean scenes and plan to cut the pictures into fish shapes and blu-tak them to the walls of the new doctors office.

I think it will look cool.

Also plan to find some grey coloured cardboard and cut out shark fins, so I can have them circling the desk and skirting boards.  The carpet is a deep blue so that should work out well, I think.

Probably should find some way of incorporating crocpdiles as there have been some large ones sighted drifting about peopled areas lately, but I think that will be too hard.

I really like this song

https://youtu.be/wp43OdtAAkM

I have no idea if this cut and pasre will work.  I am not awe-fey (sp?) with the tablet as such and its capabilities.

I love kate bush, but always was a bit embarassed by the dancing. Have never been comfortable with exhibitionism, but I love the dancing in this very much.

Not sure about the face masks, but good on her, hey?

Ààaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

I am going to try and paint stuff tomorrow.

I havent painted for over a decade, maybe more.
I was never any good anyway.

It would work better if i had a concept or idea to start with, but i got nothing but the urge to fill pages and pages.

Possibly i may share?
Or not.

Possibly i may just go to the markets and eat dumplings and nap instead.
Actually, that is really quite possible, nearing probable.

All things are possible in a free world.

I wish I were like sketcher ben who I am following on facebook who is soo awesome, sigh.  He does these beautiful little water colour sketches of scenes. Just lovely.

If i were more able technlogically i would post a link.
But I'm not.
So I won't.
Cause I can't.
So I can't.
Though I'd like.
Though I can't.
So i wont.

And the neighbours down the road are having a domestic and the lady/woman has a voice that carries blocks.  I used to yell like that when i was five or less.

I miss it.
It would be nice to just let go and scream and scream when I felt like it.
But not so nice for others, hey?

Envy thy name be Sam.

Was it only last week?

Or was it the week before?
Anyway, this is my favourite guinea pig photo.

She almost looks like i cut and paste her onto the background.

Maybe i need a knew label ?

I think the top joint of my finger took a left turn today, but it is probably my imagination. Seems bigger to me, but hurts less. Go figure, hey?

Apologise for the selfcentred post, but I have always regreted not having photos of my feet before my toes were so transformed, so I swore I would try and document future changes.  I hate the lack of evidence.

"I really did have nice hands and feet once upon a time", she said wistfully.

Its so rare to just be perfectly happy with a feature and then it gets all deformed and ugly.  Part of me keeps expecting to go blind, because after my feet and hands i most like my eyes.

Edit :  disregarding the dreadful state of my nails, I thought I should add context, if only for myself at a future date :)

My second and third toes used to be longer or the same size as my big toe and so on. My older sister used to tell me she was more evolved because her toes were short and stubby, whereas mine were more long like a monkeys.

Thoughtful

1am and my middle finger has decided it wants to be a sumo wrestler.

I have been thinking about my evening and trying to decide what it was I ate/drank and I think it was the soda water.  I had three greedy glasses of soda water tonight.

The arthritis does not approve of carbonated beverages.

(I'd slap my wrist for being naughty, but it hurts too)

Edit: I think I will send the makers of nurofen a xmas card this year. They are a good thing and I am grateful they exist.

On a side note ...

... so carried away with happiness at actually getting two days off in a row, for the first time in months, and after a particularly stressful couple of weeks, I failed to pay due and proper attention to my roster beyond the public holiday and in conjunction with an unreliable phone failed to remember, or be properly alerted in time to my omission - I was supposed to start at 9 am today, instead of my normal 1pm.

Oopsy!

However, not so embarassed cause the 7 am didnt get there till 8 am, whilst the 8 am forgot and turned up at 7am, so i was not alone in mistake, though not as dramatically in miserror.

I have been all-a-blush since lunch.

Concept - reducing clutter ...

... funnily enough this has been something I have been trying the last few years.

I reasoned, that if everything had a place, it would be easier to put them in their place.  I have gotten rid of more books then I ever conceived possible.

Lately, i have boxed up all my bric-a-brac with the intent of what is not missed can be disposed of.

Oddly enough, i find this has made me even more messy.

As if the possesions are the barrier that holds my mess in check.

I think I need a certain kind of clutter around me to make me feel like I am present and securely occupying my space, but it is only a theory so far, as i haven't managed to get to a vacant enough state to be able to start from scratch.

