Because I can ...

I continue to be amazed at how swiftly time rushes by. One moment I'm seeing this: And in the blink of an eye, I'm now seeing this: Jaimee celebrated her third birthday last weekend. I pulled up outside the house on Sunday morning just in time to see Anna walking down the street dressed as a clown. She'd had no sleep the night before. She'd spent the evening and the early hours of the morning decorating the conservatory with balloons and streamers, putting up photo collages of her daughter in the dining room, and adding the finishing touches to the birthday cake. She then spent the day prancing around entertaining the kiddies in attendance. They were completely enamoured of her, she had them totally under her control. That's impressive when it comes to a bunch of 3-4 year olds. The look on Jaimee's face when she first saw her Mum in that get-up was priceless. It made me think about the lengths we go to for our children and their happiness. I mean, we fee

I made scones yesterday. That may seem insignificant to you but there's a reason I'm telling you this. I've had problems making scones in the past. My mother and both my sisters can make magnificent scones. Me? I make hard, flat ones....scones akin to paperweights, river stones, whatever...you know, the type you break your teeth on. I am the only female in my family that can't make the damn things. I won't be asking my brother if he can ...the possibility of hearing him say "Yes" will just ruin my scone-esteem through and through. I have woken up on previous days and in true positive-affirmation fashion have recited "This morning I am going to make scones...and they are going to be GOOD!" They never are. Yesterday I tried a new recipe my sister gave me last weekend. Alice rang while I was in the middle of kneading the dough...some of you may recall that Alice's partner is my ex-husband...I said to her "Tell him I'm making scones.&q

We sat glued dreamily to the television: Sis: "How old do you think he is?" Me: "Who even cares?" Sis: "Imagine having a voice like that woman, and singing with him..." Me: "Imagine being able to get that close to him, never mind singing at the same time." BIL: *rolling eyes, getting up to walk out of lounge* Sis: "What's her name again?" Me: "Dunno...something-or-other...her surname sounded like pussy" Sis: "Lisa!" Me: "Well it did!" BIL: *quick backtrack* "What was that?" We were watching a DVD of Michael Bublè in concert. His name runs off the tongue ooh soooooo easily don't you think? Michael Booooblaaaaaaay...*sigh* I'm not one for having crushes on celebrities but I have to say...I could listen to this man sing and watch him move for hours...and hours....oh and did I say, hours ?? When I mentioned his name to my sister on Saturday night, she clapped her hands..."Oh yes! I

Anne and I turned up at the performing arts centre with no clue what to expect. We knew we were going to be moving our bodies about, that was pretty much it. We were the first people there. Eager beavers eh? lol If I was going to have a go at this, there seemed no point in being late. Yep, gonna do this? I'm gettin' in there, boots an' all. Tango first. And yes...*rolls eyes* I had to be a man. Come on, on sight it's more than obvious I'm female...but for the purposes of the evening I relented and was occasionally male. And you know what? I think I'm a better man than woman in this respect. I said in this respect ...make sure you read that part. Any time I was dancing with a man I found myself pushing/pulling against him...seems I like being the leader, go figure. But it WAS easier dancing with a man, and I think that was all to do with length of leg stuff. I need to learn to take smaller steps. Not bad for a first attempt really. Ok, I lied. Was

I was bitterly disappointed to find that my friend had got her wires crossed when it came to the salsa/tango dancing lessons last Friday. Had I not had the brains to ring and confirm with the school, I would've found myself standing outside the place on a Friday night, waiting for nothing. I'd psyched myself up to have a go, only to find out it's not until this Friday. Lord help them if they try to make me partner up with another female and they want me to be the man...that'll piss me off no end lol I'm a woman damnit, on or off the dance floor. Get it right. The boys are in their second week of school break. Back to school next week. I welcome the time I have on my own during the day, so I'll admit, I'm looking forward to them going back. When I told Cameron I was starting these dance lessons, he thought that was pretty cool til I asked him if he'd like to come with me. The simple answer was "um...no"...followed up with "well at l

"He's gone?"... "Yes." ..."So, you're on your own again now?"... "Yes." She waited to hear more. Yet I had only told her moments before I wouldn't talk about it. I clammed up, refused to get into further dialogue on the subject and shut down that part of my mind. The conversation turned to her. She was asked by another friend of ours..."So, are you in love?" She responded by giving it some thought and said "Yes, I think so, I really enjoy having him around." When people say they think they're in love...is that because they don't actually know for sure? Or is it because they don't want to become vulnerable to others by confirming it? I understand we don't like to admit to being in love too soon after we start seeing someone...that could have 'egg on face' possibilities. But several months down the track, I'd expect them to have some idea as to whether they want to continue seeing

The temperature has certainly dropped here the last few days. Last night it was SO cold I actually wore a t-shirt and flannelette grandpa pj pants to bed (you know the ones like your grandad used to wear? baggy, stripes etc) . I'll confess, I love those pants, they're great at keeping the bottom half of me warm. In fact I always know where they are, as opposed to the rest of my nightwear, which I can take or leave the majority of the time (oh except that t-shirt, I always know where that is now too lol. ) Ok, enough about the weather... A friend of mine put me on to a typing speed test site the other day. She starts a new temp assignment next week...and the company have requested the temp to be typing 80 words per minute. I reckon that's a crock of shit. I mean, I didn't think anyone was allowed to request that much these days. Years ago, when Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) was hitting ACC's budget hard, I thought companies were only allowed to ask for between 50-6

I was talking to a friend on the phone last night. I asked her "Wouldn't it be great if we could be invisible for a while?" She didn't agree, she said that we might see or hear something we may not want to. She misunderstood me....I corrected her, "I didn't mean in a 'fly on the wall' sense, but just invisible full stop." Invisible so noone can see you. Where you go, what you do, the face that we can often put on for 'show' to others, we wouldn't feel we had to. We could be who or whatever we wanted to be, without repercussions of being judged. Invisible. How wooooonderful . Hide away from the rest of the world until we were ready to come out of the dark and rejoin the race again. Actually I found a way to make the opposite occur today. I went into the supermarket, shoved my iPod earbuds in, cranked the music up and went around the shop filling my trolley. It was fantastic. I became totally oblivious to anything or anyone around me

You may have been thinking that I've shrivelled up on the inside and am in a catatonic state, rocking dramatically in the corner of the room. Come on, you know me better than that. Well ok, I'm not in that condition today, so let's chalk today up as a good day on the outside. I'm on the brink of major changes happening in my life. I can feel it in my bones. I'm restless and itching to start implementation. Unfortunately the whats and hows I haven't figured out yet. As some of you will know, I've started seriously considering working full-time again. Where or how I'm going to do that, I'm not entirely sure but I may have come to the end of my career as a medical receptionist anyway. By the end of April, I would've held this role for 6 years. It's been great, I've loved it. The public contact on a daily basis, the rapport that I have with many of the patients and of course the staff, is pretty much what's kept me sticking to it