I was in the mind set last night to just throw everything out and start again. It is still tickling at my mind as an interesting idea.  What would it be like to start again. What would the new posessions I chose show me to be, uncluttered by things given by others to muddy the view. All a bit nacasistic says my inner self.

When boxing bric-a-brac it turned out to be mostly stuff given to me. Probably most of what I own has been given or inherited or gifted as presents at obligatory occasions when someone has to give you something, not nessecarily because it solely spoke to them as something I just had to have, so they bought it without a need to buy something

I am getting convoluted and squiggly.

My head is like this on an ordinary day.
I don't even want to revisit it on a bad day.
They happen on their own and don't need to be reaffirmed in a light hearted blog.

Stuff isnt important anyway.
Oh look, a kitty!

Even my cat seems to think this is a silly post!

Colour me startled!

Was making a prchase at Target and checkout lady advised, for my information, that underwear was not returnable.

WHO IS RETURNING UNDERWEAR!!!!!
icky!

This just reaffirms my decision; never live closely with another human being.
I do not understand people.

Cats are cool.

Like bow-ties.

I'm thinking about ordering a monocle

Oh dear ...

... i think my sister was a great deal more upset by my cat bite than i was.

Nieces cat renamed Baby, formerly known as Niagi (spelling unsure) though the most placid of cats, potentially voted most likely to be mistaken for a stuffed toy, has a whole other side previously unknown to me.

Wednesday

I love that my sisters cat likes to sit on mats.

Today

Peacock on a carport roof.

I really want peacocks of my very own now.

And a huge property filled with gardens for then to roam around in.
And lamas.
And ducks.
And chickens.
And maybe a pony, but instead maybe just a large dog, like an irish wolfhound or some thing.

I like irish wolfhounds.

 One of my eldest sister's neighbour's dogs appears to have enough wolfhound in him to make him look like a werewolf.  Am totally going to try and take a photo of him tomorrow.

For Elephants Child ...

... because you always have such lovely bird photographs :)

This is one of my brother-in-laws girls, that follow him about the yard when he goes outside.

This is a chicken in an avocado tree. They esque? esqueue? have abandoned their cage in favour of the avocado tree Bob grew from seed.  Chickens look funny in a tree. Chickens jumping to get into the tree look even funnier.  You will just have to accept my word until such time i can film it.

 

They also have feral peacocks and I was disturbed this afternoon by the sounds of altercation from the tree. I was worried there was a snake as reputed by a neighbour, however it was just the peacock being autocratic and chucking the chickens from the tree.

This is the lady peacock that caused all the trouble.

I shall finish on a flower, because there have been alot of them lately.  This is the standard rose Bob gave to my sister as a present. Possibly for valentines day, but maybe just a birthday. They have been together ages and have three children and have a comfortable home that invites you to just drop in, even if you havent called first.

Maybe i need to set up a phone line?

Another adolescent frog tried to commit suicide by cat(s) this evening.

How do they get in?

Do they crawl through the cracks in the louvres?
Do they come up the drains?
Do they crawl out from under the lowered lid of the toilet?

However they achieve it, it must take effort.

The cats couldnt be bothered this evening.

It made it all the way too the kitchen from downstairs ( three steps ). Mob mentality took over then and they were all gawking at it.  It would do its little froggy scream like ' come on if you think you're hard enough', and they were all like, 'oh my god, look at him! Isnt he a funny colour, haha'.

I used a cherry tomato punnet container to transport it outside,

Couldnt for the life of me, from looking at it, tell you if it was a boy or a girl, but based on behaviour, i reckon it was a boy.

Idiot.

Pease Blossom

Pease Blossom is such a handsome boy. I dont really understand why the vets keep calling him she just because of his name. He looks like a boy to me.

Mind you, i dont run a hundred percent at guessing based on face, but im not too far off. Admittedly, the curly haired present on gardening australia from western australia had me puzzled for an episode or two.

Lazy breakfast adventures ...

... because i wont be paying for it. Thats pretty lazy isnt it?

Eldest sister treating me to breakfast tomorrow, as i will be feeding their cats and guinea pigs over the next four days, whilst the family adjourns to Magnetic Island for holiday fun.

I love both sisters houses and their cats. I will be in mad cat lady heaven with eleven (counting my own and theirs together) cats, four guinea pigs, four to six chickens (i can never remember which are theirs and which are their neighbours) and two feral peacocks.

They will be racked with, well not actually racked, but vaguely discomforted anyway, with guilt because i will be bopping about by each of their properties petting and feeding their animals and bumming about on their sofas getting kitty love.  Which is my idea of a good time, ha ha.

Its a win win situation that requires me to get out of bed at a respectably hour, which will be good for me if not necessarily enjoyable, and thus virtue is its own reward is a bit crap cause surely this is the definitition of hedinisom?

Sorry. I still cant spell.
The gist is the gist though, right?

Cats have their own perspective ...

... and were thrilled to bits with the picture wrappings.

Something charming ...

This is the second picture I bought today.

(Actually the first, cause when I turned up it was marked down to only $40, so I surrendered to temptation and bought two).

It is an original illustration by Jenny Finn from a book tittled 'Tales from 5he Hallowed Hollow'.

She's had a few pictures for sale at the Townsville Art Society shop over the last few months (some even listed as free to a child), and today is the first time I've had cash to spare for one of them. There have been at least three come and go during my pennyless period, darnit.

*que the sound of gnashing teeth and wringing hands*

Not even a vaguly good photo and I seem to be completely unable to hang pictures straight.

Something nice ...

Bought myself this lovely lino block print by Margaret Crawford with the money earned from the extra shifts worked this week.

Bah

I soooo wanted to tell her to pull her head in and stop behaving like a pork chop, but you cant really. Besides, ive never had an authoritive voice.

We added her to the wait list, even though we had stopped taking patients due to the very long waits due to only having one doctor working tonight, and advised her there was only one doctor and it was likely to be an hour or so wait; because she sobbed and said it was urgent.

Then she proceeded to rant and rave about having to wait, and how unprofessional we were, and apparently were 'treating her like a dog'. She wrote out a complaint and generally wailed and nashed teeth.

It was only half an hour and she didnt have an appointment and she got her script ahead of other people who had been waiting longer.

Her young children sat outside in the car the whole time.
I envied them.

Tomorrow I shall have to defend my actions which consisted of assuring her she would be seen as soon as the doctor finished with the person he was with and offering her a glass of water.

Messing about ...

... with photo effects :)

Probably i should try to smile more.

I rather fancy that ...

... a patient's tatoo.

The word freedom with the top part of the m flying away like a bird.

Probably not a poem, but kind of like one.

I am a bad person ...

... because I am ridiculously amused at overhearing a checkout person at IGA being disparaging/gossipy about a customer she had been at school with who 'didn't even try to go further than year ten'.

Possibly it is a generational thing? Half the people I went to school with didnt even finish year ten.

15 was the ideal age to catch an apprenticeship.

I lost out to a few 15 year olds when i was 16 and looking for my first job, before getting a job with a couple who found it hard to keep staff. An illsuited coupling that lasted three years.

The afternoon I spent convincing my boss that I didnt want his wife's very nice, heavy, gold jewelry because he was convinced she was going to leave him because he confronted her about spending 11-3 gambling instead of filing documents like she said she was, leaving me to try and entertain a three year old still being breast fed, for four hours at the casino lingers long in my memory. I bribed her with ticktaks and gave her airoplane rides in the lobby.

Edit: bahhahahhaha a checkout chick making fun of someone not finishing grade ten hahahahaha

*slaps wrist*
bad sammy

Feeling tired

Gave a patient some money today to buy cat food.
Shes having a bad week.
It will be black and gold tuna for them till next week though, as I only had a tenna spare.

Working fulltime hours last week and this and feeling very tired.
Babbling and silly towards the end of the day.
Saying good morning instead of good afternoon.
Lots of feedup and unhappy people with two hour walkin waits as a couple of doctors  are away.

I'm sure I used to deal with proper hours better, but I've not been myself this last couple of years. I'll tell ya something though, whoever the hell I'm being is a slackarse and deserves a good kicking.

It hangs like a wren with its neck rung ...

It is entirely my own fault ...
It seemed like such a good idea at the time ...

I decided to get a sofa bed.

But i wake in the night pillowless.
Headboards are really undervalued in daily life.
Who invented headboards?
And the foot of beds?
Feckin' geniusesesessesssss thats who!

I may over compensate in my next nightly incarnation (incarceration?) with a day bed. Bound on three sides, though i must admit I rather fancy something I could raise a fourth side on ... cot-like though it would be.

All-in-all I do still yearn for an early in life idea of converting a double papazan (sp?) into a nest for myself, but cannot help thinking I would lose out to the cats, as they would have ample opportunity to barr their spot whilst I am at work.

I learnt a new thing ...

... this week.

Firstly, if one happens to be boiling potatoes, it is probably best not to use water pre-used to boil pasta.

Secondly, it is not a good idea to use a food processor, of any sort, even a-not-quite-a-food-processor (really just a glorifed chopper from a cheap knockoff shop) to purereeaaaeary (sp?) the afforesaid potatos boiled in pasta water.

It resembles something one could use to put up tiles.

It nearly broke my cheap, but quite good all the same, and remarkably easy to clean and very user friendly, cheap but not-quite-a-food-processor.

I've put the results in the fridge.

I am not game to eat it just yet, though I feel I should, cause waste is wasteful.

However, I am still having discomforting dreams/visions about what it would do to my inards.

Plus, it kind of resembles what the little boy at the other end of the hospital ward was vomiting up when i was in hospital on my eleventh/twelfth birthday (cant remember which), though that was quite possibly because all he may have been given to eat was mashed potato. Or possibly icecream.

In which case, it isnt all that surprising it resembled my tragic misbegotten mash.

Ah bless his little cotton socks

You know how when a cat catches something, like a mouse for instance, and tracks you down to show you what an awesome hunter they are and they make that repetative meow-I-have-caught-something call?

Well, Blossom has managed to fish the empty vaccuum pack the lamb backstrap was packaged in from last night out of the bin and has come calling to present it to me.

My little terror.
He is such a hard little tom, haha

Native hibisicus ...

... has flowered.  I meant to take a photo of how I saw it this morning, which was only partially unfurled, but I got distracted by a Springbok wot was desperate to run and ended up chasing him about the yard for a bit instead.

Impromptu

And thus, i did declare,
but what i shall not say,
And so the day progressed,
And nowhere can a man drink in peace

The first three lines sprang fully formed into my brain like Athena, and i had no forth line, so i decided the first thing i heard on telly would be it.

Its almost worth making a series of ... but not by me cause i am too lazy and inconsistent and a flibbertigibbert.

Shoulds are on my mind

Mary-cat and Blossom are both trying to fit on the chair behind me.
I appreciate their dedication and effort, even though it means I cant lean back.

Its not a very good chair at the moment anyway. The cushions had an unfortunate encounter with an incontinent Bubba-cat (may he rest in peace). I keep meaning to measure things up and get myself some new ones, but I never quite get round to it.

I shouldnt be sitting around anyway.

Probably its just a phase ...

... but I do rather love hibiscuseseseseses (it so hard to know when to stop)  at the moment. I had a torch clutched between my knees to take this photo.

I can't help myself ...

... I just can not resist putting a flower in my hair.

Kitty contentment

Mary-cat was on the seat behind me, so I had to lean forward to play the tablet.
Blossom couldnt get to my lap, so he settled on my shoulders instead.

He has his smug king-of-the-castle look on.
I am his Empire State building.
I can feel his little heart beating against my back.
His purring is like a gentle massage.

Books

Am up to the third book in series writ by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. About the Magisterium.

Individually they are nice but not all consuming for me.

Holly is good and interesting, but not exciting.

Cassandra is exciting but angsty and for gods sake can we have a break and just interact without shaking the earth, bloody heck but you make me tired. Can we just stop for some tea or cake, or something.

Far out.

Magisterium series is excellent, thou angsty and teenagerey, which is fair enough because it is for young readers, but i miss Anne McCafferys touch which could have been for young readers still, but without the characters having to be stoopid, or overly angsty, or specifically teenagerary.

Probably that doesnt make sense, but I've started a few books for young readers lately and although the story has been good, they have shit-me-to-tears, and I havent been able to finish.

I hate not finishing.

Admittedly i didnt finish Harry Potter.  I came in early and really liked the first two books when he was getting shut in cupboards alot. After that it was all a bit 'meh' for me.

Probably its good i never wanted to have children.

I would totally have shut them in cupboards.
At least for short periods when I was trying to read.

Maybe I could have set them up with lamps so they could have read about being shut in cupboards whilst being shut in cupboards.

Probably its good I never read Flowers in the attic, though I cant say for sure, because I never read Flowers in the attic.

Probably I should get up now

When you are playing games on your tablet in bed and petting the cat with one hand and they decide you are not playing them enough attention, so they sit on your face.

I hope you appreciate I could have gone all Mrs Slocombe with my title, but didnt.

All tuckered out ...

... after a morning of playing chicken.

Springbok is desperate to play, but my cats don't.  The closest he can get is to hide and swipe and then run like heck.  All fun and games until one of them catches him. After which he slinks to the bed and hides under the covers with me for a bit.

He managed to evade them for quite a while this morning and now hes all tuckered out.

My hip warmer

When I am lying on my bed Mary-cat battles with Blossom for the much coveted spot on my hip.

It kind of seems like masturbation ...

... but I really like the food I cook.

I don't cook much, and what I do cook nearly always has waaaay too much chilli in it.

Lady at work has more habaneros (not the faintest how to spell, sorry) and was giving them away. Am trying to use them up. They are hot enough that it is like when you take a spoonful of soup that is too hot from the stove, but breathing in more air to cool it DOES NOT WORK.

Still awesomely tasty even if the top of my mouth feels like it may be peeling.

Saturday confessions

Friday night out was ... nice.  I stayed till 9 or 10. They even let me get a word in edgewise now and then 😄

Host has no idea how rough as guts she is. Amongst the 'ings, she is really nice. More nice than i am. She is more action orientated.  She does things. Or at least, invites people over so she can do things. She is a hairdresser who hates hairdressers. Washing the hair of a cancer patient who can't lift their arms high enough to wash their own hair and refusing payment.

She is little, and beautiful and wears too much makeup and if she is in a bad mood assumes and vocalises the worst about people. To say it, you have to think it first, which is my most impeniterable (sorry, i am useless without spellcheck) barrier to liking her.

I am ashamedly amused when people get up her for calling them sweetie and darling.

She is putty in the hands of her children, who are so much nicer too eachother than I expect, and wish she didn't swear sooooooo much when speaking around them.

People are confusing and I much rather hanging around my cats.

Feels like a sunday

Full of good intentions of planting out my hibiscus plants today and getting my garden bed set up, but looming social requirement puts me off.  I really dont want to go to work friends house tonight, even though I know it will be pleasant once I am there.

Seeing people on my day off makes me feel like I havent had a day off. Plus its a long way away on a scooter in scooter-unfriendly speed limits, which means I have to pullover into the bike lane a lot.

New flower ... pretty yellow one. Also I bought a native hibiscus. Will post a photo when it flowers.  Hopefully it well be a photo of it in the ground.

Boring dream post alert

Strong dreaming sessions lately.

In my dream last night my front door came off its hinges and then seemed too small to fill the space when propped against it, and then it went into my new normal of cats escaping and me trying to gather them up etc.

People came over to visit and tried to help. One of them pointed out a couple of other doors that were closed. Turned out there was another two thirds of house I had forgotten about. Two or three bedrooms all fully furnished and a bathroom with a bath and a plumbing issue and a sunroom. And cupboards full of my old clothes that I was storing for future possible use by my nieces.

This was a house I've dreamed about before. Also with a escaping/gathering of cats theme.

The funny thing about last nights dream was that I became self aware quite early into it, but was unable to wake myself up, or take charge. Took four tries.

Far out! Its Wednesday already!

I am trying to differentiate myself from the other overweight ( tbrough shes lost nearly 30 kilos in the last two years) brunette that works mornings to my afternoons, by wearing flowers in my hair.  I am slightly chuffed to be described as 'the nice one' by a patient.  Though that is probably an indictment (sp?) of my urge to please.

I gain and she loses and every one thinks we are the same person. Ha ha ha
Slaps wrist
Bad sammy
Shouldnt think that is funny

She pays much more attention to her grooming than i do.

I feel like i am letting the side down, a bit, but then i also think that wearing makeup to work is a waste of time. Its just work and if you look good all the time, its not much of a difference/surprise when you look awesome to go out.

Probably thats just the laziness showing through.

I dont want looking special to be too much of an effort.

First cat bath ...

Wet kitty recovering from trauma of first bath (well, shower, really).

May have to put bucket back on head shortly. She is going at this cleaning with a vengance.

Personally, i think she needs kitty prozac, or something. She is a bit into self harm lately.  I was hoping once the scabs were gone she could stop being so stringent with herself, but I am thinking she has more issues than that.

I'm thinking Flowers ...

I am working on my next melbourne cup day work outfit.

I went very lowkey last year with just a necklace, and in consequence, missed the entire race restraining a potentially violent, not in the best place, patient who was taken away by the police.

This year I plan to be excessive, so that even if I feel I should, I won't be dressed to be of use.  It was the first melbourne cup I've missed since Just-a-dash.

I am contemplating my hairdo/hat situation ...

Puddle of cat

Late morning kitty kips.

Eureka

Oh by golly, by lad! There is a second season of Blandings, which I need to lay my grubby paws on before Christmas.

I was struggling for mother friendly entertainment - besides which I LOVED the first series.  What little treasures some english persons are, and I must admit to a deep and, so far, unshakable crush on Tiomothy Spall since seeing series one.

Sigh.

There is talk of a third series this year.

Perhaps god loves me afterall ( even though I ticked no religion on the census ).

The earth moved ...

... and I completely missed it.
I think my chair absorbed all the shock.
Darnit.

(5.8 quake off coast of Bowen)

Things I am grateful for ...

... that cats are so snuggly, cause my feet were getting cold without that extra sheet. I think it must have dropped below 24 degrees cause its feeling a little nippy.

Things I hate ...

...being woken on the verge of sleep by the sound of a cat about to projectial vomit over my legs, only to realise I did not react quite quick enough.

Washing machines are surprisingly loud after 10 o'clock when there is nothing else functioning .

Nevermore

Springbok is never ever ever ever being allowed outside ever again. Dissappeared and did not come when called, from 3 ish until just now at nearly 10 pm.

Think maybe he got lost in the stormwater drains.

I was wandering about outside making loud chicken noises (herrrreeee bokkie bokkie bok, bok bok bokkie). My neighbours probably think I 'm mad.

Not helpful when I am supposed to be getting ready for my next rental inspection.

I was singing the stoopid cat song.

'Stoopid cat, stoopid cat. Where fore art thou, stoopid cat? Stoopid cat, stoopid cat. You are such a stoopid cat', to the tune of smelly cat from Friends,

I have cat hair up my nose

You know that thing in baseball where two people take turns putting one hand above the other on the bat to decide who goes first, or whatever?

Thats kind of what Mary-cat and Blossom-cat do with their positions on my body. Blossom might start on my lap. Mary will settle above. Then later if i move or unsettle them, Blossom will take the opportunity to settle on my chest, and so on and so forth.

The one who gets close enough to my face to smother me wins.

Bloody hell

I swear to god! The baby frogs at my house are suicidal!

I am cleaning kitty kitter trays outside. I have just poured some bleach into the dirty tray. I go to the hose to swill it out. Small frog hangin' on hose. Try to offload on nearist bush, but no ... frog makes beeline to manky litter tray, plus bleach!!!!!

Takes some VERY fast moving to snatch tray away from determined frogs leap.

WHAT IS IT THINKING? Was it depressed because there were no curlews evident to peck it to death and it decided to embrace its end through acid?

Freakin' do not get green tree frogs.
I used to think they were so nice, but if they are not trying to wallow in my excrement, or taunting death by cat, they are being insanely reckless by natural causes.

Freak. Me. Out. The. Fuck.

Asleep in perfection

I do apologise for posting so many boring photos, but my cats have managed to sabortage soo many of my computers, that I want to put photos I like in a place I can find easily with some concept of date and context.

Really?!

I thoughtlessly left a bowl on the stool that Blossom likes to sit on.
He has not let this stop him.

More flower